Britten was indeed a fine conductor and not just of his own works. His performance of the Introduction and Allegro makes a bigger distinction between the Introduction and Allegro sections, than most other versions but I do find it a somewhat cool performance. That may be because I first learned the piece through Barbirolli’s wonderfully emotional recording and perhaps because I can’t get the image of the young lad speeding along the Malvern Hills accompanied by Elgar’s music in Ken Russell’s film out of my head! But Decca does do a fine job of capturing the superb, warm but clear Snape Maltings acoustic and the ECO of the period probably had the finest group of string players around.
I’m not usually a big fan of the Berlin Philharmonic, which I tend to associate with majestuous but slow and sluggish performances. Admittedly this may be more a criticism of Herbert von Karajan at the end of his career than an objective evaluation: I have a number of recordings with other conductors and in which the orchestra sounds much more agile.
According to IA, this 1972 recording of Dvorak’s “From the New World” Symphony with Rafael Kubelik at the helm is a benchmark. I’m not familiar enough with other versions to assess that statement, but I do find the performance amazing: the Largo is well controlled and incredibly emotional, the following Scherzo (molto vivace) a marvel of finesse and agility, and the Allegro con fuoco is firing on all cylinders. This is the Berlin Philharmonic playing chameleon to suit the score perfectly. And yes, it sounds majestuous when it’s supposed to.
The icing on the cake is a digital remastering that sounds like the real thing and an impeccable pressing.
I love that cover for the Pa Am logo (now Met Life, which I see every day). But my current favorite recording is Dohnanyi with the Clevelanders. One of the best sounding CDs I own.
Agreed Roger. I’ll retract my ‘maybe the best’ and replace it with ‘revelatory’. The slower speed seems to illuminate different aspects of the score that can perhaps get lost with high energy performances like Barbirolli’s ( which I also hold as the reference recording).
I didn’t see the Ken Russell ‘documentary’ in its prime, but have watched it since on the tube having been steered to it after another fine charity shop buy; ‘The Miniature Elgar’:
Finally getting a system up and running again, I’ve been forced to looking at posts here watching the fun other people have. So at last we had a very nice evening last night listening to this one from 1960. Always loved Elektra. Downloaded this 353kHz/24-bit transfer made by HDTT (HighDef Tape Transfers).
Violinist Adolf Busch was also a fairly prolific composer. His piano trios have strong traces of Brahms, with melodic, fairly dense writing and, naturally, a key role for the violin to carry most of the tunes. The Ravinia Trio, who also made a great recording of Schnabel’s piano trio, do a great job advocating this music. This is not a must-hear like CPO’s recent Kauffman disc, but still a very enjoyable example of high romantic German chamber music.
I find Elgar a tough nut to crack - his pomp and circumstance-side is a real turn off for me, while I find the anguish and darkness in the cello concerto captivating. His two symphonies fall in the middle, the first being the more approachable especially in a weighty performance such as this one.
I tend to agree. I listen to the symphonies from time to time desperately trying to love them. The pieces I genuinely do love are the Violin Concerto and the Introduction & Allegro - both masterpieces by any standard.
Tried again last week with the symphonies (Boult) making perhaps a little progress. But as with Bruckner, I’m not sure the effort is worth it for me. Love the cello concerto and the Enigma Variations.
Actually, I really am making progress with Bruckner, although he will never be a favorite.
Try the 5th. One of my favourite pieces of music. I learned it in my late teens from the Philips Haitink set. It is a towering masterpiece. All the symphonies are great, of course.
I have, and really feel I got something out of it on my last listen. My first breakthrough with Bruckner was Haitink’s 4th. I have three complete cycles, Wand (on Sony), Jochum (on EMI), and Skrowaczewski, plus quite a few other recordings.
Bought a Buffalo optical drive to replace the Plextor that I’ve had for 20 years, during which time I ripped about 4,000 albums. (Coaxing the drawer to open and close was becoming a challenge.)
I decided to put the new drive through its paces with this box set.
I’m really looking forward to this set from both an artistic and an audiophile perspective (despite only redbook resolution). Channel Classics had very high standards for their recordings.
