Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra 1958-1962 (Boxed DVD set)

Boston Symphony Orchestra: 1958 - 1962

Charles Munch, conductor

ICA Classics ICAB 5130 (5 DVDs)

The Boston Symphony Orchestra was a television pioneer. More than 150 live concerts were broadcast by the Boston TV station WGBH between 1955 and 1979. ICA has taken on the task of making many of these performances available on DVD. This box collects a series of performances with Charles Munch at the podium, all recorded at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater. The sound quality is variable and not all of the performances are equally satisfying, but the best performances here are truly memorable and the collection as a whole is an important historical document.

Charles Munch, who was himself French, is probably best known today for his recordings of the French orchestral tradition, with a particular affinity for Debussy, Ravel, Berlioz, and Saint-Saens. But on this disc we have something completely different, with a range of composers who do not typically come to mind when one thinks of Munch. The collection features a Haydn symphony (No. 98), two Mozart symphonies (No. 36, the Linz, and No. 38, the Prague), two Beethoven symphonies (Nos. 4 and 5), Schubert’s No. 5, and Schumann’s No. 2, in addition (stunningly) to Bruckner 7 and Mendelssohn 4 and 5 (the Scottish and the Italian).

Brisk conducting is a common thread through all of these performances. Bruckner’s Seventh is dispatched in a little over 50 minutes, for example. For comparison, relatively few performances come in at over 60 minutes. At its best this can be exhilarating. Munch’s tempi are very successful in Schumann’s Second, where Munch and the BSO deliver a blistering performance of the first movement and a rousing finale. The Allegro vivace first movement in Beethoven’s Fourth is vivace indeed and the searching and well-paced finale in that symphony is an excellent bridge to the scherzo and finale, which are taken at a racing pace. The two Mendelssohn symphonies lend themselves to Munch’s pace.

But at times Munch’s addiction to speed is his undoing. The Bruckner 7 performance is really rather disappointing (although the orchestra and audience seemed pleased enough). It would have been interesting to hear how a conductor as rhythmically precise and sensitive to details of orchestral color as Munch is could perhaps shed new light on the symphony. But there’s little time in the sprint to stop and smell the roses.

To my ear the finest performances here include Haydn No. 98 , which Munch takes in a more Romantic vein than we would now be used to – an approach that pays dividends in the luscious string sound in the Adagio. Munch is ideally suited to the playful finale. The two Beethoven symphonies are also very successful, particularly the Fifth where Munch’s driving momentum is strengthened not undermined by flexible tempi. The performance of Schumann’s Second is very memorable.

Anyone interested in the history of conducting should think seriously about this set. It documents a powerful and exciting performer in a relatively unfamiliar repertoire (as far as Munch recordings are concerned). There are highs and lows, but from a purely musical point of view some of the performances are stand-outs. I would certainly encourage buying the set, but all of the DVDs are available separately and if funds are limited then I would recommend DVD 1 (the two Beethoven symphonies ), followed by DVD 4 (Schubert 5 and Schumann 2).

Coming up on the Digital Concert Hall (Berlin Phillharmonic 2014-2015 season)

With just over 3 weeks to the opening of the 2014-2015 Berlin Philharmonic season, here are some of the upcoming concerts on the Digital Concert Hall likely to interest readers of this blog. Simon Rattle will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sibelius's birth with a complete cycle of the 7 symphonies in 2015 (on the nights of February 5, 6, and 7). He will also be conducting a parallel Brahms-Schumann cycle in four evenings. The two first symphonies will be performed on September 18, with the next concerts on September 19, 25, and 26. This is an interesting idea. I look forward to a parallel Bruckner-Mahler cycle!

In the meantime Mahler enthusiasts will be able to enjoy Rattle conducting the 2nd Symphony on January 31, 2015 and several high profile guest conductors: Kirill Petrenko performing the 6th on December 6; Andriss Nelsons with the 5th on 25 April 2015; and Gustavo Dudamel conducting the 1st on 12 June, 2015. .

2014-2015 is a light season for Bruckner, but the mighty 8th on January 10 with Herbert Blomstedt will get 2015 off to a great start. 

There are some bleeding chunks of Wagner coming up – extracts from Götterdämmerung on October 25, conducting by Daniele Gatti, and Rattle conducting the Tristan prelude to close out the year on December 20.

Finally, Rattle conducts Beethoven's 9th on November 9 (in an unusual pairing with Szymanowski's Stabat Mater). 

It should an excellent year. At 149 euros for an annual subscription, this is one of the best values in classical music, particularly since all concerts can be downloaded for subsequent viewing on almost every device currently known to humankind. The audiovisual quality in the Digital Concert Hall is excellent. Get your subscription before the folks in Berlin work out how much this is really worth!

Sinopoli's 1998 Parsifal on Blu-Ray

Richard Wagner, Parsifal

Falk Struckmann – Amfortas

Matthias Hölle – Titurel

Hans Sotin – Gurnemanz

Poul Elming – Parsifal

Ekkehard Wlaschina – Klingsor

Linda Watson – Kundry

Choir and Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival

Giuseppe Sinopoli – conductor

Unitel Classica/C major (Blu-Ray: 715804)

Also available as DVD (705908)

This Blu-Ray disc from C major is both a fascinating historical document and a first-rate performance of Parsifal. From a historical perspective it gives a unique insight into Wolfgang Wagner’s final Parsifal production and is one of the few testaments we have of Giuseppe’s Sinopoli as a Wagner conductor (the only other complete Wagner performances that I can find are a Flying Dutchman from 1998 and two Tannhauser, one from Bayreuth). From a musical point of view, there is powerful conducting and some very good individual singing, in addition of course to the habitually high standards of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Chorus. Overall this is a strong performance, and definitely one of the best available on Blu-Ray.

Giuseppe Sinopoli succeeded James Levine as Bayreuth’s Parsifal conductor. Levine’s reign lasted from 1982 to 1993 (with Daniel Barenboim taking over for a year in 1987). Sinopoli conducted Parsifal for six years from 1994 through 1999. The staging by Wolfgang Wagner seen here made its first appearance under Levine in 1989. The performance seen here comes from 1998 and was released for the first time on DVD in May 2011. This review is of the Blu-Ray, released in 2014.

Sinopoli’s conducting is expansive. The Prelude comes in at 13’47”, which is slow but not super-slow. But the drama as a whole takes 4 hours 39 minutes, several minutes slower than Levine’s famously slow 1990 recording – and just a couple of minutes quicker by Toscanini’s 1931 Bayreuth performance. The Prelude to Act III show’s Sinopoli’s approach to good effect. It is measured, but not slow for the sake of slow. The tempi set the forward movement for Act III. Sinopoli’s conducting is commanding where it counts (particularly in the two great choral scenes in the outer acts) and he brings out many details of the score that remain buried in other performances. Each of the two transformation scenes is very effective. The Good Friday Music, in particular, flows naturally from the pacing of the act, rather than emerging as a set piece.

Wolfgang Wagner’s production is appealingly simple, clearly looking back to the Neue Bayreuth productions of the 1950s and 1960s. In Act I the forest is suggested by backdrop structures of stacked green polygons, which eventually part to make way for a vaguely Egyptian-looking Temple with a floor abstractly patterned in octagons. The patterned floor is a constant through the other two acts, and the abstract structures return for Act III. Variation comes with the lighting, which is used to very good effect (as in Wieland’s productions). In Act III the glowing grail casting a luminous red light on the costumes of the knights is particularly memorable.

There is one truly outstanding performance here – Falk Struckman’s Amfortas. Struckman captures Amfortas’s declining authority in Act I without making him seem decrepit and he certainly steals the show in Act III. Not only is he in very fine voice, he is the only member of the cast who could really be described as acting. The others typically stand and sing. In some cases they sing well. Hans Sotin is a magisterial Gurnemanz, with “Titurel der fromme held” approaching Hans Hotter’s level (helped by Sinopoli’s luminous conducting). Poul Elming portrays the boisterous and confused Act I Parsifal well. But although he sings powerfully in Acts II and IIII (particularly after baptizing Kundry) Parsifal doesn’t seem to have acquired much depth or wisdom. This is partly a problem of acting, but also reflects shortcomings in characterization. The same can be said of Linda Watson, here making her first Bayreuth appearance. She has a fine voice and sings well, but does not really get to grips with the complexities of the role. During the Parsifal-Kundry encounter in Act II the real drama takes place in the orchestra pit. Ekkehard Wlaschiha is a forceful Klingsor (despite wearing what looks rather like a Stanford PhD gown!) and Matthias Hölle’s off-stage Titurel is effective.

This performance is more than good, although not quite great. The Blu-Ray picture is very impressive (despite the disclaimer on the box), as is the sound quality. This disc should be in every Parsifal enthusiast’s collection.  

Haydn's London Sonatas played by Gottlieb Wallisch

M

Joseph Haydn: The London Sonatas

Gottleib Wallisch, piano

Sonata No. 60 in C major (Hob. XVI/50)

Sonata No. 61 in D major (Hob. XVI/51)

Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major (Hob. XVI/52)

Variations in F minor (Hob. XVII/6)

Sonata No. 59 in E-flat major (Hob. XVI/49)

Linn CKD 464            (Hybrid SACD)

This beautifully recorded and presented disc offers us Haydn’s last four piano sonatas, together with the Variations in F minor. The Sonata No. 59 was the last sonata Haydn composed during his 24 years as Kapellmeister in Esterháza. The last three sonatas were all composed during Haydn’s 2^nd visit to London (1794-5).

The extraordinary success Haydn enjoyed during his lifetime, coupled with his prodigious output, are about as far as one can imagine from the Romantic cliché of the tortured artist starving in a garret. But in many of his late works, those on this disc included, Haydn’s vision seems more attuned to the nineteenth century than the eighteenth.

The final sonata (No. 62) is large in scope and ambitious in conception, while Wallisch’s program notes describe the first movement of the D major sonata as reaching perhaps as far as Schubert. The E-flat sonata No. 59 has an affecting and effective slow movement which Haydn himself characterized as “full of meaning and emotion” in a letter to the original dedicatee Marianne von Genzinger – a description equally appropriate to the Adagio of the final E-flat sonata (No. 62).

Formally the 2 movement D major sonata (No. 61) is unusual and its second movement is rhythmically very innovative. At the same time these pieces show Haydn’s inventive and playful sides – the short finale to the C major sonata (No. 60) is a good example.

Gottleib Wallisch, who has previously recorded three Mozart discs for Linn, plays with great clarity and articulation. As one might expect, the sound quality is outstanding. This SACD is a very welcome addition to Linn’s catalog and is warmly recommended.

Claudia Abbado, Opening Concert at the 2013 Lucerne Festival (Brahms, Schoenberg, Beethoven)

Brahms, Tragic Overture

Schoenberg, Interlude and Song of the Wood-Dove from Gurreleider

Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 Eroica

Lucerne Festival Orchestra

Mihoko Fujimura, Mezzo-Soprano

Lucerne Festival Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado

Recorded on 16/17 August 2013

Accentus Blu-Ray 10282

(also available on DVD)

This disc represents the last audiovisual recording of Claudio Abbado conducting – although not the last recording tout court, as a CD of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 recorded later in the 2013 festival will soon be released. Abbado died  on 20^th January, 2014 and it is tempting to see this as a valedictory performance – particularly given the bleak programming, with Brahms’s Tragic Overture, an extract from Gurreleider that is all about death and loss, and Eroica symphony with Beethoven’s finest funeral march.

That would be completely wrong, however. This opening concert is really a celebration. It marks 10 years of wonderful music-making by Abbado and his hand-picked selection of musicians. The Lucerne festival has given us some magnificent recordings, particularly of Mahler and Bruckner, two composers with whom Abbado has a particular affinity. And this concert does not disappoint.

Both the Tragic Overture and the orchestral interlude from Gurreleider showcase the LFO’s extremely fine string section, at its best in the late Romantic repertoire. In the ‘Song of the Wood-Dove’ (which is more of a lament than a song) Abbado achieves a skillful and effective balance between the huge orchestra and the dark tone of Mihoko Fujimura’s mezzo-soprano.  But the real highlight of  the performance, unsurprisingly, is the Eroica symphony.

According to the (rather breathless) liner notes, Abbado makes the Funeral March the emotional centerpiece of the symphony. I have to disagree. The Funeral March, played with minimal vibrato, is certainly very powerful, but to describe it as the centerpiece fails to do justice to Abbado’s architectural conception and to the forward momentum that he establishes from the opening bars.  This performance reveals a deeply organic vision of the symphony and none of the movements can be taken on its own terms. The pacing of the scherzo, for example, builds to a perfectly judged transition into the finale.

The Lucerne Festival was obviously very special. This disc is a very worthy celebration of 10 great years that yielded most of the high points of Abbado’s conducting career.

Chailly's Mahler 5 on Blu-Ray

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5

Riccardo Chailly

Gewandhaus-Orchester

Accentus Music

Blu-Ray: ACC 10284

(Also available as DVD: ACC 20284)

This Blu-Ray disc is the latest in a projected complete Blu-Ray/DVD cycle of Mahler symphonies by the Gewandhaus conducted by their current musical director Riccardo Chailly. Symphonies No. 2, 4, 6, and 8 have already been released. This will be Chailly’s second Mahler cycle. Decca released the first with the Concertgebouw Amsterdam on CD in 2005.

As Chailly stresses in the very worthwhile interview included as a bonus feature, both the Concertgebouw and the Gewandhaus have strong historical links with Mahler through William Mengelberg and Bruno Walter respectively. For this performance Chailly steeped himself in Mengelberg’s annotated score.

Chailly sets himself against the trend for decelerated tempi in Mahler conducting, which he sees as self-indulgence that obscures the formal structure. His approach is classical in inspiration. He underplays Mahler’s ironical moments and resists the temptation to sentimental wallowing in the Adagietto. The performance gives an overwhelming impression of energy and movement. Interestingly, and perhaps an illustration of how much Mahler conducting has changed (since this performance still sounds brisk), he remains much slower than Mengelberg’s famous 1926 recording of the Adagietto, taking 8’39” to Mengelberg’s 7’04”.

In the score Mahler divides the five movements of the 5^th Symphony into three parts – the first two and last two movements each form a block, separated by the middle part which is composed simply of the scherzo.  Chailly takes his organization very much to heart (and structures his interview around it). On his interpretation the scherzo clearly comes across as the symphony’s center of gravity. There is no gap between the first and second movements. The transition is very effective and highlights the continuity in Part I – as he puts it in the interview, the second movement is an attack on the first movement’s funeral march.

There is an equally striking transition from the fourth movement to the finale, reflecting how well integrated the Adagietto is into the overall structure of the symphony. The finale has great power, momentum, and humor. It is Mahler at his sunniest – with Chailly identifying the last two bars as homage to Offenbach.  

This is a very fine performance with excellent Blu-Ray sound and unobtrusive videography.          I recommend it very highly and look forward to the rest of the cycle.

Thielemann's Bruckner 8 with the Staatskapelle Dresden (Blu-ray)

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 8

Staatskapelle Dresden

Christian Thielemann

C Major 716204        (Blu-Ray)

  

This performance of Bruckner’s 8^th Symphony was recorded in the Semperoper, Dresden on June 10, 2012 and is the first in a projected complete cycle of the Bruckner symphonies. An opera house is an unlikely venue for this most unoperatic of symphonies, but the performance is magnificent and was justly met with that very rare phenomenon – a standing ovation from a European symphony audience.

Thielemann’s interpretation is very weighty and feels slow. Looking at the timings reveal that the performance is no slower than most. What it has, though, is a rare sense of deliberateness and purpose. One way in which this reveals itself is in the balance within and across the four movements. Each of the first three movements is perfectly paced to set up its successor, and the tempo of the finale is exactly right to recapitulate its predecessors.

The first movement is 16’03” but feels slower. There is a great dramatic build up that still respects the movement’s lyrical passages with fine wind playing and well shaped phrasing in the strings. The tension is dissipated in the coda. In the second movement the contrast between the Scherzo and the Trio is well judged. The first occurrence of the Scherzo allows the much slower Trio to be foregrounded, while the reprise of the Scherzo feels much more driving and nicely frames an Adagio that is both lyrical and probing. The balance and dialog between strings, wind, and brass is particularly fine both in this movement and in the wonderfully paced finale.

I only have a couple of quibbles, one with the recording and one with the videography. The first is minor. The harp seems artificially foregrounded in the early parts of the Adagio, temporarily distorting the balance of the music. The second is much more significant. The videographer registers the climax of the Adagio with a pedestrian panning shot around the opera house. This adds nothing to the music and runs a serious risk of distracting the listener/viewer.  

But putting these quibbles to one wide, musically this is most impressive and bodes well for the rest of the cycle. Thielemann is cementing his position as one of the leading contemporary Bruckner conductors. Highly recommended.