Sir Alexander Gibson (1926-95) was a versatile conductor – opera, symphonic music, core repertoire, numerous premieres – and he left a sizeable discography. He never came my way in person – no interview, no chance meeting at a function – but when he comes up in conversation he is invariably remembered as much-admired and very likeable. I attended only one Gibson concert, with the Scottish National Orchestra in London’s Royal Festival Hall, early-eighties I guess, which included a very impressive Elgar Second Symphony. On Radio 3, live from the Edinburgh Festival, a few years later, there was a simply electrifying performance of Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem.
Let’s start with his never-bettered recording (not even by himself, for Chandos) of Malcolm Arnold’s Tam O’Shanter Overture (1959/Decca with the New Symphony Orchestra of London):
And it’s a similar story with Hamish MacCunn’s The Land of the Mountain and the Flood (now Warner Classics):
Gibson was a noted Sibelian, plenty of recordings, including this Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Symphony No.1 for Collins Classics, the beginning of a complete cycle (not Gibson’s first) that he didn’t live to complete:
Or this Sibelius 3 from 1965, SNO, recorded by Waverley and issued by Saga, new to me just now, and excellent:
Anyway, that’s enough for now. I recall a fine Gibson Vaughan Williams 5 (RPO for EMI/now Warner) and he conducted the first of John Lill’s Beethoven Piano Concerto cycles, Classics for Pleasure, a set I keep by me.
Further information on Sir Alex:
Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Gibson_(conductor)
Discography: https://www.discogs.com/artist/843127-Alexander-Gibson
Bonus music: Gibson conducts the premiere of Symphony by Graham Williams (with SNO, but undated and no other details): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlarSUAwYnI – seems to be an engaging piece.
He was a very fine conductor indeed – his Rachmaninoff Second Symphony from the Proms in (I think) 1977 was the greatest performance I’ve ever heard. He was a good friend and his sudden death was a tragedy for music in Britain, and for British music.
Bob, as you know, I’m sure, AG recorded Rach 2 for Chandos, in 1980, https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%208423. I’ve never heard it but am now keen to do so. Colin
Glad to see Sir Alex’s Sibelius 1 included. We recorded it at St John’s Smith Square in August 1989. As a boy I’d go to his Tchaikovsky Sundays at the Royal Albert Hall. Producing him thirty years later, I got to know a generous, courteous gentleman, always immaculately prepared, always willing to listen to any minor input I might have had to offer. Our first collaboration, with the LPO, was a blistering Tchaikovsky album: 1812, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet. Then we did Sibelius: the first two symphonies, Karelia, Finlandia, Four Legends, Valse triste (the latter, however, neither edited nor released). Lunches at his London club, whiskies beforehand, were invariably urbane, cultured, discursive affairs. There was much to like and admire about him. The best of old-world values.
Thanks Ates; I didn’t know the Collins Sibelius 1 is one of yours. I’ve had the CD since issue and was very impressed, enough to go straight to YT hoping to find it. Colin
Thanks for this cornucopia, Colin. Sir Alex was part of my music ‘soundtrack’ as an Edinburgh B.Mus undergraduate in the 1970s, and Bob is quite right about his performances of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony. I remember being blown away by one of them at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall in 1974. I couldn’t speak for a while afterwards. Towards the end of my days as a critic, I wrote the sleeve note for his excellent Chandos recording of the work, which led my producing sessions with him in London in 1993 – frustratingly late for me, as he was clearly an ill man and was to make only two subsequent recordings. Nevertheless, he was a gentleman and complete professional throughout our sessions, unfailingly courteous and helpful to a soloist not exactly at the top of his game. It’s surely time for a revival of interest in this distinguished and versatile musician, creator of Scottish Opera and builder of the Scottish National Orchestra into an ensemble of international reputation. My own favourite recordings include that Saga Sibelius 3 (coupled with an even finer no. 7) and the Tam O’Shantar posted above by Colin, an RCA Sibelius 5 with the LSO and (with the same orchestra) an electrifying Berlioz ‘Mort de Cleopatre’ with Janet Baker in fabulous form. There’s also the best-selling EMI ‘Music of the Four Countries’ which includes Hamish MacCunn’s delightful ‘Land of the Mountain and the Flood’ – the SNO in great form. Two items of essential reading: Conrad Wilson’s biography, ‘Alex’ and Philip Stuart’s online discography.
Thank you, Colin, for this illuminating post. I used to listen a good deal to Gibson’s recording with RSNO of the Stravinsky symphonies and the Ode (memorial to Natalie Koussevitzky)… I’d not heard these recordings though for at least a decade. As you know, I’ve let go all my CDs and LPs, but have just found the Stravinsky and all the Chandos recordings on Spotify. And am listening again… [I always feel queasy about using Spotify, but less so if I know that I once bought the recording!]
Tom Deacon re-issued Sir Alex’s early Sibelius Five with the LSO on Decca Legends in November 2001, re-mastered by Christopher Raeburn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbhXDkYjFBw “The finale is simply ne plus ultra and hair raising to boot,” he reminds me. A driven, grandly structured, emotionally imperious performance – if without the audible timpani grace-notes of (later Scandinavian induced) practice. Kingsway Hall, 9-10 February 1959. Producer Erik Smith, Engineer Kenneth Wilkinson. The original LP was released on RCA Red Seal Living Stereo in June 1960, then by Decca in May 1971. From an LSO May 1959 RFH programme Hugh Maguire, Neville Marriner, Simon Streatfeild, Kenneth Heath and Stuart Knussen likely led the string sections, Barry Tuckwell heading horns, Dennis Clift trumpets and Dennis Wick heavy brass, and Alexander Murray, Roger Lord, Gervase de Peyer and William Waterhouse leading the woodwind.
Compelling performance and great recorded sound. Colin
Growing up in Scotland in the 1950’s and 60’s, the SNO was pretty much the only game in town apart from the visiting orchestras during the Edinburgh Festival. Consequently, I must have heard more than 50 SNO concerts at that time, many of them with Gibson.
The first time I heard the orchestra was in Elgin (Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Campoli and Beethoven 7 with Gibson conducting – as 13 year old schoolboy I went backstage and Campoli was charm itself, signing my LP of the concerto). Two things worth mentioning. In my experience there are conductors who build orchestras and those who live vicariously off them; Gibson was definitely one of the former. Secondly, in retrospect he had a quite extraordinary range of music which he conducted well. I heard him conduct all the Sibelius Symphonies, most of the Dvorak symphonies including the lesser known ones, the Rachmaninov Symphonies (No 1 was superb, not just 2), Elgar (including an excellent 1and the Cello Concerto with Du Pré and the Violin Concerto with Menuhin), Nielsen 4, Berlioz Te Deum, Mahler 1,6, 8, Knaben Wunderhorn and Das Lied. Interestingly, although the SNO could be pretty variable at that time, it had some excellent individual players – Tom Ratter, the first oboe and Virginia Henson, the first clarinet were both excellent players – Jascha Horenstein, commenting on their playing in the slow movement of Brahms 1, said that he had never heard that duet better played and he had conducted the piece around 100 times). Gibson also worked with many major performers who would probably otherwise never have found their way to Scotland – Richter, Arrau, Curzon, Perlman, Menuhin, Suk, Du Pré, Navarra inter alia and conductors such as Boult, Barbirolli, Dorati and Horenstein all worked with the orchestra back in the 60’s. With Scottish Opera too, besides The Ring, there were memorable productions of Cosi fan Tutte with Janet Baker, and Les Troyens complete, also with Janet Baker. Lastly, we heard a great deal of seldom performed music – for example, with Gibson, John Ogdon played the Liszt E flat Concerto as a warm up on the first half for the Busoni Concerto on the second. How many conductors today have this kind of range? We were fortunate to have him.
Gibson liked special programmes.
He bought his players to London and conducted Sibelius and Mahler 4.
Sounds easy really but it turned out to be very complex to my mind.
As a young boy growing up in Glasgow in the early 70s Sir Alexander Gibson and the SNO were my introduction to live orchestral music. In fact, my very first concert I heard opened with Sibelius 6th symphony under Gibson and I still get shivers at the memory of the opening multilayered strings in the first movement…and it’s still one of my favourite pieces. With a subscription to Scottish Opera as well as the SNO I felt privileged in my musical education under Gibson. I concur with what many have already said , he could produce some quite spellbinding live performances…And if his recorded legacy doesn’t quite match the quality of his gifts, or always the mercurial fire of his live performances , I , for one, am glad they are there. Memories of a truly gifted musician and conductor…..even if it’s scandalous the only full opera recording we have of him is a live 1957 Tosca from the royal opera House…
You might also find there’s a YouTube version of him conducting the SNO in Sibelius’s Karelia Suite too ( from the BBC I think..somewhere …
https://youtu.be/BA3OPsRVcYs