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<\/a>STRAUSS: MACBETH, DON JUAN, TILL EULENSPIEGEL, Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-M\u00f6st \/Cleveland SACD\u00a0 <\/strong>Though the profile of the Cleveland Orchestra is not as high as it used to be with the so-called \u2018major\u2019 record companies, be in no doubt that it is still one of the finest body of musicians in the world as this superb release on the orchestra\u2019s own label irrefutably confirms. Franz Welser-M\u00f6st has been at the helm of this orchestra for more than twenty years and has maintained the superlative standards set by his six distinguished predecessors of whom George Szell and Lorin Maazel are probably the most familiar to collectors.(Szell\u2019s incomparable 1957 accounts of two of the three works on this disc are still available on SACD. In his essay, \u2018Orchestral Mastery and Art\u2019, Welser-M\u00f6st writes \u201c…these scores can be over interpreted and played simply for orchestral brilliance. But that, I have learned, misses the point and lessens the musical impact.\u201d Though his performances of each of the works on this SACD are swift, the unforced virtuosity of the Cleveland players make the conductor\u2019s tempi seem perfect. The rarity in this programme is Strauss\u2019s early tone poem \u2018Macbeth\u2019 \u2013 a much underrated piece in my opinion. In his essay Welser-M\u00f6st tells us that he considers it to be a more challenging work than the others and it took more time than usual with his orchestra in rehearsal for him to discover \u2018the underlying truths in this score\u2019. Surprisingly it was in October 2021 that it received its first performance in Cleveland. While I marginally prefer Marek Janowski\u2019s more expansive account from Pittsburgh, Welser-M\u00f6st\u2019s turbulent and passionate performance does not disappoint. \u2018Don Juan\u2019, that follows is especially thrilling in this athletic but notably sensitive reading with alluring solo playing in the slower episodes while elsewhere it possesses all the panache one could ask for. \u2018Till Eulenspiegel\u2019s Lustige Streiche\u2019 is also delivered with wit and drama in equal measure and its various episodes are brilliantly characterised, even matching the Szell version referred to above. The packaging of the disc is exceptionally luxurious, if a little eccentric. The SACD is clipped inside a 19cm square book whose surface is very tactile \u2013 almost like suede \u2013 but is awkward to remove. The forty page book includes essays on Strauss, and one for each of the tone poems featured. All are profusely illustrated with full colour photographs and even excerpts from the Nikolaus Lenau poem that inspired Strauss to write his \u2018Don Juan\u2019 are given in German and English. The three tone poems were recorded live at 24bit \/ 96kHz in October 2021 at the Mandel Concert Hall, Severance Music Centre in Cleveland. Like all these Cleveland own-label releases this is a stereo hybrid, not multi-channel disc, but the sound is well engineered and has considerable presence as well as warmth. It is also worth noting that a unique code is provided enabling one to download a personal set of high resolution audio files (flac) of the music. All audience noises and applause has thankfully been excised. One\u2019s only regret is that with a playing time of just under 46 minutes it was not possible to include another Strauss work \u2013 \u2018Tod und Verkl\u00e4rung\u2019 being the obvious choice. Altogether this is a most recommendable addition to the Cleveland Orchestra\u2019s already impressive discography.<\/p>\nBEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 6, STUCKY: SILENT SPRING, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck\/REFERENCE RECORDINGS SACD\u00a0 <\/strong>The connection between the two disparate works on this latest SACD from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Reference Recordings would seem to be the relationship between Man and the natural world. Here the recording of Beethoven\u2019s \u2018Pastoral Symphony\u2019 emanates from live performances given in Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts (June 23, 24 & 25, 2017) while Steven Stucky\u2019s \u2018Silent Spring\u2019 was taped almost a year later (April 20, 21 & 22, 2018). It will come as no surprise to most listeners that in terms of recorded sound and quality of orchestral playing this release matches the earlier ones from this source in all respects \u2013 ie. absolutely outstanding. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra\u2019s music director Manfred Honeck has for many years established a wonderfully close and collegial relationship with his players who respond unfailingly and with finesse to his interpretative demands throughout both works. Steven Stucky\u2019s tone poem \u201cSilent Spring\u201d was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and premiered in 2012 to mark the 50th anniversary of nature writer Rachel Carson\u2019s book by the same title, which details the damage to the environment caused by the use of chemical pesticides. The work is in one continuous movement with each of its four section linked to titles from Carson\u2019s book \u2013 \u2018The Sea Around Us\u2019; \u2018The Lost Wood;\u2019 \u2018Rivers of Death\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018Silent Spring\u2019 itself. <\/em>The music is both atmospheric and menacing as befits its subject and Stucky, who sadly died in 2016, uses the resources of his very large orchestra with considerable assurance. It is not an easy piece to assimilate after only a few hearings, but is certainly worth the effort and needless to say the orchestral execution is phenomenal. Manfred Honeck and Reference Recordings have already given us magnificent accounts of Beethoven Symphonies 3,5,7and 9 so I expected no less from this latest recording of the Pastoral Symphony. As has become the norm with these Pittsburgh releases the conductor provides fulsome notes in the accompanying booklet about the work and his approach to it. Reading these, one cannot fail to be impressed by the clarity with which he communicates his ideas on both the music and his erudition. The opening movement \u2019Awakening of cheerful feelings on arriving in the country\u2019 however is, for this listener, played far too fast \u2013 not what the \u2018Allegro ma non troppo\u2019 marking suggests \u2013 and gives the impression of undue haste if not impatience. Turn to Bruno Walter or Erich Kleiber for a more congenial evocation of \u2018cheerful feelings. Furthermore, Honeck has decided to \u2018improve\u2019 Beethoven\u2019s scoring by adding a piccolo to bring out the suggestion of bird song near the opening. While I did not find this really disturbing, it did seem to be quite unnecessary. In contrast, Honeck\u2019s tempo for the <\/em>second movement \u2018Scene by the brook\u2019 seems ideal \u2013 flowing, unhurried but never sluggish. Here one marvels at the perfectly turned Pittsburgh woodwind and warm strings. The third movement \u2018Merry assembly of country folk\u2019 is performed with considerable vigour and precision but again the conductor has added a piccolo and this time it is more distracting, especially when earlier in this movement he has asked his musicians to \u201cstamp along with their feet on these repeated sforzati\u2026..\u201d. The \u2018Thunderstorm\u2019 that follows is vividly evoked, and incisively played, with tremendous impact from the timpani and the piccolo that Beethoven actually did reserve for this movement! Honeck\u2019s control of dynamics and sense of drama is remarkable, though his decision to use wooden mallets for the timpani might suggest to some listeners artillery fire rather than thunder. The finale entitled \u2018Shepherds Song-Benevolent feelings of thanksgiving to the deity after the storm\u2019 is thankfully free of any interpretive quirks and one can relax and enjoy the superlative orchestral playing captured in a recording of exceptional clarity. It would be remiss not to have drawn attention to the conductor\u2019s genuinely well-meaning, though in my opinion, misguided, tinkerings with one of Beethoven\u2019s, most loved scores. If these do not bother you then be assured there is much to enjoy on what is overall a fascinating release.<\/p>\n VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: COMPLETE SYMPHONIES, Various Orchestras, Richard Hickox, Andrew Davis\/Chandos SACD boxed set <\/strong>The cycle was intended to be conducted by Richard Hickox, one of the finest champions and interpreters of British music, with the London Symphony Orchestra \u2013 an orchestra that already had a close relationship with this conductor. Sadly the sudden and untimely death of Hickox in November 2008 meant that the cycle remained short of completion with just Symphonies 7 and 9 missing. Fortunately Chandos were able to call upon the services of Sir Andrew Davis (another distinguished interpreter of Vaughan Williams) to finish the project, albeit with a different orchestra (the Bergen Philharmonic). It is perhaps worth noting that most of the original single releases contained just one symphony per disc with various other choral and orchestral works by the composer acting as fill-ups. This new box set is shorn of these additional pieces, many, though not all of which, are available elsewhere. STRAUSS: MACBETH, DON JUAN, TILL EULENSPIEGEL, Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-M\u00f6st \/Cleveland SACD\u00a0 Though the profile of the Cleveland Orchestra is not as high as it used to be with the so-called \u2018major\u2019 record companies, be in no doubt that … Continue reading
\nDISC 1
\nThe \u2018Sea Symphony\u2019 (Symphony No.1) originates from live performances given in the Barbican in 2006 and is the only one to be recorded in DSD rather than Chandos\u2019s customary 24bit\/96kHz. With Gerald Finley\u2019s magnificent, firm voiced singing \u2013 a baritone who really understands how to communicate Whitman\u2019s words \u2013 and soprano Susan Gritton in radiant voice, this is a riveting account of the score. The LSO Chorus is on top form with immaculate diction and the sound quality does not disappoint even with the limitations of the Barbican acoustic. This regrettably was the last of the cycle to be conducted by Richard Hickox.
\nDISC 2
\nThe \u2018London Symphony\u2019 (Symphony No.2) is performed in its original 1913 version, one that has almost twenty minutes of additional music of the highest quality that the composer excised in his later revisions. As a colleague wrote in his enthusiastic review \u201cThe orchestral playing and conducting of Hickox throughout this disc is quite beyond criticism\u201d a view I would fully endorse. This is an essential acquisition for all Vaughan Williams aficionados and the only recording of it that has been permitted to date by the RVW Trust.
\nDISC 3
\nTwo works of considerable contrast on this disc \u2013 the \u2018Pastoral Symphony\u2019 (Symphony No. 3) from 1921 and its successor Symphony No.4 that appeared some ten years later. Hickox\u2019s tempi for the former are finely judged, avoiding any sense of sluggishness and the ample ambience of the recording venue (All Saints Church, Tooting) provides a magical glow to a performance that successfully conveys both the work\u2019s outward tranquillity and its darker undercurrents.
\nHickox\u2019s interpretation of the 4th Symphony is one of the finest on disc. He gives a very fast and terrifyingly visceral account of the score from start to finish, revelling in the music\u2019s violence and dissonant turbulence. The LSO is on blistering form with white-hot playing from all sections. The only downside is that the acoustic ambience of All Saints, so right for the previous work, does tend to mask some detail in the loudest passages.
\nDISC 4
\nHickox launched his cycle in 1997 with a work of serenity (Symphony No.5) first heard in 1943 and though recorded at a comparatively low resolution the sound does not disappoint. Thanks to the marvellously eloquent playing of the LSO and Hickox\u2019s clear direction this is a cherishable account of the score, and only a touch of glassiness in the string sound detracts from the otherwise fine recording. The coupling is the turbulent and sometimes diabolic 6th Symphony in an account that underlines Hickox\u2019s interpretive skill in handling the extreme contrasts of mood and pace in this most challenging piece. One such example is his masterly control of dynamics in the symphony\u2019s final Epilogue with its suggestion of a desolate and dystopian landscape.
\nDISC 5
\nAs I have mentioned above, Symphonies 7 and 9 were assigned to the very capable hands of Sir Andrew Davis and the Bergen Philharmonic and, both in sonic and performance terms, are outstanding. Davis shapes the Sinfonia Antartica with unerring skill with tempi that ensure there are no longueurs in any of the work\u2019s five movements while the wide dynamic range of the recording provides a thrilling listening experience.
\nThe much underrated 9th Symphony is also finely delivered by Davis, with captivating playing by the Bergen orchestra throughout and notably in the slow movement from Martin Winter on the fl\u00fcgel-horn, considered by the composer as \u2018a beautiful and neglected instrument\u2019.
\nDISC 6
\nHickox\u2019s invigorating account of the 8th Symphony was originally coupled with the 6th and the ambience of All Saints certainly enhances the percussion in the finale, a Toccata, with its tuned gongs and \u201call the \u2019phones and \u2019spiels known to the composer\u201d.
\nThe remainder of this disc is occupied by a fascinating collection of archive material that includes a 28 minute lecture broadcast from 1955 by the composer, a discussion between Sir Adrian Boult and Robert Layton about the 3rd and 4th Symphonies and contributions from Sir John Barbirolli and the composer\u2019s widow Ursula Vaughan Williams.
\nEach of the six SACDs is packaged in a cardboard sleeve inside a box that also includes a 47-page booklet with authoritative notes on each symphony, predominantly by the late Michael Kennedy, as well as the texts for the Sea Symphony and dates of the recordings. While there are now other recommendable individual accounts on SACD of these works, this Chandos cycle spanning 20 years is a unique and more than worthy contribution to the celebration of the Vaughan Williams 150th Anniversary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"