Rene Leibowitz leads Schoenberg's Gurrelieder

I'm very, very happy to have found the VoxBox of this original Haydn Society record. Rene Leibowitz leads French forces in one of the greatest recordings of Gurrelieder ever made. making allowances for somewhat muffled early 50's sound, this performance will convince you that this masterpiece is the product of one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time.

Conductor Leibowitz was the ideal choice to invest the task of bringing Gurrelieder to life. He was long associated with Schoenberg and the second Viennese School of composition (note Gurrelieder is exclusively tonal)  and his commitment to this sprawling, complex masterwork is totally without question. Leibowitz creates a continual line which navigates this work through its monumental length and thick orchestration. The conductor is so utterly convincing and absorbing that all I can say that oh, what magic Leibowitz would have worked with Mahler. Many have used Wagner to describe Gurrelieder but it is most assuredly Mahler and his sound world that serve as an inspiration for this choral and orchestral blockbuster.

This is an essential record, a tribute to the great gifts possessed by Rene Leibowitz.

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The wonderful Schuyler Symphony in Verklaerte Nacht and Suite Provencale!

Haha...got your attention! Who, what, where??? The Schuyler Symphony is of course the RCA Camden pseudonym for the St Louis Symphony Orchestra and its music director of a quarter century, Vladimir Golschmann.  On this Camden release, Golschmann leads strong performances of Schoenberg's "Verklaerte Nacht", Milhaud's  delightful "Suite Provencale", and a couple of encore Dvorak Slavonic Dances from Op. 46.

Golschmann was a fine conductor, if not at the very top tier. Well respected, and highly held by musicians and teh public alike,  he was a welcome guest conductor and a favorite of a number of composers, probably due in part to his musical honesty and freedom from excess and egotism. The program here is tailor made for Golschmann as he was closely associated with both Schoenberg and even more so with Darius Milhaud.  My favorite on this recording is Suite Provencale, it simply sparkles. Its really a wonderful piece of writing if you do not know of it, you need to make an acquaintance. Golschmann lets the music speak clearly and naturally and though Munch's take with the superior BSO is tremendously exciting, the latter conductor does tend to overdrive the piece. Golschmann seems so right.

Sound is so so on this Camden as it is in most Camden reissues. How technology for reissuing classics has changed!  Still, it is nice to have Golschmann conducting this orchestra, one that best represents his art on record. Mono FLACs.


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