June 1979 – Ulster Orchestra makes its recording debut

On 9th and 10th June 1979, the Ulster Orchestra completed its very first commercial recordings at the Ulster Hall for a newly-formed Chandos Records.

Bryden Thomson conducted the orchestra and soloists Ralph Holmes and Pan Hon Lee in a veritable celebration of the music of Sir Hamilton Harty, marking the centenary of the composer’s birth. This record featured Harty’s romantic Violin Concerto in D minor, A John Field Suite and his well-loved arrangement of the Londonderry Air. The recordings were sponsored by the Ulster Orchestra Association with assistance from the Northern Bank and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Rathcol, the Belfast Telegraph’s music critic, reviewed the record, praising Holmes’ ‘remarkably persuasive’ account of the concerto, and Lee’s ‘quiet fervour and finely spun tone’ in his playing of the Londonderry Air. He described the recording as a ‘labour of love’ for Bryden Thomson, the orchestra, and all who made it possible.