Georg Solti became
associated with the music of Bela Bartók
and Gustav Mahler through his Decca
studio recordings. However his Salzburg
Festival concert on 16 August 1964,
recorded live, displayed little instinct
or rapport with these composers; the
Vienna Philharmonic likewise.
Judging by the orchestra’s
perfumed, plush and padded playing style
it sounded as if they have never played
Bartók before in their lives
- let alone his Piano Concerto No. 3
(1945). Surprisingly, it was also as
if Solti had never conducted Bartók
in his life. Whilst Annie Fischer had
a mutual understanding of the composer’s
metallic and acidic score, both conductor
and orchestra seemed on alien ground
barely accompanying her and sounding
more like twee Viennese cafe muzac.
The important woodwind interjections
that dialogue with the pianist in the
Allegretto lacked point and bite.
They come across as soggy and opaque.
Fischer played with a dissonant and
percussive attack but Solti and the
VPO seemed far too soft-core like indistinct
wallpaper totally out of sync and sympathy
with Bartók’s spooky and spiky
soundworld.
In the adagio religioso
Fischer adopted an appropriately fragmented
manner making the notes stark and strange
and initiating a sensation of fragile
vulnerability and isolated detachment.
Again the orchestral accompaniment was
in completely the wrong style with the
strings and woodwind sounding far too
tutti-frutti; just think of icing sugar
dissolved in molasses.
Fischer played the
Scherzo; Allegro vivace with
a combination of bravura and delicate
muscularity. She is only let down by
Solti’s heavy-handed and crudely phrased
conducting. The important interjections
for timpani and bass drum were pathetically
effete and apologetically tasteful;
the result: zero impact. It was clear
from the playing that Bartók’s
music was alien to the ears of the VPO
and foreign to their blood.
If you want to hear
Annie Fischer with a superior Bartók
conductor and an orchestra more familiar
with the composer’s style I suggest
you listen to her with Ferenc Fricsay
and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra,
also on the same label (Orfeo: C 200
891 B). That version is coupled with
an outstandingly poignant performance
of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony ‘Pathetique’
(1893).
Solti’s conducting
of the first movement (Langsam ,
schleppend. Im Anfang sehr gemachlich)
of Mahler’s First Symphony was ponderous
and bland from beginning to end and
never really ignited. Even in 1964 the
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra clearly
had little rapport with the authentic
‘Mahler’ sound and played in a rather
rugged and brash manner with the woodwind
sounding far too sweet. Solti showed
absolutely no understanding for the
lilting lumpen shambling dance rhythms
of the second movement playing it far
too strait-laced. Again the playing
of the VPO was absolutely alien to the
cynical sinister sarcasm of Mahler’s
mysterious music.
By far the most successful
was the third ‘huntsman's funeral’ movement,
Feierlich und gemessen, with
Solti securing the apt kitsch-schmaltz
‘Jewishness’ from the 'Frère
Jacques' snivelling solo double bass
and the carnivalesque campness of the
brass band. Ironically, this movement
is meant to be played ‘badly’ in a kind
of rough and rugged manner sounding
deliberately out-of-tune. So in fact
the VPO did it very well – that is –
very badly – by default. This movement
was by far the highlight of the performance.
The concluding last
movement Sturmisch bewegt lacked
the stark contrasts required between
storm and serenity. All was reduced
to Solti’s customary ‘hell for leather’
lunatic antics of loudness for loudness
sake with the symphony ending in a cacophony
of crude noise signifying nothing. Solti
was never a great Bartók or Mahler
conductor - nor even a mediocre one.
This mid-price Orfeo
CD can only be recommended for the incisive
and stylish playing of Annie Fischer.
The rest is disappointingly dreary and
unmusical. The live mono recording is
warm and spacious with plenty of bloom
and with minimal coughing throughout.
Alex Russell
Annie Fischer (piano) 
