Orchestral Set No.1, Three Places in New England
Jean SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
Symphony No.4
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey
Bostons Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas
rec. Symphony Hall, Boston, 13 January 1970 (Ives); 10 March 1970 (Sibelius and Wagner).
Also includes interviews with Michael Tilson Thomas from 1970 and 2013
Directed by Peter Butler
Aspect ratio 4:3; NTSC Region code 0;
Menu languages: English; Booklet languages: English; French; German
ICA CLASSICS ICAD5111 DVD [69:56 (concert); 31:15 (interviews)]
This DVD is a celebration of the relationship between Michael Tilson
Thomas and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His association with the orchestra
began in 1968 at Tanglewood, the orchestra’s summer home, where
he was awarded the prestigious Koussevitzky Prize. William Steinberg appointed
Tilson Thomas to be his assistant when he took the helm of the BSO. The
newly appointed conductor, aged 24, was called on to replace Steinberg
midway through a concert at the New York Philharmonic Hall on 22 October
1969. He stepped in after the interval to lead a complicated double concerto
by Robert Starer and Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel. Even as
a young man, Tilson Thomas had already built up a considerable reputation
in Los Angeles but this appearance in New York was a golden opportunity.
This may have been a major step forward for him but Tilson Thomas was
no upstart: he had already worked closely with a number of the most important
musicians of the time including Stravinsky, Copland, Boulez and Heifetz.
In 1970 the BSO and Tilson Thomas gave a number of concerts and this DVD
draws its content from those performances.
The music of Charles Ives has been a regular feature of Tilson Thomas’s
career. This performance of the Three Places in New England was
quickly followed up by a Deutsche
Grammophon recording, coupled with Sun-treader by Carl Ruggles.
It was always an excellent LP and it’s good to see the orchestra
playing the work with such affection in concert. The central Putnam’s
Camp is a glorious riot of sound and the conductor delivers it with
clarity and precision. The music isn’t just a riot and the nostalgic,
elegiac sections are also beautifully done. There are a few things that
are striking about the young conductor. He is very confident and his technique
is assured with an immaculate, clear beat. His movement on the podium
is minimal and he seems rather detached and cold. Eye contact is regarded
as being really important in the art of conducting but there seems to
be little of this going on and there is barely a smile to be seen from
him. This is a serious young man going about his business and to be objective
about it, the results he achieves are excellent and the BSO is in fine
form.
The Sibelius Fourth Symphony isn’t exactly a stroll in the park.
It’s a truly great work but one that makes considerable demands
on the conductor and, indeed, the audience. Remarkably, the BSO hadn’t
played it for thirty years. It was last conducted by Koussevitzky. The
striking thing about the performance is the elegance and clarity of line.
The symphony can easily become a dull, sombre and depressing affair. Not
so here - Tilson Thomas keeps it moving with considerable grace and the
textures are bright, without any over-emphasis from the doom-laden lower
strings that can often dominate the piece. The finale includes tubular
bells and glockenspiel to good effect. One small point that irritated
me - within a second of the end of the symphony, instead have staying
still for a few moments, Tilson Thomas puts his baton down on the stand
(clunk) and this totally spoils the “musician’s silence”
that should be part and parcel of the performance. He kills the magic
stone dead and it’s a real shame.
Following studies with Wagner’s grand-daughter, Friedelind, Tilson
Thomas spent the summer of 1966 as assistant conductor at the Bayreuth
Festival. The exciting performance of Wagner’s Dawn and Siegfried’s
Rhine Journey that brings the DVD to a close demonstrates the fabulous
tonal quality of the BSO in full flight. The horn players are singled
out for their outstanding contributions but the BSO as a whole is the
star of the show.
The 2013 interview is devoted to MTT’s early career in Boston and
is full of reminiscences of the orchestra and the star players it possessed
in the 1970s. The 1970 interview is almost Pythonesque. It looks like
a single-take amateurish affair with a gushing but unpolished interviewer
in full Graham Chapman mode. Good fun though. Picture quality and sound
is fine for its age and there is a subtle use of split screens for the
orchestral soloists. Thankfully we are spared those microscopic close-ups
so beloved of modern producers. Here, we are given a good overview of
the orchestra and shots of individual players and orchestral sections
when appropriate.
This is an excellent DVD, well worth seeing for the Ives and Sibelius.
The Wagner and the interviews are bonuses.
John Whitmore
Masterwork Index: Sibelius
symphony 4
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