Post by jhgaulard on Jul 7, 2008 8:52:02 GMT 1
Dear all,
the German firm AUDITE has finally published the complete list of recordings that they would issue for HvK's centenary.
The list and some comments appear here:
www.audite.de/index.php?bnm=156&sid=958e4cefce4ec1bbf2bbd7d630731ecd
Some of you have probably already bought their fantastic remastering of the 1949 Verdi's Requiem, the last appearance of HvK in Salzburg before the death of Fürtwangler, magnificent performance REMARKABLY CLEANED AND REMASTERED...I can only wait for the other two volumes, a Mozart concert with Kempff as well as a Beethoven combination (S3 and S9) from 1953 and 1957 respectively...
Now now now: the German label ARCHIPEL already has this 1953 Heroica in its catalogue and the least one can say is that it is not very good. What Osborne says about it is that Karajan was invited at short notice and had very few rehearsals. And indeed one is shocked when hearing this very flat, calcified performance of the 3rd...while just a couple of months earlier, Karajan was recording what was by all accounts a kick-ass version of that symphony with the Philharmonia: it had precision, pace, colour and this "vital energy" so necessary to Beethoven, in my view. Here, Karajan tries to move forward in the 1st movement but the orchestra, much more used to the tectonic layerings of Furtwangler, seem to have no idea about what Karajan wants from them. My perception is that the conductor changed tag for the Trauermarsch and let them play as they wanted: it is beautiful and one minute longer that the Philharmonia's recording...The rest of the symphony is unfortunately uneventful with a fourth movement which is more than a minute longer than the Philharmonia's masterpiece...Anyway all this to say that there were probably better documents to re-issue than that one...but who knows...maybe Audite will access a good source and this performance may be revealed in another light...In my view, this 3rd goes a long way in explaining why the Maestro didn't take the Berliner to a studio recording before quite a long time. They simply were not ready and -- I am sure this will rejoice my British freinds on this forum -- the Phiharmonia was at that time a much better, more precise instrument than the BP...I guess the problem was that it was lacking this thicker texture (still there in the Heroica, despite everything else!) that could be a problem in some of the Philharmonia's recordings. in Karajan's recordings it is offset by a lot of enthusiasm, an unbeatable sense of rythm and fantastic precision, and that INCREDIBLE woodwind section...Good times... Anyway do you people have any view on that particular 3rd?
the German firm AUDITE has finally published the complete list of recordings that they would issue for HvK's centenary.
The list and some comments appear here:
www.audite.de/index.php?bnm=156&sid=958e4cefce4ec1bbf2bbd7d630731ecd
Some of you have probably already bought their fantastic remastering of the 1949 Verdi's Requiem, the last appearance of HvK in Salzburg before the death of Fürtwangler, magnificent performance REMARKABLY CLEANED AND REMASTERED...I can only wait for the other two volumes, a Mozart concert with Kempff as well as a Beethoven combination (S3 and S9) from 1953 and 1957 respectively...
Now now now: the German label ARCHIPEL already has this 1953 Heroica in its catalogue and the least one can say is that it is not very good. What Osborne says about it is that Karajan was invited at short notice and had very few rehearsals. And indeed one is shocked when hearing this very flat, calcified performance of the 3rd...while just a couple of months earlier, Karajan was recording what was by all accounts a kick-ass version of that symphony with the Philharmonia: it had precision, pace, colour and this "vital energy" so necessary to Beethoven, in my view. Here, Karajan tries to move forward in the 1st movement but the orchestra, much more used to the tectonic layerings of Furtwangler, seem to have no idea about what Karajan wants from them. My perception is that the conductor changed tag for the Trauermarsch and let them play as they wanted: it is beautiful and one minute longer that the Philharmonia's recording...The rest of the symphony is unfortunately uneventful with a fourth movement which is more than a minute longer than the Philharmonia's masterpiece...Anyway all this to say that there were probably better documents to re-issue than that one...but who knows...maybe Audite will access a good source and this performance may be revealed in another light...In my view, this 3rd goes a long way in explaining why the Maestro didn't take the Berliner to a studio recording before quite a long time. They simply were not ready and -- I am sure this will rejoice my British freinds on this forum -- the Phiharmonia was at that time a much better, more precise instrument than the BP...I guess the problem was that it was lacking this thicker texture (still there in the Heroica, despite everything else!) that could be a problem in some of the Philharmonia's recordings. in Karajan's recordings it is offset by a lot of enthusiasm, an unbeatable sense of rythm and fantastic precision, and that INCREDIBLE woodwind section...Good times... Anyway do you people have any view on that particular 3rd?