BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. (May 4, 1937).Symphony
No. 6 in F, Op. 68 "Pastorale."(Dec. 22/23, 1937). TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony
No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 "Patheetique.
(Dec. 20 / 22, 1937). Serenade for Stringe, Op. 48 (Nov. 7, 1937) .FRANCK: Psyché
et Eros (Dec. 23, 1937(. .
BERLIOZ:
Roman Carnival Overture. (Dec. 22m1937). STRINGFIELD: A Symphonic Patrol. GOULD: Spirituals
for Orchestra. CRESTON: Chant
for 1942. THOMSON: The Plow That Broke the Plains. COOLEY: Eastbourne
Sketches - Promenade. HARRIS: Folk Rhythms of Today. ROSSINI: Il turco in Italia Pristine continues their Willem Mengelberg reissues
with this 2-disk set of the conductor's' first Telefunken recordings
made in 1937 and 1938. The Concertgebouw
has two sections, the first (Grote Zaal) seating about 2,000,
with glorious acoustics. The second (Kleine Zaal) is a much
smaller hall used for chamber music and solo performances.
Pristine already has issued the marvelous 1940 Telefunken Ein
Heldenleben (PASC 103), particularly important as this score
was dedicated to Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw. Pristine also has
issued the extraordinary 1928 Victor recording with the New York OPhiharmonic
(PASC 104). This fisrt set of the conductor's complete Telefunken
recording is the
least
interesting.
For whatever reason, Telefunken elected to record Beethoven Symphony
No.
5 in the
small hall,
and the
luxuriant richness of the regular hall
is absent. And the performance is rather hectic with a few brass burbles
in the final two movements, surprisingly not corrected. This is an oddity
in the Mengelberg discography. If you wish to hear his Beethoven
Five surely the one to check is
the
live
1940
broadcast available on Pristine PASC 236. The Pastorale, recorded
in the Grossehal, fares much better sonically, a typical Mengelberg
approach with rubado and
portamento. Again collectosr should check out the 1940 live
performance, also available on Pristine. I found Mengelberg's Pathétique disappointing.
There are the expected portamento effects, but engineers did
not capture the famed Concertgebouw brass effectively. The Serenade
for Strings fares
better. Finest audio is heard in the Berlioz overture, Mengelberg's only
recording of this composer;s music MarkObert-Thorn made these transfers,
and they are excellent although they cannot improve on poor audio of the
originals. Fortunately, later Telefunken Mengelberg recordings are more
successful sonically, and I look forward to their release Pristine already has issued a dozen of historic Maria Callas opera recordings: Now we have this famous LaScla recording of Rossini's Il Turko in Italia recorded August 31 - September 8, 1954. It was the sixth Callas complete Columbia/EMI complete opera recordings and boasts an all-star cast. The legendry soprano is in fine vocal state. Walter Legge produced the recording, and here it is sounding better than eve via Andrew Rose's XR remastering. There are with 44 separate cuing tracks. No libretto, but that should not be a problem for operaphiles. These Pristine reissues are definitive in production values. R.E.B. (March 2021) |