A few to tide me over....

I've had some serious "writer's block" of late which, unfortunately, has made blogging oh so difficult for me. Perhaps I've hit a wall or something, I don't know. Well, as not to deprave my patient and loyal readers, I'm going to to offer up a half dozen transfers that I've had in the can, albeit without commentary...

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Note:  The Beethoven and Bruckner are the only stereo recordings here. Enjoy!

Leon Fleisher performs Hindemith's 'The Four Temperaments'

A big thank you to Ray in Montana for sending long this lp to me for transfer. Epic LC3356 featuring Szymon Goldberg leading his Netherlands Chamber Orchestra with Leon Fleisher and Paul Godwin taking up the solo duties in wonderful music of Hindemith.

Paul Hindemith is one of my favorite composers and I absolutely never tire of either the Symphony Mathis der Maler of the main work on this record, The Four Temperaments. The music his completely accessible and masterfully orchestrated and in both pieces the ideas are fresh, engaging and in places poignant. This Four Temperaments is fortunate to feature Leon Fleisher in the concertante role. At the time of the recording. Fleisher was at an absolute artistic peak, having set down benchmark records with Szell of concertos by Beethoven and Brahms.  The collaboration here is one of cohesion and though it does not displace my favorite record of Victor Aller with Felix Slatkin, it is nonetheless, highly musical and worthy of Hindemith's intentions. The works on side two are beautifully rendered and a tribute to the excellent orchestra that Goldberg developed.

Goldberg's "take" of Op 44, No 4 got me thinking about another old MGM lp that I transferred unsatisfactorily sometime ago. This lp features the complete "Educational Music" of Op 44 with the Maurice Levine  String Ensemble. I gave it another go and it came out better. Like Orff, Hindemith was interested in musical learning and in the spirit of teaching, he created an interesting work in its complete form.  Unfortunately, both lps add up to about 85 minutes of music so if you download both, it'll be two burned cd's.

A curious note: though the MGM is expectantly mono, I would have expected the 1957 date of the Goldberg record to have a stereophonic edition. Alas, no.

Always a good day with new Hindemith discoveries!

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Hindemith from Henry Swoboda

The Swoboda festival continues! Squirrel and I are keeping the Swoboda flame burning.

From 1951, this Westminster lp features Kammermusik No 4 (also known as the Violin Concerto No 3) and the Four Temperaments. Soloists are the fine Czech-Austrian violinist Peter Rybar and the excellent Czech pianist Franz Holletschek. The orchestras are the Winterthur SO and the Vienna SO respectively.

As mentioned previously, Swoboda's best results were with works that were really out of the orchestral mainstream. For whatever reason, his level of inspiration and creativity tended towards pieces that were not old warhorses. Here we have have engaging and insightful interpretations of two, at the time "fringe" pieces, that are prepared well and presented with flair.  You know, a  few months ago, I offered an excellent recording of the Four Temperaments with Victor Aller and Felix Slatkin, one that I consider a near benchmark. Well, here is another equally fine record, a bit less edgy, smoothed out a bit if you will, but no less vital and committed to Hindemith's soundworld. I believe this and the Aller are much better then Lukas Foss' recording with the Zimbler Sinfonietta, a recording that is a bit detached for me. The Violin Concerto receives a splendid go but I think it an inferior piece to the Four Temperaments since it is far less engaging.

I wish that Swoboda had recorded the symphony "Mathis der Maler," an all time favorite of mine and a piece that is a great masterpiece, at least to my ears.

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A little Brass and with some Woodwind tossed in for good luck!

Some great brass and woodwind music today. First, by request(s), The Modern Age of Brass with Roger Voisin leading a bunch of his BSO colleagues followed by Frank Glazer and the NY Woodwind Quintet in music by Riegger and Poulenc. Both records date from the mid 50's, the Voisin in mono and the woodwind in stereo, though I have seen the latter's recording date as 1953! The stereo here appears natural.

Brass players are so indebted to Roger V for his pioneering recordings and editions of various works for trumpet and brass. Though admittedly, I have never been a great fan of the bright French school of trumpet playing that he was one of the last proponents of, I recognize him as a tireless promoter of the trumpet and music for brass ensembles. And, as I said previously, Roger was completely and utterly dedicated to music in Boston, especially the next generation of brass players. This important record, from MIT, preserves strong, pioneering excursions into great works. In particular is the masterpiece of Ingolf Dahl, his Music for Brass Instruments, a brilliant work of colors and invention. There is some fine playing by Voisin, Armando Ghitalla and Kauko Kahila here. Great stuff.

The woodwind album features two works, Wallingford Riegger's Concerto for Piano and Woodwind Quintet and Poulenc's "Piano" sextet. We all know Poulenc whose star shines pretty bright these days but Riegger is shamelessly neglected, in fact nearly forgotten. Though Riegger primarily composed within the twelve tone system, he was not orthodox enough to make his output difficult to listen to, The concerto, Op 53 and written in 1953(!) is a marvelous piece of imagination and beauty. I think it to be a great display of Riegger's understanding of the instruments and the colors and sounds that they make. Now, if we can only get a recording of his Music for Brass Choir! The Poulenc is delicious in that French 20th century kind of a way and players like Samual Baron and David Glazer eat it up for all its worth. Frank Glazer's piano conributions are insightful and a pleasant reminder of this fine, and underrated, artist.

Both of these lp's add up to a well filled cd. It all works well together, at least I think so.

Personal note: I will be on vacation through the middle of July. More posts will come after I return.
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Victor Aller joins Felix Slatkin in Shostakovich and Hindemith

Today's lp features strong familial ties along with terrific playing by an orchestra that was for all practical purposes the cream of Hollywood Studio musicians. Pianist Victor Aller joins his brother in law Felix Slatkin and the Concert Arts Orchestra in Shostakovich's Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings and Hindemith's The Four Temperaments.

During the 40's and 50's, Hollywood was home to some of the very best classically trained musicians in the country. Many, were drawn to the optimistic outlook of California, often coming from disparate circumstances in Europe, and others liked the idea of good pay, steady employment and, superb benefits that the studios lavished on their best of the best. Of those working in the studio were the extended Slatkin family, Felix, his wife Eleanor and her brother Victor Aller. Felix and Eleanor would found the Hollywood Quartet, which in its day was one of the finest quartets in the Americas and a pioneer in performing newer works for the string quartet medium.

Felix Slatkin was the longtime concertmaster of the Twentieth Century Fox Orchestra and often conducted this fine band, which many considered the best studio orchestra and, even a better ensemble then the famed Los Angeles Philharmonic. Slatkin had developed a relationship with Capitol through the Hollywood Quartet and during the early 50's, Capitol sought to offer a "pops" type series to rival RCA's Boston Pops and Columbia's Andre Kostelanetz. Capitol settled on Felix Slatkin to conduct larger works with Carmen Dragon directing the "lollipop" type offerings. Mostly Slatkin was put to work with overtures and ballet suites but here he is with a full scale recording of two serious and contemporary works.

Both the Shostakovich and Hindemith are well played and ideally interpreted. Aller and Slatkin are truly of one mind and what is beautiful about the performances is that Aller does not view these as solo concertos but rather as works for orchestra with a "leading" piano part. I really like this approach as I view the works in this way. The Shostakovich is a marvelous and colorful piece, probably one of the five best concertos of the last century. The Hindemith, not heard often enough, is a strong work and this performance softens ever so slightly Hindemith's often spiky manner in a beneficial way. Though very different composers with styles that are hardly congruent, this pairing makes sense and flows naturally under Slakin's able direction.

These recordings date from 1953 and were well recorded by Capitol.

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William Steinberg conducts Hindemith and Toch

I just love this jacket, don't you? For my money,  the two finest "Mathis der Maler's" are William Steinberg's Boston and this Pittsburgh one. Interpretative flow and structure is without peer and the maestro makes the strongest case for this work as being very much the greatest example of a "biographical" symphony.

I have long admired Steinberg's honest approach to the German masters. His Beethoven is unmannered, Mahler is free from emotional excessive and Brahms flows lyrically and naturally. One can describe this rare record of Ernst Toch's Third Symphony as technically controlled and structurally firm. Toch's somewhat thick texture is not muddied and details emerge as they should; obvious to me is the preparation that Steinberg gave this work. The Toch is not an easy piece to listen to but you won't find a better advocate of this composer's soundworld. Both the Hindemith and Toch recordings are the results of extensive and careful preparation, and commitment - you CAN hear this.

This lp, I believe, is about as fine as introduction to the art of William Steinberg as one will get. Though I had a really rough copy to work with, surprisingly I got out most of the surface crap. You will love the Hindemith, I am sure of that!

Flacs from a Capitol lp.

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