Record Review: One to avoid

[LMcD]

It's nothing to do with me! The recordings I listed are taken from the BBC MM articles. In the case of the Gershwin, there was specific mention of the remake being poor in relation to the 'magisterial' LSO one.

Sorry - I hadn't quite worked out the purpose of the thread!

[Pulcinella]

Sorry - I hadn't quite worked out the purpose of the thread!

Have you now?
It might be a non-starter, but given the criticism of recent BaLs I thought it might be a bit of light relief to name recordings each week we would NOT choose to be on our shelves instead, taking my cue from the BBC MM articles.
Tony too seemed to misinterpret the purpose at first; sorry if the OP was not sufficiently clear.

[mathias broucek]

I think it's a good idea

There are many, many perfectly competent recordings of core repertoire but there is still the odd howler. For me:

Beethoven 5 with Bohm/VPO. I learned the 5th from Maazel (BPO on Heliodor), Karajan (1977) and Cluytens. I was pretty shocked when I heard this flabby affair thirty something years ago

Bruckner 5 with Venzago. I know Jayne is a fan of his Bruckner and I quite enjoyed his 8th, but for once I agree with David Hurwitz: "Alvin and the Chipmunks Play Bruckner"....

[vinteuil]

.

... the only time I knew immediately that a CD I had acquired was a complete disaster was the Franck Symphony with Giulini and the Vienna Philharmonic, 1993 -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000083Y2X

Unbearably sluggish. I am still surprized it was ever released...

.

[jayne lee wilson]

I think it's a good idea

There are many, many perfectly competent recordings of core repertoire but there is still the odd howler. For me:

Beethoven 5 with Bohm/VPO. I learned the 5th from Maazel (BPO on Heliodor), Karajan (1977) and Cluytens. I was pretty shocked when I heard this flabby affair thirty something years ago

Bruckner 5 with Venzago. I know Jayne is a fan of his Bruckner and I quite enjoyed his 8th, but for once I agree with David Hurwitz: "Alvin and the Chipmunks Play Bruckner"....

No respect for Hurwitz on Venzago (he hates all of it) but yes - that 5th was a shame wasn't it? In a very good & fascinatingly renewed & refreshed Bruckner cycle (which effects a rapprochement with 1950s traditions of Bruckner performance) it sounds rushed, half-realised, not properly thought-through......yet the same team (Tapiola/Venzago) gave us an outstanding 0&1...

[mathias broucek]

No respect for Hurwitz on Venzago (he hates all of it) but yes - that 5th was a shame wasn't it? In a very good & fascinatingly renewed & refreshed Bruckner cycle (which effects a rapprochement with 1950s traditions of Bruckner performance) it sounds rushed, half-realised, not properly thought-through......yet the same team (Tapiola/Venzago) gave us an outstanding 0&1...

I wonder if the skills required to be good in the early symphonies and those needed for the later ones are not the same. There are of course conductors who do both well, but my favourites for the early symphonies and those for the 3rd onward are often different from different teams. For example, Solti's 1st is terrific but I wouldn't cross the street to hear him in the 8th (the Chicago Brass notwithstanding)...

[jayne lee wilson]

I wonder if the skills required to be good in the early symphonies and those needed for the later ones are not the same. There are of course conductors who do both well, but my favourites for the early symphonies and those for the 3rd onward are often different from different teams. For example, Solti's 1st is terrific but I wouldn't cross the street to hear him in the 8th (the Chicago Brass notwithstanding)...

Venzago used several different orchestras through the cycle. The 7th with the Basel SO is outstanding; 8th with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the 9th with the Berne SO inevitably have their controversies, but are finely played, well made & full of interpretative interest...

[Alain Maréchal]

.

... the only time I knew immediately that a CD I had acquired was a complete disaster was the Franck Symphony with Giulini and the Vienna Philharmonic, 1993 -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000083Y2X

Unbearably sluggish. I am still surprized it was ever released...

.

I have never heard that recording: is it possible that it could be even more sluggish than Barenboim and the Orchestre de Paris, recorded when he was intent on removing all remaining French orchestral intonation and turning it into the German orchestra he would have preferred to direct?

[cloughie]

I wonder if the skills required to be good in the early symphonies and those needed for the later ones are not the same. There are of course conductors who do both well, but my favourites for the early symphonies and those for the 3rd onward are often different from different teams. For example, Solti's 1st is terrific but I wouldn't cross the street to hear him in the 8th (the Chicago Brass notwithstanding)...

What about the VPO?

[Barbirollians]

I don’t agree about the Pittsburgh/Previn - I know it is the accepted view that the LSO recordings are much better but I got to know the works from the Pittsburgh recordings and loved the American in Paris in particular.

[Dave2002]

.

... the only time I knew immediately that a CD I had acquired was a complete disaster was the Franck Symphony with Giulini and the Vienna Philharmonic, 1993 -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000083Y2X

Unbearably sluggish. I am still surprized it was ever released...

.

Böhm's digital recording of Beethoven's 9th. Also sluggish. Some reviewers said it was OK - i wonder if they ever listened to it, or if they did, what were they on!

[LMcD]

I may be a bit slow on the uptake, but I thought that the purpose of this thread was to post messages about to-be-avoided recordings of whatever is to be the subject of the Building a Library segment in the next Record Review.

[Pulcinella]

I may be a bit slow on the uptake, but I thought that the purpose of this thread was to post messages about recordings of whatever is to be the subject of the Building a Library segment in the next Record Review.

No, you're not slow on the update.
That was the thought behind my original posting, and the 'challenge' for someone to set a thread going on any recordings of the Mozart Gran partita to avoid.

Best laid plans and all that......

[Dave2002]

I may be a bit slow on the uptake, but I thought that the purpose of this thread was to post messages about to-be-avoided recordings of whatever is to be the subject of the Building a Library segment in the next Record Review.

Ah - so when our list of available recordings comes out before each BAL we should have a chance to give thumbs down to ones we particularly don't like.

[Pulcinella]

Ah - so when our list of available recordings comes out before each BAL we should have a chance to give thumbs down to ones we particularly don't like.

Exactly so: with reasons.
So maybe not even a parallel thread needed each week.

It was just a thought.....