Maazel on record

[mathias broucek]

Prompted by the reissue of some of his Cleveland material referred to on the Bargains Thread, I wonder what people's experiences of Maazel's recordings are.

I have some of his early-ish stuff with BPO and VPO on DG and Decca respectively and it's pretty good.

I have very few of his more recent recordings, just his BRSO Richard Strauss which I rather enjoyed - not least because both orchestra and sound are both excellent.

The British press has generally been rude about his time in Cleveland (and his work since) period and I once heard some rather dull Mahler with the VPO.

Any thoughts?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I quite like some of his stuff from the '60s - the VPO Sibelius Symphonies, the Tchaikovsky cycle and (especially) the Ravel operas - and the Scriabin disc with Ashkenasy, the Mahler Fourth from the CBS/SONY set and the BPO Zemlinsky aren't at all bad. But very little he's done really appeals to me beyond that.

[umslopogaas]

I've always valued the Decca Sibelius symphony cycle and have all of them on LP. Nothing else comes to mind, though I'm sure I've got other works conducted by him.

[visualnickmos]

I've always valued the Decca Sibelius symphony cycle and have all of them on LP. Nothing else comes to mind, though I'm sure I've got other works conducted by him.

Agreed! I have the Decca set on Belart (I think they are the same recordings)

I have one or two CDs of him conducting Richard Strauss; very good, they are. And a Beethoven 4th and 5th symphony, which is also good. In fact I'm going to give it a spin this evening..... just to check!

[Madame Suggia]

His recording of Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet are wonderful

[visualnickmos]

.....a Beethoven 4th and 5th symphony, which I also very good. In fact I'm going to give it a spin this evening..... just to check!

Actually the 5th which is on as I write is sort of, well, I don't know really. I want to like it, but there is something that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps a little too 'pleasant' whereas I feel it should be slightly more combustible. And let's face it, there are literally hundreds of cracking Beethoven symphonies out there! Maazel is just too neat and tidy. Would be fab if it was Haydn!

[visualnickmos]

His recording of Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet are wonderful

Yes it (Ravel) is - I'd forgotten about that

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I too like his VPO Tchaikovsky and Sibelius cycles. Also his New Year's Day concert recordings are among the better ones. Quite a decent Alpine Symphony too.
I bought hos Mahler cycle, which is uneven with a great 4 and a very dull 8.

[gurnemanz]

His recording of Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet are wonderful

I'll second that. In fact these seem to be my only two recordings by him.

[amateur51]

He's never struck me as a conductor of the first rank; there is always a better alternative performance from another conductor, it seems to me.

If I want a Sibelius symphony cycle then I go to Davis, Vanska or Berglund. If I want the two works mentioned by Ravel or Prokofiev then I go to Previn, etc etc.

And ss he much of an accompanist in concertos, for instance? I don't recall any at all.

[Nick Armstrong]

His recording of Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet are wonderful

Yes!! Utterly brilliant.

I have a CD of bleeding chunks of Wagner (Sony Classics) that's pretty electrifying.

I've been teetering on the edge of buying the VPO Sibelius set for ages, the extracts from No 3 put me off a bit (BAL the other week).

[Parry1912]

There's his disc of Ravel Piano Concertos with Jean-Phillippe Collard (a Gramophone Award winner), Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony with Varady and Fischer-Diskau, an excellent Don Quixote with Steven Isserlis and the Vienna Mahler 1st.

[gradus]

I still enjoy his recording of the Rachmaninov Symphonic dances with the BPO.

[remdataram]

I'm another who loves the Maazel/VPO Mahler No.4 (even more than Szell). I was also introduced to Sibelius with Maazel's 2nd Symphony recording on Decca.

I also remember watching a German TV relay of a Beethoven concert re-enacting the concert of 22nd December 1808 that included the 5th & 6th Symphonies, 4th Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasia! It was a superb concert!

Beyond that, little of note..... I suspect Rattle will achieve a similar status with his CBSO recording of Mahler No.2 as his memorial.

[Bryn]

His recording of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliette with the Cleveland Orchestra has long been one that I much admire.