Radio 3 - Neville Marriner day

[akiralx]

I still admire Neville's gift for allowing music to breathe. His breadth of repertoire suited my Bax fanaticism and I love his CD of 'November Woods '.

I was not aware of that 'English Seasons' CD until you mentioned Bax, though it seems to have got slightly mixed reviews.

[gradus]

Though modestly describing himself as 'not much cop' at playing the violin, he still manged to be principal of the LSO seconds in the early sixties which is my earlest memory of him under the baton of the great Pierre Monteux.

[smittims]

I think a little perspective is important here. I well remember the appearance of some of Marriner's recordings in the late '60s and early '70s, such as

Tippett Fantasia Concertante

Vivaldi op. 4 concerti 'La Stravaganza'.

Walton Sonata for Strings and Prokofiev Visions Fugitives.

In those days hardly anyone was recording that music, and these performances brought a new clarity . And let's not forget the splendid 'American' anthology with Ives' 3rd , Barber's Adagio and some rarities. The Academy's discs got uniformly good reviews.

By contrast I have to say many modern HIPP perfromances sound to me superficially exciting but lacking in depth. I've never been moved by them as I was with Marriner.

If you want 'bland' hear the London Mozart Players in the 1950s. They were successful, popular, sold out the RFH regularly, but the Record Guide wasn't impressed by the depth of interpretation.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Again, these things are personal I guess, but the string sound of the ASMF has to me been one of the strongest features of their recordings. I've always thought they had a lush sound and sweet at the top without shrillness. One of the best examples I can think of is in 'The Birth of Venus' from Respighi's 'Trittico Botticelliano' (an EMI recording) where the trilling upper strings are wonderful IMHO, of course!

I’m wondering whether the issue has more to do with the record company recording methods and, in particular, the transfer of old analogue recordings to CD. My judgement is clouded by the Philips CD’s I have of Neville and the band in the late Mozart symphonies . Again the sound feels over compressed and a bit thin. I noticed something similar with the CD boxed set of The Quartetto Italiano in the Beethoven quartets. I even did a side by side comparison on the quartets with vinyl - the latter was so much better - warmer, a more more realistic string sound and little compression. Though of course the usual tracking distortion and surface noise. I just think Philips transfered at too high a level and whacked in at least 4db of compression. There was quite a bit of compression on FM on the R3 relay last night which , after a while , got a bit wearing. And as for the overloud oboe….

[hmvman]

I’m wondering whether the issue has more to do with the record company recording methods and, in particular, the transfer of old analogue recordings to CD. My judgement is clouded by the Philips CD’s I have of Neville and the band in the late Mozart symphonies . Again the sound feels over compressed and a bit thin.

I think that's true. I never thought the Academy recordings sounded as good when they moved to Philips from Decca. Those older Argo records did have something very special as regards sound quality. The recording engineers Kenneth Wilkinson and Stanley Goodall were true artists as well. When musicians and engineers work so well together as a team then the magic really happens.

[richardfinegold]

Nev and the ASMF were a strong presence in my early collecting days and I don’t get the boring charge. To me they provided elegance and clarity with great sense of timing and flair. The Mozart recordings in particular were groundbreaking in that they showed all of these attributes were obtained with a smaller, nimble ensemble

[cloughie]

My personal favourite Marriner recordings are the Rossini string sonatas and Bizet symphony in C (Argo), neither of which have been bettered (IMHO) and neither of which are remotely bland.

Yes two more good ones there. As an afterthought to #3 I would say that Marriner’s Bach Orch Suites were a breath of fresh air cf Klemperer’s leaden gems but OK’s 1955 Eroica was not displaced by Nev’s 1982 recording - guess it is whose forte that wins!

[Barbirollians]

Haitink is the man for Bizet’s Symphony in C .

[Pulcinella]

Concert review by Richard Morrison:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1564b486-560c-4122-850a-57734fac9fd7?shareToken=2e44016567ef2c5cac78ee6e378ce546

[edashtav]

Concert review by Richard Morrison:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1...78ee6e378ce546

An appreciative, generous and informed assessment of the memorial concert and Sir Neville Marriner"s contribution to the world of music.

Many thanks,pulcs, for making The Times so accessible.

[edashtav]

Yes two more good ones there. As an afterthought to #3 I would say that Marriner’s Bach Orch Suites were a breath of fresh air cf Klemperer’s leaden gems but OK’s 1955 Eroica was not displaced by Nev’s 1982 recording - guess it is whose forte that wins!

'Klemperer's leaden gems': what an unusual epithet.
Perhaps, to be set beside a book title from the British Library: Golden Dreams and Leaden Reality..

The first Pulcinella Suite that I bought on LP was conducted by OK. I've been searching for 50 years to sum it up. Got it: leaden gems. Thank you, cloughie!

[Barbirollians]

My issue with Marriner and to be honest most modern instrument recordings in baroque repertoire is that the EC/Pinnock were the fresh air by the 1980s.

[AuntDaisy]

My issue with Marriner and to be honest most modern instrument recordings in baroque repertoire is that the EC/Pinnock were the fresh air by the 1980s.

I hope R3 will have a Trevor Pinnock day when he's 80. The TP / EC box-set is a thing of pure joy.

Ashamed to say that I don't have many Marriner CDs, but I did buy the Amadeus LP in my youth

[cloughie]

Haitink is the man for Bizet’s Symphony in C .

So was Beecham - but that is not really the point here - Marriner’s recording was excellent as were most of his Argo recordings and the sound that he got from the Academy at that time were second to none!

[cloughie]

'Klemperer's leaden gems': what an unusual epithet.
Perhaps, to be set beside a book title from the British Library: Golden Dreams and Leaden Reality..

The first Pulcinella Suite that I bought on LP was conducted by OK. I've been searching for 50 years to sum it up. Got it: leaden gems. Thank you, cloughie!

Don’t get me wrong ed, I love many, probably most of OK’s recordings but a few now have not aged well. How much fun is the merrymaking in his Beethoven 6. Try Cluytens and E Kleiber from the 50s and I think you’ll see what I mean. OK Leaden Gems - good or not?