EMI reissues of three
well-loved performances, only one of
them (No. 6) remastered recently, the
other two being re-releases of recordings
digitally remastered in 1987 and 1991.
Hearing them again
after 5–10 years of period performances,
they seem to belong to an earlier world.
Tempi are slow, repeats are removed,
and a big orchestra is used. This will
probably delight traditionalists and
greatly infuriate lovers of period performance
techniques. Giulini is too good a conductor
to be dismissed however, and strange
as it may seem, these performances radiate
the conductor’s love of the scores,
shining through the music-making like
a beacon.
The peasant’s dance
in the Pastoral is slow, but not as
slow as Klemperer, the all-time slouch
in this work. This is followed by an
absolutely gorgeous account of the Shepherd’s
Song. The concentration of the New Philharmonia
is remarkable and the symphony comes
to its great conclusion, slowly but
almost regally. The only performance
which displays a similar level of dedication
and love is the one by Bruno Walter
with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra
on Sony. I would not rate this Giulini
version as highly as the Walter, but
it comes pretty close.
When we come to the
Eighth Symphony, this is done by the
LSO in Kingsway Hall, and the recording
quality, normally excellent in that
location, is somewhat recessed, and
less immediate than No. 6. The slow
tempi sound sleepy and I was less impressed
than with the Pastoral. The second movement
is almost static, as is the third. The
finale redeems itself slightly, but
this is not what I would rate as a normal
Giulini performance. In this symphony,
I like to hear some exuberance and it
is totally missing from this performance.
I doubt that even the
New Philharmonia displaying the form
they showed in the Pastoral could redeem
the Eighth beyond what I rate as a very
ordinary performance.
We stay with the LSO
for the Choral and its excellent roster
of soloists, again recorded in Kingsway
Hall. I am afraid that the same lassitude
that affected the Eighth saturates the
Choral. The drama of the first movement
is toned down, apart from some spirited
horn playing at 2’12" in the first
movement, which is not allowed to be
repeated. If it had, some of Beethoven’s
extreme drama in this movement might
have been let live. As it is, the movement
becomes a long, tedious journey which
in the right hands should be alive and
kicking. Even the cataclysmic central
climax of the movement is very tame.
Maybe the LSO was having a bad day in
the studio – it certainly seems so as
the playing doesn’t even come up to
their normal standard.
The scherzo is a lot
better, more like I would have expected
with Giulini, pointed and properly phrased
– it even sounds like a scherzo!
When we reach the slow
movement the tempo slows right down
again (as you would expect) but the
phrasing is much improved, so much so
that I actually enjoyed this movement,
some insecure horn playing notwithstanding.
The finale is normally
expected to open as if the heavens were
being stormed, but here it is far from
this. The reprise of the first movement
is as sleepy as it was earlier, and
the beginning of this movement as Beethoven
summarizing what has gone before seems
to take a age, with heavy phrasing from
the LSO. When the famous theme is arrived
at, there is a delicacy about the phrasing
which I find most attractive so at least
it is not a complete write off.
John Shirley-Quirk
is his usual superb self but he is let
down by the accompaniment which is sluggish.
When the chorus arrives, the training
given them by Arthur Oldham comes to
the fore and there are certainly no
problems with the choral, or indeed
the remainder of the movement, provided
you can put up with the sluggishness.
This is one occasion when I longed for
the breath of fresh air brought to this
work by the likes of a Zinmann, a Gardiner
or a Pinnock, or heavens above, (to
those who don’t know it) a Karajan.
Given the competition,
I cannot really recommend this issue
although there are some nice things
in it. Even at its low price for two
discs, the set is not in the least competitive,
and there are much better offerings
to be had elsewhere.
John Phillips
New Philharmonia Orchestra, (No. 6) London
Symphony Orchestra (Nos. 8 and 9), Sheila Armstrong
(soprano), Anne Reynolds (contralto), Robert
Tear (tenor) and John Shirley-Quirk (bass) and
the London Symphony Chorus (No. 9), conducted
by Carlo Maria Giulini.