What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[Roger Webb]

But to return to Herbert........................ And yet these recordings were among his most controversial and most criticised

None more so than his Pelléas and Mélisande, perhaps it was Karajan's controversial recording that prompted Levin's Desert Island choice above - but this was not his only comment on the subject of Karajan!

[Mandryka]

Some thought-provoking comments there, many thanks.

The Sib. 5 I heard was the 1964 DG Berlin Phil. Herbert recorded it twice on Columbia with the Philharmonia, in mono and stereo, the first being notable for including a very clearly-audible Dennis Brain. Sibelius' supposed preference for that recording is in an anecdote by Walter Legge which I have to say I treat with caution. Much as I am grateful to Walter for all his wonderful recordings, I have noticed that his anecdotes tend to have certain things in common:

The other person was dead
No-one else was present
The story redounds to the credit of a certain W.Legge.

But to return to Herbert, I found the Levin remark especialy interesting as I had just read a very different one by Richard Osborne, who said that Karajan was at his best in music which reflected his wartime experiences: I suppose he meant Brahms' Requiem, and those works which used to be considered the 'very greatest': The S. Matthew Passion, the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, the Ring. And yet these recordings were among his most controversial and most criticised, whereas his more relaxed discs of Opera overtures and intermezzzi (e.g. Gaite Parisienne) usally had a warm welcome .

I heard him again today in the F major Divertimento, K247, a very glassy sheen on the string-playing and probably too sugary for many today), and Metamorphosen and the Four Last Songs with Gundula Janowitz (early '70s Berlin Phil). All beautifully done, but as Ted Greenfield used to say , it 'does not efface memories' of Furtwangler , Klemperer, Lisa Della Casa and Karl Bohm.

There was a Missa Solemnis with Schreier, Janowitz, Van Dam and Baltsa, BPO, which I thought did efface memories - I don't know if it was controversial.

And a live Brahms 1 with the BPO on Testament.

Lots of fabulous, memory effacing 19th and 20th century opera.

And of course the fact that a performance is controversial is sometimes the sign of a real musical mind at work - think of the controversy of Furtwangler's rubato and his slow tempos, and of Klemperer's . . . what was the word they used to use . . . something like "granitic"

[smittims]

Quite so. I'm not anti-Karajan by any means; his Prokofiev 5th, for example, is surely superb, and his 1983 Sibelius 'Pelleas et Melisande' was a pleasant surprise to me. One could go on... maybe some of his earlier recordings were more sincere and essential, when he still had something to prove. His late- 40s Beethoven 5th and 9th with the Vienna Philharmonic, for instance: straightforwardly-convincing in a Weingartner way. .

[pastoralguy]

Emil Nikolaus Von Reznicek. Der Sieger. (The Victor).

The WDR Sinfonieorchester with the WDR Rundfunkchor, Köln and Beate Koepp, alto. Michail Jurowski, conductor. CPO Label.

Until I found this cd in a charity shop I only knew Reznicek for his ‘Donna Diana’ overture. My goodness, looking at Wiki he composed a huge amount of music and had a huge career in Germany between the wars until, inevitably, the Nazis got involved.

This is an interesting piece. Not dissimilar to Richard Strauss in its orchestration. Very well crafted and ‘pictorial’ in its use of thematic language. Well worth hearing.

[Pulcinella]

Honegger
Complete String Quartets
Geneva Quartet
(Erato, rec. 1983)
Still the best recorded version of these three intense and deeply satisfying quartets, oddly underappreciated - like much of Honegger's output these days. The Geneva Quartet's intelligence, musicianly focus and application more than make up for their lack of 'virtuoso' sheen. Superlative listening.

I didn't find that recording, but did find one by the Ludwig Quartet, currently being streamed.
Certainly would not have been able to name the composer in any blind tasting/hearing.

[Hitch]

Berlioz - Le Corsaire, Op. 21

RPO/Beecham, EMI Classics
Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris/Myung-Whun Chung, DG

What a plum pudding of a piece - not to be heard on a full stomach, I would suggest. Beecham takes it at a tremendous lick, a full fifty seconds quicker than Myung-Whun Chung, which is quite a difference in a work of this length (under nine minutes). My garland, fittingly, goes to Paris for the clear orchestral enunciation that allows one to hear the band catching the kitchen sink that Berlioz throws at it in the closing minutes.

[Mandryka]

maybe some of his earlier recordings were more sincere and essential, when he still had something to prove.

Good point!

I listened to his Brahms 1 today on Testament - it really is special for me.

[smittims]

I think this is true of Leonard Bernstein too. His New York CBS records are surely fresher and more vital than his luxurious later Vienna ones.

I rounded off my Karajan mini-fest with one of his earliest DG recordings, Liszt's Fantasia from 1960 with Shura Cherkassky. Oh dear, how not to record a piano! The microphone was put inside the lid, and the sound is all overtones, like a banjo plucked right in your ear. It was a relief to turn to Sibelius 7th.

[Pulcinella]

I think this is true of Leonard Bernstein too. His New York CBS records are surely fresher and more vital than his luxurious later Vienna ones.

I rounded off my Karajan mini-fest with one of his earliest DG recordings, Liszt's Fantasia from 1960 with Shura Cherkassky. Oh dear, how not to record a piano! The microphone was put inside the lid, and the sound is all overtones, like a banjo plucked right in your ear. It was a relief to turn to Sibelius 7th.

And imho than his DG Israel Phil ones in many of his own works.

[smittims]

Oh yes,the coda of the 'Jeermiah' Symphony where you can hear him sighing laboriously. How much more essential is his first recording in St. Louis with Nan Merriman.

[Pulcinella]

Oh yes,the coda of the 'Jeermiah' Symphony where you can hear him sighing laboriously. How much more essential is his first recording in St. Louis with Nan Merriman.

I have that, coupled with Slatkin's recording of Songfest.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Songfest-Jeremiah-Symphony-Bernstein/dp/B01G65PD2C/ref=sr_1_7?crid=319L2CXUSTDZB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9eZ ILWbNBIizK0YS8CyTOZSpUCi7FukvDa1yy27ku9tBgU1COT51g IiaI86FcXyYvPcg7EK95j0wJS8TCtB1xc419UBV8tnLHwx1Ea2 tRQY-_kccldFcJVzmzwotfioX.JkBehxEeGw7kB8w9UXE9IX2zsH1Hf uOioUp74z2A5dg&dib_tag=se&keywords=Bernstein+jerem iah&qid=1718003050&s=music&sprefix=bernstein+jerem iah%2Cpopular%2C50&sr=1-7

[Stanfordian]

Nathalie Manfrino – 'French Heroines – Airs d'opéras français'
Arias by Gounod, Massenet, Delibes, Bizet, Debussy, Lalo & Chausson
Nathalie Manfrino (soprano)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo / Emmanuel Villaume
Recorded 2007 Auditorium Rainier III, Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Decca, CD

[smittims]

Dear old Andrew Davis and the BBC Philharmonic:

Bax : Overture, Elegy and Rondo

Delius: Violin Concerto with Tasmin Little.

Both Chandos CDs.

[Roger Webb]

Dear old Andrew Davis and the BBC Philharmonic:

Bax : Overture, Elegy and Rondo

Delius: Violin Concerto with Tasmin Little.

Both Chandos CDs.

Mention of the Delius reminds me that I played something I haven't for years this morning, DKP9021, which contains a reading by Eric Fenby from his 'Delius as I knew him', which formed the basis of Ken Russell's 'Song of Summer'. On that side of the Lp it is followed by Lloyd Webber playing the Cello Sonata and piano pieces etc. on the other side is all Lili Boulanger - not well know at all when this Lp was first released (1983). Now the final piece on that side is a piano trio arrangement of the tenor aria from Lili's Prix de Rome winning cantata 'Faust et Hélène' which, in this version, is called 'Harmonies du soir'. Now, search as I might - I have Léonie Rosenstiel's authoritative biography, and of course the internet - I can find no mention of this arrangement.....anyone have any more info, it's a lovely little piece, and never seems to have been otherwise recorded.

https://www.discogs.com/release/10254168-Frederick-Delius-Lili-Boulanger-Julian-Lloyd-Webber-Eric-Fenby-OBE-Eric-Parkin-Barry-Griffiths-Keith

[teamsaint]

I didn't find that recording, but did find one by the Ludwig Quartet, currently being streamed.
Certainly would not have been able to name the composer in any blind tasting/hearing.

I'd assume that this is a good thing ?
I don't think I have ever heard these, so will look them out.