Vernon Handley
One of England's busiest and most recorded conductors of the late 20th century, Vernon Handley emerged in the 1970s as the successor to Sir Adrian Boult and Sir John Barbirolli as the leading exponent of English music. Like Boult before him, he made a career specialty out of performing and recording symphonic music from England, some of it well-known and much of it overlooked by previous generations of conductors and audiences.
Vernon George Handley was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and the Guildhall School of Music. His earliest engagements as conductor were with the Oxford University Musical Club and Union, the Tonbridge Philharmonic Society, and the orchestra of the Hatfield School of Music and Drama. He became a professor of orchestra and conducting at the Royal College of Music during 1966, a post he held for six years. During the 1960s and 1970s, Handley was a frequent guest conductor with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Welsh Orchestra and the BBC Northern Symphony, the London Philharmonic, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. He was also frequently seen as a guest conductor on tour in various European countries, including Germany, Holland, Sweden, and France. Handley was also seen as a conductor at the London Proms concerts, and was the chief guest conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra from 1989 to 1994, in addition to holding posts with several Australian orchestras. In 1998 he became principal guest conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and was, as well, associate conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Handley's major impact as a conductor was through his recordings for EMI and Chandos, where he performed a large body of important English music. For EMI, his recordings of the music of Delius and Elgar, and, especially, the nine Vaughan Williams symphonies have proved perennially popular, the latter good successors to the earlier recordings by Sir Adrian Boult. For Chandos, he recorded a more unusual and specialized body of work, including the six symphonies of Sir Charles Villier Stanford -- which had largely been forgotten since the first decade of the 20th century -- and the works of E.J. Moeran, Sir Arnold Bax, Sir Arthur Bliss, Peter Warlock, and Gerald Finzi, among many others. Handley also occasionally did work with more mainstream European composers, including conducting Jill Gomez's highly effective performance of the Joseph Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne.
When he wasn't conducting, Handley spent much of his time studying and photographing birds in their natural habitats.
© TiVo
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Bax: In Memoriam / Concertante for Piano Left Hand / the Bard of the Dimbovitza
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Margaret Fingerhut, Jean Rigby, Vernon Handley
Klassiek - Released by Chandos on 1 feb. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Serenade No. 1 & Variations on a Theme by Haydn
Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Klassiek - Released by Chandos on 1 feb. 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Œuvres orchestrales (Volume 4)
Ulster Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bryden Thomson, Vernon Handley
Symfonische muziek - Released by Chandos on 6 okt. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Howells: Hymnus Paradisi & An English Mass
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, Vernon Handley
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 1 mrt. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carnival of the Animals - Classics for Children
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley, The National Philharmonic Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Reader's Digest Music on 18 jan. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Cello Concerto; 8 Songs arr. cello & orchestra
Raphael Wallfisch, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Klassiek - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 jan. 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gustav Holst, The Planets, Op. 32 / H. 125
Klassiek - Released by Classical.com Music on 16 feb. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams (An Introduction To)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Davis, Vernon Handley, Bryden Thomson
Klassiek - Released by Chandos on 1 aug. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonie n° 6 & Rhapsodie irlandaise
Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Symfonische muziek - Released by Chandos on 1 aug. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: In Nature's Realm, Carnival, Othello & Scherzo Capriccioso
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 1 apr. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Serenade To Music
Vernon Handley, Christopher Warren-Green, Ronald Thomas, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Soloists of Australia
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 1 feb. 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ouvertures
Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Symfonische muziek - Released by Chandos on 1 apr. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bliss: A Colour Symphony & Checkmate Suite
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 1 feb. 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Wagner, Die Walküre
Klassiek - Released by Classical.com Music on 16 feb. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Symphonic Dances and other Orchestral Works
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 1 mei 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Simpson: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 1 okt. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rutland Boughton: Symphony No. 3 & Oboe Concerto No. 1
Sarah Francis, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 14 sep. 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
An Irish Rhapsody - The Ulster Orchestra play Music of Bax, Moeran, Stanford & Harty
Bryden Thomson, Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, Pan Hon Lee
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 1 feb. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi: Cello Concerto - Leighton: Veris Gratia
Vernon Handley, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, George Caird, Raphael Wallfisch
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 1 jul. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The English Masters-Vol.2
Klassiek - Released by Documents on 1 sep. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Simpson: Symphony No. 10
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Klassiek - Released by Hyperion on 1 sep. 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo