BaL 9.06.12 - Dvorak's Cello Concerto (merged threads)

[pastoralguy]

One thing I forgot to mention . I thought the inadequacy of the recently raved about Zuill Bailey recording was very well illustrated by playing it after the Rostro/Boult in the same passage . Another rave review for it in IRR I see where the cellist's grainy tone was seen as an advantage !

I bought that cd on the strength of the reviews and was quite disappointed with it.

[amateur51]

He wasn't, and well done PJPJ for picking this up. He had avoided joining the Nazi party, and was picked by the British authorities after the war to form the Nord West Deutsche Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra. His first wife (the mother of Erik Smith, the great record producer) was Jewish. although they were no longer together when she and young Erik left Germany in 1939 to come to England. Erik writes affectionately of him in his privately and posthumously published memoir "Mostly Mozart".

He had had polio as a child - anyone who saw him conduct as I did a handful of times in the early 1970s will recall he walked with a limp.

Schmidt-Isserstedt accompanied Erna Sack in ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63bW0Me7uJM

Hang on to that held high note from 04:18 and start counting

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/search.php?searchString=Erna+Sack

Off-topic? I apologise

[Richard Tarleton]

Schmidt-Isserstedt accompanied Erna Sack in ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63bW0Me7uJM

Hang on to that held high note from 04:18 and start counting

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/search.php?searchString=Erna+Sack

Off-topic? I apologise

Good grief! Thanks for that ams

[Roehre]

He wasn't, and well done PJPJ for picking this up. He had avoided joining the Nazi party, and was picked by the British authorities after the war to form the Nord West Deutsche Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra. His first wife (the mother of Erik Smith, the great record producer) was Jewish. although they were no longer together when she and young Erik left Germany in 1939 to come to England. Erik writes affectionately of him in his privately and posthumously published memoir "Mostly Mozart".

He had had polio as a child - anyone who saw him conduct as I did a handful of times in the early 1970s will recall he walked with a limp.

Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt was most certainly no Nazi.

Eric Smith was not only the producer of many a Philips recording.
His was the idea, and all the planning behind it from 1983 onwards, of a Complete Mozart Edition as produced by Philips on 180 CDs in 1990/'91 - the very first of the now quite regularly appearing "Complete Works of...." multi-CD-sets. Some of the mozartian fragments were either completed or at least prepared/edited for this [and the Chelsea sketch book was produced by ES for the LP-Mozart Edition from 1977/'78])
Eric was a conductor in his own right, but didn't pursue that as a career.

[Pabmusic]

He wasn't, and well done PJPJ for picking this up. He had avoided joining the Nazi party, and was picked by the British authorities after the war to form the Nord West Deutsche Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra. His first wife (the mother of Erik Smith, the great record producer) was Jewish. although they were no longer together when she and young Erik left Germany in 1939 to come to England. Erik writes affectionately of him in his privately and posthumously published memoir "Mostly Mozart".

He had had polio as a child - anyone who saw him conduct as I did a handful of times in the early 1970s will recall he walked with a limp.

That's very interesting; thank you. The question that arises, though, is how unusual would it have been for someone in his situation to have recorded in Berlin in 1935?

[Pabmusic]

Pabmusic, Gaspar Cassado gets a brief mention in 'Am I Too Loud? by Gerald Moore (pp 98 -99). Apparently he had "... some contraption on the bridge which amplified the tone ..." Moore says he liked the result, but unfortunately doesnt elaborate on what this gadget was. I once asked a lady cellist I knew, but she had no idea what it could have been. This was pre-WW2, so I dont think it could have been electric amplification?

Thanks. How odd!

[HighlandDougie]

"Cassadó's versatility did not end with his playing, composing and arranging, however. He was also an inventor, constantly tinkering with his instrument and bow to find ways to produce more sound, as well as play more comfortably. The cover of Monica Pagès' biography of Cassadó shows two of these inventions. Cassadó's bow has a piece of cork attached to the side of the frog where the fingers fall, so that his hand is more open and his fingers less curved. Also visible is his most notorious invention, a set of four springs which took the place of the cello's tailpiece. With these springs, Cassadó was able to control the tension of each individual string. The resulting sound was much larger than usual and proved especially useful in projecting over an orchestra, but it also had its drawbacks; the tone was somewhat brittle and metallic. Cassadó also invented a device which eliminated the need for switching bridges on the cello because of changes in humidity; he installed a screw in the foot of the instrument's neck, with which he could raise and lower the fingerboard as necessary":

from GASPAR CASSADÓ: HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH PABLO CASALS AND HIS VERSATILE MUSICAL LIFE by Nathaniel J. Chaitkin (2001)

My introduction to various cello concertos was via Cassado's Vox recordings so happy to see that he has not been completely forgotten.

[Richard Tarleton]

That's very interesting; thank you. The question that arises, though, is how unusual would it have been for someone in his situation to have recorded in Berlin in 1935?

A number of great conductors and musicians continued to live and work in Nazi Germany without joining the party - Wilhelm Furtwängler, Carl Schuricht, Karl Böhm, Hans Knappertsbusch, Clemens Krauss and Karl Elmendorff. Some had ambivalent relationships with the regime it is true. Karajan, who did, and who conducts what for some of us is the greatest recording of the Dvorak.....I think this may be the start of a separate thread

[Pabmusic]

A number of great German conductors and musicians continued to live and work in Nazi Germany without joining the party - Wilhelm Furtwängler, Ernest Ansermet, Carl Schuricht, Karl Böhm, Hans Knappertsbusch, Clemens Krauss and Karl Elmendorff. Some had ambivalent relationships with the regime it is true. Karajan, who did - I think this may be the start of a separate thread

I recall reading an anecdote from John Culshaw about Erich Kleiber who, visiting the Decca offices, objected to his photograph hanging between Clemens Krauss and Karl Böhm. "You're not having my picture between those two old Nazis!", he shouted, and the pictures had to be rearranged! I doubt that the niceties of party membership always counted for much.

[Barbirollians]

A number of great conductors and musicians continued to live and work in Nazi Germany without joining the party - Wilhelm Furtwängler, Carl Schuricht, Karl Böhm, Hans Knappertsbusch, Clemens Krauss and Karl Elmendorff. Some had ambivalent relationships with the regime it is true. Karajan, who did, and who conducts what for some of us is the greatest recording of the Dvorak.....I think this may be the start of a separate thread

Probably unwise - look at what happens every time the fascist party member Goodall is mentioned !

[amateur51]

"Cassadó's versatility did not end with his playing, composing and arranging, however. He was also an inventor, constantly tinkering with his instrument and bow to find ways to produce more sound, as well as play more comfortably. The cover of Monica Pagès' biography of Cassadó shows two of these inventions. Cassadó's bow has a piece of cork attached to the side of the frog where the fingers fall, so that his hand is more open and his fingers less curved. Also visible is his most notorious invention, a set of four springs which took the place of the cello's tailpiece. With these springs, Cassadó was able to control the tension of each individual string. The resulting sound was much larger than usual and proved especially useful in projecting over an orchestra, but it also had its drawbacks; the tone was somewhat brittle and metallic. Cassadó also invented a device which eliminated the need for switching bridges on the cello because of changes in humidity; he installed a screw in the foot of the instrument's neck, with which he could raise and lower the fingerboard as necessary":

from GASPAR CASSADÓ: HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH PABLO CASALS AND HIS VERSATILE MUSICAL LIFE by Nathaniel J. Chaitkin (2001)

My introduction to various cello concertos was via Cassado's Vox recordings so happy to see that he has not been completely forgotten.

Fascinating stuff, HighlandDougie - someone well worth investigating, clearly. Many thanks

What fills your glass as a lunchtime aperitif in Alpes-Maritimes these days?

Edit: this link takes readers to the source of HD's quotation:

http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/cassado/cassado.htm

[umslopogaas]

#112 HighlandDougie, many thanks for that information, I've been wondering for years what it was he had done to his cello. And yes, I once had a Vox LP of Cassado playing something, but I dont have it any more and cant remember what the music was. I do still have quite a lot of Vox vinyl, it features some very unusual music, especially on the 'Vox Candide' series.

[Roehre]

I do still have quite a lot of Vox vinyl, it features some very unusual music, especially on the 'Vox Candide' series.

It seems Vox Candide was a kind of Naxos avant la lettre
Vox itself did quite a lot in unusual repertoire as well btw, all those piano concertos recorded by Michael Ponti e.g. (now replicated by Hyperion's series of piano concertos).

[Dave2002]

A number of great conductors and musicians continued to live and work in Nazi Germany without joining the party - Wilhelm Furtwängler, Carl Schuricht, Karl Böhm, Hans Knappertsbusch, Clemens Krauss and Karl Elmendorff. Some had ambivalent relationships with the regime it is true. Karajan, who did, and who conducts what for some of us is the greatest recording of the Dvorak.....I think this may be the start of a separate thread

Clemens Krauss was Austrian, having been born in Vienna, though during WWII that could be considered as part of Germany after its annexation.

[Dave2002]

I recall reading an anecdote from John Culshaw about Erich Kleiber who, visiting the Decca offices, objected to his photograph hanging between Clemens Krauss and Karl Böhm. "You're not having my picture between those two old Nazis!", he shouted, and the pictures had to be rearranged! I doubt that the niceties of party membership always counted for much.

I guess the original mention of Ansermet (msg 113) has now been corrected. He was, of course, Swiss.