Comparison recordings:
Rimsky-Korsakov, Coq d’Or: Suite. Dorati Mercury [ADD] SACD 475
6194
Rossini,
William Tell: Overture. Hermann Scherchen, RPO [mono] Westminster
LP WLAB 7050
Rossini,
William Tell: Overture. Pierino Gamba, LSO. Decca [ADD] 417
692-2
Rossini,
William Tell: Overture. Pierino Gamba, LSO. JVC XRCD24 [ADD]
2214 [£55.55!]
Tchaikovsky, Marche Slav: Hermann
Scherchen, LSO [ADD] TAHRA 415.
Tchaikovsky, Marche Slav: Leopold
Stokowski, LSO Decca Phase Four 443 896-2
Chabrier:
España: John Eliot Gardiner, VPO DGG 447 751-2
Chabrier:
España: Paul Paray, Detroit SO. Mercury Living Presence [ADD] 434 303-2
Chabrier: Espana: Ataulfo Argenta, [96/24
remastered ADD] Decca Legends 289 466 378-2
Liszt,
Hungarian Rhapsody #2 Leopold Stokowski [ADD] SACD 82876-67903-2
Liszt,
Hungarian Rhapsody #2 Hermann Scherchen [AAD] MCA MCAD2-9832
[also
available on a DG 96/24 transfer]
Arthur Fiedler (1894-1979),
“The Best Selling Conductor in History,” long renowned conductor
of the Boston Symphony Orchestra summer season, known as “The
Pops,” was a musician of the highest standards and widest
accomplishment. With Adrian Boult he is among the very few
conductors whose first recordings were made on acoustic 78
rpm disks and whose final recordings were made digitally,
suggesting the range of his experience and activity. Although
Symphony Hall during the Pops concerts had signs over the
exits reading “Exit in case of Brahms” Fiedler never cheapened
the music he performed, whether it was classical music, semi-classical,
Broadway showtunes, or outright pop music. On a Mary Tyler
Moore fantasy TV special he appeared as “God” in a silver
sequined suit conducting a choir of angels in Handel’s Hallelujah
Chorus. He made a number of “serious” classical recordings,
one of which I particular remember was a whole LP of excerpts
from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, one of the
very best performances of this music I ever heard from any
conductor.
These excerpts from Le
Coq d’Or, Rimsky-Korsakov’s last opera, might create an
interest in seeing the whole work, but this suite consists
of virtually all the scenic orchestral music. Apart from
the famous “Hymn to the Sun,” a staple of song recitals seventy
years ago, the remainder of the opera comprises endless portentous
recitative in Russian. Naturally the pageantry to which the
orchestral pieces are played can be very beautiful when the
opera is staged. When the King dies in the end, Rimsky-Korsakov
was trying to warn the Czar that there were bad times ahead,
but the royal censors would not allow the unaltered work on
the stage, so the suite as you hear it was all that was played
until after the Revolution, for the composer from his deathbed
refused to allow the opera to be performed in a censored version.
A little over four months
previous to this Fiedler recording Antal Dorati had recorded
the Coq d’Or Suite with the LSO and we have a chance
here to compare two of our most cherished pop orchestras and
conductors at the same time with the same music. Dorati takes
just 26 seconds longer to play the whole suite; surprising
since he was generally described as a “fast” conductor in
his time. Each recording is in three channel stereo, available
to us on SACD. Careful comparison listening suggests that
the Fiedler performance is a little more dramatic, whereas
Dorati, with his background as a ballet conductor, has a little
more force and lift to the danceable phrases. The Fiedler
recording is clearly a multiple microphone affair with highlighting
of orchestral colors and details, whereas the Dorati is with
exactly three microphones and is more natural sounding, although
there are just a few small artifacts of degradation here and
there that have crept in over the past fifty years. Overall,
I think I like Fiedler best on this one, but it’s very close.
In 1952 Hermann Scherchen
had conducted the William Tell Overture with the Royal
PO in one of his last monophonic recordings for Westminster and one of
the most polished and intense recordings of anything he ever
accomplished. The monophonic sound was state of the art and
of stunning quality and presence. The later stereo remake
in Vienna was much less inspired
and rather thin by comparison. A professional musician once
told me solemnly how much orchestra players “hate
this music, that is the correct word, HATE.” Whether
the Swiss Scherchen was able to inspire the RPO with transferred
patriotism, or everybody was just in a forgiving mood that
day, the miracle occurred and never happened again anywhere.
Well, maybe once. In 1961, Pierino Gamba did the “big five”
Rossini overtures with the LSO, in stereo, with terrifying
energy, stupefying passion, in staggeringly wide range sound.
That recording is still in print both in the original London/Decca
“Weekend Classics” digital re-issue and in a new JVC XRCD24
state-of-the-art version priced at...wait for it...£56, or
$96 US! Why wasn’t this disk part of the Decca “Legends”
series?
The Lone Ranger rides again,
the Bostonians put on a good show, but come in here in third
place. But watch the release lists and grab the Scherchen
as soon as it appears. All these versions use the pumped-up
orchestration with extra drums and cymbals, after hearing
which Rossini’s original instrumentation sounds rather like
a baroque chamber ensemble, rather at odds with the mood of
the music as we now perceive it.
In 1953, Hermann Scherchen,
again in monophonic sound, this time with the LSO recorded
Tchaikovsky’s March Slav in a program with Romeo
and Juliet, and the Overture 1812. This Nixa-Westminster
recording, now owned by EMI, was there for a time on a PRT
“Virtuoso Collection” CD, and is now available on a TAHRA
4-CD set. Sir Adrian Boult had recorded the same program,
first on 78s, later on LP with the LPO, also to considerable
critical acclaim. Marche Slav offers few problems
of interpretation, and every recording I’ve heard seems to
make the mark, so here we give the nod to Fiedler because
of the sound. But the point seems to be made that the London orchestras
“own” this music, or at least did in the 1950s.
With the Liszt Hungarian
Rhapsody #2 Fiedler is going up against the Stokowski
performance, recorded just fourteen days later in New York City, also available on an
RCA three channel SACD. Fiedler was a superb Liszt conductor,
giving us one of the best Les Préludes and the very
best Mazeppa ever done; hopefully some day both these
other recordings will be available on SACD. Liszt’s musical
personality was a curious mix of the mystical, the sentimental,
and the bombastic and perhaps Fiedler’s was, too, as he seems
to have a particular understanding of Liszt (as do I). And
as did Stokowski, who was four years old when Liszt died,
and who patterned his conductorial persona after Liszt. Stokowski
recorded Les Preludes just once, in 1947, and the remainder
of his Liszt recordings were of the Hungarian Rhapsodies
including six versions of this #2.
For a time it was thought
that Liszt didn’t orchestrate these Hungarian Rhapsodies,
based on his solo piano pieces; but now it is known that,
although he accepted help from his 24-year-old student Franz
Doppler, the main concepts are his. Fiedler’s Rhapsody
carries with it an unmistakable sense of fun and slightly
dignified high-jinx, whereas Stokowski is darker, more passionate
and frenzied. Scherchen hams it up outrageously, extending
all the cadenzas, exaggerating the gestures to the point of
parody, almost making Stokowski seem like Mozart(!?) All
offer exceptional sound quality and drama. Why choose? If
you like this music, you want them all. If you don’t like
this music, the Fiedler is definitely the easiest to endure,
although some of his string section attacks are uneven. Stokowski’s
performers play with extreme precision and flair.*
Chabrier’s España
is a charming colorful piece performed and recorded frequently.
Of the highest fidelity recordings now available, for the
clearest, most dynamic most detailed and wide range new digital
recording, you want John Eliot Gardiner; for a dynamic and
brisk idiomatic version, with the usual odd orchestral balances
and slightly blary sound common to the Mercury Living Presence
recordings, you want Paray; for a measured sweetly recorded
version remastered in 96/24 sound, you want Argenta. Arthur
Fiedler comes just after the Gardiner recording in overall
quality, the sound is clear but curiously bass deficient,
and, although the percussion accents are amazingly clear,
the dynamic range wide, Fiedler’s is not in the final analysis
a digital master. However all these recordings are excellent
and most likely you will choose your España for the
other music on the disk.
Although the Hungarian
Rackoczy March is generally associated with Berlioz
who used it in his Damnation of Faust, it was apparently
Liszt who brought it to Berlioz’s attention. It’s an odd,
asymmetrical tune, particularly appealing in a military band
arrangement where its odd rhythms are a general relief from
the usual banal march pieces.
*Stokowski was a genial
person with a good sense of humor. But he expected the highest
level of professionalism and cooperation from his players,
and one of his not so funny jokes was, “if you can’t do it,
there’s the door...” and likely there would be somebody waiting
at that door to take your place.
Paul Shoemaker
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