There may well be other music lovers who, like
me, came to The Rite of Spring through the 1950s recording
by Markevich and the Philharmonia. It certainly qualifies as a
classic, and if the music making on this DVD were in that league,
this might also. As it is, it is just quite interesting.
I suppose the trouble is that filmed concerts,
especially some of the studio-bound stuff we have here, have to
be something really special to be any more interesting than straight
CDs, which are usually in better sound. That’s why I prefer rehearsal
footage, where we see the maestro getting to grips with the score,
rather than a fairly bland end result. Markevich was obviously
a superb technician (he would be as a composer) and specialised
in 20th Century scores. But watching his detached,
precisely dispassionate style is a bit unsatisfying. I don’t like
histrionics, but with grainy black and white and slightly ropy
mono sound, there has to be something extra to make you sit up
and take notice.
The best results are in the Wagner items that
were, interestingly, recorded live. There is a certain amount
of tension, and the French orchestra plays very well. Climaxes,
especially in the Tannhäuser Overture, are suitably
ecstatic, though this being Markevich, are still held in check
to a degree. The Tristan chunks are good, though here the
poor tape quality does not help, with long notes having audible
wow and flutter (rather like listening to a poor cassette in the
car). At least the playing communicates, and the audience, though
slightly polite, obviously enjoys it.
The Shostakovich and Stravinsky items were Markevich
specialities. He conducts without a score, and the playing is
pretty good, though not world class. Sound quality again is a
bit restricted, with those marvellous, big piano chords at the
end of the second movement something of a non-event. Indeed, the
rather matronly pianist is a bit behind the orchestra throughout
her octave runs, something Markevich should have sorted out. It’s
a crisp, no-nonsense performance, with fast-ish tempos and no
indulgence anywhere. The Symphony of Psalms is similar,
but here we have the added problem of a wobbly French chorus.
Having just listened to John Eliot Gardiner’s superbly disciplined
DG disc this sounded almost amateur. Ensemble is also curiously
untidy at the beginning, with the two pianos and harps slightly
out of sync with the rest. Maybe pressure was on the conductor,
or maybe we really have got used to higher standards. It is certainly
a dramatic reading, but marred by that choir sound.
This DVD could well sell on the strength of the
bonus item, a classic piece of footage if ever there was one.
Now this is more like it, with the frail but eagle-eyed 83-year-old
Stravinsky inspiring the New Philharmonia to play his Firebird
Suite for their lives. In fact, they are really the old Philharmonia,
having only just added the ‘New’ for contractual reasons. Keen
viewers will spot some wonderful players here: Alan Civil (horn),
Sidney Sutcliffe (oboe), Gareth Morris (flute) and, of course,
Hugh Bean as leader. They obviously enjoy playing for the great
man in what turned out to be his last London appearance. As Alan
Sanders rightly says in his interesting note, posterity is lucky
that the TV director (credited as Brian Large) decided to virtually
leave the camera entirely on Stravinsky. We witness the old man
presiding, still with care and obvious affection, over a score
he had created 55 years before, in his dazzlingly brilliant early
days. Sound quality is also markedly better, with the BBC engineers
determined to do the occasion justice. Now this really is where
classic archive film comes into its own.
Tony Haywood
New Philharmonia Orchestra
EMI
CLASSIC ARCHIVE DVB 4901109 [112’53]