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Since George Szell
recorded both these works in Cleveland
with his own orchestra, one wonders
how useful it is to rake up these live
versions. Should BBC Legends not be
concentrating on unrecorded repertoire,
or works from the regular repertoire
which the artists in question did not
record commercially?
Well, the differences
between the two versions of the Eighth
(I don’t have the Cleveland 9th
to hand) suggest that there is some
point, for the NPO performance brings
us quite a bit closer to understanding
what sort of an experience a Szell concert
must have been. Looking at the timings,
one is struck by the sheer consistency
of the conductor:
| |
I |
II |
III |
IV |
|
Cleveland:
|
09:40 |
03:45 |
05:25 |
07:47 |
| NPO: |
09:41
|
03:56 |
05:25 |
07:49 |
However, the NPO performance
is a much tougher affair, working up
to a savage intensity in the first movement
development (and with the same strange
cut-back of the upper strings in the
recapitulation to bring out the theme
on the cellos). This is thrilling. The
second movement is not exactly humorous
but has a certain fierce zest. Doubts
began to arise with the third movement
where the majestic conception is somewhat
undermined by the insistence with which
the accents are hammered out, and, while
one doesn’t exactly expect a Viennese
lilt from Szell, might he not have found
a little more relaxation in the trio?
My doubts crystallized in the finale.
No one could accuse Szell of underplaying
the great moment near the end, where
the trumpets and drums enter, wrenching
the music back to the home key from
the far-flung tonality in which it had
arrived; he seemingly takes the players
by the scruff of the neck and smashes
their heads into the ground. But long
before this I had begun to reflect that
if for Toscanini music was essentially
melody, for Szell it is essentially
accents, deadly karate-chops every one
of them. It is overbearing, brutal and
ultimately self-defeating, and a closer
recording than usual with these BBC
offerings emphasises the point.
Turn to the Cleveland
version and, with an orchestra Szell
could by now play on as if it were his
own hand, he is far more relaxed, with
the accents well placed but not blown
out of proportion and a certain Mozartian
grace and delicacy of pointing and an
air of bonhomie which gives the tougher
moments all the more impact when they
come. Tension is in one sense lower,
but the performance is far more wide-ranging
and complete. And better recorded. So,
while the BBC disc is not useless, in
the sense that it adds to our knowledge
of the conductor, it is to the Cleveland
recording that we must turn for a version
that still ranks high in the catalogue.
The Ninth can
better withstand being manhandled, but
I sense that Szell is gradually relaxing,
trusting his players more. By the recapitulation
in the first movement the tension is
fairly seething, and this time the sounds
seems to be released from the
orchestra rather than beaten into it.
Much of the finale truly catches fire
with a mobile yet deeply felt interpretation
of the slower central part. At the section
marked "Adagio ma non troppo, ma
divoto" he achieves a hushed reverence
which his slow movement, though expressive
and generously sung in the 3/4 sections,
just missed, while the closing stages
are terrific. The New Philharmonia Chorus
give him their all and the solo quartet
is better balanced than many. The performance
is also notable for a fiercely driven
Scherzo. Purists are warned that Szell,
like many of his generation, tinkered
with Beethoven’s orchestration here
and there. The recording is one of the
best in this series.
This, then, is a Ninth
that I am glad to have and the set provides
interesting evidence that Szell screwed
up the tension considerably more live
than in the studio. All the same, he
was a perfectionist and in many ways
studio conditions enabled him to achieve
the perfection he sought without (usually)
lapsing into pedantry. I daresay he
would have been caustic about the issue
of these performances as an alternative
to those he had officially passed for
release. On the whole I feel BBC Legends
would be providing a more useful service
to music lovers by seeking out material
which Szell did not record in the studio;
conversely, if the BBC archives contain
recordings of the Ninth by either Barbirolli
or Boult, I should love to hear them.
Christopher Howell
Heather Harper (soprano)*, Dame Janet Baker (mezzo-soprano)*,
Ronald Dowd (tenor)*, Franz Crass (bass)* 
