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: The Symphonies
Vernon Handley, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Oct 1, 2003
The Qobuz Essential DiscographyGramophone Award24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Maconchy: Symphony for Double String Orchestra - Serenata Concertante
London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Manoug Parikian, Vernon Handley, Barry Wordsworth
Classical - Released by Lyrita on Apr 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bax: Orchestral Works
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Norman Del Mar, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Lyrita on Jun 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: 4 Sea Interludes - Bridge: The Sea - Bax: On The Sea Shore
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Aug 1, 1986
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stanford: Six Irish Rhapsodies, Piano Concerto No. 2 & Down Among the Dead Men
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, Margaret Fingerhut, Lydia Mordkovitch, Raphael Wallfisch
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Nov 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi: Cello Concerto, Op. 40 & Clarinet Concerto, Op. 31
John Denman, Yo-Yo Ma, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Lyrita on Jan 1, 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi: Orchestral Works
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Rodney Friend, Peter Katin, Sir Adrian Boult, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Lyrita on Feb 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bax: Tone Poems, Vol. 2
Vernon Handley, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Apr 1, 2008
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Delius: Florida Suite & North Country Sketches
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jul 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Overture to The Wasps, Serenade to Music - Delius: Two Pieces for Small Orchestra, Summer Evening & Air and Dance
Vernon Handley, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rubbra: Symphonies Nos. 6 and 8 - Soliloquy
Philharmonia Orchestra, Rohan de Saram, Norman Del Mar, London Symphony Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Lyrita on Jan 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stanford: Symphony No. 3 & Irish Rhapsody No. 5
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bliss: Checkmate Suite, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Hymn to Apollo, Music for Strings & Lie Strewn the White Flocks
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 1999
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stanford: Symphony No. 2 "Elegaic" & Clarinet Concerto in A Minor
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, Janet Hilton
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moeran: Symphony in G Minor, Overture for a Masque & Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra
Vernon Handley, Ulster Orchestra, Margaret Fingerhut
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 2004
Discothèque Insolite Qobuz16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending, Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, The Wasps & Prelude and Fugue
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Nov 25, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bax: Tone Poems, Vol. 1
Vernon Handley, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Mar 1, 2006
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Best Of British Light Music
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Jul 16, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bax: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2
Vernon Handley, Bryden Thomson, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bainton: Symphony No. 2 - Gough: Serenade for Small Orchestra - Clifford: Symphony 1940
Vernon Handley, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 1999
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi: Cello Concerto and other Orchestral Works
Vernon Handley, Richard Hickox, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City Of London Sinfonia, Raphael Wallfisch, Tasmin Little
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 2007
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo