Curtain Calls!

Home today on account of the East Coast Blizzard of  '10. After cleaning the driveway and well, not having to go to work, here's time for a small offering from the baton of William Steinberg. Aptly titled "Curtain Calls!" this lp features works that would either open a concert program or serve as appropriate encores.

One piece I'd like to mention from this collection is Saint Saens' French Military March from his Suite Algiers. This is a delightful little number, hardly heard today and I have fond memories of playing it in college band, in an arrangement by Dr Mark Hindsley, former director of bands at the University of Illinois. This march is Saint Saens at his best, captivating, invigorating and buoyantly optimistic. In addition, a wonderful rendition of Dvorak's Scherzo Capriccioso awaits the listeneer, not to mention a couple of Strauss polkas brilliantly rendered.

William Steinberg rarely put out a clunker and here is yet another winner. His success was probably due in part to careful and meticulous preparation. My only wish is that he got better overall sound though Pittsburgh never had consistent luck with sound engineering and this frustration goes back to the 40's! This compilation dates from the early 60's and is in decent enough stereo sound.

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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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William Steinberg, Wagner and the Pittsburgh Symphony

   

That's get it over with...that first record jacket looks like something out of a 70's all girl porn flick. I wonder if this reissue experienced record (pardon the pun)sales??!!! Westminster Gold, the brainchild reissue label of ABC, certainly was known more for their quirky record jackets then for the poor quality, cheap vinyl in which they pressed, often classic performances, onto. Here is an example:  two rather fine Wagner compilations, originally recorded by Enoch Light's Command Classics during the early to mid 1960's.

Hans Wilhelm Steinberg was like millions of European immigrants who came to the United States during the first half of the last century; essentially he was born anew and he became in many ways more American then someone native born. Not only did he change his name to William, but he referred to himself as "Buffalo Bill" during his years as music director in that city. Steinberg took great interest in American music, sports and culture and was widely admired for his devotion to the audiences during his tenures in Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Boston. A man of courtly mannerisms, but authoritative nonetheless, Steinberg's interpretations were noted for their clarity, freedom from excess, and above all honesty - no gimmicks.

These two Wagner compilations are yet another example of a Jewish musician who, though driven from his homeland and noting the way that the Nazi's exploited Wagner, chose to recognize the music's genius above the creator's apparent faults. This is above all musical Wagner and Steinberg's beloved Pittsburgh orchestra matches his vision every step of the way. The fault in these recordings lies in the pressings; Wetsminster Gold was a budget shop and their pressings had all the very worst characteristics of a budget label. I do hope that you, the listener, can overlook the less the stellar transfers and just enjoy the music presented in an honest, straightforward, unsentimental manner, as only William Steinberg could do.

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