New address!

This is the new address: http://problembearspantheon.blogspot.com/. Expect to see an update tomorrow. See you all there!

Long time!

Hey there! Been awhile, no? Sorry for the lack of postings lately. A most lovely distraction of the feminine kind came into my life this past summer. But, sadly, she has had to return to school for the fall. *Sigh.* But at least I'll have time to post up some more treasures from my collection on this blog. Now--some good news and bad news.

Bad news: this blog is coming to an end. I think it has about run its course. So download from those links while you can, because I'm not going to be reuploading them!

Good news: I'll be opening up a new blog--with lossless and lossy uploads. Yes. Keep an eye out on this page during the next week for the new address. Hope you all join me there. Cheers!

Bruckner: Symphony No.9 (MOGM/Nézet-Séguin)

Bruckner: Symphony No.9
Metropolitan Orchestra of Greater Montréal/Yannick Nézet-Séguin
ATMA Classique 22514| Stereo DDD (SACD)

The moment I heard that Norman Lebrecht hailed Yannick Nézet-Séguin's recording of the Bruckner 7th as the best "since Franz Welser-Möst started shaving," I knew there was trouble. Being compared favorably to a conductor I consider one of the most boring ever to have been awarded a record contract is dubious praise indeed. Lebrecht went on to praise the French Canadian's "austere restraint at the big climaxes" as an indication that "[Nézet-Séguin is] an artist who is not chasing cheap rewards." "Restraint," for those of you who may not be aware, is usually a British musical critic's euphemism for "boring." Still, I hold Norman Lebrecht's opinion in very high regard and trust him head-and-shoulders above your average Gramophone scribbler. So being the inquisitive sort that I am, I decided to give Yannick's Bruckner a listen.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is one of the rising young podium lions that the classical media is so desperately pushing in an attempt to show that the age of the great conductor, and by extension, classical music itself, is not in a state of decline. Like many of these "stars," he fits the bill as to what a "great musician" should look like these days: youthful, seemingly energetic and virile, and effortlessly photogenic. Too bad that a compelling musical vision doesn't seem to be among the virtues that the press lauds.

There is nothing particularly wrong with this recording. The Montreal Metropolitan Symphony sounds undernourished for Bruckner, but otherwise have a good grip on the composer's music. Nézet-Séguin allows the music to unfurl without any hindrance. But there is a flatness to his direction that is lethal in this work. The build-up and statement of the powerful, unison D minor theme at the start of the symphony may as well have been phoned in. What should definitively set the stamp for the direction of the entire symphony reveals Nézet-Séguin, admirable restraint aside, to be a not quite finished artist. Certainly an artist somewhat out of his element in Bruckner, playing it cool only because he has no idea as to how to subdue this symphonic steed. The ghastly, demonic D minor Scherzo and the eerie F sharp Trio, a jarring contrast in the right hands, blends into each other with toothless equanimity. No eerieness, no sense of the diabolical--just a mildly unpleasant daydream at best. And that grinding, six note dissonance that crowns the Adagio and, possibly, the entirety of Bruckner's late work, rolls by the listener as just another ho-hum moment. Nézet-Séguin seems to have no particular direction to be headed to and sounds like he doesn't really care whether he gets there or not. So much for "restraint."

I'm not against Bruckner played in a leaner, more classical fashion. Eduard van Beinum, Rafael Kubelik, Joseph Keilberth, Bernard Haitink, and Carl Schuricht are among the conductors that have brought us some outstanding, Apollonian Bruckner 9ths. Their refined vision do not preclude excitement, however. Each conductor has a compelling vision as to how this symphony ought to sound and where it ought to go. Incidentally, Karl Böhm, no cheap artist he, gave us some gorgeous "straight" Bruckner with some powerfully moulded climaxes that seem beyond the grasp of the musicians here. Nézet-Séguin and his orchestra just seem to be cranking out another generic recording. The SACD sound is superb, but why bother? Unless your dream is to hear the Bruckner 9th on somnambulistic auto-pilot, look elsewhere. What a bore. I can barely muster the energy... *YAWN!*... to finish... this review... [curls up and falls asleep.]

Chopin: Waltzes (Ott)

Chopin: Waltzes (complete)
Alice Sara Ott, piano
Deutsche Grammophon 477 8095 | Stereo DDD

So I'm not even going to lie to you about this. Yeah, I was pretty impressed with Alice Sara Ott's Liszt Transcendental Etudes, her debut on disc. She wasn't on the Arrau/Gekic/Cziffra level, but she was good. But the main reason I ended up buying this disc is... because as far as looks go, I find her to be the bee's knees. Yes, dear reader--sheer animal desire drove me to buy the disc at hand. I was sitting on the proverbial fence about buying this disc, but her looks won me over. Thank you DG marketing team! But don't stop and just admire her pretty pic in her waify, hipster Red Riding Hood garb on the cover. Take a look inside the booklet and you'll find plenty more glamour shots of Ms. Ott with a scant, puff "interview" that does insult to the name "liner notes." A rambling, cutesy little thing that tells you nothing about Chopin and makes Ott sound like a clueless ditz. But she is a cutie, no doubt about it. But what of this recital? Well...

I own at least some 20 to 30-odd Chopin waltz recitals. This may be one of the very worst I've ever heard from a major artist and label. Had you never heard what these pieces were called, you'd hardly believe they were waltzes as they barely dance at all. Galumph about is more like it. Ott's perverse rubato and leaden tone must be heard to be believed. I'm not at all against a more romantic approach to these gems. Cortot's recital is numbered among my favorites. But what sounds magical and sparkling in Cortot's hands sounds lumbering and mannered here. The famous opening fanfare of the E-flat waltz sounds sounds as if the waltzers at this particular salon imbibed the champagne and absinthe a bit too generously. Another pirouette and these dancers will spin themselves away into a drunken stupor. Yes, not everything is so bad. She does a fine stab at the A minor waltz. But the highpoints, modest as they are, cannot compensate for this recital's general mediocrity. A portentious ritardando and a sudden accelerando every few bars does not romantic pianism a la grand manière make. After listening to all this herky jerky, stop-and-go routine, I was fumbling around my medicine cabinet for some Alka-Seltzer to stave off the motion sickness.

As I said, Chopin waltz recitals can be found a-plenty. My personal favorites are Anda, Anievas, Lipatti, Cortot, Tharaud, Darré, Brailowsky, and Rubinstein's 1950's era set. You'll have your own favorites, I'm sure. Whatever they are, stick to those ones and don't bother with Ott. Yes, I've uploaded it, but you'd best toss this turkey. Don't tell me I didn't warn you.

Furtwängler: Pre-war Polydor Recordings (DG Japan)

Wilhelm Furtwängler: Early Polydor Recordings
(Disc 1) Mendelssohn: Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream; J.S. Bach: Air from Suite No.3; Wagner: Prelude to Act I from Lohengrin, Prelude to Act I and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde; Schubert: Overture to Rosamunde; R. Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

(Disc 2) Mendelssohn: The Hebrides Overture; Berlioz: Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust; Schubert: Interlude no.3 from Rosamunde; J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.3; Rossini: Overture to La gazza ladra; Brahms: Hungarian Dances Nos.1 and 10; Weber: Invitation to the Dance (arr. Berlioz); Wagner: Siegfried's Funeral March from Götterdämmerung

(Disc 3) Beethoven: Overture to Egmont; Mozart: Overtures to The Marriage of Figaro and The Abduction from the Seraglio, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik; Rossini: Overture to The Barber of Seville; Weber: Overture and Interlude to Act III from Der Freischütz; J. Strauss, Jr.: Overture to Die Fledermaus; rehearsal excerpt from Till Eulenspiegel recording sessions

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Wilhelm Furtwängler
Deutsche Grammophon Japan POCG -234214 | Mono ADD

Sorry for the long delay between postings as of late. I hope you can at least appreciate quality over quantity.

In my post of Furtwängler's second recording of the Beethoven Fifth, I had mentioned how temperamental he could be when in the studio. Like many of his generation (Otto Klemperer was another notable example), he had a profound distrust of recordings. Part of it was based on the relatively primitive recording and playback equipment available back then. He often complained that what he heard on record was not what he had heard on the podium. And he was probably right. Peter Andry had commented on this phenomenon in his recent autobiography, Inside the Recording Studio. While recording Furtwängler and the Vienna Philharmonic in Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Andry was completely bowled over by the luscious and powerful string sound that Furtwängler could inspire from his orchestra. But on the finished record, Andry was dismayed to find that the sound captured on the mikes was only a shadow of what he actually heard. It's a mystery why some conductors are more "phonogenic" than others. Beecham, Karajan, and Stokowski were born recording artists. Furtwängler turned out some excellent studio recordings, but was at home in the concert hall before an audience.

The collection I have here are all studio recordings from the pre-war era. They constitute his complete pre-war Polydor recordings. Most of it is very good, but a great deal was superseded in quality by later HMV recordings and airchecks. Still, this collection is a valuable snapshot of Furtwängler and the superlative level of playing of his Berliners. The collection is programmed in chronological order.

There is so much to talk about here, so let me just touch on the highlights and down points of this set. First the bad news. Or not really bad news. Even the worst recordings here would still be considered very good. Abendroth quality, let's say. But some leave a bit to be desired. The Midsummer Night's Dream Overture that opens this set starts off in fine fashion, but is then hampered by a decidedly un-Mendelssohnian heaviness. Berlioz's Hungarian March sounds curiously prosaic here as do the Freischütz excerpts.

But the best of the best here is absolutely stunning. The Berliners' hearty romp through Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.3 may be too much for those reared on more smaller scaled recordings. But what a heady delight it is! What sheen and body those strings had. The Wagner items are also outstanding. No surprise from the one of history's great Wagnerians. But what is a surprise is how deftly and wittily Furtwängler sashays through the two Rossini overtures. Rossini and Furtwängler seem about as mismatched as Toscanini and Bruckner. Yet it works! These recordings abound with great comic timing and with superlative playing from the BPO. Incidentally, Toscanini and Bruckner make for a surprisingly effective combo too. Remind me to post that CD some time.

Sound quality is fair on this set. Opus Kura is finally getting around to releasing their own set of the complete Furtwängler Polydors. That set should be one to watch out for. Koch released a more comprehensive set in the early 1990's that included some of Furtwängler's pre-war Electrola and HMV recordings. The transfers by Ward Marston and Mark Obert Thorn are very good; slightly more plump than these transfers, but also a little more diffuse. I had a difficult time choosing which one to post, but I think I made the right choice by going with the DG.

To fully understand what made Furtwängler great, you must hear his war-time recordings and his late HMV recordings. As great as these are, he would go on to outdo himself in time. But for a portrait of the "artist as a younger-ish man", this set can't be beat.

The missing tracks: Beethoven, Orff, Schnittke--they're all here!

So sorry it took this long everyone. But the missing tracks for my first Schnittke film post, the Furtwangler Beethoven, and the Orff are all here. As a show of apology, please enjoy this slightly disturbing video. Thank you all for your patience!

Self serving promo right here!

Don't get too excited. These are not the long awaited links to the missing tracks I've promised for so long (and will have for you tonight). No. Instead this is just to announce the opening of my new blog, The Aging Gamer.

Gaming? Video games? What does that have to do with the great music I offer here? Plenty, buddy. If it weren't for games, and one in particular, I probably would never have discovered classical music. And if that had never happened, the path to an appreciation of higher culture would never have opened for me.

I won't be posting any late breaking news or "exclusive" coverage or whatever. Just reflections on gaming and the old games that helped make me the lovable chap I am today. I hope some of you will visit. Thanks. And those missing track are coming!

Beethoven: Symphony No.5, etc. (BPO/Furtwängler)

Beethoven: Overture to Egmont, Overture to Coriolan*, Symphony No.5
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra*/Wilhelm Furtwängler
Opus Kura OPK 2037 | Mono ADD

Wilhelm Furtwängler's skepticism of the virtues of recording is infamous. One thinks of his Decca recording of the Brahms Second Symphony. What should have been a stunning showcase recording (just think of it--Furtwängler in a Full Frequency Range Recording!) turned out to be arguably his worst studio recording. Second guessing his Decca studio engineers, he refused to conduct a single note until the recording team had removed the offending "Decca tree" from his sight and replaced it with a single microphone a la Friedrich Schnapp. The result was a recording that sounded like sonic sludge; an embarrassment to Decca's hi-fi reputation. He was no easier for HMV to handle. His tempestuous relationship with Walter Legge has become the stuff of legend. Unlike Stokowski, Mengelberg, and von Karajan, among others, Furtwängler failed to grasp how recording was usurping the concert experience in importance. Erratic in the studio, he could churn out some surprisingly indifferent recordings. This is not one of them.

If this should be the only recording of the Beethoven Fifth you'll ever hear, you would be set for life. Words can barely describe this recording. Blazing out with primal strength, this is a recording that feels so utterly right. From beginning to end, not a single note feels out of place; not a false step is taken. This isn't Beethoven as a mere sum of notes. This is Beethoven encompassing an entire universe in its staves. Laughter and joy; anger and pain. If you aren't gasping for air when the final chord dies out, you might want to check your pulse.

The two accompanying overtures are nearly as good though better versions exist. The Polydor Egmont is quite fine, but there is an even better one recorded at his first post-war BPO concert that is. Vienna's fabled Philharmonic is the star in this Coriolan. Very good, but his war time BPO broadcast is one of the best ever recordings of this overture.

Opus Kura's sound is magnificent. Honest transfers that retain the fullness and breadth of the original 78's. Best of all is the Electrola recording of the Fifth: dark, rich, and vibrant.

Playing time on this CD is a bit short, but why complain? Here's a chance to listen to one of the 20th century's greatest recordings.

Patience!

Hey! So as you may have noticed, it has been awhile since I updated here. A brief explanation. I was able to upload and post voluminously because I had a surplus of free time as I was "between jobs" for nearly a year and a half. Happily this has changed as I have recently ceased being a drag on the American taxpayer. In other words, I'm no longer "unemployed, all non void." Apparently there was this "recession" that the newspapers seemed to make a pretty big deal of as of late. Yeah, I know. Never heard of this either. Long story short, McDonald's made the job of "McNugget fryer" redundant as they outsourced my job to Hyderabad. You would think I would deserve a little more respect being a magna cum laude graduate of Hamburger U and all. So in the meantime I was forced to become a cockney shoe shine boy or some such to earn some quid. Also I had to subsist mainly on ketchup packets and the free samples of fine cheeses courtesy of those good people at Whole Foods. Ah, capitalism! Of course, all those days are over now and I can finally earn enough money to live in a real house with walls and a roof. No more living under the freeway off-ramp for me!

Now while I may be more occupied with work now, don't you think for a minute that your's truly will close this blog or something. Not at all! I have some choice goodies coming up for later this week. I'll probably be able to post only once or twice a week now. I'm off Fridays and, of course, weekends are free as well. So expect posts on those days. I have some gems coming up, just you wait. Hopefully you can be patient. But if not... well, you're going to have to wait anyway. See you Friday!

Schnittke: Film music (Part 2)

Schnittke: Music for the films My Past and Thoughts, The End of St. Petersburg, Agony, and Master and Margarita
Berlin Radio Symphony Choir and Orchestra/Frank Strobel
CPO 999796 | Stereo DDD

Back in November I posted what I promised was the first in a series of posts devoted to Alfred Schnittke's film music. It's been awhile, but here today is the sequel to that post and a promise that the forthcoming posts in this series will be on their way before the month is out.

Listening to Schnittke's film music is to be in the presence of a master who works with total security in the medium. His gifts as a composer were well near tailor made for cinema so it's no wonder to read that Schnittke had contemplated becoming a full time film composer altogether during the 1980's. In the realm of film, Schnittke's polystylism was adept at capturing the various inner moods of the on screen actions and sometimes runs as a sort of wordless commentary on it. So much music for film tends to be bland, mundane, and in the case of such "greats" like John Williams, not above the occasional plundering of other composers' works. Along with Herrmann, Steiner, Shostakovich, Prokofieff, Rota, Delerue, Takemitsu, and Korngold does Schnittke's work stand as among the greatest of composers for films and this side of the composer deserves to be heard on the stage as well as on record. Fortunately for us, Frank Strobel and his Berlin Radio Symphony have given us 5 volumes of Schnittke's film music (1 on CPO; 4 on Capriccio) and there seems to be more on the way.

Agony has been reviewed here before and is among the best of Schnittke's film music. The suite compiled here shares the same numbers with Emin Khachaturian's on Olympia, but the music is more elaborate here with passages not heard on Khachaturian's recording. Perhaps this is the work of Strobel who is credited here as the compiler of this suite? Either way, this is excellent with the Berlin orchestra sounding far richer and smoother than Khachaturian's scrappy USSR Cinematography Orchestra. Best of all here is the pithy Master and Margarita written for Soviet television in the late 1980's. A madcap foxtrot, sumptuous tango, and a drunken take on Ravel's Bolero make for quite an entertainment. Ravishingly beautiful too is Margarita's theme.

Audio quality is excellent all around. Very rich and powerful. All I can say to Frank Strobel is--more please!