Two of the greatest orchestra builders this century has known, George Szell and Fritz Reiner, were Hungarian Jews displaced by World War II. Settling in the U.S., these legendary technicians and martinets of the baton shaped the Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, respectively, in their own fanatical, perfectionist images.
Although later conductors sought credit, it really was Szell and Reiner who took these ensembles to the international heights. Two newly issued boxed-set recordings provide compelling aural evidence of their achievements.
By way of commemorating the 100th anniversary of Szell’s birth and his 24-year partnership with the Cleveland Orchestra, the orchestra has released a seven-CD album of hitherto-unavailable performances, taped in concert between 1956 and his death in 1970 (TCO-GS97).
Those responsible for putting together the Szell centennial box were careful not to duplicate, save for a couple of Wagner opera excerpts, works that figure in Szell’s commercial discography. Included is repertory with which the conductor was closely identified (Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis,” Sibelius’ Fourth and Seventh symphonies), as well as material one would not automatically associate with him (Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 and 20th Century works by Samuel Barber, Alberto Ginastera, Henri Dutilleux and William Walton).
In interviews, four of which make up the final disc of the set, Szell spelled out his musical credo. Orchestral chamber music in which sound, phrasing and articulation would be homogeneous, every detail audible and perfectly balanced within the larger aural picture — that was his ideal. Szell’s preparation was exacting and exhaustive; this, combined with his caustic manner, did not endear him to orchestra players. Even so, they could play like angels for him, doing so as much out of fear as respect.
Almost inevitably, this stickler for antiromantic, literalist precision was accused of being dry, unbending and pedantic in his interpretations. Szell could certainly be all those things. But that rigid-Kapellmeister stereotype — supported by many of the studio recordings Szell made in Cleveland — did not hold true for a good many of the live performances he gave with his orchestra, as this writer can personally attest. Szell, like most musicians, needed an audience to help him produce his most spontaneous responses. Cool elegance of execution, pristine musical organization and strict, never slavish, adherence to style shine like a beacon through these in-concert recordings.
The Wagner opera excerpts and 20th Century works heard on the first two discs are of special interest. Through an agreement with the orchestra members, these performances were privately taped on the opening nights of subscription performances Szell gave during the 1956-57 season in the orchestra’s home, Severance Hall.
Primarily designed as an experiment in three-track recording, the tapes gave Szell a means of correcting faults in the orchestra’s execution and interpretation before leading the final concert of a given program. They represent some of the earliest examples of multi-channel recording in the U.S., made at a time when two-channel stereo recording was just beginning to be employed in commercial recording sessions. These recordings appear here, for the first time, in amazingly good stereo sound that puts the listener in an optimum seat at one of the world’s finest concert halls.
Along with Wagner scenes sung by that fine, underrated Wagnerian soprano, Margaret Harshaw, these first discs contain two works commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra — Dutilleux’s “Cinq Metaboles” and Walton’s Violin Concerto, the latter with Zino Francescatti as soloist. Barber’s “Music for a Scene from Shelley” and Ginastera’s “Pampeana No. 3” round out Disc Two. Szell may not have been a fervent champion of the moderns, but his way with these four attractive scores is typically taut and rhythmically exact.
Taped at a pair of performances in 1967, Szell’s Beethoven “Missa Solemnis” is a taut, fiery, thrilling performance in the Toscanini mold that reminds us what a splendid choral organization the Robert Shaw-trained Cleveland Orchestra Chorus was at that time. This is the high point of the set.
Also in the “must hear” category are the two Sibelius symphonies, taken from concerts given in 1965. No. 7 was taped in Helsinki during an orchestra tour and is the only mono selection in the anthology. The strange, enigmatic Northern landscape that is the Fourth Symphony takes particularly well to Szell’s dry-ice intensity.
Of more than curiosity value is the conductor’s own orchestral version of the Schubert Octet, with the original string quintet expanded to 17 players — a wonderfully lucid performance despite persistent bobbles from longtime principal hornist Myron Bloom. The Mahler Ninth Symphony, taped in 1969, the year before Szell’s death, is likely to prove more controversial. The playing is of extraordinary textural and dynamic refinement, raptly beautiful in the long final Adagio, which is unfortunately marred near the end by the audience’s midwinter coughing. Still, for some listeners this will seem like Mahler under a microscope, the music more analyzed than felt.
The handsomely designed box comes with a thick booklet containing several informative essays. Mail orders for the Szell Centennial Compact Disc Edition should be sent to: Szell Centennial, Severance Hall, 11001 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 44106. Cost is $110 plus $12 shipping. The set may also be obtained by phone (800-686-1141) or fax (216-231-5311).
The miracles of orchestral refinement, precision and flexibility Reiner was able to achieve — in concert and on recordings — are much more widely known and appreciated, thanks to RCA Victor and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which has issued most of the existing airchecks of CSO/Reiner concerts given in Orchestra Hall. Latest of the RCA reissues is a bargain box containing all the Richard Strauss recordings he made in Chicago between 1954 and 1962, spanning virtually his entire tenure as music director (09026-68635-2, also available separately).
Much of this material has appeared several times before on CD, but its mass reappearance on RCA’s Living Stereo line brings a freshening of sonic values and a low price that make Reiner’s Strauss omnibus hard, if not impossible, to resist. More, the stereo recordings by RCA’s crack team of Richard Mohr and Lewis Layton, which set new standards in their day, represent the old Orchestra Hall acoustics at their most opulent — an ideal sonic backdrop for Reiner’s performances, many of which have never been equalled.
What the Cleveland Orchestra did for its former music director, the New York Philharmonic is doing on behalf of its great former maestro, Leonard Bernstein. Newly issued on compact disc is a transcript of the radio broadcast of that famous Philharmonic concert, Nov. 14, 1943, when the young assistant substituted, with no rehearsal, for the ailing Bruno Walter. Bernstein scored a spectacular success and made American cultural history in the process.
The program holds works by Schumann, Miklos Rozsa and, most notably, Strauss’ “Don Quixote” — a reading bursting with enough swaggering intensity to signal to the world that a supertalented young American musician of enormous potential had appeared on the conducting horizon. The aircheck sound is limited, but never mind: for an aural portrait of Lenny well on his way to becoming Leonard, this is an indispensable document. Price is $15.99; available on-line at www.leonardbernstein.com, or by phone at 800-99MUSIC.
