Building a Library archive on YouTube

[Master Jacques]

At least one - in the mid-'70s John Steane surveyed Tristan & Isolde. Of the available versions (Furtwangler, Böhm, Solti, Karajan) he enthusiastically gave the laurels to Karajan's set. Within ten years he returned (with Kleiber and Bernstein added to his original lists) and told everyone to avoid the Karajan, and get Furtwangler (with Kleiber runner-up, IIRC).

Good for him. As JBS was (and is ever like to be) the most honest, intelligent and self-effacing of operatic recording commentators, I'm sure he'd (a) have had good reasons for changing his mind, and (b) given them clearly. It would be very interesting to know what they were, as they'd tell us plenty about the recordings in question.

Only a fool never changes his mind. Especially over the course of ten years listening, when the gloss of the (once) newest and shiniest recording has worn off. Strange how many recordings hailed as "definitive" on release are completely forgotten five years later!

[Barbirollians]

At least one - in the mid-'70s John Steane surveyed Tristan & Isolde. Of the available versions (Furtwangler, Böhm, Solti, Karajan) he enthusiastically gave the laurels to Karajan's set. Within ten years he returned (with Kleiber and Bernstein added to his original lists) and told everyone to avoid the Karajan, and get Furtwangler (with Kleiber runner-up, IIRC).

It could be that JBS's reviews were earlier but fhgl seems to be mistaken re timings BAL review in 1985 was by Richard Osborne ?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It could be that JBS's reviews were earlier but fhgl seems to be mistaken re timings BAL review in 1985 was by Richard Osborne ?

- you're right; the two reviews were seventeen years apart!!!!

10th June 1978: pro-Karajan
24th June 1995: anti-Karajan

(Alan Blyth in Gramophone Jan 2015 refers to the incident: so eminent a voice as John Steane has been known audibly to eat his words on a BBC Radio 3 survey of the opera, changing from praise to excoriation)

[Barbirollians]

RO chose Bohm with Furtwangler as runner up but HVK received an honourable mention though not the recording.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

RO chose Bohm with Furtwangler as runner up but HVK received an honourable mention though not the recording.

- in his Gramophone survey, Blyth also plumps for Böhm. He is dishonourable about Karajan's studio recording, but just manages, between gritted teeth, to comment favourably on the 1952 Bayreuth Karajan ( ... which, by coincidence, I only ordered yesterday).

Furtwangler, Böhm, Karajan, Kleiber ... I have all of them: all superb, each bringing special light on this history-changing masterpiece.

[Barbirollians]

Listening to some of these old BALs it is remarkable today to see how few recordings they had to deal with - Richard Osborne notes in his 1983 BAL on Das Lied von Der Erde that there are 9 versions to choose from !

[Nick Armstrong]

Listening to some of these old BALs it is remarkable today to see how few recordings they had to deal with - Richard Osborne notes in his 1983 BAL on Das Lied von Der Erde that there are 9 versions to choose from !

Ditto, it seemed, Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony!

So there’s a certain logic to today’s approach of proceeding on the basis of a shortlist of fewer than ten.

[BBMmk2]

What a great idea. Thanks for the thumbs up here, Cali.

[Master Jacques]

Furtwangler, Böhm, Karajan, Kleiber ... I have all of them: all superb, each bringing special light on this history-changing masterpiece. Furtwangler, Böhm, Karajan, Kleiber ... I have all of them: all superb, each bringing special light on this history-changing masterpiece.

A good shortlist, which I share. They all sit proudly on my shelf - or at least floor. Yet there are days when I'd happily throw any one of them across the room in frustration, too: for example Böhm (generally my favourite), when I'm feeling less tolerant than usual towards Windgassen.

Curiously, the only set which never provokes me is Reginald Goodall's. No specially "starry" quality to it, but no occasionally frustrating weakness either - and musically speaking (thinking of your awareness of the "history-changing masterpiece") as astonishing as any of the others.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Goodall was the conductor at the only Live performance of the opera that I've ever seen (ROH, mid-80s). Rather wasted on me - not keen on RG's pacing (especially in Act One) in spite of "learning" the work via Bernstein's recording. If I had to plump for just one, it would probably be Kleiber's. Well, today at least.

[Master Jacques]

(Alan Blyth in Gramophone Jan 2015 refers to the incident: so eminent a voice as John Steane has been known audibly to eat his words on a BBC Radio 3 survey of the opera, changing from praise to excoriation)

How curious voices from the abyss can be. Blyth had died in 2007, Steane in 2011 - yet here's Gramophone in 2015, perpetuating their debates as if both were still alive. Blyth in particular outlived himself in one, curious way: as an obituarist for The Guardian many of his pre-prepared articles were appearing for years afterwards. It was quite spooky.

I sometimes wonder whether he wrote his own (attr. Philip Reed) as it's very much in Blyth's style!

Steane was the better writer and critic, in part because of this lively fluidity of mind: he was always prepared to change his judgements, in the light of new insights and experiences, whether evaluating singers or recordings. And as the English teacher of generations of schoolboys, his oft-repeated line was "give reasons, boy!" A vital reminder which he never forgot himself, either.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Steane's written assessment from 1978 is available, with other BaL "scripts", in this collection:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Library-Listeners-Record-Collecting/dp/0193113244

... and a second volume, from the early '80s is also available:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Library-Listeners-Collecting-Paperbacks/dp/0193113279

[Master Jacques]

Steane's written assessment from 1978 is available, with other BaL "scripts", in this collection:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Library-Listeners-Record-Collecting/dp/0193113244

... and a second volume, from the early '80s is also available:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-Li.../dp/0193113279

Terrific, thank you! As a JBS groupie, I am glad to be able to access these, which I never knew existed.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I should make clear, there are only two or three essay/scripts by JBS in the two publications; the others are by the usual critics of the time - Greenfield, Osborne et al.

[Master Jacques]

I should make clear, there are only two or three essay/scripts by JBS in the two publications; the others are by the usual critics of the time - Greenfield, Osborne et al.

I'm happy to wade through a plethora of Greenfields, to find one ear of pure, golden JBS corn!