These days Detroit is in the news for all the wrong
reasons, so it’s gratifying to report that the city’s orchestra
is going from strength to strength. It’s a fine band, and since
its inaugural concert in 1887 it has boasted a number of distinguished
musical directors, among them Paul Paray (1951-1962), Antal Dorati (1977-1981)
and now Leonard Slatkin (appointed 2008). Older readers may remember
the DSO’s legendary Mercury recordings for Paray, the SACD versions
of which now fetch silly money on the Net. Under Slatkin they have already
recorded Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony and
Vocalise (
review)
and the Third, coupled with the
Symphonic Dances (
review).
What really opened my eyes - and ears - to the orchestra’s continuing
renaissance was their exuberant Copland collection, which has been well
received on these pages (
review).
That said, they are up against formidable competition when it comes
to these Russian masterpieces; I do admire Vladimir Ashkenazy and the
Concertgebouw in both this symphony and
The Isle of the Dead
(Decca) and although I found Lan Shui and the Singapore Symphony (BIS)
a little underwhelming in the symphony I warmed to their performance
over time (
review).
Initial impressions of this Naxos coupling are favourable; the Böcklin-inspired
tone poem is spaciously done, even if it's a little too measured for
my taste; still, it does have that compelling - and necessary - sense
of the inexorable about it. Is that enough? Perhaps not. Compared with
Ashkenazy Slatkin lacks that even more important element of dark fantasy,
of high colour and vivid contrasts, and that makes for a somewhat muted
ride across the Styx. No such caveats about the sound though, which
is wide, weighty and well balanced.
Slatkin’s reading of the First Symphony falls somewhere between
the impassioned - and very volatile - Ashkenazy and the cooler, rather
understated Lan Shui. In mitigation his players are polished and powerful
- the tuttis are especially thrilling - but for all its precision this
performance, like that of the preceding piece, is a little short on
character. It certainly doesn’t have the sprightly narrative that
I came to respect in that BIS account. True, Ashkenazy and his Dutch
orchestra are given a big, beefy sound, but that’s a tad wearying
after a while; by contrast the Naxos engineers manage a similar dynamic
spread without the music sounding so obviously hi-fi.
I did enjoy Slatkin and the DSO’s reading of the symphony, but
despite some spirited and incisive playing in the last movement especially
their performance lacks the last degree of idiom and imaginative flair
that enriches Ashkenazy’s account; it’s also very different
from the lightness and clarity that infuse the Lan Shui version. Make
no mistake, Slatkin’s take on both works is well worth hearing;
indeed, I suspect these very solid, middle-of-the-road readings will
appeal to many.
Good, if not up there with the best; the Detroit band are splendid though.
Dan Morgan
http://twitter.com/mahlerei
Masterwork Index:
Rachmaninov symphony 1
