Dick Claeys <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>And I have Malcom Arnold's "Grand, Grand Overture," written for the
>Hoffnung Festival and featuring a full orchestra plus--three vacuum
>cleaners, an electric floor polisher, and four rifles.  I save it for
>my guests who still wait for something new from Spike Jones.  This is a
>Conifer recording, #75605 51240 2, with Vernon Handley conducting the
>Royal Philharmonic.

That disc is no longer available but there are two alternatives (both
available from the Hoffnung website
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/hoffnung/Hoffsales/hoffsale.htm) The original
as performed at the 1956 concert is on a 3CD EMI set [$33 post free] and
there is a stereo version on a Decca double CD from the 1988 posthumous
concert [$24 post free]

Can I take this oportunity of drawing your attention to the recenlty
released BBC CD of the Oxford Union speech (Barrel of Bricks) and to
announce that two new little books will be available from the site in
November: Hoffnung's Little ones and Hoffnung's happy hamper.  I shall
also be collecting from annetta Hoffnung sets of postcards of the cartoons
and possible the few remaining biographies of Gerard Hoffnung.

Len Mullenger
www.musicweb.uk.net  www.FilmMusic.uk.net
www.TheClassicalSite.com