These live recordings were made over a period of around 17 years, covering
concerts dating from 1992 to 2009. The playing throughout is magnificent, as
you would expect from the Berlin Philharmonic. Visually,
The
Tempest with its backdrop featuring a huge wooden sailing ship is the
most striking. This may be one of the composer’s near misses but there’s no
doubting the magnetic atmosphere of the opening and closing pages. Claudio
Abbado’s 1998 performance is very fine. It’s also a pleasure to see Bernard
Haitink in action in a musically understated and satisfying
Romeo and
Juliet. This conductor is one of those superb musicians that we tend to
take for granted, as we did with Ormandy. Abbado’s performance of the Fifth
symphony from Tokyo is outstanding, as you would expect, with a lovely horn
solo in the slow movement and a thrilling finale. All the concert hall
footage in terms of sound and vision is thoroughly decent television
broadcast standard. The items recorded at outdoor festivals suffer from the
use of close microphones that tend to pick up everything. The trouble is,
there is no sense of depth or dynamic contrast and no hall acoustic to
support the orchestral sound. The results are no better or worse than other
orchestral recordings I’ve heard that are hampered by having to be played
under a glorified tent in front of thousands of people. As much as I love
the piece, I fail to see why two versions of the
Nutcracker Pas de
deux have been included. Rattle’s comes across as the more committed
and involving of the two.
So far so good but unfortunately there are some serious issues with this
release. First of all the price is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Taking a
quick look on the internet we are talking about £55 or thereabouts for a
total playing time of less than four hours. This is really poor value for
money. The booklet notes are barely adequate and the contents list says that
Mélodie and
Valse Scherzo (beautifully played by Vadim
Repin) are from
The Nutcracker. This is just too sloppy for a
premium priced product. More alarmingly, some of the sound isn’t properly
synchronised with the film. The worst case is Repin’s
Valse Scherzo
and this makes it unsettling to sit through. It looks as if the orchestra is
playing fractionally behind the beat. It’s the sort of effect that is
commonly encountered on YouTube video uploads. For a commercial product
there is no excuse. DVDs 2 and 3 are devoted to the three symphonies. DVD 1
contains 8 short extracts. The editing on this DVD isn’t really up to
standard. Each extract comes to an abrupt end and there has been no effort
to add any fade out. What we are presented with is clunky and lacking in
elegance. I see little point in any further detailed analysis of the
performances featured in this set. It’s a great shame. The musicians are not
at fault but they have been ill served here. I simply can’t offer any sort
of recommendation.
John Whitmore
Contents
Romeo and Juliet - Fantasy Overture
Royal Albert Hall, 1 May 1993
Bernard Haitink
Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op. 42: Mélodie in E flat major
Waldbühne Berlin, June 2002
Mariss Jansons
Valse-scherzo in C major for violin and orchestra Op. 34
Waldbühne Berlin, June 2002
Mariss Jansons
The Nutcracker: Pas de deux
Waldbühne Berlin, June 2002
Mariss Jansons
Symphony No. 4 in F
minor, Op. 36
Philharmonie Berlin, June 1992
Kurt Sanderling
Symphony No. 5 in E
minor, Op. 64
Suntory Hall, Tokyo, October 1994
Claudio Abbado
Symphony No. 6 in B
minor, Op. 74 'Pathétique'
Grosser Musikvereinssaal, Vienna, January 2008
Seiji Ozawa
The Tempest, Op. 18
Vasa Museum, Stockholm, 1 May 1998
Claudio Abbado
The Nutcracker: Waltz of the Flowers
New Year's Eve 2001, Philharmonie, Berlin
Daniel Barenboim
The Nutcracker: Overture, March, Decorating the Christmas Tree, Pas de
deux
Waldbühne Berlin, June 2009
Sir Simon Rattle
