Hans Knappertsbusch
was a great romantic conductor, whose
way with Bruckner and Wagner are legendary.
Apparently the skill set was limited
to the latter half of the nineteenth
century if these clunky, rhythmically
ambiguous, turgid and oft out-of-tune
performances of Beethoven are any indication.
The Munich Philharmonic,
which was to become quite a fine ensemble
under Celibidache, here plays sloppily,
right from the should-be-stunning opening
chords of the Eroica. Things do not
improve too much as the opening movement
wears on. Knappertsbusch was notorious
for his apathy toward rehearsal, and
it clearly shows that this orchestra
is under-rehearsed. There is a noticeable
lack of ensemble throughout and the
balance between the sections of the
orchestra is out of kilter in too many
places. The only really successful movement
here is the Funeral March, which by
its own lugubrious nature rescues itself
from Kna’s lumbering tempi. The scherzo
limps along without a trace of elegance.
The allegro molto that should bring
the work to a triumphant end leaves
us pushing on our seats for the orchestra
to get the lead out.
Couple this with a
less than stellar sound source quality,
and the tubercular hacking of the audience,
there is little to enjoy about this
performance.
The Eighth fares a
bit better, mostly by virtue of the
generally higher quality of the Berlin
Orchestra. Perhaps this is a flaw in
the master recording, but the clarinet
entrance in the first movement exposition
is so flat compared to the strings that
it makes one cringe in disbelief. It
seems too that no mid-century conductor
knew how to dance a minuet. The strings
are so heavy-handed that one would thing
that the dancers were wearing lead boots.
The last movement plods along at a tempo
that is too slow, and the playing is
again, too thick and heavy to be elegant.
Recent Archipel discs
that have come my way have unanimously
failed to impress. The complete lack
of program notes is inexcusable, and
the sketchy information about the recordings
themselves and their origins do little
to convince me that this is a company
that is particularly dedicated to preserving
history. Rather, they seem to want to
get whatever mediocre tapes they can
locate and throw them onto disc before
the public as fast as possible, with
no consideration to quality of production.
Basically this is slop, and I cannot
find a particularly redeeming value
for it. Pass it by. There are too many
fine performances of this music and
at good prices to waste hard earned
cash on this.
Kevin Sutton
Müchener Philharmoniker/Hans Knappertsbusch
(Eroica) 
