Volume 23 Issue 6 - March 2018

include Bernard Herrmann, Stanley Black, Edward Downes, Antal
Doráti, Arthur Fiedler, Anatole Fistoulari, Jean Fournet, Henry Lewis,
Lorin Maazel, Erich Leinsdorf, Charles Munch, Eric Rogers, Miklós
Rózsa and Leopold Stokowski. There are nine Stokowski CDs that also
appear in the above collection; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Berlioz’
Symphonie Fantastique, Pictures at an Exhibition, Scheherazade,
Tchaikovsky’s Fifth and the 1812 Overture, Glazunov’s Violin Concerto
with Silvia Marcovici, a collection of Bach transcriptions, excerpts
from Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and suites from
Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty ballets.
Well, this collection is certainly a curate’s egg, “Good in Parts.”
Purists will certainly abhor most of it but others may simply revel in it.
Karl Böhm was one of the very last great
conductors in the German tradition that
had been omnipresent in the music world.
No longer with us are the likes of Clemens
Krauss, Erich Kleiber, Wilhelm Furtwangler,
Felix Weingartner and Bruno Walter. DG
has assembled a collection of his recordings
under the title Karl Böhm The Operas
with the subtitle Complete Vocal Recordings
on Deutsche Grammophon (4798358, 70 CDs boxed with a 144-page
190mm-square book). The enormity of this collection of incomparable
music-making is overwhelming and one might wonder what Karl
Böhm was all about.
He was born in Graz, Austria on August 28, 1894 and after receiving
a degree in law he attended the conservatory there, later enrolling
at the conservatory in Vienna. He became an assistant repetiteur at
Graz in 1917 and by 1920 he was the senior director of music there.
In 1921 he was engaged by Bruno Walter at the Bavarian State Opera in
Munich. In 1927 he was appointed chief music director in Darmstadt.
A few more appointments later and in 1933 he conducted Tristan und
Isolde in Vienna. He became director of the Semper Opera in Dresden
succeeding Fritz Busch in 1934, remaining in there until 1942. He
conducted the first performances of two Richard Strauss operas, Die
schweigsame Frau in 1935 and in 1938 Daphne, of which he is the
dedicatee. In 1938 he premiered in the Salzburg Festival with Don
Giovanni, becoming a permanent guest conductor there.
After 1948 he conducted Don Giovanni at La Scala and from 1950
to 1953 directed the German season in Buenos Aires. In 1957 he made
his debut at the Met in New York with Don Giovanni and became a
favorite of Rudolph Bing. At the Met he directed 262 performances,
including many premieres. He leaned towards Mozart, Beethoven,
Wagner and Verdi, and certainly had a special connection to the
music by his close friend, Richard Strauss. Böhm made his debut
in Bayreuth in 1962 with Tristan und Isolde and directed performances
there until 1970, and from 1965 to 1967 he conducted Der Ring
What we're listening to this month:
des Nibelungen, Wieland Wagner’s last production. Böhm continued
conducting and recording and in his last years he was associated with
the London Symphony, with which he had an affectionate relationship
and which had named him LSO president. He was still recording with
them in June 1980 about one year before his death on August 14, 1981
in Salzburg.
Included in this edition are operas by Beethoven, Berg, Mozart,
Richard Strauss and Wagner, plus two and a half CDs of Böhm
speaking in German about his life, etc.
Soloists in top voice include Martti Talvela, Peter Schreier, Anton
Dermota, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Fritz Wunderlich, Evelyn Lear,
Gundula Janowitz, Birgit Nilsson, Sherrill Milnes, Hans Hotter,
Gwyneth Jones, Christa Ludwig, Hilde Güden… and the list goes on.
Yes, it is an expensive set but the ROI (return on investment) is
very high.
The Berlin of 1946 was a war-ravaged city
divided into four sectors according to the
nationality of the occupying force. The
American, the Russian, the British and the
French sectors each had their own restrictions
and protocols. The situation was the
setting for countless successful novels and
films then and since. In the midst of the
poverty and homeless refugees, Berliners turned to music and the
performing arts. “Every shed and every garage might serve as a little
temple of the Muses,” ex-POW Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recalled.
“The plentiful supply reflected the demand. Every evening queues
formed outside the box offices (where people had to queue in spite
of everything).” The American radio station, the RIAS, formed a new
symphony orchestra, the RIAS Symphony Orchestra. They gave their
first concert on December 12, 1948. On the podium was a young
Hungarian conductor, Ferenc Fricsay. In 1956 the orchestra renamed
themselves the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and in 1993, the
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin. Ferenc Fricsay: The Mozart
Radio Broadcasts (DG 4798275, 4 CDs in a hardcover book) includes
recordings from Deutschlandradio (1951-52).
The repertoire: Symphonies 1, 4-9, 23 and 27, the Bassoon Concerto
K191, Sinfonia Concertante K297b, Cassation K63, Serenade
K375, Ein Musikalischer Spass K522, Serenata Notturna K239 and
Divertimenti K247 and 334. Also Sull’aria from Le Nozze di Figaro
(with Suzanne Danco and Rita Streich) and In quali accessi, o Numi …
Mi trade quell’alma ingrate from Don Giovanni (Suzanne Danco).
From the very first bars I knew this was something special and
during the afternoon played through all four discs. It barely matters
that the pristine sound is mono. These are performances not for
critiquing but for simple joy.
thewholenote.com/listening
Shadow Etchings
Orlando Cela
Orlando Cela navigates the
complexities of postmodernism
in chamber music with this rich
recording of flute and piccolo
treasures for the curious ear.
Departure
BC Double Quartet
Jazz quartet meets string quartet:
a dazzling and hypnotic new album
by the incomparable Bill Coon and
friends. What a treat!
I Can See Clearly Now
Kathleen Gorman
Compelling jazz arrangements of
classic songs. Influences from Blue
Note to Carole King, & classical
lyricism.
Kala Kalo
So Long Seven
So Long Seven's highly anticipated
second recording features Salif
Sanou dit Lasso on talking drum,
kora and flute as well as Demetri
Petsalakis on oud.
thewholenote.com March 2018 | 83