Universal Australia have shown real acumen in launching
and developing their Eloquence line; all the more so when faced with
the staggering choice available across the DG, Decca and Philips catalogues.
True they must have had to restrict themselves to material no later
than early 1980s and I am sure that there must have been other constraints
also. Even so there was so much from which to choose. A true embarrasse
de richesse.
These Kubeliks are 1960s analogue recordings. The civilised
sound obtained has been a byword for DG especially as in this case where
we have the BPO in their own Philharmonie - an acoustic to which the
DG (in those days they sported the extra 'G' to make it Deutsche Grammophon
Gesellschaft - DGG) engineers returned with long practised skills. The
sound is well contoured and homogenised without or blandness loss of
character. The hiss endemic to such analogue documents is extremely
low and even. It is not an issue.
Kubelik gives blessedly sane readings with a really
warm big Brahmsian sound drawn from an orchestra having received temporary
manumission from Karajan. The works are well known so I will not dwell
on them in detail.
The string sound is kindly and very muscular - well
advocating the meaty unanimity of this great orchestra. The brass and
especially the French Horns are wondrous though such is their refinement
that they do not obtrude. These are readings you can live with and learn
from.
Kubelik is no slouch in the dramatic moments as in
the rolling ruddy sunset uproar at the end of the Rhenish. In
the Fourth Symphony note the touching hesitancy and nicely judged terracing
of emphasis in the lebhaft (III) at 5.20. Kubelik chooses to
avoid the wilder abandon of Szell in his famous CBS/Sony set in the
finale of No. 4. Lest you think I imply that Kubelik is dull - no such
thing. Try the last three minutes of No. 4 or the sheet lightning of
the sabre-slash massed violins at 2.40 of the Manfred Overture
if you want to check this out for yourself. The modest and downbeat
end of the Overture would have better fitted it as the first track on
this disc.
The Spring Symphony recalls the revolutionary
geist of Coriolan and Egmont with determined rhythmic
material from Beethoven's Seventh. The opening brass admonition sounds
like a sketch for the 'fate' fanfares from Tchaikovsky's Fourth. I have
heard the horns rolled with more prominence than at 1.54 in the finale
which was a little disappointing. Otherwise Kubelik can inject an animated
hustle with classic style. 'Hustle' well describes the impatient brittle
dazzle which presses the music forward in the tumbling breathlessness
of the Scherzo of the Second Symphony. The orchestra excels in this
flickering virtuosity which made me wonder what this might have sounded
like if Nikolai Golovanov had been conducting the Berlin PO. The Second
is a good account but I have warm memories of Georg Solti's Decca recording
of this work to which this is not the superior.
Many readers sharing my roots in the Jurassic age will
know these Kubelik/BPO readings from LPs - latterly on the Contour label
as CC7532, 7537, 7538; also on DG 2535: 116, 117, 118.
Kubelik went on to record the symphonies (with Manfred)
for a second time. This was with CBS. That time his orchestra was the
Bavarian Radio SO. I have not heard that set (CBS 79324 (3)) but
I remember that at least one reviewer condemned it for roughnesses of
execution and coarse sound.
These Eloquence discs are likely to be difficult to
pick up from conventional sources in Europe and the USA. They can be
easily sourced in Australasia. For the rest of us an enquiry over the
internet to www.buywell.com or to Seaford Music in the UK should cover
the point.
The price from Buywell in GBP is £3.33. Of course you
might have to pay import duty and you will have to pay postage but it
won't cost you more than a Naxos at your usual retailer.
Rob Barnett
Avaiablility www.buywell.com
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Rafael
Kubelik