West
Hill Radio Archives is rapidly becoming a player on the
stage of previously unissued broadcast material (see
list
of reviews). It shows conspicuously good judgement in its
releases and fills
some important gaps, amplifies known strengths, reinforces
the increased vitality to be located in live broadcasts – and
gives us considerable excitement and enjoyment into the
bargain. Here we have two four CD sets devoted to George
Szell. The dating game is self-explanatory – 1943 to 1957 – and
there are two orchestras involved, the Cleveland and the
New York Philharmonic-Symphony.
The
first volume includes a number of things familiar from
commercial recordings but heard in circumstances of rather
greater tensile commitment.
Beethoven’s Seventh
Symphony (NYPSO – Szell’s debut concert with them in 1943)
might begin rather brusquely but soon settles for a performance
of eloquent control, that Szell hallmark ‘meticulous prepared
spontaneity’ strongly to the fore; dynamics splendidly
terraced, the music’s gruff dynamism truly realised. Surging
cantabile floods through
Vltava with exceptional
plasticity of the moulding of the lyric lines. Not too
fast at all, and very well characterised except for the
too-militaristic and clipped end. The overture to
Tannhäuser is
subtly paced and fuses weight with a surprisingly lightness
and flexibility. There’s the unusual spectacle of Szell
conducting
Sousa, the inevitable
The Stars and
Stripes Forever.
The
second disc opens with another version of the American
anthem and we then encounter a brisk and lighthearted
Mendelssohn Italian
symphony. The slow movement obeys the
con moto instruction
and the finale is vivacious.
Don Juan receives
a finely nuanced, slightly aloof reading.
Rhapsody
in Blue has a rather hissy surface but has
the advantage of Eugene List but the disadvantage of Szell’s
rather foursquare conducting.
There
are more memories of Szell’s halcyon days pre-War in Prague
in his fortunately-preserved debut concert with the Cleveland
orchestra in 1944. The Bartered Bride gets things off to
a snappy start and then we hear his own arrangement of
Smetana’s
First String Quartet. This is somewhat untidier than the
subsequent commercial recording but slightly more exciting.
It’s an effective and dramatic transformative experience.
Till
Eulenspiegel is fine; the
Schumann symphony
that ends the third disc derives from New York in March
1945 – a driven performance, ardent, occasionally uncomfortable
with only a so-so recording. In general I have to say that
the sound quality in this set is fluctuates quite a bit
but at its best is very fine indeed.
The
last disc includes a performance of
Prokofiev’s
First Violin Concerto from an off-form Szigeti. It gets
better as it goes along but there are the usual heavy duty
bowing, intonational, tonal and other problems that will
have one wincing. The
Brahms Second Symphony is
warmly moulded and beautifully measured, though as the
notes disclose there’s brief horn mishap – this is with
the Cleveland from 1957.
The
second set proves equally valuable – and remember that
these two volumes are available separately. The first discs
pairs too visiting British soloists. Campoli plays one
of his favourites, the
Lalo – without the Intermezzo – with
sweet tone and a slightly sedate charm, bel canto lyricism
to the fore, and proves a characterful storyteller. Curzon
is on rather nerve-wracking form in the
Brahms B
flat major. Rather like Szigeti he improves for a ripely
turned finale, which is the best of the four movements.
Szell was an underrated
Weber conductor as his Euryanthe
and Oberon overture performances show. His
Parsifal music
is fluid and flexible, qualities that apply equally to
his
Pastoral Symphony. In December 1957 he
directed
a typically incisive, fluent and imaginative
Haydn C
major symphony
whilst one week later, again in Cleveland,
we find a powerful
Schubert C major. The final disc
conjoins two more major symphonic statements, both from
New York. January that year saw a typically tensile and
authoritative
Sibelius 2 and from the end of the
year we have a taut, biting
Franck Symphony in D.
These
brief sketches indicate the all-round excellence of performances
that, in comparison with commercial recordings – where
such exist – are invariably just that bit more athletic,
even in some cases at the expense of the fabled Szell tidiness.
Both boxes are available separately so it depends very
much on repertoire as to which – if you need to decide – you
will buy.
Jonathan
Woolf
Volume 1
CD 1
The Star Spangled Banner [1:39]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No 7 in A major, Op 92 (1812) [35:51]
Bedřich SMETANA (1824-1884)
Má Vlast -Vltava (1879) [12:51]
Richard WAGNER (1813-83)
Tannhäuser (1845) – overture [13:49]
John Philip SOUSA (1854-1932)
The Stars and Stripes Forever [3:35]
(Szell’s Debut Concert with The New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie
Hall, 4 July 1943)
CD 2
The Star Spangled Banner [1:33]
Carl Maria von WEBER (1786-1826)
Oberon (1826) – overture [9:10]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Symphony No. 4 in A, Op. 90 “
Italian” (1833) [28:26]
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Don Juan, Op. 20 (1888) [15:59]
George GERSHWIN (1898-1937)
Rhapsody in Blue
(1924) [16:11]
(The New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 11 July 1943)
CD 3
Bedřich SMETANA (1824-1884)
String Quartet No. 1 in E minor
From My Life (1879) transcribed by
Georg Szell [29:15]
The Bartered Bride - overture
(1866) [6:33]
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (1894) [13:48]
(Szell’s Debut Concert with the Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall, Cleveland,
2 November 1944)
Robert SCHUMANN (1810 – 1856)
Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op.120 (1851) [26:16]
(The New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 18 March 1945)
CD 4
Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908)
Capriccio Espagnol, Op.34 [15:38]
(Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall, Cleveland, 7 December 1957)
Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19 (1916-1917) [21:09]
(The New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 18 March 1945)
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 73 (1877) [37:42]
(Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall, Cleveland, 28 December 1957)
Eugene List (piano) (Gershwin); Josef Szigeti (violin) (Prokofiev)
New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra/George Szell; Cleveland Orchestra/George
Szell
Volume 2
CD 1
Edouard LALO (1823-1892)
Symphonie Espagnole Op. 21 (1874)
(The New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 6 December 1953)
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Piano Concerto No 2 in B flat Op 83 (1878-81)
(The New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, January 1945)
CD 2
Carl Maria von WEBER (1786-1826)
Euryanthe – overture
(1823)
(Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall, Cleveland, 14 December 1957)
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Parsifal – Prelude and Good Friday Spell music (1865-82)
Ludwig Van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 6 in F major
Pastoral Op.68 (1808)
(Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall, Cleveland, 21 April 1957)
CD 3
Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 97 in C major (1792)
(Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall, Cleveland, 14 December 1957)
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756 – 1791)
Le nozze di Figaro - opera in four acts – overture (1786)
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Symphony No. 9 in C major
Great D.944 (1828)
(Cleveland Orchestra, Severance Hall, Cleveland, 21 December 1957)
CD 4
César FRANCK (1822-1890)
Symphony in D minor (1888)
(The New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 6 December 1953)
Jean SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
Symphony No. 2 in D major Op. 43 (1902)
(The New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 18 January 1953)
Alfredo Campoli (violin) (Lalo); Clifford Curzon (piano) (Brahms)
New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra/George Szell
Cleveland Orchestra/George Szell
New York Philharmonic-Symphony
Orchestra/George Szell; Cleveland Orchestra/George
Szell
