BaL 13.07.19 - Strauss: Four Last Songs

[Mal]

I didn’t particularly like what I sampled (apart from sound quality..) so will stick with my long term favourites of Janowitz (agree rather dated sound) and Auger/ Previn, great sound, playing and singing!

Here's an interesting objective analysis of Metamorphosen on the Janowitz disk that seems to agree with my subjective experience:

"... big excess in the upper midrange (~1000 Hz). That's your DG "why do my ears hurt" harshness."

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=12997.0

[LMcD]

I happened to hear, during 'Breakfast', a trailer for today's BaL, and gained the impression that Iain Burnside will be starting from a predetermined short list (which his 'conversation partner/co-reviewer' has apparently already seen). I'm not sure whether this is a sensible move whereby a limited number of recordings can be discussed in greater depth, a device aimed at increasing the proportion of chat to music, or simply presumption on the part of the reviewer(s).

[Barbirollians]

Good to be reminded how lovely Stemme is with Pappano.

[Barbirollians]

Good to be reminded how lovely Stemme is with Pappano.

Not moved by Janowitz ! Must be dead

[underthecountertenor]

Not moved by Janowitz ! Must be dead

Quite! I was astonished by the trashing of Janowitz.

[Stanfordian]

I happened to hear, during 'Breakfast', a trailer for today's BaL, and gained the impression that Iain Burnside will be starting from a predetermined short list (which his 'conversation partner/co-reviewer' has apparently already seen). I'm not sure whether this is a sensible move whereby a limited number of recordings can be discussed in greater depth, a device aimed at increasing the proportion of chat to music, or simply presumption on the part of the reviewer(s).

In my view for key works BaL should be twice the length it currently is, with a consensus choice of three 'experts'. One persons choice just doesn't do it for me.

The top choice of Karita Mattila is rather surprising.

[Mal]

Programme summary:

Fruhling

Lisa Della Casa, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Böhm kicks off. “Safe hands here”. Great singing, good sound, superb orchestra. Which remaster is this?

Lise Davidsen, Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen: “new Flagstaff. Wagnerian. Historic voice, amazing instrument”. I’m not into powerful Wagnerian voices, so this is off my list. “Too careful, Salonen, not the feeling we want” ‘edge to the recording, steely sound’ “rather weighy voice”.

Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan, “orchestra led and voice soares over the top”. Great stuff! “Love it, singing, like you hear in concert hall, really like it, excellent have done an excellent job, not over-stressing the voice.”

Renee Fleming, Münchner Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann, “voice leading, lush instrument, careful to let you hear the words”. Bit too lush for me. ‘Creamy soprano soars’ “another perfectly valid approach”. Damning with faint praise here, he obviously prefers Sintow’s approach. And me.

“Two columns of soprano types: silvery and creamy”. Surely too simplistic? At least a three dimensional matrix might be needed (Wagnerian/lyric, orchestra led/singer led, …)

Karita Mattila, Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado “silvery” takes us to the end of Fruhling. Nice.

September

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Radio Symphonie Orchester Berlin, George Szell - put me off the work for years, ended up in the charity shop after far too many replays trying to “get it”. Thanks Penguin. Sour cream. Will AMcG admit to his dislike on air? ‘Divides people’. Coward! Unlike the excellent Burnside: “I’m a nay sayer, too sweet, curdled, not in tune, ridiculously close balance, better ways of doing it, I pass” This guy’s good… tell it like it is!

Soile Isokoski, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Marek Janowski Bavarian RSO “no sugar, very direct, very touching.” Like it a lot. So do AMcG & Burnside

Jessye Norman, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Kurt Masur “very slow, distinctive magic”. Double creamy, but not sour, not curdled, and not too sweet. I’m still more inclined to silvery, though.

Nina Stemme, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Antonio Pappano. “Brunhilde side of vocal spectrum”. ‘Like Norman’. Oh oh. More lighter and lyrical please. “Very slow, too slow?” Yes.

Karajan with Sintow (1985) “bookends the marvellous horn player, apart from that keeps things flowing along.” Then Janowitz/Karajan/BPO. Janowitz sounds creamy-silvery. I prefer pure silvery in better sound. Burnside & AMcG also add some telling criticism “Seems ploddy to me, singing doesn’t move me, singer and orchestra not together” ‘recorded sound is bad’. Hmmm, I think our reviewers are right. I replaced Schwarzkopf with this, which is my current library representative, a case of replacing “awful” by “could be a lot better.''

Beim Schlafengehen

Isokoski - silvery singing and silvery violin, this is looking like a front runner. “Wonderful”.

Norman - “her violinist is not good, she is quite marvellous” A bit too creamy for me, but if you like cream I can see how you might love this. “You have to buy into the monumentalism”. Sorry, but I don’t.

Mattila “faster, more elastic.” Silverish, but a bit problematic for me. Too much vibrato? Too much lower register?

Mentions of some worthies not being played but very much worth listening to, including Lott & Popp

Im arbentrop

Down to three:

Sintow: “love the way Karajan plunges into this, not elegiac, joyous, look at the alps breathe the mountain air.” Call me melancholic, but I want more elegy…. aaah Silvery Sintov comes in and provides it, but maybe this is too much of a Karajan?

Norman: “Mahlerian coma, ridiculously slow, wading through treacle, but it works” Treacle and cream anyone? Too much for me. ‘making time stand still, slower by a minute’. “Too extreme for final choice”

Mattila: “wonderful all round performance”. The winner.

Sorry, but I prefer other singers to Mattila, and the performance seemed a bit slow to me. I may purchase Lott, the previous BAL winner. But I found Sintow, Isokoski, and Lisa Della Casa very moving, so I’ll need to do some more sampling before plumping for a library purchase.

[DracoM]

So glad Schwarzkopf was dismissed.

[edashtav]

One of the better twofers and I found Iain Burnside's comments helpful.

[Cockney Sparrow]

His analysis of the Norman was correctly being objective, of course in his view. However he was personally a lot more generous. He referred to the unforgettable experience of hearing her live performance, and I think acknowledged it as his personal choice, or at least one of them. (All this, IIRC. I will set definitely sit down and listen to this BAL again).

[Mal]

His analysis of the Norman was correctly being objective... However he was personally a lot more generous,...

Yes, I didn't stress his personal appreciation of Norman in my programme summary.

... and I think acknowledged it as his personal choice...

I don't think he did... but I might have missed that...

[Mal]

Fleming giving a long talk about music & health & neuroscience at around 11.50am, including having a brain scan while singing 4LS! Fascinating.

[DracoM]

One of the better twofers and I found Iain Burnside's comments helpful.

Yes, a true pro who did not let AMcG get too far into it and had his own agenda etcetc

[Barbirollians]

I found Mattila interesting but nowhere near as moving as Janowitz or Della Casa or Stemme.

I have always much preferred Schwarzkopf with Ackerman .

Jurinac remains top of my tree after listening to it this morning but was interested by Tomowa-Sintow so bought a second hand copy of that.

I see that such disparate luminaries as David Bowie and Michael Kennedy were avid fans of the Janowitz. Gentlemen of excellent taste.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Fleming giving a long talk about music & health & neuroscience at around 11.50am, including having a brain scan while singing 4LS! Fascinating.

Interesting - in one of his better Imagine programmes, Alan Yentob had a brain scan (the jokes are obvious, so I'm resisting) whilst listening to his own favourite recording - the Norman/Masur. The images of the blood surging around as he reached his favourite moments in the work were fascinating.