BaL 23.09.17 - Franck: Symphony in D minor

[vinteuil]

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,,, even cheaper on amazon.it, I think

http://amzn.eu/aR6KKU4

[ ... on the programme I think they did say a 51 CD set - and that is what the BBC website says. They is wrong. ]


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[pastoralguy]

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,,, even cheaper on amazon.it, I think

http://amzn.eu/aR6KKU4

[ ... on the programme I think they did say a 51 CD set - and that is what the BBC website says. They is wrong. ]


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Thanks.

[Bryn]

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,,, even cheaper on amazon.it, I think

http://amzn.eu/aR6KKU4

[ ... on the programme I think they did say a 51 CD set - and that is what the BBC website says. They is wrong. ]


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£43.55 including p&p to (and probably, in practice, from) the U.K.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... on the programme I think they did say a 51 CD set -

That's what I remember (I thought at the time that I didn't think SB had made that many recordings for Phillips).

[pastoralguy]

That's what I remember (I thought at the time that I didn't think SB had made that many recordings for Phillips).

I wondered that too but I was in the middle of changing the cat's litter tray...

[Nick Armstrong]

I don't know why, but Cesar Frank's music makes my flesh crawl.

Sorry folks. I realise that I am probably in the minority here

I'm with you in the minority then. I listened attentively to this BAL as I like Mahan Esfahani's performer's-eye view of music and performance, it's always a refreshing change from the more academic/music critic approach. The attention given to older recordings was very interesting.

But I know what you mean HS - there's something about the melodies and harmonies of this Symphony that does more than leave me cold, rather like a taste or a smell that makes me feel slightly nauseous. It's very odd. As they say in a certain TV programme, "I shan't be investing"...

[Hornspieler]

I'm with you in the minority then. I listened attentively to this BAL as I like Mahan Esfahani's performer's-eye view of music and performance, it's always a refreshing change from the more academic/music critic approach. The attention given to older recordings was very interesting.

But I know what you mean HS - there's something about the melodies and harmonies of this Symphony that does more than leave me cold, rather like a taste or a smell that makes me feel slightly nauseous. It's very odd. As they say in a certain TV programme, "I shan't be investing"...

The opening 4 bars of the Symphonic Variations illustrate my point.

Eughh!! Pass the sick bowl!

When I was at the Royal Academy of Music, every Friday afternoon, one of our Piano Students would turn up to give their personal reading of this work.

I remember on one occasion, Dr Clarence Raybould, addressing one particularly eratic soloist, saying. "I would remind you, dear lady, that this is a string orchestra - not an elastic band!"

Nice to see you back, Rumpole

HS

[Alison]

Still say it's a fine work but most of the extracts played on BAL sounded bloated and coarse.

Has this Symphony ever found its ideal interpreter? ME spot on regarding Beecham I thought.

It really needs one of the newer generation of conductors, perhaps Jurowski or Ticciati, to sandpaper it down and reduce the bellyache effect.

[Petrushka]

Not listened to the BaL so not sure if ME would have mentioned that Wilhelm Furtwangler included the Franck Symphony in his last war-time concert with the Vienna Philharmonic on January 28 1945 (the Brahms 2 was in the second half). A strange choice but perhaps its appearance on the programme was a code to everyone in the orchestra for evacuation

I have the WF recording along with several more that I've somehow managed to acquire over the years. Funny thing is I can't recall playing any of them.

[visualnickmos]

Still say it's a fine work but most of the extracts played on BAL sounded bloated and coarse.

Has this Symphony ever found its ideal interpreter? ME spot on regarding Beecham I thought.

It really needs one of the newer generation of conductors, perhaps Jurowski or Ticciati, to sandpaper it down and reduce the bellyache effect.

Well-written, Alison. I agree; re Beecham - I've had this recording for some years, and always wondered why it is so often revered!
Maybe - and hopefully, we are on the cusp of a conductor of the 'newer generation' recording a real stonking version, knocking all it's predecessors into a cocked-hat (or whatever that expression is!)

I was very taken with Bernstein's (DG) extracts played, and loved ME's alluding to champagne, and that one could almost smell and feel Paris. Odd though, that summing up at the end, ME thought the last movement possibly 'vulgar' - I think 'vulgar' in that sense works well with champagne and smell of Paris allusion.

Seems that it's a work where finding the right balance of 'pazazz' and straight-lacedness, is a very fine art indeed, maybe not yet perfected.

[pastoralguy]

It was a shame that Berglund's Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra was overlooked. Always a favourite of mine with a very no nonsense approach.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well-written, Alison. I agree; re Beecham - I've had this recording for some years, and always wondered why it is so often revered!
Maybe - and hopefully, we are on the cusp of a conductor of the 'newer generation' recording a real stonking version, knocking all it's predecessors into a cocked-hat (or whatever that expression is!)

I was very taken with Bernstein's (DG) extracts played, and loved ME's alluding to champagne, and that one could almost smell and feel Paris. Odd though, that summing up at the end, ME thought the last movement possibly 'vulgar' - I think 'vulgar' in that sense works well with champagne and smell of Paris allusion.

Seems that it's a work where finding the right balance of 'pazazz' and straight-lacedness, is a very fine art indeed, maybe not yet perfected.

The O.P. de Liège/Langrée version HD and I were much taken with (see above...) as a newer, fresher approach is still around....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Franck-Chausson-Symphonies-Louis-Langree/dp/B0009YSGE4/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1506267495&sr=1-2&keywords=Langree+Franck

...and the same orchestra with Christian Arming (on Fuga Libera) was very positively reviewed by DD in G., 5/2013, who commented on its interpretative and coloristic subtlety. I've only tried excerpts but it sounds very promising....

http://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/cesar-franck-symphonie-ce-quon-entend-sur-la-montagne-hulda-orchestre-philharmonique-royal-de-liege-christian-arming/5400439005969

so (despite neither being quite topnotch for SQ) there's your present answer - go Belgian!
(did ME comment on either...?)

You'd imagine Roth and Les Siècles would do it very well.... wonder if they ever played it?

[Nick Armstrong]

not sure if ME would have mentioned that Wilhelm Furtwangler included the Franck Symphony in his last war-time concert with the Vienna Philharmonic on January 28 1945

Mahan E did indeed devote some attention to the Furtwangler version.

[Barbirollians]

Mahan E did indeed devote some attention to the Furtwangler version.

I think he was referring to the 1953 VPO recording rather than the 1945 live Vienna account which is something rather different .

[Barbirollians]

I thought the Mengelberg that he praised to the skies horribly overwrought and whenever he played an extract of the danced with faint praise Monteux it shone out of the other extracts .

The winner sounded fine but not a recording to have you rushing to download or put 51CDs on the shelf .

I share his soft spot for the Bernstein .