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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Howells: Hymnus Paradisi & An English Mass
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Mar 1, 1992
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
Classical - Released by Chandos on Aug 1, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonie n° 6 & Rhapsodie irlandaise
Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on Aug 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: In Nature's Realm, Carnival, Othello & Scherzo Capriccioso
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Apr 1, 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
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ouvertures
Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on Apr 1, 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bliss: A Colour Symphony & Checkmate Suite
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Symphonic Dances and other Orchestral Works
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on May 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Simpson: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Oct 1, 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
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Sep 14, 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
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 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
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jul 1, 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Simpson: Symphony No. 10
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Sep 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bliss: Cello Concerto, The Enchantress & Hymn to Apollo
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, Raphael Wallfisch, Linda Finnie
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Dec 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Serenade No. 1 in D Major & Variations on a Theme
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 & Nocturne for Strings
Vernon Handley, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moeran: Violin Concerto & 2 Pieces for Small Orchestra
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, Lydia Mordkovitch
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moeran: Rhapsodies Nos. 1-3 & In the Mountain Country
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, Margaret Fingerhut
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on May 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Herbert Howells: Concertos & Dances
Kathryn Stott, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Oct 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Biblical songs; Fernström: Symphony No. 12
Malmö Symfoniorkester, Birgit Finnilä, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Big Ben Phonogram on Jan 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Banks, Morgan & Fricker: Violin Concertos
Yfrah Neaman, Erich Gruenberg, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Norman Del Mar, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Lyrita on Feb 1, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo