In the foreword to
his definitive biography of the conductor,
Priest of Music. The Life of Dimitri
Mitropoulos (1995) William R. Trotter
points out that when the Greek conductor
died in 1960 the American catalogue
contained over one hundred commercial
recordings conducted by him, mainly
a legacy of his time as Conductor and
then Music Director of the NYPO (1949
– 1957). Within a decade this number
had fallen to a mere dozen. The situation
has improved somewhat in recent years,
mainly through off-air recordings coming
onto the market. Only last year Mitropoulos
was the subject of one of the volumes
in EMI’s Great Conductors of the Twentieth
Century series – one of the best in
that series. Nonetheless, the work of
this charismatic if uneven maestro is
still under- represented in the catalogue
so additions to his recorded legacy
are welcome.
Unfortunately, beyond
giving the dates of the recordings and
the artist details, Urania provide no
documentation whatsoever – a deplorable
omission – so it’s not possible to comment
on the sources of these recordings.
I’m not aware that Mitropoulos made
commercial recordings of either of these
two works and I am as certain as I can
be that they derive from air checks
of public concerts, probably in Carnegie
Hall. However, there’s no applause at
the end of either performance, nor is
it possible to distinguish audience
noise during the performances. The date
of the Shostakovich performance may
well be correct (if so, it took place
just a few days before the conductor
suffered his first heart attack on December
7 1952. However, if one is to go by
Tanner’s scrupulously researched book,
the date of the Scriabin performance
cannot be as stated for Mitropoulos’s
comeback concert after that heart attack
took place on 2 April 1953 (a programme
that did not include the Scriabin, incidentally.)
Unfortunately Tanner does not include
a full discography in his book. However,
he does list a few standout recordings.
These include a performance of this
same work dated 19 April 1953, which
at the time of his book was available
on CD as AS Disc 506. I wonder if that’s
the same performance?
Leaving aside issues
of attribution, what of the performances
themselves? Well, as ever with this
conductor, they will not appeal to all
tastes but I find them pretty amazing.
The recorded sound for the Shostakovich
calls for quite some tolerance. Louder
passages are usually rather strident
and shrill (not entirely inappropriate
in this music) and the finale in particular
suffers from compression in the tuttis.
However, even through the mediocre sound
the quality of the music making shines
through. Mitropoulos did not enjoy a
smooth relationship with the New York
Philharmonic but there’s some real edge-of-seat
playing here, even if some technical
frailties are also evident. My listening
notes are peppered with terms such as
"white hot", "passionate",
"committed" and the like.
The whole symphony is driven forward
with great urgency and strength. There’s
a palpable sense of rugged power in
the first movement and the sardonic
humour of the second movement is well
conveyed at a tempo that is quite measured
(but which imparts extra weight thereby.)
The reading of the slow movement can
only be described as towering and elemental,
releasing great energy. Let me not give
the impression, however, that it is
in any way bombastic or crude; here,
as in the first movement, the quieter
passages are done with some refinement.
This is especially true of the reflective
close of the third movement (from 11’51").
The recording is at its crudest in the
finale where there are a couple of unpleasant
patches of distortion that are due to
faulty masters, However, the poor sound
can’t altogether disguise a scorching,
coruscating reading of the movement.
This, then, is a performance
of white-hot tension and emotion in
which the music fairly seems to leap
off the page. Yet Mitropoulos does nothing
but play what’s in the score – but he
plays it for all it’s worth in a no-holds-barred
interpretation that must have been overpowering
in the concert hall.
The Scriabin is a hedonistic
musical hothouse. Once again Mitropoulos
appears to pour himself into the music
without restraint. I find it more difficult
to judge this performance on account
of the limitations of the recording.
This is because Scriabin’s orchestration
is significantly more prolix than that
of Shostakovich and there really is
not much inner detail distinguishable
here. If one is to make sense of a performance
of this piece then well detailed modern
sound is really essential. However,
one can discern the shape and sweeping
drive of the performance, which is pretty
immense. You may think, as I do, that
as music the work is completely over
the top but here it receives a molten,
surging performance from a conductor
to whom it was clearly well suited.
The concluding, orgiastic climax was
obviously tremendous but it would be
idle to pretend that the recording does
not compromise it. However, this was
quite clearly an incandescent, not to
say incendiary performance.
This is a CD which
scores low marks on sound quality and
no marks at all for documentation. However,
the performances are of great interest
and in particular they will be mandatory
listening for admirers of this extraordinary
conductor. For his account of the Shostakovich
in particular I think it’s worthwhile
putting up with fairly poor sound. I
would recommend intending purchasers
to sample the disc before buying. However,
if you can take the sound there’s some
remarkable music making here.
John Quinn
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Dimitri Mitropoulos
