Another grab-what-you-can collection from Documents
(also known as IntenseMedia in some locations) hampered by exceptionally
dull/flawed/non-existent presentation labouring under a meaningless
title - Boult was never a Lord and in any case what does “Lord
of the Proms” mean? Since most of these performances have been
regularly available in other transfers how are they "unique"! This is
simply another scavenging operation through out-of-copyright recordings
to knock out a super-bargain box of performances linked by the conductor
and nothing else.
The bulk of the recordings were made in the 1950s for either Nixa or
HMV. In most cases the sound is acceptable for its age but there are
clear sonic compromises so almost by definition this set will be of
interest to the historical/specialist collector rather than recommendable
to someone looking to build the proverbial “library” versions.
That being said, and having had my spat there are several performances
here of real quality - and not always in repertoire that latterly Boult
was associated with. For many collectors - myself included - Boult’s
famed Indian Summer in the recording studio made his name synonymous
with richly recorded versions of central British music of the 20
th
century. If nothing else, this box shows that Boult was adept at a far
wider range of repertoire and was not always the patrician grand old
man the late recordings sometimes imply. Before commenting on individual
discs a couple of general comments. Except in one case I have not heard
other transfers of these often well-known performances so I cannot comment
on the comparative technical quality of their current incarnations.
Also, Documents offer rather sparse documentation so I have taken
recording dates from the Wikipedia Boult discography article. Lastly,
playing lengths of these discs is very much a moveable feast ranging
from the shamefully short to generous so I will focus on the repertoire
offered rather than the duration or often even the (arbitrary) couplings.
Discs 1-4 are core Boult repertoire - the major Elgar Symphonic and
concerted works. Disc 1 has HMV recordings with the LPO from 1954 and
1956 respectively of The Enigma Variations and all five Pomp and Circumstance
Marches. My listening notes have words that were to become something
of a recurring trope throughout the set; “forthright, unmannered,
direct, unsentimental”. Indeed for anyone who sees Elgar as the
High Priest of Edwardian Imperialism and Boult as his musical altar
boy this will come as something of a surprise. For myself I love the
unforced simplicity of Boult’s approach. This is not to say it
lacks subtlety or profound musicianship but instead it is shorn of any
kind of extra-musical tub-thumping. For the first time ever the marches
struck me as a kind of ‘Suite in March time’. They cover
a wide range of moods from fervour-filled to febrile. Boult’s
handling of the famed/notorious ‘Land of Hope and Glory’
theme in the first march is a case in point - almost no pulling back
of the main - noticeably brisk - tempo allowing the melody to flow and
be what it is - a very good tune. Likewise, the Enigma is direct and
unfussy with Nimrod gaining an unforced dignity and emotional directness
precisely because it is not being burdened down by a sense of “England
expects”. Boult’s handling of tempi and their inter-relationships
is shown to be masterly. Overall the Enigma is very fluent with few
extremes - rarely have the revisiting of themes/friends in the EDU Finale
grown so organically out of the preceding pages. The downside is a recording
which rather crumbles under pressure and orchestral playing that is
scrappier than elsewhere in this box.
Boult’s 1970s recordings of the two Elgar Symphonies were once
considered unsurpassed - right down to their original sleeves seeming
to epitomise a sense of end of Empire. Interesting then to roll back
some 27 years from that to Boult’s first traversal in the recording
studio in 1950; the liner’s liner say 1949. The sound again
suffers from considerable distortion and crumbling at climaxes. Interesting
to compare timings too - Boult was always a master of hitting the right
tempo for the tricky opening motto/march. Here is a table of both symphonies
in the three main recordings:
| Symphony No.1 |
1950 - HMV |
1968 - Lyrita |
1976/7 - EMI |
| I.Andante nobilmente |
17:55 |
18:27 |
18:39 |
| II. Allegro moderato |
6:55 |
7:13 |
7:13 |
| III. Adagio |
12:20 |
10:26 |
10:36 |
| IV. Lento-allegro |
11:37 |
12:23 |
12:07 |
| Symphony No.2 |
1956 - Nixa |
1968 - Lyrita |
1976/7 - EMI |
| I. Allegro Vivace |
16:42 |
16:30 |
17:34 |
| II. Larghetto |
14:25 |
13:15 |
14:13 |
| III. Rondo Presto |
8:03 |
8:25 |
8:03 |
| IV. Moderato e maestoso |
13:08 |
12:57 |
13:19 |
Aside from a clear rethink of the Adagio of No.1 and a broadening of
both Symphonies’ first movements these timings are far more consistent
than received wisdom would have you think. So clearly - and this is
part I think of Boult’s greatness - it
is down to his subtle
control of tempo that can make one performance feel much more direct
and urgent whatever the stopwatch may say. I have a fourth Boult recording
which was a live BBCSO performance released on a BBC Music Magazine
cover disc which is the most dynamic of the lot. Interesting though
the 1950 performance here is as a reference it does not displace any
of his other studio versions.
The Symphony No.2 which accounts for disc No.3 is a different matter.
This is a superb version - quite one of the best I know. Fortunately
the 1956/Nixa master is in far better condition. Documents go along
with the pseudonymous use of The Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra. It
is in fact the LPO but presumably wriggling out of contractual obligations
elsewhere. Important to remember that Elgar lauded Boult as the saviour
of the work; the indifference to the 1911 premiere leading Elgar to
remark to W H Reed “they sit there like a lot of stuffed pigs”.
It was not until the young Boult revived the work in 1920 that its true
stature was appreciated and Elgar could write to Boult “I feel
that my reputation in the future is safe in your hands”. Boult
made five studio recordings of this symphony. This 1956 disc finds the
ideal balance between a ferocious Presto (“"the madness that attends
the excess or abuse of passion") and the elegiac Adagio framed by two
fluent but superbly paced outer movements. For this performance alone
I would happily pay the £10.00 price point for the whole box.
Disc 4 holds another treasured old-friend. This is the magnificent Decca-sourced
version of the Violin Concerto played by Alfredo Campoli. Boult - as
elsewhere in the box - shows himself to be an attentive and self-effacing
accompanist; this is very much Campoli’s performance. Even half
a century later it remains one of the finest - perhaps not as superhumanly
‘perfect’ as some modern versions but oozing personality
and old-fashioned gallantry. The LPO - back as themselves - are on good
form. This remains one of my top three recordings balancing an Italianate
warmth with some British reserve and an elegant technique - to my ear
the best of all worlds. This is the only disc in the box I know from
another release/mastering. I have it in the Beulah “Campoli Classics
Vol.1”. Here’s a curio others will know the answer to; the
Beulah release is clearly a mono disc. The Documents release has
a warmer and more present (better) sound and
seems to be in some
kind of stereo. If it is an electronically reprocessed sound I have
to say it has been rather well achieved and now replaces my Beulah disc
as the reference version for the Elgar - although the Beulah coupling
is a rather wonderful Campoli/Boult Mendelssohn concerto.
The Elgar is coupled here with Pablo Casals’ version of the Cello
Concerto from 1945. Never having heard this I was expecting a lot more.
One is cautious about criticising a musical giant such as Casals but
it has to be said that this performance on just about every ground falls
down. Casals’ technique labours - has the skittish allegro molto
ever sounded so dull. The recording leaves the orchestra muffled and
obscured. Elgar’s most lyrical inventions just don’t flow
- Casals over-phrases trying to extract weighty meaning from every bar.
The slow movement adagio benefits most from Casals’ introspective
approach but I doubt I will return to this even for historical reference.
For that either May Harrison under Elgar himself or W. H. Squire with
Sir Henry Wood strike me as significantly preferable at every turn.
Discs 5 and 6 complete the brief survey of British music with other
stalwarts of the Boult discography. Boult conducts the LSO in the fiery
premiere on disc of Vaughan Williams’ 6
th Symphony.
I’m sorry that Documents chose to use the version where the
original edition of the scherzo was re-recorded after the composer had
second thoughts. There are not huge differences between the first and
second versions but from a curiosity/historical value perspective the
earlier one would have had extra value. Boult went on to record two
complete cycles of the RVW Symphonies for Decca/Everest in the 1950s
and EMI in the 1960s/1970s. This first version of No.6 has a raw power
and aggression that - as with the Elgar - dismantles any notion that
its composer was
just a cow-pat-pastoralist. Here timings do
tell a story:
| Symphony No.6 |
1949 - HMV |
1954 - Decca |
1967 - HMV |
| I.Allegro |
7:21 |
8:20 |
8:16 |
| II. Moderato |
9:31 |
10:15 |
9:31 |
| III. Scherzo - allegro vivace |
6:12 |
7:01 |
6:59 |
| IV. Epilogue moderato |
10:58 |
13:16 |
11:19 |
For sure the LSO in 1949 were not the prettiest - indeed at times its
pretty rough and the sound is crude although without the distortion
that afflicts the earlier Elgar discs. A powerhouse performance that
anyone who cares about this composer should know.
The Lark Ascending
makes for a rather mean coupling in time terms but after the ‘hell
and fury’ of the symphony it makes a perfect foil. Nothing will
ever supplant Boult’s other recording with Hugh Bean in my affections
but I had forgotten just how good this performance from Jean Pougnet
was. Superbly poised and elegant with just the right amount of fantasy
and freedom to make this one of the most sublimely rhapsodic works of
all. Another disc to treasure.
Boult proved to be musical midwife to many great works. One of the first
- a huge triumph for a young conductor of just 29 - was the premiere
of Holst’s
The Planets. Boult’s 1945 recording with
the BBCSO - his first of five studio performances is disc 6. As a work
this suffers most of the entire set from a murky recording - not that
the engineering is much worse than other discs here but because the
piece itself relies more on orchestral colour than others. Again my
listening notes mention forthright - unfussy - direct. Time for another
table!
| The Planets |
1945 - BBC SO
HMV |
1961 - Vienna Opera O
Westminster |
1978 - LPO
EMI |
| I. Mars |
7:01 |
7:17 |
8:02 |
| II. Venus |
7:54 |
8:35 |
7:25 |
| III. Mercury |
3:44 |
4:04 |
3:48 |
| IV. Jupiter |
7:45 |
8:26 |
7:58 |
| V. Saturn |
8:09 |
8:20 |
8:22 |
| VI. Uranus |
5:45 |
6:25 |
6:26 |
| VII. Neptune |
6:23 |
6:27 |
6:25 |
Overall, consistency is the key and interesting that the movements
that make least impact in 1945 are those that have broadened most,
with added implacable weight in the case of Mars and inexorable
menace in the case of Saturn, by 1978. The latter, in the earlier
version sounds more like Eric Coates in near good humour than had
ever occurred to me before. The benefits are a Jupiter where
- as with Land of Hope & Glory - the ‘big’
tune is not weighed down by the expectations - sporting and
otherwise - of a nation. The fleet scoring of Mercury suffers,
creating a quite different effect from the virtually same-timed 1978
performance. Ultimately, in interpretative terms a mixed bag and one
for the specialist collector only given that Boult’s final version
from 1978 is such a fine recording in every respect - still a leading
version 35 years on.
Discs 7-9 feature Boult as accompanist in mainstream repertoire. Here,
his all-round musicianship comes to the fore and his Germanic training
with Arthur Nikisch is demonstrated.
Disc 7 has another of the set’s highlights. An absolutely stunning
live recording from 1947 of Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1
featuring Yehudi Menuhin. By the tail-end of Menuhin’s career
in the 1970s and beyond, any recording was greeted with a degree of
circumspection given his technical fallibility by that time. This
performance - poor transfer and all - shows what a masterly player
he was in his pomp. Curiously the Menhuin
website at lists this performance (given on the 30 October 1947)
as being of the 2nd Concerto. In this instance Documents
is right - it is No.1 for sure. As with the Elgar violin concerto,
this is very much the soloist’s show - after all Paganini wrote
orchestral parts that are little more than a framework for the fiddler’s
pyrotechnics. As such, Boult is a careful accompanist - there is little
more that he could do, but it remains a stunning performance. The
coupling is Schumann 4. This is part of the complete cycle Boult recorded
for Pye Nixa in 1957. Again it is a forthright unfussy performance
with some muscular brass playing and little if any indulgence. That
being said, there are no particular insights that mark it out for
special attention in a crowded marketplace.
Disc 8 proves to be another gem - two late Mozart piano concertos
with Annie Fischer dating from 1959 originally on Columbia. Both soloist
and conductor are as one delivering wonderfully unmannered and joyful
accounts of these two great concertos - again setting the record straight,
if anyone was in doubt, that Mozart was played with a classical directness
and purity of utterance long before the term “Historically Informed
Practice” was even coined. These are performances that still
exist in the EMI catalogue for around the £6.00 mark so as part
of this set they represent a true bargain. As before, I cannot compare
transfers or mastering but suffice to say that the Documents disc
is very acceptable - easily one of the best in this box.
Disc 9 encapsulates the label’s shoddy planning and packaging.
For no known possible reason a Chopin piano concerto sits alongside
a brief piece of Sibelius incidental music. The total running time
struggles past 43 minutes. Rather by luck than any great strategic
design both performances are valuable: once again because neither
composer would otherwise feature prominently in a Boult discography;
indeed this would appear to be the only time for both pieces. Friedrich
Gulda’s approach to Chopin - I’m no expert, I have to
say - is refreshingly unmannered and both he and Boult provide a performance
that is poetic without being overly precious. Not that the liner makes
this clear, but this would seem to be Balakirev’s edition of
the Chopin concerto. The score for this edition can be viewed on IMSLP.
As far as I can tell the orchestral part has been rescored by the
Russian composer - this would seem to be a rarity and as such worth
consideration in a performance as sympathetic as this. Although this
is one of the earlier recordings in the set it happens to be one of
the best with a perfectly acceptable soloist/orchestra balance with
the orchestra having really very good weight and balance. One imagines
this is again due to the original Decca source - a performance I will
be very happy to revisit. Certainly it is superior - sonically - to
the Pye/Nixa sourced Sibelius. Again, this is a composer who features
very little in the Boult discography - this performance being part
of a two disc group of the popular tone poems recorded in 1957. Certainly
this is an exciting and craggy near brusque interpretation - reading
reviews of the other original couplings Boult would appear to have
been a powerful interpreter - all the more surprising that so few
of the major works appear at all in his discography.
Disc 10 completes the set and is another hidden gem. Busoni's incomplete
opera Doktor Faust is a wonderful work. Boult gave the UK premiere
in the thirties and this was its second UK outing - a concert performance
at London's Royal Festival Hall in November 1959. Boult collaborated
with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to produce this 75 minute digest of
the complete score. The glory of the set is Fischer-Dieskau’s
utterly committed but very beautiful singing - he really is in his
youthful prime here. Add to that support from a top-rank British cast
(plus Australian John Cameron) and Boult at his most astute and sympathetic
and you have a memorable disc. This same recording has been released
on the LPO's "own" label for around £10.00. The downside with
this release is the lack of any kind of libretto or synopsis. Then
again the LPO's own incarnation lacks the libretto too.
Very much a mixed bag, then. However, as before with my experience
of sets from this source, it serves the collector to look beyond the
bargain basement, pile-it-high approach that is to the detriment of
the performances collected therein. Personally I would happily pay
a couple of pounds more for a liner-note and librettos plus some sense
that someone actually cared about the quality of the presentation.
For the music alone there is much to appeal here.
Nick Barnard
Details
Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Pomp and Circumstance Marches Op.39 Nos.1-5 [27:29]
Enigma Variations Op.36 [31:03]
Symphony No.1 in A flat major Op.55 [48:50]
Symphony No.2 in E flat major Op.63 [52:20]
Violin Concerto in B minor Op.61 [45:34]
Alfredo Campoli (violin)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Cello Concerto in E minor Op.85 [27:34]
Pablo Casals (cello) BBC Symphony Orchestra
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Symphony No.6 in E minor [34:02]
London Symphony Orchestra
The Lark Ascending [13:26]
Jean Pougnet (violin) London Philharmonic Orchestra
Gustav HOLST (1874-1934)
The Planets Op.32 [46:42]
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Niccolò PAGANINI (1782-1840)
Violin Concerto No.1 in D major [37:17]
Yehudin Menuhin (violin) BBC Symphony Orchestra
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Symphony No.4 in D minor Op.120 [28:28]
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor K.466
Piano Concerto No.23 in A major K.488
Annie Fischer (piano) Philharmonia Orchestra
Frédéric CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor Op.11
Friedrich Gulda (piano) London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jean SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
The Tempest - Prelude [6:10]
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Ferrucio BUSONI (1866-1924)
Doktor Faust - extended excerpts [73:54]
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Ian Wallace
(bass-baritone), Heather Harper (soprano), John
Cameron (bass)
London Philharmonic Choir , Chorus of the Royal Academy
of Music
London Philharmonic Orchestra
