Symphonies from Sir Henry

The reissues continue, with a trio of recordings by the great British conductor Sir Henry J. Wood (1869-1944).  Among these are the first two complete recordings of symphonies made by Sir Henry, the Franck from 1924 and the Haydn "Surprise" from 1925.  Previously, he had recorded the Schubert "Unfinished" (in 1919, re-recorded in 1923), the Beethoven "Eroica" (in 1922) and the Tchaikovsky "Pathétique" (in 1923), but these had all been abridged.  The Franck and Haydn are not, but they sure are fast!  The Franck takes 31 minutes, and the "Surprise" takes 18.

Franck: Symphony in D minor
New Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Sir Henry J. Wood
Recorded July 2, 9, and 16, 1924
Columbia Masterworks Set No. 10, four 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 83.33 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 34.77 MB)

Haydn: Symphony No. 94 in G, "Surprise" and
Järnefelt: Praeludium
New Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Sir Henry J. Wood
Recorded February 5, March 25 and 26, 1925
English Columbia L 1668 through 1670, three 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 62.68 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 22.79 MB)

Sir Henry had a long recording career with Columbia, spanning from 1915 to 1934, before he moved to Decca in 1935.  For Decca he made recordings of Beethoven's Fifth, Vaughan Williams' London Symphony, and Elgar's Enigma Variations, and this one of Dvořák's Symphonic Variations:

Dvořák: Symphonic Variations, Op. 78 and
Handel-Wood: Sailors' Dance and Rigaudon
Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Sir Henry J. Wood
Recorded April 1 and 2, 1937
English Decca X 182 through 184, three 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 58.16 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 24.41 MB)

Coming up next: recordings by Albert Coates, including his 1923 Beethoven Ninth!