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It’s good to follow
Scherchen into calmer waters with this
double set devoted to his Grieg and
Bizet. He had such an extensive repertoire,
however, that it shouldn’t surprise
anyone that there are two versions of
L'Arlésienne here – one for reciter
– nor that he proves so subtle and sensitively
adept a guide to this repertoire. First,
though, some provenance. The Holberg
Suite derives from a 1946 broadcast
made when Scherchen was Music Director
of the Orchester Beromünster, whilst
Peer Gynt first appeared on Ultraphon
78s and this shouldn’t be confused with
the 1960 Leipzig recording (with dialogue)
that Tahra has already issued. The first
L'Arlésienne with spoken dialogue
(in German) is from a Vienna broadcast
and the second, a decade later, was
taped in performance with the North
West German Philharmonic.
The 1946 Holberg suffers
from rather muffled sound but the virtues
are all there – brio and bounce in the
faster movements (listen to the Gavotte)
and a typically elastic quality in spinning
melodic contours in the slower ones.
He uses a degree more bass weight than
one often encounters from Scherchen
in the Prelude but the highlight is
the Sarabande, which is even more prayerful
and tender than the Air. The pizzicati
are well pointed and he sustains the
melody at a good tempo (the comparison
with the manicured modernism of, say,
Karajan could not be more pronounced);
Scherchen by comparison opens up a microcosm
of genuine sentiment. The Air is, it’s
true, quite slow but it’s veiled sensitively
and never buckles under the weight of
the tempo. His Peer Gynt has many similar
virtues and is in better, more open
sound. The Vienna trumpets really punch
out in the First Suite and there’s a
deal of refined phrasing and string
moulding elsewhere.
The 1950 L'Arlésienne
is in quite blatant but otherwise good
sound; in fact it’s preferable to the
less sympathetically recorded performance
from 1960. The orchestral virtues are
the other way around though with the
Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie outdoing
the Vienna Symphony at almost every
turn in phrasing and tonal subtlety.
The German narration is intriguing to
hear – if not often – but it’s a shame
that the radio producers reduced the
volume of the orchestra so significantly
behind the narration; orchestrally the
principal flute and clarinet make the
most impression in Vienna. The 1960
performance is, despite the less than
flattering sound, altogether more exciting
and mellifluous and, thanks to the recording,
less abrasive as well. It’s without
narration and shows more fully Scherchen’s
command of legato and sonority.
This is Volume II in
Tahra’s Archives Hermann Scherchen
series and will make a good addition
to collectors’ shelves.
Jonathan Woolf
TAHRA TAH 510-511 [2 CDs 54.51 + 70.28] 
