James Galway - The Classical James Galway

I know some of the classical world’s superstars (your Joshua Bells, Lang Langs, Julian Blisses, et cetera) but I had not yet heard of Sir James Galway of Belfast when I popped this in. It’s a compilation of previously recorded work released by the revived RCA Victor imprint of BMG.

Now is not a great time to be a classical music fan in the USA. Elderly patrons have hijacked the concert program, demanding pieces from 200 and 300 years ago over contemporary composers who are just as good, much less any 20th century adventurers or anything outside of the common practice. Still, I went in with an open mind.

Galway’s lipless smile and murky paisley tie grace a conservative front cover. Eight composers, mostly Baroque, of which only six make the front of the bill. John Field and J.S. Bach’s less famous son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, are relegated to the back cover, which is highly utilitarian and stiff. The case is smudgy and still has a piece of the tape seal from Borders or wherever on the back. The interior booklet is devoid of images, purely some additional information about the other players and a bit of historical context about each work. It’s set up like a concert program.

Baroque music is not usually my thing, I much prefer Romantic and (tonal) 20th-century orchestral music, but Galway makes a good case for it here. This is recorded very well. All the pieces are live, as is the standard for orchestral recordings, and despite the multiple different rooms and engineers Galway’s tone is always sweet and pure. The Schubert serenade is perhaps my favorite flute sound of his. He has almost total control of his instrument, imbuing slow passages with great emotion, though some of the faster runs are a little lacking in the stuff. I don’t like the Vivaldi concerto they chose to open, it’s very square. The J.S. Bach selections are good. The C.P.E. Bach flute solo drags.

Again, like the previous album I reviewed, this is a demanding listen at 69 minutes long. The record booklet and general presentation seem to imply that this is meant to be listened to in one sitting, as a classical concert. It may not be too long in that context, but it is too long in mine. The songs on the second half of the record are more interesting to me than the first, which means that sitting and listening isn’t that appealing. Underneath the conservative trappings, Galway and the various ensembles with which he performs manage to hide a glimmer of humanity on record at what might go down as Classical music’s most humbled period in history. It makes me want to go to a concert, but it doesn’t make me want to listen to the disc a second time.

The Classical James Galway is a good compilation, but I don’t like it.