Highlights from DG Panorama series.
full details below
DG Panorama 469 100-2
[137.40]
Crotchet
Panorama is the new Series of discs from Deutsche Grammophon. Its format
is straight-forward enough drawing upon the back catalogue in double disc
pack at a very attractive price (£8). The initial batch of twenty-five
issues features a single composer in each of the two CD's though a glance
at later scheduled releases shows this will be widened to allow releases
with music of a particular style, country or with some other link. Those
of the series that have come my way have impressed in value for money terms
and collectors will welcome any worthwhile addition to the bargain label
scene.
The big names abound in the series and inevitably they are on this new Highlights
disc that goes with the series. Inevitably, being DG, Karajan is featured
heavily along with Bohm, Abbado, Domingo, Michelangeli, Anne-Sophie Mutter,
Giulini, Kempff , Previn and more in a selection of well-known pieces that
will almost certainly attract those who like to dip into this type of disc
before committing themselves further.
Vivaldi through to Gershwin is the logical progressive sequence and this
sensible approach is probably the right one. Somehow "Spring" from
the Four Seasons just had to be there at the beginning - it must be British
commerce's favourite piece for those times when you're kept waiting on the
telephone. Rather surprisingly the Water Music and the Brandenburg selections
are not the hackneyed extracts one might have expected. Bohm's Finale
from the Jupiter is an ideal inducement to rush out and buy - an old
fashioned, not over big performance from the early sixties.
Schubert's Trout variations, clear, measured but lacking that final
degree of charm, lead to a splendid extended extract from the Beethoven Violin
Concert (Mutter in magnificent form). Karajan and the Berliners here and
in the two following pieces - a rich and luscious Ball scene from
the Fantastic Symphony and the closing Presto from the
Italian Symphony taken at an exhilarating speed. The brief
Traumerei from Scenes from Childhood has Kempff in reflective
mood. Wagner's Flying Dutchman Overture with Karl Bohm in Bayreuth
is a full-blooded account with a recording to match. The first operatic extract
is the ever popular Hebrew's slaves chorus from Nabucco richly
played and sung. Devotees of Strauss waltses will enjoy the offering by the
VPO and Will Boskovsky.
The other operatic work featured has fine singing from Domingo and Teresa
Berganza in Carmen under Abbado. More big orchestral showpieces to
appeal to the casual buyer - a magnificent sounding Great gate of Kiev
with the Chicago S.O under Giulini - somehow not what I would expect from
him - Karajan and the New World Largo - some quite glorious
playing in this 1964 analogue version. Peer Gynt - Karajan again -
reminding of the magnificence of the Berlin Orchestra of that period. Ashkenazy
and the Philharmonia buzz frantically and lead into Michelangeli and one
of the best-known of piano pieces, played expressively and delightfully.
Best known as film music, the Richard Strauss opening in 2001 used
the Karajan recording and this 1974 analogue version still sounds magnificent
in this brief extract.
The Sibelius choice is from the Karelia Suite - so much classical
music has been used in film and television - here outstandingly played by
Kamu and the Helsinki Orchestra. Richter is the soloist in the opening of
Rachmaninov's Second Concerto - clear and precise and briskly paced. The
Ravel representation has Ozawa and the Boston Symphony - a lush extract clearly
recorded - a world removed from the sound picture of Prokofiev's
Classical Symphony here stunningly and irresistibly played by Abbado
and the COE. Andre Previn conducts and is the impressive soloist in the
Finale from the Gershwin Concerto.
Reviewer
Harry Downey
CD1 [69.55]
1.Antonio VIVALDI (1678 - 1741) "Spring" from
the Four Seasons. [3.19]
2.Georg Frederic HANDEL (1685 - 1759) Water Music. Suite
No 3. Part 1. [2.07]
3.Johann Sebastian BACH (1685 - 1750) Allegro fromBrandenburg
Concerto No 1. [3.38]
4.Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756 - 1791) Symphony No 41
"Jupiter" Finale. [6.26]
5.Franz SCHUBERT (1797 - 1828) Quintet "Trout". Theme
and Variations. [7.54]
6.Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770 - 1827)Violin Concerto.
Rondo allegro. [10.16]
7.Hector BERLIOZ (1803 - 1869) Symphonie Fantastique.
"Un bal". [6.14]
8.Felix MENDELSSOHN (1810 - 1847) Symphony No 4 "Italian".
Finale. ` [5.37]
9.Robert SCHUMANN (1811 - 1856)Kinderszenen
"Traumerei". [2.26]
10.Richard WAGNER (1813 - 1883) The Flying Dutchman.
Overture. [10.20]
11.Giuseppe VERDI ( 1813 - 1901) Nabucco "Va pensioro".
[4.57]
12..Johann STRAUSS II (1825 - 1899) "Voices of Spring".
[6.02]
CD2 [67.45]
1.Georges BIZET (1838 - 1875) Carmen. "Havanaise".
[4.22] "La fleur tu m'avais jetée".
[4.21]
2.Modest MUSSORGSKY (1839 - 1881) Pictures at an Exhibition.
- "The Great gate of Kiev". [5.44]
3.Antonin DVORAK (1841 - 1904) "New World" Symphony.
Largo. [13.06]
4.Edvard GRIEG (1843 - 1907) Peer Gynt Suite. "In the
Hall of the Mountain King". [2.07]
5.Nicolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV ( 1844 -1908) "The Flight of
the Bumblebee". [1.16]
6.Claude DEBUSSY (1862 - 1918) Preludes Book 1."The girl
with the Flaxen Hair". [2.42]
7.Richard STRAUSS (1864 - 1949) "Also Sprach Zarathustra".
Introduction . [1.50]
8.Jean SIBELIUS (1865 - 1957) Karelia Suite. Intermezzo.
[4.03]
9.Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873 - 1943) Piano Concerto No
2 . First Movement. [11.07]
10.Maurice RAVEL(1875 - 1937) Rhapsody Espagnol.
"Feria". [6.10]
11.Serge PROKOFIEV (1891 - 1953) "Classical" Symphony
. Allegro. [4.13]
12.George GERSHWIN (1898 - 1937) Piano Concert. Allegro
agitato [6.44]
Simon Standage (vn)(1/1), The English Concert. Trevor Pinnock 1/1
&1/2
Musica Antiqua Köln. Richard Goebel 1/3
Berlin Philharmonic. Karl Böhm 1/4
Emil Gilels (pno),Norbert Brainin (vn), Peter Schidlof (va)
Martin Lovett (cello), Rainer Zepperitz (d.Bass) 1/5
Anne-Sophie Mutter (vn)(1/6), Berlin Philharmonic, Von Karajan
(1/6-1/8)
Wilhelm Kempff (pno) 1/9
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. Karl Böhm 1/10
Orchestra & Chorus Berlin Opera . Giuseppei Sinopoli 1/11
Vienna Philharmonic. Willi Boskovsky 1/12
Teresa Berganza, Placido Domingo, LSO. Claudio Abbado 2/1 &2/2
Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Carlo Maria Giulini 2/3
Berlin Philharmonic. Herbert von Karajan 2/4 & 2/5
Philharmonia Orchestra. Vladimir Ashkenazy 2/6
Arturo Beneditti Michelangli (pno).2/7
Berlin Philharrmonic Orchestra. Herbert von Karajan 2/8
Helsinki Radio Orchestra. Okku Kamu. 2/9
Sviatoslav Richter. (pno). Warsaw Philharmonic. Stanislaw Wislocki
2/10
Boston Symphony Orchestra. Seiji Ozawa. 2/11
Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Claudio Abbado 2/12
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Andre Previn (pno /conductor) 2/13
Recording Dates 1959 - 1989.
AAD (2/7) ADD (1/4 - 1/10, 1/12)(2/1 - 2/4, 2/8 - 2/11). DDD - all
others.
