Discography of Sir Arthur Sullivan:
Orchestral and Band Music

Procession March (1863)
Princess of Wales's March (1863)
Symphony in E, "Irish" (1866)
Overture in C, "In Memoriam" (1866)
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D (1866)
Overture, Marmion (1867)
Overture di Ballo (1870)
Imperial March (1893)
Absent Minded Beggar March (1900)

Procession March (1863)

Background

First performance: 10 Mar 1863
Published for piano solo and piano duet: Cramer, 1863

This youthful work was written for the marriage of Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Its full name is "The Royal Wedding — Grand March". According to the liner notes of the Sullivan Salute CD (which is the only known recording), it is not clear whether the march was actually used for its intended purpose.

Recordings

1. Band of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall; 1992.

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan Salute
   

Princess of Wales's March (1863)

Background

First Performance: March, 1863
Published as piano arrangement: Cramer, 1863

Like the Procession March, this work was written for a wedding of royalty: in this case, the marriage of the Prince of Wales to Alexandra Caroline, daughter of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and heir to the Danish throne.

The work's full title is "Princess of Wales March on Danish Airs," and it is also known by the title Marche Danoise. It was performed by military bands to greet Her Royal Highness's arrival in London. Sullivan apparently wrote another march for the occasion, called the "Grand March," about which I have no further details, as well as a song called Bride From the North.

Recordings

1. Band of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall; 1992.

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan Salute
   

2. John Parry, piano reduction, 1970s.

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan: Instrumental Music
   

3. The Band of the Irish Guards, 2002.

   Issue History, see:

   Sir Arthur Sullivan: The Lost Chord
   

Symphony in E, "Irish" (1866)

Background

First Performance: Crystal Palace, 10 March 1866
Published, as the "Irish" Symphony: Novello, 1959.

The idea for a symphony based on Irish themes evidently occurred to Sullivan during an 1863 trip to Ireland:

I feel my ideas assuming a newer and fresher colour, and I shall be able to work like a horse on my return. Why, the other night as I was jolting home from Holestone (15 miles from here) through wind and rain on an open jaunting-car, the whole first movement of a symphony came into my head with a real Irish flavour about it—besides scraps of the other movements. I shall get it ready for the Musical Society next season . . . .

The symphony . . . is not only by far the most noticeable composition that has proceeded from Mr Sullivan's pen, but the best musical work, if judged only by the largeness of the form and the number of beautiful thoughts it contains, for a long time produced by any English composer . . . . [He] has composed a first symphony, which, or we are greatly mistaken, will, for some time hence, engage the attention of the musical world, and lead to a second that may possibly fix it for at least a generation.

That reviewer was wrong on two counts. First, Sullivan did not ever produce the second symphony. And second, the work did not take the musical world by storm. It certainly got its fair share of performances during the composer's lifetime, but cooler heads eventually concluded that the work was more important for the promise it showed than for what it achieved in its own right. To be sure, the Symphony in E is tuneful and pleasant, but it is not in the pantheon of great symphonies, not even of great first symphonies.

The composer wished to avoid the subtitle "Irish," for fear of comparison with Mendelssohn's much-admired Symphony #3, the "Scotch." However, it was published by Novello (after Sullivan's death) under the title "Irish," and this is the title by which it is best known.

Recordings

1. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Charles Groves, conductor; 1968.

   Issue History, see:

   Symphony in E / Overture di Ballo: Groves
   Sargent/Glyndebourne Patience

2. BBC Concert Orchestra; Owain Arwel Hughes, conductor; 1993.

   Issue History, see:

   Arthur Sullivan: Irish Symphony etc.

3. BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Richard Hickox, conductor; 2000.

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan: In Memoriam / Tempest / Symphony

Overture in C, "In Memoriam" (1866)

Background

First Performance: Norwich Festival, 30 October 1866
Published: Novello, 1885.

In late 1864, Sullivan received commissions to write overtures for the Philharmonic Society of London and the Norwich Festival, respectively. The first was to be based on Sir Walter Scott's Marmion, but the second as yet had no theme. Inspiration for the Norwich Festival commission came with his father's sudden death in September, 1866. To Sullivan, who was enormously devoted to his father, it was a tremendous blow. However, he channeled his emotions to the completion of his overture for Norwich, which would become the Overture in C, "In Memoriam," probably inspired too by the poem Tennyson wrote in memory of his deceased brother. Sullivan's overture enjoyed a considerable popularity in the composer's own lifetime, but like so many of the composer's non-operatic works, it is rarely heard today.

Recordings

1. New Symphony Orchestra; Dr. Malcolm Sargent, conductor; 1930
   See: Sir Arthur Sullivan: Sacred and Secular Music

2. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Sir Vivian Dunn, conductor; 1972.

   Issue History, see:

   Tempest / Merchant of Venice / Overture in C: Dunn
   Sargent/Glyndebourne Pirates

3. RTE Concert Orchestra; RTE Chamber Choir; Andrew Penny, conductor; 1992

   Issue History, see:

   Arthur Sullivan: Incidental Music

4. BBC Concert Orchestra; Owain Arwel Hughes, conductor; 1993.

   Issue History, see:

   Arthur Sullivan: Irish Symphony etc.

5. BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Richard Hickox, conductor; 2000.

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan: In Memoriam / Tempest / Symphony

6. Savoyard Orchestra, Edinburgh; David Lyle, conductor; 2000.

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan: In Memoriam / Tempest / Symphony

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D (1866)

Background

First Performance: Crystal Palace, 24 November 1866

Sullivan's only concerto received its premiere at the Crystal Palace on 24 November 1866, with the Italian virtuoso Alfredo Piatti as soloist and August Manns conducting. Despite the work's apparent success, it received only three more performances in the composer's lifetime: one more by Piatti a month later, an 1873 performance at a Covent Garden promenade concert, and an amateur performance in 1887.

Why Sullivan made no effort to secure more performances for the work is unclear, though it is easy to speculate, as Arthur Jacobs does, that he was dissatisfied with the work's odd proportions (movements of 75, 147 and 547 measures). The first movement begins with a flourish reminiscent of many romantic-era concerti, but nothing comes of it. The plaintive second movement is successful, if all too short. The third movement has plenty of melodic thrust, and one can only imagine that if Sullivan had taken the time to revise the first two movements, the work might have entered the standard repertory.

The Cello Concerto enjoyed two more performances in the twentieth century. May Muckle played it in 1910 at Bournemouth, and William Pleeth played it on the BBC Third Programme in 1953 under Charles Mackerras. In 1964, the only known score and parts were destroyed in a fire at Chappells. (Some people also believe, without a lot of evidence, that a Thespis manuscript also perished in that fire.)

In the 1980s, David Mackie and Charles Mackerras undertook a reconstruction of the work. Luckily, Pleeth's copy of the solo part survived. The orchestral cues it contained, coupled with Mackerras's surprisingly vivid memory, were sufficient to bring the concerto back to life. Mackerras undertook much of the work when he was laid up for several months in Australia with Hepititis A. One may wonder if, had this not happened, the reconstruction would ever have been undertaken at all!

Julian Lloyd Webber (Andrew's less-famous brother) was first to express interest in performing the newly-reborn concerto. While he and the orchestra were working on it, Mackerras stumbled on May Muckle's copy of the solo part, containing different orchestral cues. Based on this evidence, Mackerras was able further to improve his arrangement (although, on the strength of Pleeth's copy alone, he had already done a remarkably fine job).

Even with two cued solo parts to work from, much of the reconstructed concerto is conjecture. Mackerras admits to filling in where his memory failed him, based on his knowledge of Sullivan, and also of Mendelssohn and Schubert (both of whom Sullivan often imitated his the early works).

The reconstructed concerto received its premiere at the Barbican Hall on 20 April 1986, with the London Symphony Orchestra led by Sir Charles Mackerras, and Julian Lloyd Webber. This version of the work, which is probably the only account of it we shall ever know, has been published and recorded.

Mackerras has described the third movement as a virtual "patter song for the cello." This movement, in particular, gives an excellent idea of the promise Sullivan showed as a composer of serious music.

Recordings

1. London Symphony Orchestra; Julian Lloyd Webber, cello; Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor; 1986

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan & Herbert: Cello Concertos
   British Composers: Sullivan
   Sargent/Glyndebourne Gondoliers

2. Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra; Martin Ostertag, cello; Klaus Arp, conductor; 1999

   Issue History, see:

   Gulda, Sullivan: Cello Concertos

3. BBC Symphony Orchestra; Paul Watkins, cello; Charles Mackerras, conductor; 2000

   Issue History, see:

   March 2001 BBC Music Magazine CD

Overture, Marmion (1867)

Background

First Performance: Philharmonic Society, St. James's Hall, 3 June 1867
Revised: Philharmonic Society, 1874

Sullivan's Marmion overture is from early in his career, commissioned by the Philharmonic Society in that period when all London was agog over the young composer of the Symphony in E and the Overture In Memoriam.

It is based on a narrative poem by Scott, which concerns a fictitious rogue nobleman at the court of King Henry VIII, who after various acts of treachery finally meets his end at the Battle of Flodden Field. Sullivan thought he had another hit, but perhaps the comment of the reviewer after the 1874 revival is more indicative of where the work really stands in Sullivan's output: "retouched, but not improved, in its attempt at impossible sound-painting."

Recordings

1. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Royston Nash, conductor; 1977

   Issue History, see:

   1977 D'Oyly Carte Gondoliers
   1976 D'Oyly Carte Utopia
   1979 The World of Sir Arthur Sullivan
   2001 British Music Collection: Arthur Sullivan

Overture di Ballo (1870)

Background

First Performance: Birmingham Festival, 31 August 1870
Published: Novello, 1889.

The Overture di Ballo, written for the 1870 Birmingham Festival, quickly established itself as one of Sullivan's most popular instrumental works. It is the most recorded of his non-operatic compositions, and the only such work to retain any measure of popularity in the present century.

The work is a full-fledged sonata-form overture, but despite its melodic and rhythmic inventiveness, it has a tendency to sound repetitive in the hands of lesser conductors and orchestras, which perhaps explains a cut in the waltz section that was incorporated in Novello's 1889 published version. Nevertheless, it is one of Sullivan's most persistently enjoyable works outside of the operas, as explained by a critic of the time, Henry Lunn, writing in the Musical Times:

Mr Sullivan's themes are so melodious and instinct with refined feeling, his instrumentation so graceful and ingenious, and his treatment of the subjects so thoroughly musican-like, that his compositiion appeals as much to the educated as to the uneducated ear.

At the premiere, the piece was described as the Overtura di Ballo, Sullivan mistakenly believing that overtura was an Italian word. It was published, however, as the Overture di Ballo, and it is known primarily under that name.

Recordings

1. London Symphony Orchestra; Dr. Malcolm Sargent, conductor; 1932
   See: Sir Arthur Sullivan: Sacred and Secular Music

2. New Symphony Orchestra of London; Sir Adrian Boult, conductor; 1960.

   This recording of the overture was brought to my attention by Nathan Chan. Nathan observs that the overture "times at 10:41, so he's taking it at a pretty brisk pace (unless he made a cut, but I don't think so)."

   It appears on a CD called Sir Adrian Boult Concert Favorites (Chesky CD-53). The other items on the disc are non-Sullivan related. It also appears on the CD/cassette re-issue of the 1963 Reader's Digest set, The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan.

   Bryan Bishop reports that it was previously issued on a Reader's Digest compilation from the early '60s called "A Festival of Light Classical Music" — 12 LP's in a big box containing 70 works by 42 composers with 6 different conductors (Boult, Massimo Freccia, Alexander Gibson, Leo Gruber, Rene Leibowitz, and Victor Desarzens). Bryan adds, "I believe it's the first of the famous Reader's Digest record sets, which were pressed by RCA."

3. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Charles Groves, conductor; 1968.

   Issue History, see:

   Symphony in E / Overture di Ballo: Groves
   Sir Charles Groves Conducts Sullivan Overtures
   Sargent/Glyndebourne Iolanthe

4. Boston Pops Orchestra; Arthur Fiedler, conductor; 1970
   Polydor 2391 005, Stereo LP
   Deutsche Grammophon 2584-027, Stereo LP

   This recording also includes Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Copland's Outdoor Overture, and Goldmark's Springtime Overture. Bruce Miller pointed out that this was the first recording after the BSO/Boston Pops split with RCA Victor (a relationship that had lasted since 1917). Bruce says that "both the recording technology and the performance are of a high technical standard; the Overture is the cut version, but it may well be the finest performance available on record."

5. National Symphony Orchestra of London; Anthony Collins, conductor; ?1972

   The first issuance of this recording that I know of is with a 1972 overtures disc but as the rest of the overtures on that album are from D'Oyly Carte recordings, the performance might have come from previously-issued material.

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan Overtures
   The World of Sir Arthur Sullivan

6. Philharmonia Orchestra; Charles Mackerras; conductor; 1983.

   Issue History, see:

   Pineapple Poll (Mackerras, 1983)
   1976 D'Oyly Carte Grand Duke
   2001 British Music Collection: Arthur Sullivan

7. Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Alexander Faris, conductor; 1986

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan Overtures

8. London Radio Orchestra; Frank James, conductor; 199-?

   Issue History, see:

   Gilbert & Sullivan Overtures

9. D'Oyly Carte Opera Orchestra; John Pryce-Jones, conductor; 1991.

   This is the only recording of the full 1970 version, with the traditional cuts opened.

   Issue History, see:

   New D'Oyly Carte Gondoliers
   Overtures by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

10. Band of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall; 1992

    Issue History, see:

    Sullivan Salute

11. Academy of St. Martin in the Fields; Sir Neville Marriner, conductor; 1993

    This recording was part of an excellent overtures disc recorded by Sir Neville Marriner in 1993.

    Issue History, see:

    Gilbert & Sullivan Overtures

Imperial March (1893)

Background

First Performance: Imperial Institute, 10 May 1893
Piano arr. published: Chappell, 1893.

In 1887, Sullivan composed an Ode for the laying of the foundation stone of the Imperial Institute, located in London's Kensington district. Six years later, Sullivan's composed this march to celebrate completion of the same edifice. The work is full of lush symphonic color redolent of an empire at its apex. On the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's 1976 recording of Utopia Limited, the Imperial March serves as a most appropriate introduction to the opera, which has no formal overture. However, the massive forces the work requires — it premiered with an orchestra of 93 players — prevent it from serving as a Utopia overture in the theater. Arthur Jacobs speaks of the work slightingly, but I find it a brilliant piece for the occasion.

Not one to waste a good composition, Sullivan would mine the Imperial March again four years later, in his ballet Victoria and Merrie England, in which it appears as a detached movement.

Recordings

1. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Royston Nash, conductor; 1976.

   This recording is positioned as an "overture" to the D'Oyly Carte's 1976 Utopia Limited recording.

   Issue History, see:

   1976 Utopia Limited

2. RTE Sinfonietta; Andrew Penny, conductor; 1993.

   This recording is part of Andrew Penny's excellent recording of the entire Victoria and Merrie England ballet.

   Issue History, see:

   Victoria and Merry England: Penny/RTE Symphonietta

3. BBC Concert Orchestra; Owain Arwel Hughes, conductor; 1993.

   Issue History, see:

   Arthur Sullivan: Irish Symphony etc.

The Absent Minded Beggar March (1900)

Background

On October 8th, 1899, Great Britain went to war with the Boer Government in South Africa. Rudyard Kipling wrote a song, The Absent Minded Beggar, to which Sullivan set the music, to raise money for families of the soldiers going to war.

Kipling said the song would "pull the teeth out of the barrel organs," and indeed the song was a great hit, raising thousands for charity. Sullivan said it was one of the hardest pieces of word-setting he ever did. He also arranged his setting as a march for military band, and when he conducted the March on 21 July 1900 at the National Brass Band Festival, it was his last public appearance as a musician.

The tune, particularly the refrain, is as catchy as anything Sullivan ever wrote: hear it once, and you'll never forget it.

Recordings

1. Band of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall; 1992

   Issue History, see:

   Sullivan Salute