Sir Andrew Davis RIP

[LMcD]

There was a tribute to him on France Musique this morning, including a stirring rendition of Land of 'Ope and Glorie.
I gather the Proms programme will be announced this week - hope this is not a bad omen......

A tribute on BBC 4 would be nice, but at the moment 'Every Night Is Snooker Night'

[Nimrod]

Here he is conducting the Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis - the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Gloucester Cathedral at night time, no audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihx5LCF1yJY

How I wish the BBC would broadcast again the TV programme in which it featured - I can't find the details at the moment but it was a series of British or English composers and their music. The Elgar programmes was published as (IIRC) a video tape - but not the Vaughan Williams (The performance audio was issued as a BBC music magazine CD (labelled Belshazzar's Feast with a photo of Leeds Town Hall on the cover).

I have found all three TV recordings on YouTube, the Tallis, the Feast and the Programme Called Belshazzar's Feast (documentary and performance) and I also picked up the BBC music magazine CD for the princely sum of 80p from a charity shop.

[Barbirollians]

I shall play my favourite recording of his - Delius concertos with T.Little and P.Watkins.

[Alison]

A performance of Bruckner 9 was put up on YouTube yesterday, highly recommended.

Proms 1977, New Philharmonia Orchestra.

[seabright]

One of the obituaries says that he was orchestrating some of Bach's organ music, presumably for a recording project, having already made a start some years ago with his own colourful arrangement of the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. That's on You Tube from a Radio 3 broadcast in 2004 when he and the BBCSO visited Bad Kissingen in Germany. Bach transcriptions weren't new to Sir Andrew, as gave Proms performances of arrangements by Stokowski, Elgar and Wood - and quite splendid they all are too! ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV67Ic3BTrU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS88lWHvvGw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsYKl-19K9g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S4bNBztCLk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGMYRoEehYY

[Nick Armstrong]

There was a tribute to him on France Musique this morning, including a stirring rendition of Land of 'Ope and Glorie.
I gather the Proms programme will be announced this week - hope this is not a bad omen......

A belated RIP

(And there will sadly have to be a personnel change to one of the Proms… )

[bluestateprommer]

(And there will sadly have to be a personnel change to one of the Proms… )[/COLOR]

Also to a December 2024 BBC SO concert and a January 2025 Toronto SO concert:

BBC SO:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/erjgfx

Toronto SO program:

"SIR ANDREW CONDUCTS EMANUEL AX + MOZART
Wed, Jan 15, 2025 at 8:00pm
Sat, Jan 18, 2025 at 8:00pm
Sun, Jan 19, 2025 at 3:00pm

Sir Andrew Davis, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano

Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 25, K. 503
R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra"

More tributes:

Toronto SO:

https://www.tso.ca/home/sir-andrew-davis/

Melbourne SO:

https://www.mso.com.au/media-centre/press-releases/sir-andrew-davis-1944-2024

Glyndebourne:

https://www.glyndebourne.com/news/sir-andrew-davis-1944-2024/

[LMcD]

Sir Andrew's last Prom can be heard tomorrow (Thursday) evening at 7.30 p.m. - 4th symphonies of Vaughan Williams and Michael Tippett.

[gradus]

As part of a tribute to Sir Andrew, Linton Stephens played the first movt of Sir Andrew's recording of the Elgar Serenade, I thought it deeply moving.