Malcolm Sargent - Icon (The Great Recordings)

No matter in what year these recordings were taped, the art of this great Maestro come singing through. Not to be missed out on under any circumstances.

From the first track of CD1 (Beethovens Eroica) one immediately senses you are in for a very satisfying journey being led by Sir Malcolm at the helm. When you look at the dates of the recordings (some nearly sixty and seventy years young) I didn’t expect great quality recorded sound - boy was I wrong! The sound is clear, crisp and no appreciable hiss or unwanted noise (played on good quality Arcam equipment I might add). A glance at the recording engineers and producers pretty much assures you that these recordings have been made by some of the most respected names in the business.As for the discs, speaking as a Beethoven lover, well the Beethoven is superb - shame we only have the 3rd. It’s full of depth and mystery. I have also to mention the Enigma Variations - some beautiful playing and great speeds which somehow just seem right somehow - in fact the whole of disc 8 is superb and possibly worth the entry price alone. Combined with Disc 11 of the Vaughan Williams you have 3 discs which alone make this box set worth buying.These are early days on my trip with Sir Malcolm and I still have the Sibelius to enjoy never mind the great choral works for which he was perhaps one of the most famed conductors.I would fully recommend this set and would leave you with a nugget from Disc 11 - VWs Romance in D for harmonica, strings and piano played by no less than Larry Adler! Recorded in 1952 - nearly 7 minutes of recorded history. SuperbA great tribute and a must for anyone like me who had his recordings on vinyl in their youth but through the mists of time has lost possession of them. These recordings are timeless and without the inevitable vinyl scratches and crackles!! Very satisfying I must say.

Useful addition to any collection. Sargent was a good rather than great conductor and deserves to be remembered.

It is a very fine compilation Richard J. Bradburn and Lyndon Jenkins have done with this Sargent Box. I don't think Malcom Sargent is in the same class as Barbirolli, Beecham and Boult - but he was generally a good conductor and sometimes in choral works among the greatest. When we are speaking about choral works it would have been good to have also the Messiah and Elijah from the fifties with Morrison, Lewis etc. and also the old Gerontius with Heddle Nash as Gerontius. The sound is very fine in Messias and Elijah, but not better than Mike Duttons CDs - I remember Mike Dutton told me when he produced the Messiah that he had a lot 78 records to listen to for finding the best copy, and his mother at last said that now she has heard Messiah too much for a time ! Isobel Baillie and the other soloists are very fine and Sargent conduct both orchestra and choir in the best way - the choral sound in the forties was special and it's a joy to listen to these old recordings. I also like "Flash Harrys" (as Beecham called him) Holst performances, "The Perfect Fool and Beni Mora" are very fine and I have always find it strange, that Waltons First Symphony not had a better reputation, I like it better than Previns performance. The other items are also very good, Eroica, the Sibelius symphonies and all the English music by Bax, Bliss, Vaughan Williams and Rubbra are really good performances, and Lyndon Jenkins notes in the booklet is, as always, very fine. For me Sir John Barbirolli was the greatest conductor England has produced, JBs way with Elgar and Vaughan Williams is second to none, and he was also a very fine Mahler, Bruckner, Sibelius and Nielsen conductor - but there is a lot of Beecham, Boult and Barbirolli CDs in the cataloque - so it is good now at last also to have this fine Malcom Sargent Box - The Promenaders loved Flash Harry and listening to this box one can understand why !Steen Bichel, Hundested - Denmark

Sir Malcolm was always well turned out - King of the Promenade Concerts - and he may well have always played second fiddle to his mentor, Sir Thomas Beecham, but his baton technique was NEVER second-rate. This box is positively brimming with brilliance and Sir Malcolm's The Planets outshines all others - Sir Adrian and the LPO run it neck and neck! - in my opinion. His Sibelius is outstanding - Sargent was no stranger to Ainola and he was awarded "The White Rose", for his services to Finnish music. Sir Malcolm's Vaughan Williams is pure poetry in motion.... The Wasps is spectacular, fizzing with energy and Serenade to Music has a depth and seriousness which do this music justice - "Dark as Erebus", indeed. And the ever popular Greensleeves is bursting at the seams with "Britishness"... it encapsulates this island's poetic sensibility.... Shakespeare, Byron, Shelley, Keats... and Brooke! Excellent Elgar and Walton recordings, etc. There are many excellent recordings in this box, too numerous to mention, and Sir Malcolm Sargent delivers every one of 'em with style and panache worthy of Sir Thomas. Never "second fiddle", Sir Malcolm was , in his own way, first among equals, as this box-set so ably demonstrates. Absolutely top-notch!

I remember Malcolm' Sargent for the proms, on his last night a very young Colin Davis stood at his side, a very emotional situation to end a concert,and now we have lost Colin Davis,the good news is Simon Rattle is to take up with the LSO . More good news is that this box set isSurely the best value yet? I was convinced that Marris jannsons Beethovens third was the best ever,listen to Sargent with the RPO I lovedEvery note re mastered old recordings are a delight some going back over fifty years ,EMI like many others,their engineers must love the workThey do, and it shows definitely in this box set get it in a FLASH which was the great mans nickname.