GREAT CONDUCTORS - ERICH KLEIBER
DVORAK
Symphony no 9 ('From the New World'); Carnival Overture; Scherzo
Capriccioso; Slavonic Dance no 1
SMETANA
The Moldau
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Berlin Philmarmonic Orchestra, Berlin State Opera Orchestra Erich
Kleiber
Historical Recordings 1927-1948
Transfer Mark Obert-Thorn Recorded September-October 1999
Naxos 8.110907
[74:34]
Crotchet
Amazon
UK £4.99
Erich Kleiber (1890-1956) was undoubtedly one of the great conductors of
his day, though his European career was severely ruptured by Hitler's advent
to power and the Second World War: during these years he spent most of his
time in South America.
Historical recordings are a lottery: interesting from an interpretative
perspective, perhaps, but often of dodgy sound quality, as on the whole is
this one. With one exception, the recordings were made in Berlin between
1927 and 1930. Oddly enough, that exception - the Carnival Overture
(which dates from 1948) - is much the poorest in sound quality. Frankly,
it's dreadful, and its inclusion here is hard to understand. Made in the
Kingsway Hall with the LPO, it was an early Decca ffrr release. The
performance seems authoritative enough, but the dead, mushy, lightweight
sound with tinny upper strings and percussion, and the addition of full brass
coming over simply as an increase in volume, it is totally unacceptable.
The older recordings (made with the Berlin Philharmonic and State Opera
Orchestras) fare better, though they contain some alarming wobbles in pitch.
A truncated but lively version of the Scherzo Capriccioso is marred
by considerable surface noise, and the cello accompaniment to the second
subject is much too prominent. In The Moldau Kleiber works up a
particularly vivid storm at the climax. Much the most interesting recording
is that of the New World Symphony, where Kleiber adopts distinctly
idiosyncratic tempi. The opening introduction is unusually grave and the
subsequent allegro correspondingly brisk Another unusual tempo occurs in
the third movement trio - very steady - while the horn entry in the finale's
coda verges on the lugubrious. The sound quality is variable, timpani, for
instance, ranging from sharply defined to indeterminately muffled.
Adrian Smith
Performance
Sound
(Carnival)
(The
rest)
