Hallé Orchestra & Sir John Barbirolli - Delius: Orchestral Works (Remastered) (2020) [Hi-Res]

Sir John Barbirolli was nearly as fine an interpreter of Delius as Beecham. But where Sir Thomas liked to bring out the sun, Sir John was at his best shading in the darker tones of the Delian palette. There is a starkness to the “Nordic” moments in these pieces which serves to remind us that Barbirolli, again like Beecham, was an outstanding interpreter of Sibelius’s music. What is unique to Barbirolli is the searing emotion he finds in the music, especially in Delius’s writing for the strings. His accounts have a high expressive profile, and an intensity of expression bordering on the incandescent. Although there is a slight amount of grain to the sound, the recordings, which date from the mid-’60s, are well balanced and have an appealing “live” ambience to them. – Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection.

Halle Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli, conductor

Digitally remastered