This is the second
review on this site of Die schöne Müllerin, the Society
edition 78 set of 1934, sung by the ardent Nazi sympathiser and
rabble-rouser Gerhard Hüsch. His Winterreise, also a premiere
recording on disc in its entirety, was reviewed at the same time
by Anne Ozorio so you can to read her incisive comments on the
performances there (see review).
This new transfer, though it shares the same release number as
the older one which it replaces, is a Pristine Audio XR and the
latest in my reviewing round of the transfer world’s claimed equivalent
of a cure for cancer. As before I’m afraid I reject Pristine Audio’s
unfortunate boast that their XR system “renders all previous transfers…
entirely obsolete” not because I find no merit in their work –
I do – but because the results have been, for me, consistently
inconsistent in listening pleasure and furthermore on the Shakespearean
grounds that There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio/
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy…and all that.
Actually I have no
real complaint with the kind of boast made by Pristine Audio –
the reissue market for historic material is small and one has
to shout to make oneself heard – but of course if one lives by
the sword then one dies by it. Clearly Pristine’s Andrew Rose
has been doing something right because Music & Arts have entrusted
him with a wholesale XR restoration programme. But I’ve had problems
with the batch I received for review. I liked the Kathleen Long
Fauré; I disliked the Thibaud-Cortot Kreutzer Sonata; I
was ambivalent-bordering-on-sceptical regarding the Weingartner
Vienna Eroica. As before I strongly suggest, should you
be interested, going to their site for specifics www.pristineclassical.com.
Briefly they claim, amongst other things, that pre-1945 78s now
have their audible upper frequency range increased from between
5-6 kHz to somewhere between 11-13 kHz.
The results here centre
mainly on the piano. The methodology by which XR works includes
the use of a modern recording reference file, and its curve fulfils
a basis for the restorative technique. The predictive element
of the system ensures that at least the results here are consistent
in themselves. The original set had Hanns Udo Müller’s piano set
at a distance and this relative lack of projection has been the
main focus of the restoration work from the sound of it. It’s
the kind of thing that worked in the post-war Decca Kathleen Long
recital. The Schubert now has a much more visceral and immediate
piano image; closer to Hüsch and not recessed from him. Therefore
there’s a significant increase in the verticality and depth of
dynamics - the bass extension is noticeable. It means that both
men now occupy a degree of aural parity and that was not the case
in 1934. The interventionist technique therefore seeks to rectify
an imbalance and not to reflect the original circumstances of
the recording. I find though that the results have also somewhat
compromised the openness of the sound. Preiser’s sound on both
LP and their 2 CD Hüsch set is that much brighter, though obviously
it preserves the rather unsatisfactory imbalance between singer
and pianist.
The foregoing should
give you some idea of the principles and ramifications involved.
The most obvious test resides in your ears. And as ever when a
system such as XR promises the earth you should listen to other
transfers if possible, and the original set of the 78 – if at
all practicable – and then decide whether you like what has been
done here.
Jonathan Woolf
Gerhard Hüsch
(baritone)
