Search This Blog

Monday, June 27, 2011

Richter: The 1958 Sofia Recital

Richter: The 1958 Sofia Recital
Phillips (50 Series)
Mid-price
Svaitoslav Richter, Piano
(Live Recording)

Whatever the buzzing noise in the background, it certainly isn't an air filter; the hacking in this recording is almost chronic. The recording itself surely could have been made to sound better, or at least, we can hope so. Joking aside, the sonic quality is appalling, and no critic seems to be very happy about the remastering. I don't really care, because this is some very impressive music making.

Phillips could have been forgiven for adding "Legendary" to this disc's title. They didn't, and I approve, but the playing on this disc is tremendously moving and awe inspiring. Pictures at an Exhibition is marred by the coughing and buzzing, but musically it's incredible. To make this piece work on the piano, each piece needs character and the work needs a clear sense of direction. Not only does Richter provide these qualities, but he's less quirky than Horowitz in this work and serves the music better. Both pianists are graced with miserable sound in all of their readings of the work, so on that end there's no real advantages.

The short pieces are no less remarkable and show a master pianist at the height of his powers. The Liszt items are stunning for both conception and execution. The Schubert and Chopin selections are so intense that they don't quite sound like either composer, and that's either fascinating or obnoxious depending on your viewpoint. At any rate, not even an amateur like me can deny the purely pianistic excellence of this disc, but the sonic limitations are strong enough that I would discourage new collectors.

American Masterpieces

Works by Ives, Barber, Bernstein, etc
Sony Classical
Budget Price/On-demand/MP3
Various Performers

------------

If nothing else, this disc allows us to salute Andre Kostelantz and Louis Lane, two underrated and excellent pops conductors. Actually, throw Eugene Ormandy into the mix and you have three underrated conductors on one disc. Louis Lane was a terrific conductor and the associate of George Szell for years. He eventually made a career for himself on Telarc. Kostelanetz is credited by some as literally creating the easy listening genre, and was associated with "his" Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic which both appear on this disc. And Ormandy built the Philadelphia band into a powerhouse, but is largely ignored today.

Now past the history lesson, on to the music we go. This "Essential Classics" album is actually still in print depending on where you look, and features some okay performances mixed with some very good ones. The Candide Overture for example, lacks the stunning power of Bernstein's New York version, but everyone's does. What I don't understand is why Bernstein conductor isn't featured here on a supposed disc of American masterpieces. Conversely, the Ormandy items are all nice to have and even the overplayed Barber Adagio for Strings is here lovingly shaped by those famous strings.

Louis Lane conducts most of the program with the "Cleveland Pops"; small American excerpts that are nice to have, and I'll admit it's fun to see Andre as opposed to Lenny at the helm of the NYPO. That said, I'm not as crazy about this disc as I was a year ago. The generous disc timing hides the fact that the space could have been used for actual masterpieces, and the whole project seems more of a hodgepodge than anything remotely essential. It's still a good and often very enjoyable program, but like many classical albums of the 90's, I have no idea who would actually buy it. That I think, is the real issue.

Dvorak: Symphony No. 9, Serenade for Strings

Dvorak: Orchestral Works
Universal Classics (DG)
Budget-price
Lorin Maazel/Vienna Philharmonic (Symphony)
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Serenade)
-----------------------

Universal seems to have some odd ideas about Dvorak's Ninth symphony. For their DG Panorama, they picked Karajan's Berlin recording, mostly for marketing reasons. There are a number of absolutely terrific recordings on the label—and even some more famous poor ones—that could have bee n picked for that issue. For this budget Universal Classics issue, here's Lorin Maazel's workday take on the piece. It isn't bad, but that’s largely because the Vienna Philharmonic is excellent. Maazel himself is uninteresting, he does almost nothing to distinguish himself from others who have made the piece so special. Now, this “New World” isn’t available in any other incantation, so I suppose that fans of this team might be pleased to see it at something less than full price, but that’s a stretch.

On the other hand, the coupling isn't the Carnival Overture, or a set of Slavonic Dances, so there are little things to be grateful for. Actually, the attached Serenade for Strings is lovely and is well played by the conductor free-ensemble. It's also out of print elsewhere and very hard to find used, so fans of the OCO should be pleased to see it again. This disc could have been very good, instead of OK. Oh well.

MOZART: PIANO CONCERTOS 23 AND 19

MOZART: PIANO CONCERTOS 23 AND 19
DG (Recorded 1976)
Mid-Price
Maurizio Pollini, piano
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Karl Bohm, conductor


Originally issued on DG at full price in the late eighties, then at mid-price in the 25 disc series devoted to Mozart’s masterworks, Amazon.com tells me that these classic readings are now on the DG Originals line, albeit only in Australia. Whatever. At any rate, the 23rd concerto also appeared in the Maurizio Pollini edition, a fine tribute to this pianist and a great investment on the basis of a wide variety of repertoire and some amazing performances.

What, you want to know about these performances? Fine then. If you know anything about collecting Mozart, you probably know Karl Bohm based on his readings of the symphonies and serenades. All of those recordings are essential purchases, although the readings of the symphonies are not aging as well as a critic twenty years ago might have expected. These recordings, however, hold up remarkably well. That’s a credit not only to Bohm’s formidable artistry, but also to the aforementioned talents of Maurizio Pollini.

Yes, outer movements are a touch slower than we expect nowadays. Really, does it much matter when the Vienna strings sing like this? Horns and winds glow, and the music is lovingly shaped. In fact, if you don’t know or care about performance styles and just want your Mozart to be pretty, then I assure you this will take care of that. The slow movements never drag, but are full of serious purpose and amazing warmth. Mozart’s concertos are sometimes lightweight affairs, so I find mediocre readings of these works to be even duller than they likely are. The 23rd concerto does fare slightly better than the 19th, but I find the former to contain the better music as a whole.

Rather than buying a cheap disc of excerpts—or heaven knows, an expensive box of all 27 works—I’d recommend this disc and indeed the others in this series as a way to understand the great works that these concertos are. Very warmly recommended.

Bach Organ Blaster

BACH ORGAN BLASTER
Telarc (1995)
Mid-price
Michael Murray, organ
-----------

God only knows who this CD is aimed at. Featuring “explosive” fonts and silly packaging, it surely isn’t something most classical collectors would leap for. And really, are those new to the genre going to be looking for a hi-fi organ disc? Maybe, but the fact that the disc is still in print makes me think that somebody out there wants it for one of those reasons, and perhaps so do you.

Extra-musical issues aside, this disc gives you a great chance to hear Telarc’s “house organist” Michael Murray’s early Bach recordings. The mid-eighties releases most of these items come from were short and varied programs, geared more toward showcasing the organs and Murray’s formidable technique than having any real purpose. Two of his early programs were all Bach discs, but you almost need those as an organist. At any rate, Murray seems to get little attention from critics, quite possibly because he isn’t English or flashy…or cynically speaking, he’s still alive and thus isn’t one of the great organists of the past. Also, the fact that his albums rarely exceed 40 minutes—and the ones that do have been packaged like this goofy looking disc—and you hardly have a household name, even for an organist.

And he doesn’t seem to be a prime Bach organist, either. His—and Telarc’s—choice to record in massive and overly reverberant spaces leads to some heavy plodding, whereas Karl Richter and others brought more life to works that often don’t need help sounding dull. Hence, the larger works need a greater sense of flow and spontaneity, smaller works need more zest. And yet, the program is admirably varied, and chances are that some of these pieces will be new to you.

With all my reservations above, I’d still recommend this. A 75 minute organ recital at this price is a steal, and rhythmic issues aside Murray is an outstanding and always musical contributor. Furthermore, the eight organs around the world all sound absolutely terrific and fully justify Telarc’s claim to have outstanding sonic qualities. If you like Bach organ works, and don’t feel like running all over creation to find individual discs, this fits the bill.

Review format at AZClassical

Over the last few years, I have tried several different ways to review classical recordings. As I hope this will be a large project, I'm standardizing the review format here on the blog.

Name of CD (or LP-record, if noted)
Record Company and release/recording date
Price--with the oddities in pricing classical music these days, I'll give a price range.
Artists

Welcome to AZ Classical

Welcome!

This blog will look to archive classical reviews published by me on various social networking sites, as well as provide a new outlet for my more recent writings. It is my hope that my new review format will not only provide more insight into the music I love, but also open new opportunities for general music appreciation.

Over the next few weeks, I'll look to update my older writings to stay consistent with the quality and style I expect my writings to carry. In addition, I will be posting important events from major record labels and American orchestras. Eventually, I hope to provide reviews of Detroit Symphony concerts, as well as a comprehensive overview of the DSO's small but important recorded legacy.

Music is my hobby and not my profession. Despite years of music collecting and choral experience, my understanding of music theory is limited. Therefore this blog draws not only upon the work of those I read within the profession, but those I know personally and respect.

Please look around, and enjoy!

B