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Pristine News: Friday 18th September, 2009
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Recordings by Artist - Recordings by Composer - Full printable Pristine Audio catalogue New release today: TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5; Eight Encores Pristine Audio PASC 188
Transfers by Edward Johnson Total duration: 74:03
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A magnificent Tchaikovsky 5 from Stokowski Plus eight favourite Encores - all remastered and reissued for the first time
Marking the grand finale of The Stokowski Society, which for thirty years has sought to promote the recordings and music of the great Leopold Stokowski, Pristine Audio has restored and remastered what would probably have been the Society's next Cala CD release, in conjunction with the Society's Edward Johnson. The resulting issue brings together a magnificent recording of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, from an RCA Victor LP release made in 1953, with Stokowski conducting his own orchestra, drawn largely from the ranks of the NBC Symphony and New York Philharmonic orchestras. The same orchestra features on the eight short encores which make up the rest of this release - Stokowski always had one or two up his sleeve - of which perhaps the most unusual is his arrangement of Strauss's Tales from the Vienna Wood for orchestra and electric guitar! Download listening sample: (4th mvt. - Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace, 224kbps ambient stereo)
Notes on the recording: When the Stokowski Society were choosing recordings for their two final releases in conjunction with Cala Records, this recording of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, described by the Society's Edward Johnson as "one of the best-sounding of the 1950s "his Symphony Orchestra" RCA recordings which he made with his specially-selected band of top-flight New York musicians", narrowly missed out in favour of a 1947 recording of Dvorák's Symphony from the New World. No doubt that had that series continued (the Dvorák was the penultimate collaboration between the Stokowski Society, currently being wound up after 30 years' existence, and Cala) this particular recording would shortly have seen a release there. As it is, we are delighted to be able to offer not only this wonderful recording, in a vibrant new XR-remastered transfer, but also a collection of Stokowski's encore pieces never previously issued in any digital format. These works highlight the conductor's acclaimed brilliance as an orchestrator and arranger, with piano and vocal works from Tchaikovsky and Chopin among the highlights. A degree of investigation into the Ippolitov-Ivanov work In A Manger suggests that the Russian composer had actually provided an arrangement of a traditional Slavic Christmas Carol, and that what we hear in this incarnation is Stokowski's orchestral arrangement of a choral version of Ippolitov-Ivanov's orchestration! On the 7-inch EP from which this was taken, entitled Season's Greetings from Leopold Stokowski, the piece is entitled 'Russian Christmas Music' and credited as a Traditional composition - we have chosen to re-assign it to the composer whose name now normally stands alongside it, together with the title he gave it! Of particularly unusual interest is the penultimate selection, Strauss's Tales from the Vienna Wood, in a shortened version with an electric guitar section recorded separately on the same day as the orchestra and edited in to create the full release. The guitar has received electronic treatment to add echo effects and a sound which vaguely resembles a zither - it makes an appearance toward the start of the arrangement, and is never heard thereafter! Incidentally, these two 'abridged' Strauss waltzes were recorded with the NBC Symphony but issued as being by "Stokowski and his Symphony Orchestra". Longer versions recorded at the same sessions for an 'Extended Play' 45 rpm disc were correctly attributed to the NBC SO. As Edward Johnson notes with regard to his choices here, "the 8 "Encores" were chosen for their variety, and also because Stokowski invariably had at least one encore lined up for his concerts and sometimes several. This same formula has been adopted on this release, with all these little recordings now making their very first appearances on CD." At Pristine Audio we've been delighted to be able to work with Edward Johnson and the Stokowski Society, and look forward to a continued working relationship beyond the era of the Stokowski Society itself and Cala Records' Stokowski series.
Available as 320kbps MP3, 16-bit FLAC, 24-bit FLAC, Ambient Stereo FLAC, CD
or listen on demand with Pristine Audio Direct Access (PADA) New release today: Manizza conducts Mendelssohn and Boero Pristine Audio PASC 189
First issued on Voce del Padrone (Italy) & Victor (Argentina) 78rpm discs
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Plus rare recordings from Boero's Argentine opera, El Matrero
Argentine conductor Ettore Panizza spent much of his career in the opera house - beginning at the Rome Opera in 1897 his career took in La Scala, Milan, the Royal Opera House in London, New York's Metropolitan Opera, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. It's no great surprise to learn, therefore, that of his relatively small recorded output, the vast majority was opera, and of that, the bulk was Italian opera. Here Mark Obert-Thorn has gathered together onto a single disc the entire Mendelssohn recordings of Panizza, and his only recorded excerpts from the rarely heard yet, in its day, very successful Argentine opera, Boero's El Matrero, possibly the first of its kind. A fascinating and rare collection of great interest
Download listening sample:
(Mendelssohn 4th mvt., 224kbps mono)Notes on the recording: As a result of the release (first on LP, more recently on CD) of a number of Metropolitan Opera broadcast performances from the mid-1930s through the early 1940s, Ettore Panizza is remembered today as one of the great opera conductors of the first half of the 20th Century, with particular distinction in the Verdi repertoire. But during his lifetime, his commercial discography was slim, filling fewer than three CDs’ worth of recordings. Nearly all of them were made with the orchestra of La Scala, Milan, where he served as an assistant to Toscanini; and, as one might expect, they center on the (largely operatic) works of Italian composers. Two notable exceptions to the rule were Panizza’s recordings of Mendelssohn, all of which are contained on this release, and the scenes from Felipe Boero’s opera El Matrero, which he set down shortly after he conducted the world première on 12 July 1929. The latter is a particularly rarity in his discography in that it was the only recording he made in his native Buenos Aires, where he had been born of Italian parents, and it was also the only recording he made for the Victor label. Victor’s involvement most likely came about because of the participation of Apollo Granforte, La Scala’s great baritone in the inter-war years, well-known to record collectors due to his participation in the complete Italian HMV recordings of Aida,Otello, Il Trovatore and Pagliacci, who was making his Colón debut that season. The excerpts chosen from the opera (whose title has been variously translated as The Sly One, The Artful Knave and The Bandit) center around his character, Don Liborio. (Other Matrero recordings were made around this time, including two discs of choral excerpts credited to another conductor, and two 10-inch sides with Nena Juárez on which no conductor or orchestra is identified on the label, and no matrix information is displayed which might tie it to the Panizza sessions.) El Matrero was initially scheduled for three performances in July, 1929; but it caused such a sensation that another three performances were added for the following month, at which time the present recordings were made. They are particularly rare in that they were only issued in Argentina, and their only previous reissue was on the small historical vocal LP label, Club 99, in the 1970s. (I could find no reference of any complete recording of El Matrero ever having been made. A synopsis of the plot can be found lower down this page.) The Mendelssohn items have only previously been reissued on a two-CD set accompanying a Panizza biography published by La Scala. The principal sources for the transfers were a black label Italian Voce del Padrone disc for the Hebrides Overture; a Victor Red Seal “Z”-type shellac pressing for the Italian Symphony and its filler; and “Gold” label Argentine Victor pressings for the Matrero set. A couple instances of blasting on the Matrero sides, as well as some overload distortion in theMidsummer Night’s Dream Wedding March, appear to be inherent in the original recordings. Available as 320kbps MP3, 16-bit FLAC, CD
or listen on demand with Pristine Audio Direct Access (PADA)
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New review at MusicWeb International
Ernest John MOERAN (1894-1950) Symphony in G minor (1937) [43:25] The Hallé Orchestra/Leslie Heward rec. under the auspices of the British Council, Manchester, England, 26-27 November, 1 December 1942, partially in the presence of the composer. Issued in January 1943 as HMV 78s C.3319-3324 and C.7566-7571 Matrix numbers 2ER641-51, takes 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1 Transfer and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, July 2009 PRISTINE AUDIO PASC180[43:25] Notwithstanding the well integrated Tapiola "borrowings" in the finale the Moeran Symphony is an endlessly fascinating work. It has a cogent emotional trajectory and superb impact. Heward adopts an inexorable pulse for the opening ostinato. The Hallé’s springy exuberance and poetry is accentuated by that taut rhythmic foundation. Andrew Rose knows every wrinkle, tick and bristle of these 78s having made at least three issued transfers each designed to improve on the others (see review). He is unafraid of the mono 78 ‘sizzle’ and has left it in place; good thing too as this CD does not compromise the upper string merits of the original. One thing Rose can do nothing about is the ripsaw edge to the strings at their upper limit as at 6.00 and 11:09 in the finale. For say 97% of the time the strings are rendered with some suggestion of fullness allowing for wartime vintage. The performance inevitably lacks the ripeness and lush orchard-green tone of Boult's classic Lyrita recording (SRCD.247). In Boult, who takes more than a minute longer than Heward overall, the strings have a luxurious weight. The whoop of the New Philharmonia horns can be heard to glorious effect in the pounding finale of the first movement. Heward's recording is historic and this cannot help but show as in the tinny percussion at 9:15 in the first movement. The Heward 78s represented the work's first, and for many years only, recording until Dilkes’ fine EMI version in 1972 (see review). This was followed fairly quickly by Boult on Lyrita circa 1975 (see review), Handley on Chandos in the 1980s (see review) and in this decade by David Lloyd-Jones on Naxos (see review). In that sense this Pristine disc or download has documentary value as well as intrinsic musical merit. For me the pulse in the third movement is too fast (the magical interlude at 3.30 goes for nothing) and much the same applies to Boult and Handley and for that matter Sinaisky in his otherwise fantastic and fiery Golovanov-style performance during the BBC Proms in July 2009. Heward's way with dynamics is the way of delightfully precise differentiation - a constant joy. As an example take 9.00 in the finale where the horns caw confidingly and in contrast to the storm that bookends that episode. This is a very pleasing transfer of one of the gramophone's monuments to British music and one that has been part of my musical landscape since 1972; a heritage track. It is here made all the more artistically resonant by the composer's presence during some of the sessions even if alcohol was beginning to make him something of a volatile quantity. There was a time when I thought I would never hear the Symphony live. This was finally put right when I attended a concert by that overlooked orchestral magician John Longstaff with the Sheffield Symphony Orchestra in the mid-2000s. Why are conductors of his calibre still overlooked despite the passing of Hickox and Handley? Longstaff does not need a dearth of other talent to stand out in the crowd. By the way, while Chandos already have an exceptional Moeran Symphony in Handley's version with the Ulster Orchestra I do very much hope that Sinaisky's firebrand reading will be recorded by them even if they issue the Prom performance itself. In an ideal world this should be coupled with a speculative reconstruction of the Second Symphony the fragments of which were once the subject of a fascinating article by Roderick McNeill. If it's good enough for Elgar why not Moeran? I am curious to hear those sketches and fragments in some form or another. No notes provided with the disc but substantial and informative notes can be read at the Pristine website. Rather like Walter’s Vienna Mahler 9 or Beecham’s RFH Sibelius 2 this is both an historic document and more. It remains a necessary supplement to your choice of the modern recordings; my preference from which is the Boult-Lyrita disc.
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New review at MusicWeb International
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Piano Concerto No 4 in G major, Op. 58 (1808) Arthur Rubinstein (piano) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Thomas Beecham rec. 30 September 1947, Abbey Road Studio No 1, London PRISTINE PASC 165[30:41] As I write this review in August 2009 this recording is just under two months short of being sixty-two years old. Had I listened to this amazing transfer by Andrew Rose without knowing that I would never have believed it possible. The recording sounds as if it had been set down perhaps in the 1960s. This is, quite simply, one of the best transfers of an historical issue - which I define as being over fifty years old - that I can ever recall hearing. The sound is bright and clear, without ever being harsh. There's a satisfying degree of front-to-back perspective. The piano is truthfully reported, quite well forward in the aural picture, though not excessively so. Only very occasionally - say in the slightly thin oboe tone - does the recording betray its age. The dynamic range of the recording is good and there's no distortion. I presume some filtering of surface noise has taken place - there's almost no hiss, even when listening through headphones - but any such intervention has not been to the detriment of the music or its sonic reproduction. All in all, this is a significant achievement. In praising the transfer one must not overlook the skilled work of the post-War HMV engineers who captured the original recording. This recording was originally issued by HMV on 78s but I don't know if it has made it onto CD - or even LP - before. I read on the Pristine website that the transfer has been made from 'a good, clean near-mint set of 78s'. The same note very honestly says that 'side joins are seamless - the only possible giveaway is an occasional hint of end-of-side distortion and treble roll-off.' Well, you'll have to have more acute hearing than I possess to spot those instances. I'm not sure I can be quite so enthusiastic about the performance, good though it is in many ways. Pristine reproduce an enthusiastic review from the October 1949 issue of Gramophone by LS (Lionel Salter?) which concludes thus: 'So far as I am concerned, nobody need bother to record this concerto again: this performance is it!' Fortunately other pianists did record the concerto subsequently and, in my humble opinion, have offered different perspectives to that of Rubinstein and Beecham. I think I'd describe the performance overall as direct. That's certainly how Rubinstein's delivery of the opening piano solo sounds to me. There's not the same degree of poetry and thoughtfulness in this short phrase that one finds with, say, Solomon in 1952 (EMI 7243 5 65503 2) or Gilels in 1957 (Testament SBT 1095). The more philosophical and lyrical view taken by these two pianists - and their respective conductors - and emulated by other artists since, is more to my taste in this, my favourite among the Beethoven piano concertos. Rubinstein's way with the opening solo is a fair harbinger of his style throughout the movement. He plays with clarity, objectivity and no little energy. Beecham echoes his soloist's direct, even urgent approach throughout this movement - conducting very well and obtaining playing of great vitality from his recently established orchestra. Though I prefer a more reflective approach in this movement and in the work as a whole, the freshness of the performance by both soloist and orchestra is undeniably appealing. The very directness of the music-making is something that may well attract many collectors. The noble slow movement is very well handled, Rubinstein's limpid playing subduing the orchestra. The finale is excellent. The reading has verve and drive. Occasionally I feared Rubinstein's fingers might run away with him but all is well and a feeling of exhilaration pervades the proceedings. Beecham conducts with élan and the movement ends, with great brio, in an exultant dash for the finishing line. I should mention the cadenzas used by Rubinstein. I'd never heard them before though I noted while listening that they sounded very romantic and anachronistic. It was only subsequently that I learned from the Pristine website that the cadenzas are by Saint-Saëns. The one used in the finale need not detain us long; it's short and quite succinct. The first movement cadenza is another matter, however. It's a fairly extended examination of the movement's thematic material, which lasts for just over three minutes (from 12:55 to 16:00) but seems rather longer. To be honest it's out of scale, both in terms of length and style. Personally I regret Rubinstein's choice of what is something of a curiosity. So I have some reservations about the performance but I'm glad to have added it to my collection. Rubinstein's legion of admirers will most certainly want to hear it. And though technological advances will no doubt continue it seems inconceivable that we will ever hear it in better sound than this splendid Pristine Audio offering.
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New review in Fanfare Magazine
Arturo Toscanini, cond; Rudolf Serkin (pn); New York P-SO;1 NBC SO2 PRISTINE 164, mono (47:34) Broadcast: New York 2/23/1936;1 9/3/1944.2 Available at www.pristineclassical.com Neither of these performances is new to CD, the Symphony having been issued in a now probably scarce Grammophono disc, the concerto in a two-CD Guild set (sold only outside the U.S.) that preserved the entire concert of February, 23, 1936, from which this Serkin performance was drawn. It marked his debut in the U.S. as soloist with symphony orchestra and also featured him in the Beethoven G-Major Concerto. This transfer of the Mozart derives from the same air-check used by Guild, and thus is missing part of the first movement—a loss that begins shortly before the tutti that precedes the cadenza and extends into part of the cadenza itself. The sound of this transfer, in its presence and impact, is slightly superior to Guild’s. But, though thoroughly listenable, it remains markedly inferior to the studio norm for the period. That said, the performance should prove fascinating for anyone interested in the artists, especially Toscanini. It is certainly unlike the conductor’s 1943 NBC performance of the work with Horszowski (once available from Naxos). Sometimes that later one even approaches glibness. By contrast, this 1936 collaboration with Serkin boasts greater breadth and flexibility from both conductor and soloist. But, unlike the 1943 performance, it does not contain an addition of seven measures in the opening tutti that Toscanini inferred to be missing in what was then the standard (but corrupt) edition. Ultimately, Serkin, who gained access to Mozart’s manuscript, confirmed what had been only a suspicion on Toscanini’s part. Today, these seven measures have become standard. Clearly, several limitations, sonic and textual, limit the appeal of this release. Nevertheless, it is a significant document of a memorable collaboration in a work that was Toscanini’s favorite Mozart concerto. The Symphony No. 29 is another matter. In his notes for this release, producer Andrew Rose cites my Arturo Toscanini: the NBC Years, where I noted that the performance is a “revelation for its time” when compared to the recorded accounts of the work made by Koussevitzky and Beecham. This is certainly true in terms of its lean sonority and freedom from overly broad tempos. But on hearing it again, it also sounds under rehearsed and graceless. It is certainly interesting as Toscanini’s only surviving account of the work (I suspect it may be his only performance of it), but it falls short in terms of projecting the music’s elegance, buoyancy, and charm. The sound, if certainly superior to that of the Concerto, is rather shrill and raucous. Reservations aside, for those who want a fascinating walk into history, this is a welcome release. A few of the CBS broadcast announcements frame the concerto. Mortimer H. Frank This article originally appeared in Issue 33:1 (Sept/Oct 2009) of Fanfare Magazine.
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