The advantages of DVD and Blu-ray recordings of opera and ballet
are clear – we get to see the action with the original text
or translation as a sub-title in the case of opera. Though far
too many productions spoil the effect with unnecessary tomfoolery
and the camera-work is not always flattering to the performers,
much is usually lost by listening to such recordings in audio
only. I do, however, sometimes find a particular production
so intolerable that I have to resort to the audio-only option
– no names no pack drill on this occasion, though I will mention
an honourable exception which I have reviewed recently: Richard
Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos on a Virgin Classics DVD
(6418679) with Deborah Voigt, Natalie Dessay, the Metropolitan
Opera and James Levine.
The situation, however, is necessarily different in the case
of orchestral music. Too ‘busy’ camera-work can easily detract
from enjoyment. The line is very fine – it may be right to focus
on a particular instrumentalist whose contribution might otherwise
go unnoticed, but distracting to see his designer stubble or
to have a view of her nostrils. The BBC usually manage video
broadcasts of recordings from the Proms extremely well, as do
ORF for the Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s concerts. On the
other hand, I had to play a recent Aix Records Blu-ray disc
of chamber music by Shostakovich, Debussy and Brockman on my
audio system because of constant shifts of angle and the visibility
of even the camera-track and other recording paraphernalia.
This Euroarts Lucerne Festival recording and production falls
between these two stools – on the whole the camera-work is on
the side of the angels, though there were occasions when I thought
it unduly ‘busy’. One review which I have read suggests that
it’s ideal, another that that it is too often frustrating: both
are partly true.
Having watched it several times now, I imagine that I shall
in future mostly be playing it via my audio system, thereby
deriving the clear benefit which Blu-ray brings over DVD and
CD as an audio carrier. The sound is indeed very good when heard
via television speakers and excellent when played via an AV
receiver and large speakers.
You wouldn’t normally expect a programme like this on CD or
SACD. My first reaction, therefore, was to wonder whether a
combination which clearly worked so well at the Lucerne Festival
would stand repetition in a recorded format. In fact, the arrangement
works very well, even for repeated viewing and hearing.
Yuja Wang and Claudio Abbado combine youth and experience in
the Prokofiev and the combination is extremely successful. It
transpires that Abbado saw Wang play the Liszt Piano Sonata
on French television and was so impressed, comparing her with
Martha Argerich no less, that he invited her to perform with
him in March 2009 and again at that year’s Lucerne Festival.
The Prokofiev Concerto was apparently Abbado’s choice of repertoire,
but in the event he could not have chosen more happily as an
opening for the concert.
Bob Briggs thought Wang’s recording of a very mixed recital
of music by Stravinsky, Domenico Scarlatti, Brahms and Ravel
a fantastic achievement (DG 477 8795, ‘Transformation’) though
he was less impressed by the notes in the booklet. He takes
the words that I was going to use of her Prokofiev out of my
mouth when he uses such epithets as ‘stunning’ and ‘astonishing’
and when he writes of her playing like a demon and interpreting
like an angel. All of which, despite my comments about seeing
as against hearing, is clearly heightened by the vivid red dress
which she wears – not the more sober one illustrated in the
booklet.
There is very strong competition for recordings of the Concerto:
Ashkenazy and Previn (all five concertos on Double Decca 452
5882) and Argerich and Dutoit (Nos. 1 and 3, plus Bartók No.3,
EMI 556654) to name but the two most obvious. Abbado has performed
this concerto with Martha Argerich, so it’s not surprising that
he chose to accompany here the pianist whom he has compared
with Argerich, with whom he recorded the work for DG in the
1960s. Only a slight tendency to rush at times prevents me from
giving this combination the strongest possible recommendation.
Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra go together naturally
and, since Abbado is also a veteran Mahler conductor of distinction
who has performed and recorded the composer’s music with them
so successfully, it’s hardly surprising that the partnership
comes off so well again here. It’s almost invidious to select,
but I’d choose as most significant the way in which Abbado stresses
the music’s kinship with birdsong, his wholly natural use of
rubato and, above all, his demonstration that this was
a First Symphony in which the composer’s maturity is manifest
– even Brahms didn’t achieve that, for all that he waited so
long.
The performance of the finale brings the house down; it deserves
and receives a tremendous ovation. If you began with any doubts
about the order of the two works on the disc, you will soon
forget them – to follow this Mahler First Symphony with anything
else would be sacrilege. I shan’t be dumping my Kubelík CD,
with its superb bonus of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Lieder
eines fahrenden Gesellen (DG Originals 449 7352) but I shall
be playing Abbado pretty frequently too.
With such excellent performances presented in such sharp picture
quality – full 1080p on Blu-ray, which I imagine is superior
to the DVD – and in such excellent sound, my only reservation
must be the high price which Euroarts set on their DVD and Blu-ray
recordings. In this case, the product is well worth the asking
price: it’s not surprising that the DVD version was a best-seller
for our partner suppliers at MDT last year.
Brian Wilson
See also review of the DVD by Colin
Clarke
Yuja Wang (piano)
[93:00] 
