Some conductors believe in the composer. Some believe in the orchestra. Thomas Beecham believed in Thomas Beecham. Whatever music Beecham conducted -- be it Haydn or Handel, Delius or Sibelius -- and whatever orchestra Beecham conducted -- be it the London Philharmonic Orchestra or the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française -- Beecham believed that the performance ought to sound like a Beecham performance. On this disc of the symphonies of Franck and Lalo with the French Radio Orchestra, Beecham makes two of the ...
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Some conductors believe in the composer. Some believe in the orchestra. Thomas Beecham believed in Thomas Beecham. Whatever music Beecham conducted -- be it Haydn or Handel, Delius or Sibelius -- and whatever orchestra Beecham conducted -- be it the London Philharmonic Orchestra or the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française -- Beecham believed that the performance ought to sound like a Beecham performance. On this disc of the symphonies of Franck and Lalo with the French Radio Orchestra, Beecham makes two of the most French symphonies of the late nineteenth century sound like Thomas Beecham.How does he do it? He takes the themes and pumps them up. He takes the harmonies and pushes them out. He takes the colors and brightens them up. He takes the rhythms and makes them shimmy like your sister Kate. Beecham makes Franck's chaste Symphony sound like a Piccadilly call girl and Lalo's dramatic Symphony sound like a Trafalgar Square trollop. Because Beecham believes, the listener believes, and as...
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