Malcolm Sargent - Icon (The Great s)

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Malcolm Sargent's reputation as one of the great popularizers of classical music in Britain arose not only through his long association with the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (1947-67), but was evident much earlier through chief conductorships of the Halle (1939-42), Liverpool Philharmonic (1942-48), and BBC Symphony Orchestras (1950-57).By the time he became a fixture at the Proms in 1947 Sir Malcolm (he was knighted in 1947) his was one of the best-known names in England. In personality, showmanship, and energy he was ideal for the nightly concerts.Sargent amassed a commercial discography of imposing breadth and variety. His first HMV s date from as far back as 1924 with excerpts from Vaughan Williams's opera Hugh the Drover, which was captured by the pre-electric acoustic process, and his career with the company ended in 1966 with Walton's First Symphony.Sargent's wide-ranging repertoire extended from Handel to Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. 'Messiah and The Mikado have been the twin pillars of my career,' he once joked; it was hardly true - his inspirational handling of choral bodies ensured that Handel's oratorios and others such as Mendelssohn's Elijah would be indelibly associated with him all his life.CD Listing:CD 1: Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 'Eroica'; Schubert: Symphony No. 8 'Unfinished'CD 2: Rossini, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Wagner: OverturesCD 3: Rossini: La Boutique fantastique: Concert Suite; Dohnnyi, Ibert: SuitesCDs 4-5: Handel: MessiahCDs 6-7: Mendelssohn: ElijahCD 8: Elgar: Enigma Variations, Serenade in E minor; Delius: A Song before Sunrise, Songs of FarewellCD 9: Walton: Belshazzars Feast; Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius Part 1CD 10: Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius Part 2; Parry, Arne, Elgar: AnthemsCD 11: Vaughan Williams: The Wasps Overture; Greensleeves & Tallis Fantasias; Serenade to Music Toward the Unknown Region; Romance in D; Holst: St