Frederic Austin

Overture: The Sea Venturers (1934)

Symphony in E major (1913) Edited by Jim Gowers
i. Andante – Allegro non troppo ma appassionata –
ii. Allegro moderato –
iii. Andante con moto (tranquillo) –
iv. Allegro con spirito – March

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

Rhapsody: Spring (1907 rev. 1939)

Royal Northern College of Music Symphony Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

Overture: Richard II (1900)* Reconstructed by Jeremy Lee-Browne

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Ronald Corp (conductor)

*World Premiere Recording

Recorded at Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, Brown Shipley Concert Hall, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and Lighthouse, Poole, Dorset, between 2000-2011

As a coupling for their new recording of Frederic Austin’s romantic overture Richard the Second with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Dutton Epoch have reissued tracks from three different earlier recordings, all brilliantly remastered, to assemble a remarkable survey of orchestral music by the great English baritone, Frederic Austin, who was also a notable composer. Austin’s big-boned Symphony of 1913 almost certainly influenced his friend the young Arnold Bax, while the colourful orchestral tone painting in the overture The Sea Venturers adds yet another vibrant musical sea picture to the repertoire. Both are vividly played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Douglas Bostock. The programme is completed with Austin’s delightful nature poem the Symphonic Rhapsody Spring, a success at the Proms in 1907. They make a cherishable sequence, which reveals yet another British composer who had been eclipsed, but proves very much to have had something to say. If you like Bax or early Frank Bridge, this is a terrific discovery.