DG Original Masters series

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Originally posted by J. A. Toon:


[Re: Jochum's Beethoven] Is this a highly regarded recording?

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I know some collectors love this recording and have paid through the nose for pristine-condition LPs. If your pounder works, you're a lucky guy. I don't blame you for loving the Eroica; it is LvB's greatest symphony. Five is not enough. Go forth. Buy more!

The manager of the CD store has nothing but the highest praise for all of the new DG reissues. And that's not because he just wants to sell the CDs; he's a CD/LP collector-fanatic. He probably has more recordings than everyone on this forum combined, and is a walking encyclopedia of recordings past and present. His knowledge is truly astounding.

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Originally posted by Ross Blackman:

Have you seen Cziffra's version of the Totentanz reissued on CD? I had an LP copy some years ago and that performance was absolutely hair-raising.

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Yes. The version with his son conducting is available as a super-budget EMI/Seraphim release, which tips the scales at $7. It also has both concertos and the Hungarian Fantasia. A bargain indeed. I couldn't resist.

EMI also reissued a 5-disc set of Cziffra playing Liszt in late-2001 on top of an (I believe) 8-disc set from a few years before that. The 5-disc set was available at the local store for about a week before it was snapped up. I have no idea if it will be around again. (I curse myself for not buying it.) It was more spendy at about $12 a disc.

Thanks for the nod on the Kleiber Dvorak 9. I've been eyeing it for a while, but have never gotten around to picking it up. Looks like I'll have to soon.

I scooped up the Jochum Beethoven cycle and the Janacek Quartet box and was able to listen to one work from each - the 1st symphony and Janacek's second quartet - before my wife confiscated the boxes to hold until my birthday and anniversary (coming up shortly). All signs are positive that these will be outstanding boxes.

Of potentially greater interest is what DG is doing with the series. The next five boxes have been planned. There are some must-haves in there. The list is below, as well as a link to the site. Better yet, DG is asking for input on the five boxes after that! That's right, we might be able to influence the next batch of boxes. I think I'm going to put my two cents worth in.

The link:

http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/home.htms?NOFLASH=1


The list:

Amadeus Quartet: Mozart The 1950s Recordings

5-CD set, all appearing internationally for the first time on CD. Nine quartets, four quintets. Includes Westminster recordings.


Ferenc Fricsay A Life in Music

Rare Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon 1949-1962 9-CD set, almost all first international releases on CD, broad range of repertoire from Beethoven to Hartmann, with a great Johann Strauss CD and Haydn's The Seasons complete. Includes exclusive "Erzähltes Leben", Fricsay's very last recording from 1962, where he retells the story of his life (in German - summary in English and French in booklet).


Wilhelm Kempff Schumann Brahms Complete Solo Recordings 1950-58

5-CD set, bringing this repertoire together for the first time in one box (4 CD) - includes rare (and currently unavailable) recordings of Schumann: Etudes symphoniques, Fantasy in C major, Brahms: Scherzo op. 4, Handel Variations. Plus an extra CD of Beethoven "name" sonatas (Pathétique, Moonlight, Appassionata) and favourite pieces (Bach, Beethoven, Couperin, Rameau, Handel) some never before on CD, all first-time international release on CD. Includes Decca recordings.


Igor Markevitch: Conductor with a Mission
Markevitch Rarities

9-CD set, mostly first-time releases on CD. Repertoire ranging from Mozart, Beethoven (2 CD), Brahms (2 CD), Wagner, Tchaikovsky, plus French repertoire. Includes an interview in English.


Astrid Varnay Complete Opera Scenes and Orchestral Songs on Deutsche Grammophon

3-CD set, including previously unreleased material (Tristan Liebestod). Her classic Wagner recordings offered complete for the first time, plus Beethoven (Ah perfido) and Verdi (two arias) new to CD.

No kidding. I am expecting the current Kempff Schumann box any day now...

Those Amadeus recordings might be interesting. Their sixties recording of Mozart's 'Haydn' Quartets have been my reference for the past, er, 25 years.

Herman

I finally finished the Janacek Quartet and Jochum Beethoven cycle box and I must say that both are worth the measly outlays required.

The Janacek box is an enlightening glimpse into mid-century music making. If you don't like old-fashioned playing this set is not for you. The highlights are the Brahms Piano Quintet, the Janacek & Smetana disc, and the two Dvorak quartet discs. The last discs are mezmerizing. Better Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven quartets are around, but these recordings are still worth a few listens.

The Jochum set is also well worth the money. The highlights are the Eroica, the Pastoral, and the Ninth. All are near-great performances. The Sixth maybe a great performance. I'll have to listen to it again. (Woe is me.) All of the others I would rate as very good to excellent.

Since I bought the Bernstein box on Sony not too long ago, I had a recent set to compare the Jochum to. Overall, I'd take the Jochum, but Bernstein definitely has the edge in some works. Bernstein's First, Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh are all excellent. Indeed, only Furtwangler (on EMI) delivers a better First to my ears. The Fifth starts a little slower than I like, but the finale is tremendous. Still, the Jochum is better.

I also checked out the Decca web-site and it appears that the Original Masters series is a UMG project, not just a DG project. The Decca boxes out this month (though not until May in the States) include a five disc box of Grumiaux, including the complete Mozart violin concertos, and boxes with Josef Krips, Eduard van Beinum, Clifford Curzon, and Georg Solti. All are mostly 50s recordings. I'm especially interested in the Grumiaux and Krips, though the Solti (!) may be interesting for the three scenes from an early 50s recording of Elektra.

The second batch of DG Original Masters finally hit US shores about six weeks ago, and of course I just had to buy some. Of the five boxes of goodies I opted to start with two: Kempff and Fricsay. (Well, actually, I wanted three, but the Markevitch boxes had been shipped with the Astrid Varnay booklets, so two it was.) Here I’ll opine on the Fricsay box.

The nine-disc box contains eight discs of music and one of Fricsay talking about his life. I’ve not yet listed to the biographical disc, and I very well may not, but I have made it through the music. An unconditional success? Not quite. But there are some strong points. Extremely strong points.

I’ll start with the lesser recordings. The box starts out with a Beethoven First that is nothing special. The first two movements don’t excite, and while the last two movements fare better, this is nothing better than a second or third rate performance. The Mahler Ruckert-Lieder are mediocre at best. The selections from Mendelssohn’s Midsummer’s Night Dream fares a little better, but only a little. The Hindemith Symphonic Dances fare a little worse, but that’s mostly because it’s Hindemith. And while the Respighi enhancement of Rossini’s The Magic Toy Shop does have some delightful moments, it seemed to me to be about 10-15 minutes too long.

Now we’re into some performances that have some strong points, but still cannot be considered great. Scheherazade comes up as a bigger, more substantial, more symphonic work than normal. Overall it is very effective – and maybe even my favorite version yet of this piece – but you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t get overly excited about this work. (It’s definitely the work and not the conductor or performance.) The entire fourth disc is given over to waltzes by the Strauss family. Some of them are very well done. But let’s face it: these are Strauss waltzes. How excited can one get? It’s not like they are Chopin’s waltzes. The itty-bitty interlude from one Gottfried von Einem’s Danton’s Tod is decidedly OK, but that’s it. And then there is a big work. Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique is an odd duck. Fricsay never approved release of this recording, and I can sort of hear why. The first three movements, while expertly played, just seem to be an orchestral exercise. But then the finale arrives. It starts out in much the same spirit, but then it transforms into a dark, somber, and, well, pathetic emotional outcry. There are no great outbursts or overly dramatic moments, but just perfectly controlled orchestral emoting. The transformation is astounding. Fricsay suspends time and makes one contemplate the darkness of the conclusion. It is both beautiful and tragic. If the rest of the piece were up to this standard, it would unquestionably be one of the great recordings of this work.

Now it’s time for the strong points. The first disc contains what surely must be one of the best recordings available of Prokofiev’s First Symphony. It is just a delight to listen to. Fricsay and his band deliver just the right amount of charm, wit, and sarcasm. How Franz would have enjoyed this. Sergei, too. Moving further into the 20th Century finds a 1955 recording of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Sixth Symphony. The work was still relatively new, yet Fricsay delivers a performance that sounds as if he had known the score for years. It is appropriately rough and “modern,” but it is tempered by a more classical touch. Of the three versions of this exceptional work that I own, Ingo Metzmacher’s is still first choice, but this makes an attractive alternative. (And Leon Botstein’s is good, too.) Frank Martin makes his first appearance in my collection with the recording of the Petite Symphonie Concertante. What a fine sounding, well played, deliciously dissonant treat this is. It’s both modern and fun to listen to. Okay, so the harpsichord is not properly utilized and some of the devices seem a bit contrived, but I like this work. I may very well look for more Martin.

The fifth disc in the set is a collection of works for piano and orchestra with one Margrit Weber tickling the ivories. I’d never heard of Ms. Weber before, and that seems something of a shame. Her playing is alert, tasteful, and technically assured. Falla’s Night in the Gardens of Spain evokes the Iberian peninsula nicely. Franck’s Symphonic Variations is delivered with authority. The two little pieces are especially strong. Jean Francais’ Concertino is astounding. In eight minutes or so he crams and the artists deliver a wonderful musical treat. But it’s over just when it begins. The solution is surely to listen to more Francais. Likewise, the Honegger Concertino is something of a treat, if one that’s a little darker and more substantial sounding. But the surprise of the disc and box is surely Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. Here’s a work I’ve heard many times before, but rarely with this much pleasure. The fine early stereo sound adds to a feeling of romanticism restrained. This is not overly lush, yet one can luxuriate in it. For instance, the 18th variation is lovely without being mushy and excessively sentimental. Throughout, Weber and the orchestra play solidly. What a surprise!

And that leads me to the centerpiece of this box: Haydn’s Die Jahrezeiten. Pretty much everything Haydn wrote after what, 1770, is a masterpiece, and this surely is no exception. As with all truly great large works, this one hides both its length and formidable challenges. The concert recording finds everyone involved working at a very high level. So maybe not all of the soloists are the very best, but taken as a whole this performance is one to cherish. One is swept away with the greatness of Haydn’s music. There is just something about his large choral works that demands continuous attention from the listener.

The transfers – mostly mono – are expertly done. I rate the box a success, if somewhat qualified.



"The universe is change, life is opinion." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

I am an avowed fan of Wilhelm Kempff. While his technical and stylistic limitations mean he can’t play everything equally well, his artistic approach make everything he plays worth at least one listen, and usually much more. His Schubert recordings on DG are unmatched, his Beethoven among the best available, and his Liszt surprisingly good. Hell, I even like his stereo Schumann recordings. And the earlier recordings seem even better than the later ones. But what about Brahms? And what about his earlier Schumann recordings?

Well, I bought the most recent DG Originals box to find out. (It’s actually a blend of DG and Decca recordings.) I’ll just come out and say it: this five-disc, six-and-a-half hour set is one of the best purchases I’ve made this year, and this year has seen some staggeringly additions to my collection.

I’ll start with his Schumann. Every piece in this set betters the later recordings. Five works are included: Papillons, the Etudes symphoniques, Kreisleriana, the Arabeske, and the great Fantasie. All of them are characterized by nimbler finger-work and wider dynamic swings than in the later recordings. While the opening Papillons offers a slightly cleaner, leaner approach than his later recording, it struck me almost immediately how different Kempff sounds. Part of the difference is due to the recording, but his tone is not as, well, Kempffian as it would become. It is distinctive, it is clearly Kempff, but it is fleeter, more precise. The Etudes symphoniques merely reinforces this impression. Each one of these recordings is remarkable. Okay, so Kempff’s technique is not flawless in the every passage, and yes the second movement of the Fantasie trips him up somewhat, but it is the music making that matters, and this is astonishing stuff.

Next are three Beethoven sonatas, two of his Bagatelles, and a variety of transcriptions. The Beethoven works are all famous, “named” sonatas: the Pathetique, the Moonlight, and the Appasionata. When I first saw them listed I thought these would be from his complete 50s cycle, but no. These are from a separate 1960 recording session. While I have not yet bought his mono set, I can (and did) compare these to his stereo recordings, and once again the current reissues trump the later recordings. But not by as much. The Moonlight is much better than the later stereo set – indeed, this is one of the best recordings of the work I have heard. The opening movement – with sustaining pedal obviously held down the whole time – creates just the right somber mood. The middle movement is a nice rest before the (near) furious conclusion. Great stuff. The other two works also fare better, but let’s face it, these are not Kempff’s strongest Beethoven sonatas. The small works all come off superbly, and Kempff’s transcription abilities are obvious. (And after hearing both Kempff and Casadesus play Rameau it’s clear I must investigate this composer.)

That leaves the Brahms, a Lohengrin length selection of pieces that comprise the heart of the set. Now let me say that I am not a big fan of Brahms’ piano music. Oh sure, there’s Pogo and his beautifully elongated Brahms (just how does he do it?) and, at the other end of the interpretive spectrum, Rudolf Firkusny’s aristocratic, perfectly poised solo recordings from the 50s, but not much else has caught my fancy. Not even Annie Fischer’s BBC recording of the Op 5 sonata interests me! These recordings have made a believer out of me. (Well, mostly.)

The Brahms works start out with the Four Ballades. While Kempff starts off plainly, it takes almost no time until one hears the reason to buy this set. BAM, BAM, BAM: Kempff hammers the keyboard as the music swells. I was definitely taken aback. This is no easy-going old coot sweetly reminiscing; this is a romantically inclined old coot having at the ivories. Throughout all four of the ballades there is a romantic abandon I don’t normally associate with this pianist. Yes, yes, others can be even more dramatic, but none so perfectly in tune with the music. This recording quite easily trumps Michelangeli’s note-perfect but slightly off-putting recording from decades later. A fluke, perhaps, I thought to myself. Then came the Handel Variations. This is a piece I’ve never really cared for until now. There is a joy in the playing that makes this a delight. Maybe the concluding fugue could be more note perfect and more fugue-like, but I love it. Kempff’s background as an organist shows in the way he pedals and colors this work.

But all is not well. The Op 5 sonata is next. I guess I am just not meant to like this work. (If I don’t like Annie Fischer’s playing, I don’t think I’ll like anyone’s.) It’s too long and too dense. It lacks the heart of the other pieces. Oh well. At least the Op 4 Scherzo comes off nicely.

The remainder of the set is given over to the high-opus number pieces: Opp 76, 79, and 116 – 119. This is Kempff’s realm. As good as the preceding pieces were, these all occupy that exalted realm of the greatest of performances. Each piece captures the mood perfectly, each piece is a gem glowing from within. There is exquisite beauty and spiritual enlightenment to be had in these works. Okay, that may be a bit much, but as the discs spun, all I could do is sit back and let the music wash over me. Before I knew it, all 81 minutes of disc four had played and I was still a’ hankerin’ fer some more. This is glorious stuff.

I now like some of Brahms’ piano music. I ain’t gonna rush out and buy a bunch, but now I’ve got some to cherish.

Now, when will someone get around to reissuing Kempff’s Decca recordings of Schubert?



"The universe is change, life is opinion." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations