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WPH-L-H-2009 (3CD)
★★★★✩✩ $$$
This is the first issue
from a new self-propelled
orchestra label.
For some years the
recorded legacy of the
VPO had been entrusted
to Andante and its
bespoke casebound
booklets-enclosing CD
sleeves. Nothing is
that luxurious anymore but orchestra chairman
Prof Dr Clemens Hellsberg has overseen the production
of a well-documented slim line box of the
sort of quality you would expect with sponsorship
from Rolex in a belated tribute to the composer’s
just past anniversary year.
It could be said that the VPO exhibit is a unique
facility in recreating Haydn’s symphonies. In these
performances dating back to 1972, they assume the
same infallible echt-wienerisch manner that was
placed at the service of Karl Böhm and Herbert von
Karajan in their recordings of a half-century ago. All
of the conductors here acquit themselves with distinction
and the performances are, with a single
and partial exception, superb. The set brings two
surprises. The pleasant surprise is one-time radical
Pierre Boulez in a deftly crafted account of No 104.
The shocking one is Harnoncourt’s demolition of
#103‘Drumroll’. He takes the opening intrada marking
and runs with it. The result is raucous tub
thumping (repeated in the same style in the coda)
which is totally at odds with the rest of the work
and, indeed, entirely out of character with the philosophy
of Haydn’s London Symphonies. It is interesting,
if unsettling, to hear—once. WSH
Gustav Mahler: Symphonies #1-10
Vocal soloists, Choirs, Polish National Radio Symphony
Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra/Michael Halász,
Antoni Wit, Robert Olson
Naxos 8501502 (15CD – 13 h 31 min 54 s)
★★★★✩✩ $$$$$
This box offers recordings
made between
1990 and 2005. Over
the years of individual
issue, the performances
were well-received
by critics and the audio
quality was highly
praised. Conductors
Halász and Wit are
consistently in accord in achieving a unified Mahler
style with emphasis on finesse. In terms of refined
execution, this set is closest to Evgeny Svetlanov’s
for Warner (on 14 CDs) without that conductor’s
prominent affectations of interpretation. The
accounts of # 1, 2, 4 and 9 also rekindle memories of
the post-war recordings of Mahler contemporary
Bruno Walter. The Poles deliver very fine performances.Wit’s
account of No 8 is an unqualified charttopper
(it will have listeners wishing that he had
tackled Das Lied von der Erde as well). The performing
version of Symphony #10 completed by Joe
Wheeler is an interesting bonus and certainly
worth hearing. It will never replace the Deryck
Cooke version but like those of Carpenter, Mazzetti
L’ÉCOLE D’ÉTÉ DE CHANT CHORAL
10 e anniversaire
Concert
Gala
SAMEDI, 3 JUILLET 2010, 20 H
ÉGLISE IMMACULÉE CONCEPTION | SHERBROOKE
W.A. Mozart Messe en do mineur, KV 427 (K417a)
pour chœur, solistes et orchestre
DIRECTEUR ARTISTIQUE
ROBERT INGARI
BILLETS : 20 $ (PRIX ÉTUDIANT : 10 $)
EN VENTE AU CENTRE CULTUREL
819 820-1000
www.USherbrooke.ca/musique
Juin 2010 June 23