Notes and Editorial Reviews
As all of these live performances are credited to the same date, it seems reasonable to assume that this release preserves a concert that Szell led in Berlin on June 26, 1969, a year before his death. All of these works were recorded in widely admired versions by Szell with the Cleveland Orchestra, yet nothing in this release strikes me as redundant. For one thing, it is fascinating to hear how Szell transforms the lushness of the Karajan sound into something leaner and more tonally astringent, seemingly not so easy a feat when one considers that the orchestra has been under Karajan?s rein for 15 years.
Then too, Szell, like other
Read more
conductors, was often less inhibited with an audience behind him than he was in the comparative vacuum of the recording studio. This is most evident in the Brahms
Tragic Overture
, which here is tauter and fiercer than in the conductor?s 1966 studio account. Conversely, this
Don Juan
lacks some of the drive and tension that the conductor brought to his 1961 recording. Yet, on its own terms, it is equally arresting.
The Schumann hardly differs from Szell?s Cleveland account of 1958, but it and the other items here are accorded sound that is often fuller than that in those Cleveland efforts. In short, for anyone interested in Szell or this repertoire, this is a most welcome release.
FANFARE: Mortimer H. Frank
Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Symphony no 2 in C major, Op. 61 by Robert Schumann
Conductor:
George Szell
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1845-1846; Germany
2.
Tragic Overture, Op. 81 by Johannes Brahms
Conductor:
George Szell
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1880; Austria
Notes: This selection is a stereo recording.
3.
Don Juan, Op. 20 by Richard Strauss
Conductor:
George Szell
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888-1889; Germany
Notes: This selection is a stereo recording.
Customer Reviews
Be the first to review this title
Review This Title
