10 Conductors Redeemed By Remakes
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- 10 Conductors Redeemed By Remakes
Ozawa’s Mahler Second Symphony (Philips [Decca] vs. Sony)
Jochum’s Carmina Burana (DG Mono vs. Stereo)
Haitink’s Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 4 and 8 (Philips [Decca] vs. LSO)
Blomstedt’s Nielsen Symphonies (EMI [Warner] vs. Decca)
Giulini’s Schubert “Great” Symphony in C major (DG vs. Sony)
Klemperer’s Bruckner Fourth Symphony (Vox vs. EMI [Warner])
Colin Davis’ Sibelius Kullervo Symphony (RCA vs. LSO)
Previn’s Belshazzar’s Feast (EMI [Warner] vs. MCA)
Karajan’s Bartók Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (EMI [Warner] vs. DG)
Bernstein’s Mahler Fifth (Sony vs. DG)
It is certainly not a hard and fast rule, but it feels like a lot more composers get better as they age than conductors get better as they age.
Hey! First time I was the "one of you" in "one of you mentioned"! 😁 I just listened to Karajan's Music for Strings following your video on great string playing. I'm not sure I'd ever heard it before, but it was pretty stunning! Looking forward to the woodwind video. Ozawa/Ma mère!
Otto Klemperer was bipolar, and whether he was in a manic or depressive state when he conducted directly affected his tempi. The reason Klemperer has a reputation for being a slow conductor was because, according to Walter Legge, he preferred to record Klemperer when he was in a "depressive" state because Legge found him easier to work with that way. That's how Klemperer left both the fastest (a 1948 live broadcast from Budapest) and the slowest (his 1965 studio recording) records of Mozart's opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio."
I read the same about his performances of Beethoven's Fidelio -- fastest in Budapest in the '40s, slowest in the studio in the '60s. So I guess he holds several of these fastest-slowest records (elsewhere in this thread Klemp's recordings of Mahler 7 are cited as another example).
Many thanks.
Having sampled the Giulini and Ozawa I've fortunately been able to source CD's of both.
I think the Giulini Schubert 9 may be the first of that symphony that I actually will like, as opposed to thinking that I should like it.
Sad to learn of Ozawa's passing. I wish he had been better appreciated whilst he was alive. I think his latest Mahler 2 will join many recordings of his that have brought me so much pleasure.
Interesting talk! Concerning Karajan, I would have awaited Mahler's 9th. But you're right, the Bartók is also a stunning improvement.
For what it's worth: one of the few films that was a vast improvement over the original (and the original wasn't all that bad) was David Cronenberg's remake of "The Fly". Wonderful Howard Shore score, too.
I was pleased that you rated the Haitink/LSO Live Beethoven 4th so highly because I consider it one of the great recordings of the work. I also think the work itself tends to be underrated. The eighth is also excellent. I have the entire set and have to admit that some of the other symphonies don't fare anywhere nearly as well. Regarding the earlier Bernstein Mahler 5th, it's a performance I've never cared for - unlike most of the others he did in that earlier series - and it resulted in my decision to forgo attending the concert he and the New York Phil gave when they visited New Zealand decades ago and performed the work here. The local critic at the time raved about it so I think I made a serious error of judgement on that occasion.
Another Karajan 2nd round improvement is Vivaldi's 4 Seasons. The DG 70s recording sounded like the BPO was playing in a swimming pool and recorded from the locker room. The EMI with Vienna/Mutter was many orders of magnitude better. Much clearer and crisper, and with an audible harpsichord!
I remember hearing Klemperer's Vox recording of Bruckner 4 early on and wondering why anyone would be interested in the work. It was especially too fast in the first movement. Later I heard the EMI recording and understood.
We had both those recordings. One can't believe the contrast in the two recordings..
Dave, have you thought of doing a remake of one of your early survey videos? Nothing wrong with their judgments, but that was before you turned into a virtuoso broadcaster (and I actually mean that). 😇
Thank you. I know, some of them are embarrassing, and maybe i'll get to it.
Two Bach examples spring to my mind:
A) Harnoncourt's 1986 B-minor Mass vs. his pioneering 1968 version. The earlier one was revelatory when it was made, but in retrospect seems dull. The later version is profoundly expressive.
B) Gardiner in cantatas 140 and 147. His DG-Archiv album of these cantatas was actually very well received, but I always felt that it was a rather superficial interpretation. It had its merits: it was well-played and well-sung, but it lacked depth and expression in many places. I had high expectations of his Bach Pilgrimage remakes in 2000 -- and was not disappointed: those later live recordings contained all the energy and depth I missed in his earlier studio version. (Gardiner was certainly capable of getting marevllous interpretive results in the studio; but not on that particular occasion)
Was wondering if you might have included Segerstam's Sibelius symphony cycle - I seem to remember you giving his second set a top recommendation and contrasting with the earlier versions.
Funnily, Blomstedt’s earlier EMI Nielsen Symphonies were the recordings that got me into Nielsen; this was before the improved remakes, obviously. I heard them on the radio and maybe they seemed more impressive that way.
They seemed OK if you didn't know the music otherwise, and they had very little readily available competition for completeness.
Knappertsbusch 58 Parsifal over his 51 recording.
Dave - I would love to hear you do a set of videos on conductors and virtuosos where you discuss their relative strengths and weaknesses, perhaps the composer they play the best or worst.
I took your recommendation of Wand and the Beethoven cycle and just love. In fact, I’ve come to love Wands style. Would have never found him but for you.
Thank you. I do discuss individual artists--have a look at my "Ten Best" Preview videos. There's a playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLAjIX596BriEV-a05WITbmwaI5YWePx1c.html
Unfortunately Ozawa second Mahler 2 doesn’t seem to be available in the streaming music services, like most of his records with Saito Kinen Orchestra :-(
I'm pretty sure it is on spotify
It is on Presto Music Streaming
@@davidspratt2001Presto isn’t a subscription service unfortunately.
@@yundichen8332 you're right, I should have checked, but I don't have Spotify because unbelievably it continues to streams audio only at 320Kbps and not in CD-quality. I have Tidal: it has lossless audio quality but its catalog has less albums and you can't find there a lot of the albums Ozawa did with the Saito Orchestra.
Another possible choice for Giulini is Bruckner's 9th Symphony. He recorded it with the Chicago Symphony for EMI in 1976. It isn't a bad performance exactly, but it is certainly nothing special and not terribly well recorded. His later recording with the Vienna Philharmonic on DG is one of the great Bruckner recordings of all time.
I disagree with that one. Many prefer the Chicago recordings and it's very different, not "worse."
I've always been mystified how Bernstein's old NYPO Mahler 3 could be so good (one of my faves) but the 5th kind of fizzled. Same conductor, same orchestra. Go figure.
Nobody gets all of them well, even Bernstein.
Back in 1970, WFMT Chicago played back to back recordings of Mahler’s Fifth, with Bernstein/NYPO, and with Solti/CSO, which had just been released. The differences in performance and recorded sound were obvious, to the home team’s advantage!
I love these videos. Thank you