I’m not a devotee of ‘historic’ recordings (usually
instructive, but rarely satisfying listening experiences), but on this
occasion it gives me great pleasure to extend a warm welcome to one
such. Carl Schuricht (1880-1967) belonged to the generation of Wilhelm
Fürtwängler,
Otto Klemperer and Bruno Walter and is certainly worthy of inclusion
in such distinguished company. He established his reputation at Wiesbaden
(where he worked from 1912 to 1944). After the war, he declined to be
tied down to the position of a resident music director and travelled
extensively as a much sought-after guest conductor. He enjoyed the rare
distinction of earning nothing but praise from Sergiu Celibidache (chief
conductor of the Stuttgart Orchestra, 1971-83), who was notoriously
critical of his fellow-conductors. One reason for this perhaps was that
Schuricht detested the ‘mix and match’ approach of recording engineers
and insisted on long takes, so that, as is richly evident here, his
studio sessions have the character of a live concert.
He had a particularly happy relationship with the Stuttgart
Orchestra, of which he was Chief Guest Conductor from 1950 until a few
months before his death and with whom he made the bulk of his surviving
recordings. The oldest of these (the Prelude to Tristan und Isolde)
was made live in 1950. The sound is somewhat cramped and ‘boxy’ but
this cannot hide the glowing intensity which Schuricht brings to his
interpretation and to which his players respond so ardently. In the
other tracks (all studio recordings) Michael Sandner’s remastering is
splendidly effective, especially in the two excerpts from Götterdämmerung,
pulsating with drama and superbly paced. It’s especially rewarding to
hear such richly sonorous brass. And Siegfried Idyll is graced
by an array of exceptionally poised soloists. Remarkably, these three
pieces were recorded in one day.
No less glowing and intense are the two final extracts
from Parsifal, which have a special poignancy, for when recording
them the 86-year-old conductor knew that his life was drawing to its
close, and these were indeed his last recordings.
For lovers of Wagner and of the ‘old school’ of conductors,
a disc not to be missed.
Adrian Smith
Stuttgart Radio Symphony
Orchestra of the SWR/Carl Schuricht 