A number of companies are presently competing with
each other to release recordings by famous artists of yesteryear, and
the Naxos Historical Series of recordings is no exception. Unlike many
of the other series, these are all at budget price, and the transfers
generally are of a very high standard.
One of the well known problems with recordings originally
made by Telefunken was that the company used shellac Like many of its
competitors, this material was used as the base material for the original
records. It was resistant to wear, but gave a relatively high level
of background noise. The original metal masters have often been severely
damaged by poor storage conditions after the war. Where some restorers
are able to go back to the original metal masters, these Telefunken
recordings have to be re-mastered from the original shellac pressings,
as the masters have been lost.
Ward Marston has been responsible for this release,
and anyone who has heard the previously available Teldec pressings of
these recordings (released on a pair of full priced CDs) will be absolutely
astonished. Gone are the high levels of surface noise and distortion,
and in their place is relatively clean sound, well balanced as was the
original Telefunken source material. There is a noticeable but relatively
low level of background hiss, now quite uniform, unlike the previous
issues. I am not sure how Mr. Marston has achieved this transformation,
but all due thanks to him for his efforts, and also to Naxos, for making
these superb performances available to us at such a reasonable cost.
Willem Mengelberg was Music Director of the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1895 – 1945, and during this time ruled
the orchestra with a will of iron. He developed a very free style of
playing, using portamento and variations in tempo which to some listeners
bordered on the perverse. These recordings are no exception, but the
other quality which Mengelberg brought to the orchestra was that of
flexibility in their playing to make even the most dramatic of tempo
change sound completely natural. In addition, there was a corporate
spirit to the playing, which few other ensembles could match – indeed
the orchestra was at a peak of playing at the time these recordings
were made.
Both of the Brahms symphonies recorded here are exciting
in the extreme, with a warmth to the playing which transcends the recording
quality. The Telefunken engineers were brilliantly capable of catching
the superb acoustic of the Dutch hall on the wing so to speak, and it
is to be sincerely hoped that more of these recordings will be made
available. According to the restorer, Telefunken used to optimise each
side recorded by slightly changing the microphone placings, depending
upon the music to be recorded. Ward Marston has applied slight changes
in equalisation to try and minimise this effect; to my ears, he has
succeeded brilliantly.
If I were to select a movement from this disc to display
the qualities of playing, original recording quality and the effects
of the restoration, the first movement of the fourth symphony is outstanding.
It has an ebb and flow of the playing which to current day purists will
probably seem completely out of character, but to me shows a completely
different side to Brahms playing which is well worth preserving. Well
done Naxos – more please.
John Phillips
Concertgebouw Orchestra
of Amsterdam – Willem Mengelberg