The latest Scherchen
release from the indefatigable Tahra
team is devoted to one entire and one
partial concert from successive days
in October 1953. These were given in
Paris with the Orchestre National de
France and the Orchestre du Théâtre
des Champs-Elysées and the repertoire
was echt Scherchen – classical and twentieth
century.
His Beethoven symphonic
cycle is hardly hidden gold any longer
in the CD age; it was released recently
on Archipel in reasonable enough transfers.
The so-called Philharmonic-Symphony
Orchestra of London bore the burden
of a number of recordings in that mid
1950s cycle and it makes for compelling
contrasts to note the differences from
this live Paris performance given the
year before. The Paris traversal of
the Second is considerably slower and
weightier all round, sometimes quite
dramatically so, and bears out the wisdom
of the fluidity of interpretative decision
making in the light of orchestral standards,
hall acoustic and revision of prerequisites
in the canonical repertoire. The emphases
in Paris - string weight, mass, a certain
oratorical grandeur – were later to
be revised in London into a much more
fleet and Haydnesque motion. The recording
is rather raw and the strings of the
orchestra, as preserved in the recording
anyway, are apt to be glassy and certain
sections are not in absolute control
(horns especially). Despite my preference
for the later commercial recording one
can note that Scherchen evokes considerable
and convincing charm in the Larghetto
and his Scherzo at least is only slightly
slower than the 1954 disc. The finale
doesn’t fizz as much though. The same
comments apply regarding the Haydn.
Scherchen’s recordings of some of the
symphonies of Haydn have also made for
a very welcome restorative box in the
last year or so. Intense in the opening
with strong bass moulding we can note
in passing that some of the balances
for this live broadcast (all studio
announced by the way) are slightly awry
and the strings can be chilly but there’s
free flowing and animated drama in the
slow movement alongside unaffected grazioso.
There are well times pauses in the wittily
inflected Minuet, full of sportive spirit,
and a fast and driving finale to finish
– with divisi fiddles well delineated.
The Mozart Concerto
features those two legendary French
players Lily Laskine and Roger Bourdin.
The former left more than one recording
of her enchanting performance (she’d
recently recorded it with René
Le Roy and Beecham in London). This
is a bracing, straightforward reading
shorn of artifice but also missing something
in the slow movement at least, of Beecham’s
affectionate moulding of phrases. The
sound is a touch clinical as well so,
in addition to the pleasures of Laskine,
perhaps the most revealing moments come
from Bourdin who is however not quite
on Le Roy’s level. The final work is
one much associated with Charles Munch,
Roussel’s Fourth. Scherchen certainly
catches the stark and brittle writing
in the first movement; the sound may
be somewhat chilly once more but it
catches a lot of detail – notably some
fine and characterful wind soloists.
The uneasy clam of the lento is finely
judged are as the accelerandi throughout
– Scherchen understands the sense of
grave simplicity implicit in the music,
the colour shifting properties that
are so much a feature of the symphony.
Similarly the Allegro scherzando is
strongly characterised, with its broad
mix of the doughty and the pesky, underpinned
by its march theme. And no less so in
the finale in which Scherchen takes
us on an exuberant journey full of dash
and drive.
Radio announcements
are retained (in French of course) and
the notes relate, in intelligent detail,
the question of Scherchen’s concert
life in France. Given that some of this
is known Scherchen territory I wouldn’t
necessarily issue a collective endorsement.
It does still depend on repertoire.
But there’s more than enough here to
tempt – and there’s the Roussel as well,
which is a peach.
Jonathan Woolf
Orchestre National de France/Hermann Scherchen
