Ha. Any idea which year? Personally I like a lot of his Beethoven in early EMI versions, through the 60s DG - slightly less so his 70s versions, with the 80s ones as you noted.
forgiving a lot of the pops orchestra dork stuff, Leroy Anderson was great. (ok Sleigh Ride is good, sorry)
I'd bet it wasn't the 1960s DG recording. Nothing low voltage there, in fact, much the opposite. On the other hand, I find many of his 1970s, and especially his 1980s, recordings to be merely OK.
I listened to symphonies 3 and 5 today from this underrated set. The renditions are somewhat old-school (the old Ormandy-Philadelphia sheen still speaks), but also authoritative and athletic—so unlike the contemporary Muti whom I occasionally hear at Orchestra Hall. The late 80s digital sound is very good. I assume these performances are included in the new Muti/Warner box. Prospective buyers should not hesitate.
I would bet it was the 80s set. I think that one isn't up to par with the others. I actually find too much voltage in the 70s recording. It's just pushed too hard and over-played.
I agree about the Prokofiev. I like this as well. Very fine overall. Not as much of the frantic parts and loud dynamics as others but it serves its purpose.
Anent Muti, here's an amusing anecdote from the On an Overgrown Path blog. (For the record, I agree with Muti: the picture is not good. Something is very wrong about the proportions, at least to my eye.) If this had been a Deutsche Grammophon session..... As to the Karajan Beethoven, all I know is that the announcer said it was with the BPO on DG. No further info about recording date. But in general, there is just something about Karajan's music making that I do not like. It's happened again and again that I come into one of his recordings "blind" and it leaves me underwhelmed or worse. Can't speak to his Bruckner, because I'm not all that fond of the composer. (Yeah, I know: gasps all 'round. When it comes to Bruckner, for the most part I'm with B.H. Haggin.) But to end on a more positive note, and Beethovenian at that, I just gave an inaugural playing to a set of 78s I recently bought from Across the Pond--and believe you me, there are few extravagances to match paying the postage for a shipment of 78s from England to the USA. Specifically, it's the Pastoral in a ca. 1930 performance by the Berlin State Opera Or. under composer/conductor Hans Pfitzner. Interesting performance. It is definitely slow--I think quite possibly the slowest I've heard, maybe out-Klemperering Klemperer--but it is definitely not low voltage. Slow, yes, but intensely felt. It also shows some very old-fashioned tempo flexibility of the sort no one would dare try today. Moreover, somewhat to my surprise, the recorded sound was really beautiful. It's from Polydor masters, pressed by English Decca, and although the expected English 78s crackle is definitely there, the recording balance is warm and lovely, at least when played with a suitable "non-standard" curve selected. Such is by no means always the case with recordings from that source. So, all in all, a good musical way to end the day.
Do you know If what you were listening to was from the 50’s with the Philharmonia or the 60’s with the Berliner Philharmoniker?
Sacrilegious I know, but I'm not a huge fan of HVK. I find his work, and I'm trying to find the right adjective here without being disrespectful, a little too "saccharine". There are exceptions. IMO Anne-Sophie Mutter brought out the best in him. Edit: or possibly he brought out the best in her, if you see what I mean.
RE: Karajan - I can't speak generally about this conductor because while I have heard and own many of his recordings, many of them have been great and at least equal number have been mediocre. For what it's worth I could also say this about at least a dozen other conductors. The closest I could come to generalizing about Karajan's recordings are that I have loved most of his 1960s recordings that I have heard. And just a reminder, all of this stuff is simply opinion and all opinions on classical music in this thread are welcome!
Very true GP. I think as you say this applies to many conductors, that many of them sort of go through periods of brilliance and then periods of not so inspired. Whether their great work comes early on or later on in their career varies between them too.
Definitely! I have Ricci in two of the Paganini concertos and a different performance of the Mendelssohn. Keen to hear his Beethoven and Bruch, especially at such a great price for two CDs.
This lovely set arrived today. 5CDs for $22. I had some time to compare the sound on it to some early EMI CDs and some EMI remasters and the mastering in this new box, which is by Art & Son, is better. The new box has more detail, better imaging, more open on top and sounds more musical. The difference is smaller when comparing to early EMI CDs, but when comparing to remasters, the box is the clear winner. I plan to listen to this set in full over the next week or so. Now enjoying symphony 1, the only performance in the box that I have not heard before.
Still in the mail. Very slow deliveries here at the moment with half of the country in Covid lockdown.
Hadn't noticed - and I have over 150 of his CDs. Accounts from German reviews pre and post war also fail to support that opinion - the same with many record reviews. Maybe there is some 'tall poppy' syndrome and it is fashionable to decry the popular. However, as our host noted, tastes differ. Luckily we have hundreds of versions of most major works to choose from rather than the relative handful of earlier times so we can all find something we admire.
I've got my share of Karajan. He seemed to smooth things over (except when it came to R. Strauss) as he got older. His Also Sprach Zarathustra in the digital era is downright terrifying and his Don Juan is exuberant (so that does go against my earlier comment although I think his Beethoven is downright boring--even his 62 set)
I'd be interested in how good the sound quality is on these. I get a lot of emails from Eloquence advertising their recordings but I'm reluctant to purchase without knowing that they are listenable.
