Review: William Steinberg's Brahms Revived
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มี.ค. 2022
- Recorded between 1961-65 for Command Classics but now reappearing on DG, Williams Steinberg's Brahms cycle features two sensational performances, and two, well, interesting ones. It's good to have it back, but is it still competitive with the best? Watch the video for details.
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As to Steinberg and Brahms I remember with great enthusiasm his rendition of the d minor piano concerto with Firkusny at the piano: amazing!
It is available on a Steinberg collection. Agreed. Amazing.
What I like in Steinberg conducting is the life he put in it. Life and joy.
Steinberg said of the sessions for Brahms's Second Symphony, "At first I opposed this location, because I can't hear the orchestra there, the ceiling is so high. I suppose it must be so high to make room for the Lincoln inscription. But the engineers said, 'The microphones hear very well, and we will use a lot of them.' Who am I to argue with the engineers? So we recorded in Memorial Hall. I am the only conductor in history who memorized the Gettysburg Address while rehearsing Brahms' Second Symphony." [via Wikipedia]
I just listen to the recordings, and I agree that the 1st is worst than than 2nd and 3rd, but it seems the problem is partly technical. In the first symphony it seems the ceiling-high symptom is there and not the second symphony, everything sounds much more remote, the strings is dominated the woodwind and the brass, the sound goes up from the string ad goes forward for the woodwind and brass. Strangely the 2nd symphony is the first to be recorded. My guess is that engineers place mics after Steinberg's complain and then when they record the first symphony few months later they forgot they receipt of multi-mics used in the first session.
Wow. I recognized that cover art immediately. This album was the first Brahms I ever heard when I bought the Command Classics set in the mid 1970's. I was just getting into classical music, and at the time I could hold my entire record collection in one hand. The LPs are long gone, and I'm delighted to see that the set has been reissued on CD.
I saw Steinberg and the Pittsburgh perform the Brahm’s 2nd at Brooklyn college in 1967 and the performance was the identical twin of the Command recording. Great stuff!
These Command covers, as well as many others, were designed by famous artist Josef Albers
I love the Persuasive Percussion covers. Takes me right back to 1961.
Yes! I wondered what had happened to the rights of these recordings, and resorted to getting an LP box of them - glad to see DG bring them back!
Back in my LP collection days I had Steinberg’s Brahms Third, a performance that -to this day-I remember as being the most satisfying account I have heard of that work in what was and has remained a crowded field.
Good to see this being released. Any inside info on what’s next in DG releases? I wouldn’t mind their Tchaik 4/5.
Great talk Dave! Would you consider to have a little chat about Robert Shaw and Alfred Wallenstein one day? It would be interesting 😀
My only real complaint is the packaging chosen by DG.
A digipak made of cardboard that folds out to four pages.
Three pages have plastic CD holders glued to them.
The fourth page has a slot that hides the booklet.
Flimsy and not environmentally sound.
see Dave's video @9:46
I think the 2nd is really the highlight of this set. I remember when it first came out on Command Classics the record magazines raved about the recorded sound. Command was a bit of an audiophile label at the time, but their pressings were often not great - like so many others in those vinyl days.
Congrats. Dave on 13k subscribers!
Thanks!
I just came back to this set and that recording of the 2nd is really still such a standout. So many recent recordings are boring and "transparent" which has become a code word for thin and unshaped; Steinberg and Pittsburgh make it sing simply and clearly and bring the big moments big time.
Steinberg really was a fine conductor. I had some of those Command recordings but got rid of them long ago. Didn't some of them have that ping-pong stereo effect? I could be wrong but I seem to recall a lot of the Command classical records were bass-deficient. Is that correct?
Bass is OK on DG CDs. Also channels are not reversed.
The Enoch Light recordings did. I guess that was their appeal. Bongos on one side, snare on the other, that kind of thing. But those records definitely paid the bills.
I already own the Brahms cycle the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra recorded under Marek Janowski. I had been wondering if this one was worth it, but now, maybe some other time, even though I have great respect for William Steinberg.
More than worth it!
As much as I appreciate and respect Leinsdorf’s Boston Brahms cycle, I can only imagine what might have been had Steinberg gotten the job. Would RCA have recorded the Brahms cycle with him? Would they have used their usual limiting and compression for the Dynagrunge pressings? Would that Brahms cycle supercede the one from Pittsburgh? We can only imagine. If only they had done a Brahms cycle with DGG, once he finally secured the position……or even another Beethoven cycle. But then…Leinsdorf had already done that too….respectable, but not very memorable.
The only Steinberg Brahms I have ever heard was the 4th on Everest that was in my dad's LP collection. I liked it at the time, but I haven't heard it in decades. I assume that this 4th is not the same recording licensed?
As I said in the video, it is not.
@@DavesClassicalGuide doh 😣 i missed that.
Back in the 60's-70's, I had quite an obsession with finding the ideal Brahms 3rd. It seems to be a very difficult work to bring off correctly, and it is very easy to go astray with too much vs too little of just about everything. (Tempo, energy, sound blend, etc, etc). The two I finally settled on were the Steinberg/Pittsburg, and Leinsdorf/Boston. Since then, I have added Bruno Walter and Gunter Wand to my favorites, and Szell, who I previously did not like at all. Also, the Steinberg 2nd is truly great.
I feel your pain. A hard work to bring off. Give Istvan Kertesz a try. At present his version wins on points for me.
Klemperer
@@OuterGalaxyLounge Thank you for the suggestion. I have the Kertesz in my collection, and my general recollection of it is favorable, so I will give it another spin with as open a mind (and ears) as I can muster.
@@johnfowler7660 Thank you for the suggestion. I have the Klemperer set in my collection, so I will give it another listen. My best recollection of it was that it is a little "heavy", but maybe I just had the "Klemperer Stereotype" in my head at the time. I will give it another listen see if I need to re-evaluate my choices.
His second of Brahms is fabulous, I completely agree!! I actually must have picked up on your coming video - just listened to it last night!! Dave, I wonder if you’ll cover Medtner’s piano music? Great video as always, thanks!!
I like Medtner, but it's not a priority.
Great video as usual. However, at 2'56" I believe you mean "Let's get back to Steinberg".
Yes. Thank you.
I’ve had the Command LPs and open reel tapes AND the MCA CDs for many years. (On the MCA, it sounds like the channels are reversed on some of the symphonies.). I’ve long loved these recordings, while recognizing their limitations in sound and execution. I’ll be ordering this….mostly for the sake of nostalgia…in hopes that the channels are corrected and the sound is as good as possible. But of course, that will have zero effect on the performances themselves. I like this cycle, but yes….it has been bettered many times over the past 60 years.
A good channel! 🔝👍
Glad you think so!
A very decent cycle but not a patch on his Beethoven. I have it on an old MCA Double Decker CD release and it sounds a bit scrawny. Maybe this DGG is better.
M'y First Brahms cycle...3 lp....and the cover of cd box is the same of lp command box...i remember i liked this records,but the vynil is mostly so cheap...
That Lohengrin catastrophe was really RCA's fail and not Leinsdorf's. After Leontyne Price cancelled the Elsas and Gorr was performing with a severe cold, Leinsdorf himself was dubious about the entire project and never liked the result. RCA plowed ahead anyway with a sick Ortrud and an Elsa who never sold a record on her own reknown in her life. That said, Steinberg is doubtless the finer conductor and RCA should have done whatever it took to sign him.
Dave here sounds like the best friend who has to tell his buddy that, as much as he likes him, his novel ain't that great.
Sadly, yes.