This further volume
in the Naxos Tintner edition brings
more performances recorded in concert
by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In them, Georg Tintner conducts Symphony
Nova Scotia, the orchestra of which
he was Music Director from 1987 until
his death in 1999.
Both performances were
given before an audience and, in a nice
touch, Naxos include Tintner’s brief
spoken introductions. These are short
and to the point. They include pleasing
little touches of humour and Tintner
gets his audience chuckling and establishes
an evident rapport with them while making
serious points about the music to be
played. I’m glad these cameos have been
retained.
In his opening remarks
Tintner reminds the audience – and us
– that in his Fourth Symphony Beethoven
"for once looked backwards, not
forwards" and he compares the piece
with Haydn’s music. When he turns to
conduct the symphony he encourages his
players to convey just the right degree
of tension in the pregnant introduction
to the first movement. The main allegro
displays buoyant enthusiasm. In all,
this is a crisp, smiling performance,
I think. The slow movement is nicely
poised. Though the tempo indication
is adagio Tintner allows the
music to flow. The puckish third movement
is well done, showing that the orchestra
is on good form. As Tintner says, the
shadow of Haydn falls most obviously
on the finale which, in this performance,
zips along infectiously. The symphony
is given a most likeable performance.
Tintner talks at more
length about Schumann’s Second and this
time he gets the orchestral brass to
provide a brief musical illustration
of one of his points. Again, his manner
is audience-friendly but there’s no
question of talking down. He whets the
appetite of his listeners. Refreshingly,
he is frank about what he sees as the
flaw in the symphony, namely the weakness
of the principal subject of the first
movement (he’s surely right on that
score). In fact he refers to the symphony
as having "three and a half"
good movements.
As to the performance
itself, in Tintner’s experienced hands
the first movement introduction is atmospheric
but, as he had warned us, the music
of the main allegro is rather unmemorable,
though it’s well enough played here.
In terms of the musical argument things
improve significantly thereafter. The
felicitous, Mendelssohnian scherzo (placed
second) is deftly and charmingly played.
The musical longing of the slow movement
finds Tintner and his orchestra at their
eloquent best. This movement is really
very well done even if, ideally, one
would have liked just a touch more richness
in the violins. In his talk Tintner
is especially enthusiastic about the
finale and he leads an energetic and
characterful reading.
I enjoyed both of these
performances a good deal. Both are thoroughly
musical and are refreshingly straightforward.
The orchestra, which was only founded
in 1983, plays well for its chief and
the performances are presented in perfectly
acceptable sound. As was the case with
Volume 1 of this series the notes are
by Tanya Tintner but include significant
amounts of comment about the music by
the maestro himself. As I remarked when
reviewing Volume 1, it is good to hear
Georg Tintner in music other than that
of Bruckner, of whom he was so distinguished
an interpreter. These performances form
a happy appendix to Tintner’s Bruckner
cycle for Naxos.
John Quinn
Symphony Nova Scotia/Georg Tintner 
