Antal Dorati and the Minneapolis Symphony in Brahms and J Strauss!

Here is a truly magnificent offering...well, in my own humble opinion.

I've heard lots of recordings in 30+ years, LOTS, and I can say that of every conductor and orchestra, one partnership stands out in my mind for uniform excellence in performance and sheer excitement level: I'm talking about the wonderful years that Antal Dorati spent in Minneapolis. Though Dorati inherited a good orchestra, though at times undisciplined ensemble,  from Dmitri Mitropoulos, he alone was responsible for building it into a better, more responsive orchestra that played under him with an incredible amount of kinetic energy and fierce discipline.

The main offering here is Brahms' Third Symphony, coupled with the Tragic and Academic Festival Overtures. Here is an absolutely outstanding example of what Dorati accomplished in the upper midwest. Details are not obscured, performances are sharp and again, the excitement level is something that you can actually feel! It's a real shame that Mercury chose to release Dorati's remake in London rather then  this first effort at the third. Though the London is very good (and in stereo), this third is even better. This Minneapolis effort dates from 1955.

As a filler, I've included two Johann Strauss the younger waltzes from 1956: Artists Life and Voices of Spring. I feel these are more then appropriate fillers since Brahms had a high regard for his esteemed colleague in Vienna. Dorati's instinct for dance is well displayed here and these waltzes make great "encores" to the Brahms program.

Enjoy..as much as I do!

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Paul Sacher conducts the music of Johann Christian Bach

Paul Sacher was one of the most important forces in musical creativity during the last century. Conductor, impresario, businessman, patron, Sacher was a vital force in promoting and encouraging new music and excavation forgotten classics. His influence cannot be understated.

Here, Sacher leads not his justly famed Basle Chamber Orchestra but the ubiquitous Vienna Symphony Orchestra in the music of Johann Christaian Bach, the great JS Bach's youngest, and probably most cosmopolitan son. Recorded most likely in the early 60's, this record was one of the first to resurrect the very enjoyable, and influential Bach from pretty much oblivion. Mozart, of all people, considered the "London" Bach and Haydn to be his father figures, in a musical sense.

This is a good program and well representative of Bach's skills. We have two sinfonias from op. 18, a harpsichord concerto and a sinfonia concertante for violin, cello and orchestra. The transfer comes from a Philips World Series release, PHC 9009. This is not profound music, it does not explore the emotional depth of Mozart, or have the hearty, good natured humor of Haydn, but it is enjoyable, well crafted and delightful on its own terms.

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Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 2 with Kjell Baekkelund and Oivin Fjeldstad

Here's the other National Record Academy Club  (NRS-1) posting from me: Kjell Baekkelund performing the fabled Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto with Maestro Fjeldstad and the Oslo Philharmonic.

I must confess to knowing next to nothing about this pianist. Here's what I got off of Wikipedia:

"Kjell Bækkelund (May 6, 1930 – May 13, 2004) was a Norwegian classical pianist, born in Oslo. He was known as a child prodigy. Bækkelund made his debut with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of eight. His final years of study took place at Stockholm, with Professor Boon, and at Vienna, with Professor Seidlhofer. In 1953 Bækkelund won first prize in the first Scandinavian Musicians' Festival held at Trondheim; and in London the same year, he was awarded the Harriet Cohen Medal as "the finest pianist of the year"."  Impressive!

I'm not quite sure if Baekkelund had an international career but what I can say is that this performance is no-nonsense with two musicians who had apparently worked quite a bit together and artistically were "in sync." I would call this a rather straightfaced, honest performance, and probably as good an introduction to this masterpiece as there is out there. At some point I should transfer my RCA record of Baekkelund performing the Grieg Concerto with Odd Gruner Hegge conducting. Side two on that LP features music from Peer Gynt. Surprisingly, I've not listened to that record...with an all Norwegian cast, its probably as definitive as it gets!

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Oivin Fjeldstad conducts Haydn and Mozart with the Oslo PO

Back in the early 60's, RCA sought to expand its budget Camden label from being primarily a reissue label to one that also included newly recorded performances, in good sound, available at a very low price. Nowadays, companies would look towards Central Europe and the former Soviet republics but in the early 60's, companies looked North, in RCA's case, Norway and Sweden.

This recording of  Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony and Mozart's Symphony No. 41 was issued on both the Camden label and the "National Academy Record Club" label, of which the latter is my transfer. Good stereo, with a no frills record jacket, NRS-7 sold for under 3 bucks and was available in bookstores, supermarkets, drugstores, in other words non-traditional record outlets. These recordings were obviously geared for the novice and, they sold well.

As for Oivin Fjeldstad , he was a fine conductor who was mostly known for his work with "northern composers." His complete Peer Gynt with the LSO was a big seller in its day and widely admired by critics and connoisseurs alike. However, I think that Fjeldstad had interpretative gifts far beyond Scandinavia and this unmannered, cleanly played Mozart and Haydn attests to that. The orchestra performs quite well, though at the time, the Oslo PO was not the world class orchestra that it is today. These are very enjoyable performances nonetheless.

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Igor Markevitch conducts Nielsen's Symphony No. 4 "The Inextinguishable"

For the next couple posts, I'm going to be focusing on Scandinavian composers and performers. First up is this really fine performance of Nielsen's "Inextinguishable"symphony by the great Igor Markevitch with the Royal Danish Orchestra. I have to admit that Nielsen has never been one of my favorite composers; I really do not know why other then I've always had a difficult time focusing on his melodies and how he develops his ideas. Only wo conductors have  been convincing me that Nielsen is a very great composer: Ole Schmidt and Igor Markevitch.

This performance simply grabs my attention from the onset and does not let go. I feel that Markevitch has this second tier orchestra playing on the edge of their seats and his control here is awesome. In this conductor's hands, this symphony is allowed to make its very bold statement as a true masterpiece of the genre.

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Harpsichord Concerti by J S Bach conducted by Karl Ristenpart

This really nice Nonesuch LP was one of my very first records, bought some 30 years ago when I wa in high school. I used to visit the old Strawberries Records (a Boston chain long time gone..I think bought by Sam Goody) on Friday nights as my dad would drive me down to the local mall where it was located. Strawberries had a good selection of $2.95 albums which were perfect for the high school kid on a budget!

Karl Ristenpart recorded a substantial number of Bach recordings during the 60's with his very fine Chamber Orchestra of the Saar. Especially notable was a very popular, and omnipresent item for Nonesuch, of Bach's Magnificat. I think Ristenpart, along with Karl Richter, really dusted the cobwebs off of Bach and their efforts helped to spawn the movement toward period performance practices. Certainly, what we have here are four concertos for one and more harpsichords which are splendidly rendered and very tastefully performed. They really do sparkle and are a joy to listen to some 40 years+ after being recorded.

You know, I really miss the old Nonesuch LP label. I grew up on it and really built a good collection of LP's and performances from it. I still have my first Nonesuch LP, The Art of the Baroque Trumpet with Edward H Tarr - a great, great record. It's too bad that Warner/Elektra (or whatever that conglomerate is called now) lets the awesome collection from Nonesuch rot away in some warehouse. Many gems are in that collection, including this one!

Enjoy...full notes etc. in the download.

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The incomparable Clara Haskil playing who else? Mozart!

What better way is there to celebrate Christmas Eve then with a fine bottle of wine and Clara Haskil playing?  Here we have concertos K466 and K488 impeccably rendered by perhaps the greatest interpreter of Mozart during the last century....well in my opinion. Haskil is so...tasteful...that's it in a nutshell. Everything is played with such sensitivity and clarity, it unfolds so naturally with a dose of spontaneity. On top of that, both conductors, Paumgartner and Sacher,  provide vital support as they enter and absorb Haskil's genious with this music. Magnificent!

Merry Christmas!

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Reine Gianoli and Paul Badura Skoda in Mozart's Two Piano Concerto K 242

Charm Nick at Grumpy's Classics Cave recently posted the pianist Reine Gianoli performing Bach. I'm going to piggy back on that with this offering of Mozart's Two Piano Concerto K 242. Unfortunately, the flip side with K 365 was in a bad shape and beyond my restorative abilities.

There is some very fine playing going on here between Gianoli and Badura Skoda. The latter is probably one of the finest Mozartian's of the last century. I think that Hermann Scherchen leads a suitable accompaniment without the mannerisms that he was sometimes known for. Admittedly, I had not heard of Gianoli before I picked up this record. Listening to her here and on Charm Nick's posting in Bach reveals a strong player with good technique who also has an almost willful approach to the music. In fact, I believe that Gianoli imparts a lot of herself in the music, maybe bordering on over the top. Well, you be the judge.

An interesting discovery, nonetheless.

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Schubert's Incidental Music to "Rosamunde" conducted by Dean Dixon

I was lucky to find a decent copy of this first ever recording of the Incidental Music to Schubert's Rosamunde led by the fine, and underrated,  Dean Dixon. I've spoken in the past on Dixon; truly a man of great abilities who appeared on the American musical scene "before his time" as the old cliche goes. It's a damn shame that his greatest success was in Europe, with its more liberal racial climate and, not in his home country. Only toward the end of his life did he begin to gain recognition here - he died at the terribly young age of 61.

This recording is a fascinating and satisfying affair. Dixon strives for clarity and his brisk tempos would be more in line with period performance practice then the romantic, big bodied approach that Schubert was typically given during the early 50's when Westminster recorded this performance. I like Dixon's way, he doesn't linger or get overly sentimental and nothing is forced, in short, he lets the music speak for itself. His efforts are well supported by Ferdinand Grossman's fine Academy Chamber Choir and the famed contralto Hilde Roessel-Majden. Interestingly, the overture to Alfonso und Estrella is included as the opening number.

My opinion is that had Dixon lived, he would've achieved greater fame in the US and been counted as one of the major podium presences of his time. Instead, we have here a document of an immensely talented man whom the fates dealt not the best hand.

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