Profil has rushed out this six disc set to mark the death of conductor
Sir Colin Davis on 14 April 2013 and commemorate the work he did with
the Staatskapelle Dresden. The set comprises a selection of eleven works
performed with the Staatskapelle Dresden at their Semperoper home in
Dresden. It seems that these are all live recordings from radio broadcasts.
Sir Colin’s conducting debut was at the young age of twenty-two.
He had to wait some years for his big break. This came in 1959 when
he deputised for Otto Klemperer who was unwell and was for a production
of Mozart’s
Don Giovanni at Sadler’s Wells, London.
Sir Colin’s association with the Staatskapelle Dresden, one of
the world's oldest orchestras, began in 1981 by which time he had held
several prestigious appointments and had been knighted. He is remembered
as a great friend of the orchestra who took an active interest in its
activities and problems. It was in 1991 that it appointed him as the
orchestra’s first
Conductor Laureate.
On CD 1 the first work is the Elgar
Symphony No. 1 that Sir Colin
recorded with the Staatskapelle Dresden in 1998. The performance here
is a fine one rather than a great one with the playing seeming a touch
rushed and over-vigorous. The
Allegros are lacking in a degree
of subtlety. There’s a stately Elgarian feel together with an
undertow of anguished introspection. After the angry and near brutal
outbursts of the second movement
Allegro molto the eminently
moving
Adagio so marvellously played by the Staatskapelle serves
as welcome balm. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the sound quality
which is rather bright and close. I was left wanting a touch more depth.
Sir Colin was also widely recognised as a Berlioz authority with a body
of recordings revered by the composer’s admirers. Recorded in
1997 Berlioz’s
Le roi Lear, at nearly sixteen minutes is
a lengthy score - more of a tone poem than an overture. From 1831 the
score reflects the composer’s fascination with Shakespeare. The
dark shadowy opening, evocative of some eerie Scottish castle surrounded
in dense mist, sets the scene marvellously with Sir Colin skilfully
and assuredly revealing the intense drama of the score.
Also recorded in 1997, the overture to the opera
Béatrice
et Benedict from 1862 is the composer’s last major work. Opening
in a light and vibrant mood the music gradually becomes intensely passionate.
The second disc comprises two great Mendelssohn symphonies brilliantly
played in 1997. Overall the sound quality feels a tad cloudy in the
forte passages but nothing to unduly detract from the playing.
Although completed in 1842 the
Symphony No. 3 strongly reflects
Mendelssohn’s impressions from his 1829 holiday in Scotland where
he became captivated by the country’s natural beauty. The playing
is atmospheric and quite irresistible - a recording I have come to cherish.
I love the way Sir Colin builds the weight and tension in the opening
Adagio con moto. The stunning and melodic
Adagio,
one
of Mendelssohn’s finest movements, feels so expressive achieving
a rewarding degree of high drama. The Finale is energetic and vibrant
with an impressive triumphant feel.
The
Symphony No. 5,
despite its late numbering was in fact
the second of his five mature symphonies. Mendelssohn composed it in
1830 to mark the three hundredth anniversary of the ‘Augsburg
Confession’, a keystone of the Lutheran Reformation. A sense of
wonderment is created in the opening
Andante -
Allegro con
fuoco with Sir Colin conveying an intense feeling of joy and elation
contrasted with a curious sacred sense of reverence. Intensely romantic
and highly lyrical the
Andante could be a love scene from a ballet.
The mainly dense writing of the
Finale is cloaked in a heavenly
veil of passion. Passages of considerable weight and drama conclude
the score in a decidedly spectacular manner.
Disc 3 consists of three Sibelius works including the highly popular
Symphony No. 2. Although much of the score was sketched out in
the Italian cities of Florence and Rapallo the symphony is sometimes
heard as a symbol of the rising Finnish patriotism against the tightening
constraints of Russian control. Sir Colin is in his element with the
work’s distinctive orchestration that many consider heavy and
uncomfortably confined. It’s a searching interpretation with a
shimmering, eerie calm that infuses the opening
Allegretto. The
climaxes of the darkly turbulent second movement are confidently built
with weight and passion. In the headlong
Scherzo marked
Vivacissimo
a glorious sound-world is created, evocative of densely wooded Nordic
valleys and ice cold lakes. The big tune in the
Finale is as
bold and dramatic as I have come to expect from this conductor with
the brass fanfares shining out like beacons. The taut and highly effective
Coda generates remarkable potency.
A substantial tone poem
En Saga, Op. 9,
a relatively early
work from 1892, seems to be an expression of the “
painful experiences”
that Sibelius had undergone. Exquisite pacing and judicious weighting
are to the fore in this atmospheric score where a panoply of nature
sounds flourish. I love the way that the score ebbs to a calm conclusion.
From 1913
Luonnotar scored soprano and orchestra is an unusual
combination for a tone poem. Written whilst Finland was still under
Russian control the work is regarded as an expression of the composer’s
nationalistic beliefs. The text from a Finnish mythological tale from
the Kalevala concerns Luonnotar the daughter of nature and her desperately
weary and lonely existence wandering through the heavens. Sir Colin
with a sure pulse maintains a sense of the unearthly with the writing
providing hypnotically vacillating streams of light and shade. There’s
lovely consistent singing from the Dresden soprano Ute Selbig displaying
a bright high register and a creamy mid-range. I especially enjoyed
her resilient projection as she soars splendidly over the orchestral
texture of the climax at 6:01-6:14. It’s a shame that full texts
are not provided. Several bouts of coughing are audible but nothing
too much to spoil the enjoyment.
One of the glories of classical music the Schubert
Unfinished
contains the unmistakable musical fingerprints of the composer’s
wonderful gift for lyricism, engaging charm and that distinctive Viennese
Gemütlichkeit.
Recorded in 1992, Sir Colin’s account provides a most satisfying
and mainly affectionate reading with the brooding passages of the
Allegro
moderato containing a sorrowful ache. Emotional weight and intensity
create highly effective climaxes tinged with dark foreboding. In the
Andante con moto Sir Colin casts a delightful warm-hearted spell
over the proceedings
. A calm vision of beauty is contrasted convincingly
with excitement and drama.
Composed chiefly in the summer of 1883 at the German spa town of Wiesbaden
Brahms’s
Symphony No. 3 was described by Hans Richter who
premièred the score as
Brahms’ Eroica. Recorded
in 1992, Sir Colin takes a surprisingly robust view of the opening
Allegro
con brio. In this roistering interpretation it is easy to imagine
cool verdant rolling Alpine vistas. The bucolic nature of the writing
in the
Andante is irresistibly interpreted. In the
Poco Allegretto
the heart-rending main C minor theme has a feather-light quality. High
on polish this is lovely string playing but for the anchoring
pizzicato
notes on the double basses it feels as if the music would just float
away. Sir Colin provides a strong sense of resolve in the vividly scored
Finale:
Allegro but I was left wanting additional power
and excitement in what feels like a rather buttoned-up affair.
Revered as a Berlioz specialist Sir Colin accumulated numerous awards
for his Berlioz recordings. These include two Grammy Awards for the
five act Grand opera
Les Troyens. It is fitting that the final
two discs here accommodate the
Grande Messe des Morts (
Requiem).
Completed in 1837, this remarkable work was a commission for a memorial
service in honour those who died in the Revolution of 1830. Berlioz
said of the work “
If I were threatened with the burning of
all my works except one it is for the Requiem that I would ask for mercy.”
The score requires massive orchestral and choral forces including a
large battery of percussion and offstage brass. When this massive score
was premiered at the Cathédrale Saint-Louis des Invalides, Paris
there were around four hundred performers. For this stunning 1994 Dresden
account Sir Colin uses the combined forces of the Chor der Sächsische
Staatsoper Dresden, the Sinfoniechor Dresden and the Singakademie Dresden
with the Hawaiian tenor soloist Keith Ikaia-Purdy. I did wonder if the
recording actually took place at the Kreuzkirche, Dresden as seen in
a picture in the booklet.
With considerable concentration Sir Colin, a master of directing large
forces, holds everything together well and negotiates confidently through
the wide dynamic variations of the score. In the
Dies irae the
remarkable array of horrifying and awe-inspiring pronouncements of Judgement
Day is conveyed by Sir Colin with all the assurance that we have come
to expect. The massive battery of timpani, bass drums and tam-tam combine
for a thundering storm. Especially enjoyable is the
Sanctus with
Ikaia-Purdy accompanied by women’s voices giving a moving performance.
Bright in tone with a strong projection, the tenor’s vibrato is
noticeable but doesn’t detract unduly.
Congratulations are in order to Profil for selecting these recordings
so judiciously. The sound quality, although some audience noise can
be heard on occasions, is excellent.
A most worthy six disc collection of live recordings that pays homage
to the memory of Sir Colin Davis with his cherished Staatskapelle Dresden.
Michael Cookson
Masterwork Index
Brahms Symphony 3
~~
Elgar Symphony 1
~~
Mendelssohn symphonies
~~
Sibelius Symphony
2
Contents
CD 1
Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55 (1908) [51:15]
Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869)
Overture -
Le roi Lear (King Lear), Op. 4 (1831) [15:52]
Overture -
Béatrice et Benedict, Op. 9 (1862) [7:57]
CD 2
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-47)
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56
Scottish (1842) [40:10]
Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 107
Reformation (1829/30) [32:34]
CD 3
JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 (1902) [42:49]
En Saga, Op. 9
(1892) [19:22]
Luonnotar for soprano and orchestra,
Op. 70 (1913) [9:49]
CD 4
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D 759
Unfinished (1822) [28:06]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 (1883) [39:10]
CDs 5-6
Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869)
Grande Messe des Morts (
Requiem), Op. 5 (1837) [88:43]
