MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
AmazonUK AmazonUS

 

Ernest Ansermet
Franz Joseph HAYDN
(1732-1809)
Symphony No. 85 in B flat, Hob I:85 (1785-6) [22:29]
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Nocturnes (1897-9) [23:19]*
Images pour orchestre: Ibéria (1905-8) [18:34]+
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 4 in B flat, Op. 60 (1806-7) [35:29]+
Béla BARTÓK (1881-1945)
Concerto for Orchestra, Sz 116 (1943/5) [36:48]+
BBC Symphony Orchestra, *BBC Ladies Chorus; +Philharmonia Orchestra/Ernest Ansermet
rec. BBC Studios, London, February 1964; +Usher Hall, Edinburgh, August 1958
BBC LEGENDS BBCL42022 [79:00 + 73:44] 
Experience Classicsonline


While the level of these performances isn't uniformly high, they hold considerable discographic interest. Ernest Ansermet had the good fortune to record extensively for Decca from the immediate postwar period well into the 1960s, thus assuring that his name and his work would become well-known. Less fortunately, most of those recordings featured L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Geneva radio ensemble which Ansermet essentially built - they could sound sparkling and stylish in French and Russian music, but they were hardly a world-class ensemble. The present release allows us to appreciate his work, as rendered by top-of-the-line London-based orchestras.
 

Thus, this performance of the Haydn symphony immediately scores over Ansermet's studio recording, because of the more solid orchestral sound. This is big-orchestra Haydn, with a large string body dominating the sonority, but Ansermet mostly keeps the textures clear, so the winds aren't obscured in their supporting role. The first movement is lively and buoyant, with the conductor stressing the cantabile aspect of the themes. The Romanze, after an awkward opening, settles into a relaxed, flowing account. I enjoyed the minuet's stately bearing - there are some lovely, delicate passages, particularly when the solo oboe is involved - and the touch of exuberance in the finale, though a few bits briefly turn opaque. 

One had high hopes for the Debussy performances - Ansermet's studio recordings of these scores weren't the best - but they leave a mixed impression. Once past an awkward start, Nuages, the first of the Nocturnes, has all the vibrant tone and the surging ebb and flow missing from the strangely chilly Decca account; even in monaural sonics, this sounds gorgeous. Fętes suffers from tempo misjudgments, but not the customary ones. Many conductors begin at a rollicking pace, clumsily shifting gears for the "distant procession"; Ansermet sensibly sets a more restrained tempo at the start, maintaining it smoothly through the procession episode, but then keeps braking during the recapitulation! After yet another stiff beginning - were the signals confusing? - Sirčnes is persuasively shaped, but the close perspective on the women's chorus militates against the needed atmosphere. 

Ibéria begins crisply, but coördination is uncomfortable amid the second theme's rhythmic intricacies. The phrasing in the rest of the performance is just as stiff as in the complete studio Images, but the full-throated orchestral playing - here by the Philharmonia - once again trumps that of the rickety Suisse Romande forces. 

The slow introduction to the Beethoven symphony has a nice hushed mystery, along with a soggy landing at 0:34. After the slashing vigor of the main Allegro, Ansermet's slowing for the second theme-group sounds old-fashioned, though the woodwind soli evoke a searching disquiet. The slow movement is well-proportioned and sings expansively, but curiously disappoints - and what on earth is the snare drum doing tagging along with the bassoon at 5:30? The Scherzo goes with the requisite bounding energy, the Trio sections relax, and, as sometimes happens, the whole movement sounds one go-round too long. No complaints, however, about the volatile finale, which achieves the desired moto perpetuo effect at a tempo that keeps the running figures clear. 

Ansermet's performances of Stravinsky's music were noted for their emphasis on its lyrical aspects - there's an eight-CD bargain box on Decca, for those who wish to investigate - and he plays Bartók in a similar manner, finding and drawing out the music's singing line while underplaying its angularity, which, Lord knows, is going to come through anyhow. 

In this Concerto for Orchestra, such an approach particularly benefits the third and fourth movements. The slow movement can seem discursive and episodic, the stepchild of overtly virtuosic performances; Ansermet shapes it in a single broad line. And the conductor draws unusual expression out of the Intermezzo interrotto: the oboe's opening theme is shapely; the clarinet and then the horn probe for deeper expression, which intensifies further with the broad string melody. The theme from Shostakovich's Leningrad makes a lively contrast, and the trombone's "interruption" is taken at face value, without overplaying. 

The other movements are less distinctive, though unfailingly musical. Comparatively relaxed pacing in the first movement allows the oboe's sinuous second theme a measure of plaintiveness, at least. Ansermet plays the Giuoco delle coppie ("game of pairs") well, though with rather a serious demeanour; there's a small trumpet glitch at 3:21, if that sort of thing bothers you. Conductor and orchestra play the finale for expressiveness, color, and rhythmic point, rather than for sheer kinetic drive. And, once again, the Philharmonia responds with a technical security that eluded the Suisse Romande players, who found this sort of writing a struggle. 

Robert Chesterman's 1969 radio interview with Ansermet fills out the first CD, with the Haydn and Debussy performances. Their discussion of Debussy holds some interest, more for the conductor's glimpses of the composer's personality than for any insights into his own interpretive manner. 

Veteran collectors will want this set for the view it offers of the conductor's artistry, in both its strengths and its occasional weaknesses, unhindered by the shortcomings of his home ensemble. I'll probably only return to the Haydn and the Bartók for sheer pleasure, but all the performances will reward study. The monaural sonics, by the way, sound grainy at the start of each CD, but the ear quickly adjusts, and the winds register vividly.

Stephen Francis Vasta





 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.