Note-less
and silent as to provenance the purchaser
is on his own with these two Cologne
(but see below) recordings of Kleiber’s
Dvořák. Kleiber was joined by Antonio
Janigro for the Cello Concerto though
Janigro is now probably best
remembered as conductor of I Solisti
di Zagreb.
In point of fact he
had been a particularly distinguished
cellist and was devoted to this concerto.
He recorded it for Westminster with
Dean Dixon conducting the Vienna State
Opera Orchestra. Whilst it’s really
more a matter of academic interest than
anything (at least until that disc is
returned to currency, if it ever should
be) Janigro responds that much more
vocally and intensely in the live recording
with Kleiber. It’s by no means a cast
iron performance. The Cologne horn section
seems to have been rather fragile –
as was the section in the previous year
in the companion Ninth Symphony - and
there is poor playing in the opening
movement of the Concerto, though the
principal flute is excellent. Tension
can dissipate as well from time to time
though Kleiber holds things on a rhythmically
tight rein. Janigro’s tone is tightly
coiled and he’s not free of reproach
when it comes to tidiness but it’s a
whole-hearted reading, let down by some
disc bumps and far too much knob twiddling
in the Cologne studio to contain tuttis.
The warmly flowing slow movement is
very acceptable and there’s ardent and
expressive playing in the finale though
also one or two clipped notes in the
recording set-up.
The Concerto has been
released before on Arlecchino.
Technical problems
are as problematic in the Symphony –
perhaps rather more so in fact. It was
released on Movmento Musica back in
1986. The audience is a typical bronchial
November one and the sound is rather
scuffy, the recording as such occasionally
wearyingly braying. This must surely
have been recorded on tape but it sounds
to me as if Archipel has found an LP
source from which to transfer because
there is a passing but dislocating and
entirely repairable locked groove in
the first movement. Thoroughly poor
show to have left this for our delight.
There’s also a problem in the scherzo,
from 6.30 onwards - it sounds like a
clipped note – but significant enough
to warn prospective purchasers. The
performance is notable for one thing
in particular and that’s the awesome
string playing Kleiber elicits in the
slow movement where, for one hallucinatory
moment, I swore I was listening to a
vocal choir not a string one. Quite
astounding. Elsewhere he packs in some
swoony dynamics in the opening that
take a bit of getting used to and the
playing is not always watertight. This
label claims that this was the Cologne
orchestra but authoritative sources
elsewhere claim it to be the Berlin
State Opera and I’ve amended the track
details accordingly.
Obviously it would
take a very strong coupling of these
two works to entice purchasers who might
not otherwise respond to Kleiber’s name.
For the latter it’s a strong purchase;
for generalists there are strong caveats
along the way. Sample the slow movement
of the New World if you can,
though. Hear a magician at work.
Jonathan Woolf
Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra [Berlin State
Opera Orchestra*]/Erich Kleiber 
