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             


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

REVIEW


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

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS
Sound Samples & Downloads

Matthew LOCKE (1621/2-1677)
Musick for His Majesty's Sackbutts and Cornetts (1661?) [8:47]*
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Symphony No. 1 in B-flat, Op. 38 (Spring) (1841) [30:39]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73 (1877) [39:11]*
London Symphony Orchestra/István Kertész
rec. Royal Festival Hall, November 1965, *February 1966
BBC LEGENDS BBCL 4229-2 [79:31]

Experience Classicsonline

An online correspondent, some years ago, likened the reverence accorded in some quarters to conductor István Kertész, who died in his forties in a swimming accident, to that given John F. Kennedy - parallel cases in which, perhaps, the actual accomplishments of a truncated career have been overvalued. The argument had some merit: some of the conductor's Decca recordings -- particularly the early Dvorák symphonies - could be square and rather careful rhythmically, which didn't exactly suggest the white heat of inspiration.

Well, this BBC Legends collection should put those questions to rest. This 1965 performance of the Schumann - a score that didn't figure in Kertész's commercial discography - finds the conductor drawing a performance from his orchestra through a combination of fine musicianship and a palpable, contagious enthusiasm.

Kertész's strengths, on this showing, were not primarily those of a disciplinarian: the transition into the first movement's Allegro molto vivace takes in some oozing, generalized sonority, and tuttis in motion go with more vitality than real precision. Still, it's hard to resist the hearty swing of the main theme's dotted rhythms; the transition into the second group goes smoothly, without disrupting the basic pulse; and in the development the flute takes over the theme with real relish. The Larghetto has an expansive tenderness; Kertész surprises us in the Scherzo by sticking to the basic tempo for the second Trio, contrasting the resultant weightiness with the buoyancy of the principal theme. The conductor's care over varied articulations enlivens the finale; he maintains tension in the development at a steady tempo, and elicits a searching quality from the horns' transitional phrase at 3:30. The coda's sheer exuberance is the sort of thing that must have led the Cleveland Orchestra players to request him for their Music Director, though the orchestra's board opted for the better-established Lorin Maazel.

The conductor's stylistic grasp is less sure in the Brahms symphony - which, paradoxically, he did take into the studio, not in London, but als Gast in Vienna - but his natural musicality enlivens the basically conventional interpretive framework. Thus, he doesn't go to great lengths to clarify the first movement's rather full textures, but he makes sure that the right musical elements are always heard. In the Adagio non troppo the conductor seems to be marking time through the admittedly elusive first group - Brahms's various melodic fragments never quite coalesce into a full-fledged melody - but at least he keeps it moving, which is hardly the worst strategy; the more mobile second subject has an appealing lightness. The Allegretto grazioso is a pleasant and airy intermezzo. Kertész's finale chugs along nicely, giving us a jolt - the good kind - at 7:47 when the syncopated second subject motif emerges audibly in the basses. Unfortunately, the triumphant finish is marred when some nincompoop in the audience begins applauding in the spaces between the final three chords!

The Locke seems a unlikely choice for a symphonic concert, but before the advent of "historical" performance, the instrumental repertoire was less rigidly stratified than it has since become. This account exemplifies the best qualities of contemporary orchestral playing: the lively passages are buoyant, propelled by a quasi-syncopated "push," while the broader ones have a dignified carriage. At the start of the funeral march at 6:27, the trumpet wanders sharp; otherwise, the tuning is exemplary, and the resplendent, full-bodied sonority is the sort that only a modern brass choir can supply.

The sound is good broadcast-quality analog, with a closer perspective and fuller sound in the 1966 performances. For what it's worth, Kertész, who regularly observed exposition repeats in his commercial recordings, omits them here; I missed those in the Schumann - particularly that in the first movement - but minded losing the long one in the Brahms less.

Stephen Francis Vasta


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 


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






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.