Marek Janowski has
been a well-regarded name in the conducting
world for many years. Though born in
Poland in 1939 of a Polish father, his
mother was German and most of his training,
as well as the first part of his career,
took place in Germany. He was Music
Director of the RLPO for a fairly brief
period, from 1983 to 1987. His recordings
are quite extensive and include a number
of useful first recordings of rare operas
from the German area and a complete
"Ring" recorded in Dresden.
In spite of all this, I must confess
I had never encountered his work until
now. Furthermore, while many artists
bear a strong public image so that,
even if you haven’t heard them perform
you may have a quite strong idea of
what to expect – however wrong that
idea may prove – I had no preconceptions
about Janowski whatever.
And I must say that
the first symphony impressed me mightily.
From the outset it was clear that he
was obtaining from the orchestra a rich
and full sonority, but not a heavy one,
so this introduction moved forward grandly
and majestically. The Allegro part of
the movement is quite swift with a terse
dramatic energy. The repeat is observed
and only minimal slowing is allowed
in the more lyrical moments. The development
builds up very powerfully indeed.
The "Andante sostenuto"
is not allowed to degenerate into an
"adagio" but maintains a real
sense of flow, while at the same time
the strings are encouraged to sing their
melodies with much passion. At 09:21
Janowski sides more with the swifter
performances on disc (Toscanini 08:19,
Boult 08:24, Klemperer 09:25) than those
which find prophetic shades of Mahlerian
angst in it (Colin Davis 09:55, Maag
10:14, Scherchen 10:33, Furtwängler
10:35 in Berlin 1952 though only 09:40
in Turin the same year). The Intermezzo
third movement is truly "grazioso",
an effect achieved by a well-chosen
tempo but above all by the extreme clarity
and naturalness with which Brahms’s
often quite complicated countermelodies
are presented. The finale begins again
with an introduction that is weighty
but forward-moving. The famous theme
of the Allegro is a little on the slow
side but when Brahms indicates "animato"
Janowski makes quite a big change and
the larger part of the movement has
tremendous surge, culminating in a coda
which takes Brahms at his word, without
any unmarked broadening for the return
of the chorale theme. This is one of
the most satisfying performances I have
heard for a long time.
The Second Symphony
struck me at the beginning as a little
slow but I appreciated the clarity of
phrasing in the strings’ bare octave
passages. Even more, I appreciated the
way in which the second subject emerged
quite naturally out of the preceding
music, and it actually sounds quite
free-flowing. Our ears have evidently
become only too used to hearing this
music with two alternating tempi. The
repeat is played and also here the development
builds up powerfully. The "Adagio
non troppo" also struck me as a
little on the slow side, but again by
careful handling of detail Janowski
keeps it flowing. His slowish tempo
for the Intermezzo may be one of the
few on disc which takes into account
the "quasi andantino" that
Brahms added in brackets after his main
marking "Allegretto grazioso".
I found its relaxed charm quite delightful.
The finale seemed a little underpowered
at first but it soon gets going. Perhaps
surprisingly, this time Janowski allows
the traditional accelerando towards
the end though not as excessively as
some. A very good performance just slightly
lacking the sense that the whole symphony
is unfolded in a single paragraph. In
this, Boult is supreme, but the Second
is perhaps the only symphony in his
late cycle which matches the best of
his earlier performances.
This disc is concluded
with a fiery and gripping "Tragic
Overture". I have a particular
admiration for Ančerl’s
recording of this, which is unusually
slow but remarkably lean and intense.
Janowski matches most others that I
know.
The Third Symphony
is notable for its interpretative problems,
to the extent that even Toscanini was
rather afraid of it and his "official"
recording was laboured and cautious
– some live versions tell a different
tale. Janowski seems untroubled by it.
He adopts a swiftish tempo for the first
movement which gives a fine surge to
the dramatic parts while still allowing
the lyrical melodies to sing. Also here,
the repeat is observed. The "Andante"
has an ideal flow, as does the gently
melancholic Intermezzo. The finale is
a little slower than some but with plenty
of bite and the gradual relaxation towards
the end is achieved with great naturalness.
This ranks with the achievement of the
First Symphony.
The Haydn Variations
which complete the disc do not have
perhaps the same electricity but it
is a well-considered reading all the
same. This is probably the trickiest
of Brahms’s orchestral works to play
and there are a few hints – in chording
and ensemble – that the RLPO is a provincial
orchestra, albeit a very good one.
So with superb performances
of the 1st and 3rd
Symphonies and a very good one of no.
2 I settled down to enjoy the crowning
of the cycle.
The first movement
of the 4th is closer to the
achievement of the 2nd than
to that of the other two. It isn’t exactly
slow but it seems to hang fire here
and there and there are one or two pieces
of point-making of the kind Janowski
avoids elsewhere. I did appreciate his
steadiness in the coda – here Klemperer
unexpectedly makes a big accelerando
while Mengelberg, of all people, held
steady.
But the problem here
is the "Andante moderato".
I just can’t understand how a conductor
who has chosen such mobile, flowing
tempi for the other slow movements of
the cycle, can suddenly adopt such a
desperately plodding tempo here. At
12:33 this is among the slowest I know
– compare Boult 09:56 or Klemperer 10:19.
Even Sir Colin Davis, who likes his
slow movements slow (in Brahms), takes
11:31. Mengelberg, by virtue of extremely
beautiful playing, managed to get away
with 11:40. But it’s not just a matter
of tempo. Celidibache, in Milan in 1959,
was about the same as Janowski: 12:37
(I daresay he drew it out even more
in later years). Yet in spite of an
orchestra which in matters of tuning
(the bare octaves at the beginning!)
is more patently "provincial"
than the RLPO he is able to make the
music float on air instead of sit down
flat on those plodding six beats in
a bar. The ear is drawn onwards. Maybe
Janowski had similar intentions, but
couldn’t he hear at the playback that
it just wasn’t coming off?
A lively, unexceptional
Scherzo is followed by an account of
the great passacaglia finale that signally
fails to hold together. Almost from
the first it seems that Janowski is
taking a different tempo for each variation.
Perhaps Furtwängler could have
got away with this and more. Janowski
can’t and again, one wonders why this
performance is so short on precisely
those virtues which made his accounts
of the other Symphonies so fine. The
"Academic Festival Overture"
begins with some muddy textures and
alternates moments of almost aggressive
liveliness with others where the music
sags. It looks as though these particular
sessions caught the conductor on an
off-day.
The booklet notes –
by Michael Kennedy for no.1, anonymous
for the others – mention that Eduard
Hanslick found the Third Symphony "artistically
the most perfect" of Brahms’s Symphonies
thus far, and did not change his mind
when the Fourth appeared. Any listener
who depends only on Janowski for his
knowledge of these works is likely to
agree.
Obviously, this puts
me in a quandary. It would be sad indeed
if such exceptionally fine performances
of nos. 1 and 3 should go unheard. But
on the other hand, if you get Boult
or Klemperer
or Colin
Davis – just to mention three cycles
I happened to have reviewed for this
site – you will not be left in any doubt
that no. 4 is the crowning glory of
the cycle. It’s a pity the discs are
not made available separately. As it
is, a strong recommendation to anyone
who has a fine 4th already
but less satisfactory versions (or none)
of the others, or who is prepared to
buy a good 4th at the same
time.
Incidentally, it’s
rare to have this music spread over
four discs these days, however low the
cost per disc.
Christopher Howell
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Marek
Janowski 
