Original Masters - Solti
Posted by: Tam on 27 May 2005
Must admit, I'm a bit of a fan of this series (particularly the DG releases of Kempff's work). However, Britannia this month had an offer on a set of Solti's earlier recordings, which I couldn't very well pass up (also on Clifford Curzon's, but I haven't listened to it yet). Anyway, I'm a bit fan of the conductor, and thought it would be interesting to sample his earliest work.
The set is four discs, and the recording quality (dating between 1947 and 1958) is remarkably good, with the exception of the beethoven disc.
So, what do you get. Well, the first disc and a half is something of a gem, featuring Solti not as a conductor but as a pianist with Georg Kulenkampff on the violin. The first disc contains 3 Brahms violin sonatas, which while I don't know them at all, I thoroughly enjoyed. The second disc contains beethoven's 9th violin sonata, which again is good, and violin concerto, which is less so. The problem with this disc is that there is clearly a lot of noise (possibly from degradation of the tape) which I found very distracting, perhaps the music is not quite good enough to rise above it.
Disc number 3 starts with Schubert's 5th symphony which, while not bad, misses a few necessary (in my view) repeats. This is followed, however, by some very enjoyable Bartok. Disc for contains some Kodaly (excellent) along with extracts from Strauss's Electra, which is good. However, with the exception of the 5th symphony I don't really know these other works well enough to comment on them further.
Anyway, I've thoroughly enjoyed the set (at £8 how could I not, but it would probably have been worth the full price). A must for Solti fans, and interesting even if you're not.
regards,
Tam
The set is four discs, and the recording quality (dating between 1947 and 1958) is remarkably good, with the exception of the beethoven disc.
So, what do you get. Well, the first disc and a half is something of a gem, featuring Solti not as a conductor but as a pianist with Georg Kulenkampff on the violin. The first disc contains 3 Brahms violin sonatas, which while I don't know them at all, I thoroughly enjoyed. The second disc contains beethoven's 9th violin sonata, which again is good, and violin concerto, which is less so. The problem with this disc is that there is clearly a lot of noise (possibly from degradation of the tape) which I found very distracting, perhaps the music is not quite good enough to rise above it.
Disc number 3 starts with Schubert's 5th symphony which, while not bad, misses a few necessary (in my view) repeats. This is followed, however, by some very enjoyable Bartok. Disc for contains some Kodaly (excellent) along with extracts from Strauss's Electra, which is good. However, with the exception of the 5th symphony I don't really know these other works well enough to comment on them further.
Anyway, I've thoroughly enjoyed the set (at £8 how could I not, but it would probably have been worth the full price). A must for Solti fans, and interesting even if you're not.
regards,
Tam