Description

BEATRICE HARRISON (ROORKEE, NORTH-WEST INDIA, 9 DECEMBER, 1892 – SURREY, ENGLAND, 10 MARCH, 1965)

Beatrice Harrison was born in Roorkee, North-West India. The Harrison family moved back to England during her childhood and she studied at the Royal College of Music, London, and afterwards under Hugo Becker, and at the High School of Music in Berlin. In 1910 she won the Mendelssohn Prize, and made her debut in the Bechstein Hall, Berlin. Beatrice was the sister of May Harrison, violinist, a student of Leopold Auer; Margaret Harrison, a pianist, but perhaps better known as a breeder of Irish Wolfhounds and a dog show judge; and Monica. May had once stood in for Fritz Kreisler in a Mendelssohn concert at Helsingfors. Both May and Beatrice won the Gold Medal of the Associated Board for violin and cello respectively. The Harrison family became friends with Roger Quilter and his circle through the Soldiers’ concerts in 1916. On 11 March 1918 Beatrice performed Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Beecham. Hugo Becker had spoken to Sir Henry Wood of his admiration for Beatrice Harrison’s playing even before her debut. Both Edward Elgar and Wood were great admirers. May and Beatrice performed together under Wood’s baton in Brahms’ Double Concerto. Beatrice was the first performer of Delius’s Cello Sonata (Wigmore Hall, 31 Oct 1918): on 11 November, May gave the first performance of the Delius Violin Sonata No. 1, which she later recorded with Arnold Bax at the piano. Beatrice and her sister gave the first performance of Delius’s Double Concerto (which he had completed in 1915 and dedicated to them) in his presence at a Queen’s Hall Symphony Concert in January 1920. After this Delius returned to Grez and, at Beatrice Harrison’s request, began work on his Cello Concerto. She performed the Cello Sonata at a concert in Paris on 8 June. After two months’ uninterrupted work in his Hampstead flat, Delius finished the concerto in the spring of 1921, and it was performed by the cellist whom Sir Thomas Beecham called ‘this talented lady.’ When Delius’s remains were re-buried according to his wishes in a southern English country churchyard, on 24 May 1935, the village chosen was Limpsfield near the Harrison home at Oxted in Surrey: Beatrice Harrison played after the service, at which Thomas Beecham gave the oration. Harrison gave the first festival performance of Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto outside London, at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford in 1921. By 1924 she had toured in Europe and America, and in November 1925 she reappeared at the Royal Philharmonic in the all-Elgar concert, performing the Cello Concerto under Elgar’s baton. In 1929 at the Harrogate festival she was a contributor at a festival concert of works associated with the Frankfurt Group (Quilter and colleagues), and in 1933 Quilter re-arranged his ‘L’Amour de moy’ for her for a broadcast. Beatrice Harrison’s performances became well known through broadcast in the early days of BBC sound radio. Perhaps inevitably the Elgar Concerto was the work with which she was most closely identified, not least in her performances for Henry Wood. There was a very successful performance in August 1937, and another at the Elgar Concert of 27 August 1940, with the London Symphony Orchestra, in the old Queen’s Hall, less than a year before it was destroyed by German bombing. She was one of the English soloists who took part in Wood’s very final season in July 1944, a month before his death. Beatrice Harrison owned and played a cello made by Pietro Guarneri (Pietro da Venezia) (1695–1762). She died in Surrey in 1965.

 TRACKLIST

1. Ave Maria, Op. 52, No. 4 (Schubert – Popper) Victor 55067 C-16937
2. Caprice (Delius) (Orchestra cond. By Eric Fenby) HMV 30-5410 B3721 C Studio, Small Queen’s Hall, London 25-11-30
3. Cello Concerto (Bax) I. Allegro moderato 1 BBC Symphony Orchestra Henry Wood Recorded 01 February 1938
4. Cello Concerto (Bax) I. Allegro moderato 2 BBC Symphony Orchestra Henry Wood Recorded 01 February 1938
5. Cello Concerto (Bax) II. Nocturne – Lento 1 BBC Symphony Orchestra Henry Wood Recorded 01 February 1938
6. Cello Concerto (Bax) II. Nocturne – Lento 2 BBC Symphony Orchestra Henry Wood Recorded 01 February 1938
7. Cello Concerto (Bax) III. Molto vivace 1 BBC Symphony Orchestra Henry Wood Recorded 01 February 1938
8. Cello Concerto (Bax) III. Molto vivace 2 BBC Symphony Orchestra Henry Wood Recorded 01 February 1938
9. Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (Elgar) I. Adagio – Moderato Symphony Orchestra Sir Edward Elgar Recorded 22 December 1919 16 November 1920
10. Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (Elgar) II. Lento – Allegro molto Symphony Orchestra Sir Edward Elgar Recorded 22 December 1919 16 November 1920
11. Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (Elgar) III. Adagio Symphony Orchestra Sir Edward Elgar Recorded 22 December 1919 16 November 1920
12. Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (Elgar) IV. Allegro – Moderato – Allegro ma non troppo Symphony Orchestra Sir Edward Elgar Recorded 22 December 1919
13. Cello Concerto Op. 85 (Elgar) I. Adagio – Moderato New Symphony Orchestra, Edward Elgar, Studio recording, London 1928
14. Cello Concerto Op. 85 (Elgar) II. Lento – Allegro molto New Symphony Orchestra, Edward Elgar, Studio recording, London 1928
15. Cello Concerto Op. 85 (Elgar) III. Adagio New Symphony Orchestra, Edward Elgar, Studio recording, London 1928
16. Cello Concerto Op. 85 (Elgar) IV. Allegro – Moderato – Allegro ma non troppo New Symphony Orchestra, Edward Elgar, Studio recording, London 1928
17. Cello Sonata (Delius) 1. Allegro ma non troppo 2. Lento, molto tranquillo 3. Tempo primo Harold Craxton (piano) HMV D1103-4 February-March 1926
18. Cello Sonata No. 1 In E Minor, Op. 38 (Brahms) I. Allegro non troppo HMV D 1380 Gerald Moore (piano) 1926-1927
19. Cello Sonata No. 1 In E Minor, Op. 38 (Brahms) II. Allegretto quasi menuetto HMV D 1381 Gerald Moore (piano) 1926-1927
20. Cello Sonata No. 1 In E Minor, Op. 38 (Brahms) III. Allegro HMV D 1382 Gerald Moore (piano) 1926-1927
21. Chanson Grecque, Op. 97 (Seligman) Margaret Harrison (piano) HMV E186 2-7866 18-6-18
22. Dawn in an Old World Garden (English Songbirds Awakening) Actually recorded in Beatrice Harrison’s Garden, Oxted, England Victor 20968-A
23. Élégie (Delius) (Orchestra cond. By Eric Fenby) HMV 30-5409 B3721 C Studio, Small Queen’s Hall, London 25-11-30
24. Gavotte No. 2 in D Major, Op. 23 (Popper) with Margaret Harrison (piano) HMV 2-07851 HO 3807 af 18-6-19
25. Harlequinade (Popper) Margaret Harrison (Piano) HMV C1626 3-07867 20-8-28
26. Hassan Serenade (Delius) Margaret Harrison (Piano) HMV 30-1908 B3274 28-10-29
27. In a Village Churchyard – an Easter Idyll Birds, Bells, Organ & Choir (Cat gives Beatrice Harrison) HMV 30-2932 1930-03-12
28. Irish Melody Londonderry Air with Nichtingales HMV 2-9253 B2470
29. Liebesfreud (Kreisler) Victor 45066-A 45066A
30. Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner) Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein Victor 55067 C-16936
31. Melody (Dawes) Margaret Harrison (piano) HMV B 3274 30-1907 28-10-29
32. Nightingales Actually recorded in Beatrice Harrison’s Garden, Oxted, England Victor 20968-B 20968B
33. Orientale Op. 50 No. 9 (Cui) Victor 45066 B-15898
34. Paradise (Krakauer-Kreisler) Margaret Harrison (piano) HMV C1647 3-07868 20-8-28
35. Sadko (Rimsky-Korsakov) Chanson hindoue May Harrison (piano) HMV 7-87801 E186 24-2-20
36. Sarabande in D (Bach arr Henschel) with George Henschel, piano HMV 2-07852 D474 30-3-20
37. Slumber song Op. 46 No. 1 (Rimsky-Korsakov-Popper) Victor 45072 B-15897
38. The Broken Melody (Van Biene) Margaret Harrison (piano) HMV C 1626 3-07866 20-8-28
39. To My Guitar (Zur Guitarre) (Spanische Tänze) Op. 54, No. 1 (Popper) Victor 45072-A
40. Vito (Spanish Dances), Op. 54, No. 5 (Popper) Margaret Harrison (piano) HMV 07898 HO 3809 af 18-6-19
41. Xerxes (Handel) Ombra Mai Fu Margaret Harrison (piano) HMV C1647 3-07853 13-2-28