Recordings of Orchestral Rehearsals
Posted by: David Sutton on 20 September 2007
I recently borrowed a couple of discs of Bruno Walter rehearsing and performing Mozart and Beethoven. What a revelation. It was fascinating to sit and hear the maestro plan end execute the details of his performance.
Has anyone else tried these types of recording?
David
Has anyone else tried these types of recording?
David
Posted on: 20 September 2007 by u5227470736789439
I used to have CBS LPs of Walter rehearsing the C Major Symphony of Mozart [No 36, "The Linz"], I think on three sides. I still have Elgar rehearsing in 1927 the Scherzo from his Second Symphony! That is just as fascinating an a powerful corrective to those who slavishly follow every jot and titl in the score as well.
In Stockholm I have Furtwangler leading a rehearsal of Leonore III with the Philharmonic there, which is surprisingly quite roughly played [in the rehearsal] but Furtwangler remains perfectly kind throughout, except for one or two psychologically judged "comment-free" pregnant silences! So much for all these Meastros being absolute tyros! In each case the subsequent performance is much finer than anything found in the rehearsal...
ATB from George
In Stockholm I have Furtwangler leading a rehearsal of Leonore III with the Philharmonic there, which is surprisingly quite roughly played [in the rehearsal] but Furtwangler remains perfectly kind throughout, except for one or two psychologically judged "comment-free" pregnant silences! So much for all these Meastros being absolute tyros! In each case the subsequent performance is much finer than anything found in the rehearsal...
ATB from George
Posted on: 08 October 2007 by u5227470736789439
Though not recorded of course, I once was the guest of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in a concert where they gave the Planets in the Poole Arts Centre. I was there all day and attended the afternnon rehearsal. It was fascinating to listen and watch a rehearsal rather than be in one!
There is more flexibility with regard to the score and balancing in a particular concert venue than you might at first imagine. Once the orchestra was warmed up the conductor several times left them to it and walked most of the way back to see what was being lost in the heavy orchestration, and this was soon accounted for and corrected. Kreuzberg was the conductor and he brought a very fiery aspect to Mars, and drove the tempo on like mad till finally the brass could no longer be clear [in rehearsal] and there is a place where right at the end of the movement the trombones have fast repeated chords to play. So driven was the tempo that they could not tongue these notes clearly, and Kreuzberg asked them to play [without conducting] as fast as they could while being perfectly clear! From that he based his tempo for the entire movement in the concert.
This freedom to play what is necessary in the context of a given acoustic is also apparent in the Elgar rehearsal sequence from the Scherzo of his Second Symphony from 1927. There is a place where the double basses pizzicato octaves, but in the recording they play them bowed and short to keep the rhythm firmly, after Elgar pointed out the lack of clarity!
ATB from George
There is more flexibility with regard to the score and balancing in a particular concert venue than you might at first imagine. Once the orchestra was warmed up the conductor several times left them to it and walked most of the way back to see what was being lost in the heavy orchestration, and this was soon accounted for and corrected. Kreuzberg was the conductor and he brought a very fiery aspect to Mars, and drove the tempo on like mad till finally the brass could no longer be clear [in rehearsal] and there is a place where right at the end of the movement the trombones have fast repeated chords to play. So driven was the tempo that they could not tongue these notes clearly, and Kreuzberg asked them to play [without conducting] as fast as they could while being perfectly clear! From that he based his tempo for the entire movement in the concert.
This freedom to play what is necessary in the context of a given acoustic is also apparent in the Elgar rehearsal sequence from the Scherzo of his Second Symphony from 1927. There is a place where the double basses pizzicato octaves, but in the recording they play them bowed and short to keep the rhythm firmly, after Elgar pointed out the lack of clarity!
ATB from George