Carl Schuricht is relatively little known these days.
He nevertheless finds a place in EMI Classics' Great Conductors of
the Twentieth Century series (each volume of which proudly proclaims:
‘contains rare material previously unreleased on CD’). Schuricht certainly
has a justifiable place in this pantheon.
He was essentially at ease in the German repertoire
and with German orchestras. He often received a mixed reception in his
day, mainly for some eccentricities of tempi. In recent years views
have mellowed and his work more appreciated. He had an extensive recording
career going way back to the acoustical era with the Berlin Municipal
Orchestra and ending with LPs in the post-war years for Decca and EMI.
Here we hear him at his best with German/Austrian classical
and romantic masters from Mozart to Bruckner. There’s a lightness of
touch and fresh vigour to Mendelssohn’s overture. John Culshaw attested
to Schuricht’s eleven attempts at the first movement alone of Schubert’s
‘Unfinished’ before he finally finished it. One would not think so judging
by the eloquent lyricism he coaxes from the VPO - no eccentric tempi
here. His Mozart is full of joy and sparkles along in a bright account,
playing up the trumpets and drums in the first movement, drawing on
Mozart’s beautiful lyricism in the Andante, followed by a stylish
minuet and trio and a bustling finale. For Beethoven’s First Symphony
the Salle Wagram is too resonant compared with Vienna venues such as
the late and much lamented Sofiensaal which allowed the VPO’s sound
its bloom without blurring the harmonic outlines of the music. Nevertheless
it is a performance worth having, if not as valuable as Bruckner’s epic
eighth on the second CD. Schuricht uses the Haas edition (with some
minor alterations but fewer cuts than Nowak) and carves blocks of sound
out of musical granite yet elicits warmth and eloquence in Bruckner’s
second subjects. In his view of Bruckner he falls midway between the
neuroses of Furtwängler and the veneer of Karajan; no bad thing
really.
Christopher Fifield
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Orchestre
de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire