Music and Vinyl: Parry - Symphony No.5

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918) is probably best known for his role as a music educator at
London's Royal College of Music (and the influence he had on young composers at the time including Vaughan Williams) and for composing what was to become an unofficial national anthem in the patriotic song Jerusalem.

As a composer Parry took the late Romantic, Germanic style of music as his starting point and is wrongly characterised a being conservative - both musically and in general outlook; a notion explored in this BBC "Composer of the Week" article.

Parry's Fifth, and final symphony, was written for the centenary of the Royal Philharmonic Society and first performed in 1912. In four linked movements it was published originally as a Symphonic Fantasia. The movements are titled Stress, Love, Play and Now. For more information click on the sleevenote scan below.

As the album sleeve describes, this was the last recording that producer Christopher Bishop made before leaving EMI for the Philharmonia Orchestra. Also it was Sir Adrian Boult's final recording - made some 42 years after his first. Boult retired from conducting three years later, and died 12 years after that in 1983 aged 93.