Reissue CD Reviews
DVORAK: Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104; Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 “From the New World” — Antonio Janigro, cello/ Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra/Erich Kleiber — Archipel
Elegant and colossal performance of the concerto; Symphony suffers from poor sound
Published on September 09, 2005
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DVORAK: Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104; Symphony No. 9 in E
Minor, Op. 95 “From the New World” — Antonio Janigro, cello/ Cologne
Radio Symphony Orchestra/Erich Kleiber
Archipel ARPCD 0329 79:26 (Distrib. Qualiton) ***:
This reissue devoted to conductor Erich Kleiber (1890-1956) and his powerful sway in the music of Dvorak had a good reputation as a Discocorp LP some twenty years ago. Archipel’s reprocessing is sturdy but suffers some sound compression, and there is a bit of shatter in the high notes. Five years ago, Naxos brought out Kleiber’s brisk reading of the New World Symphony from 1929 with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra (8.110907), a performance whose quick speeds are actually surpassed by his Cologne interpretation of 16 November 1954. Only the Largo movement enjoys a slightly broader tempo, with Kleiber’s treating the famous string quartet sequence like a continuo in the midst of brightly colored concerto grosso. Likely taken directly from the LP (a repeated 1-bar phrase in the first movement sounds like an LP nick), I cannot become too excited about the sound here, either; despite the live broadcast excitement, the opening strings and cor anglais seem to emerge from a telephone booth under water. But the phrasing and the mystical aura reveal Kleiber capable of the same romantic intensity as Toscanini. The flexible pulsation between strings and winds is pure magic; the driven-ness of the performance, even given its occasional rubati a la Mengelberg, is staggering. A real tour-de-force for Kleiber, who could imbue enough drama into anything he led to make it reverberate like Beethoven.
I had the privilege of seeing and hearing cellist-conductor Antonio Janigro (1918-1989) perform at Emory University in Atlanta in the late 1980s, leading his I Solisti di Zagreb ensemble. I presented him, for his autograph, a copy of the Soria RCA recording of the Strauss Don Quixote with Fritz Reiner, which he relished showing a few of his colleagues. The Dvorak Concerto (23 March 1955) is elegant and colossal, with Janigro’s tone in luxurious colors. The Adagio ma non troppo clearly focuses on the solo, with the woodwinds chirruping and warbling harmoniously. Kleiber, never one to dawdle, urges the orchestral tissue forward, but without losing one drop of intricate layered sentiment. Oboe and flute conspire with cello and tympani for gorgeous effects. The recorded sound is clean, much improved upon what seems the artificial constraints of the symphony’s acoustics. The virile, elastic beauty of Janigro’s playing, the nobility and resolution of the concerto’s realization more than compensate for any audiophile’s quibbles with the lack of sonic pungency. Not for “collectors” only.
--Gary Lemco
Archipel ARPCD 0329 79:26 (Distrib. Qualiton) ***:
This reissue devoted to conductor Erich Kleiber (1890-1956) and his powerful sway in the music of Dvorak had a good reputation as a Discocorp LP some twenty years ago. Archipel’s reprocessing is sturdy but suffers some sound compression, and there is a bit of shatter in the high notes. Five years ago, Naxos brought out Kleiber’s brisk reading of the New World Symphony from 1929 with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra (8.110907), a performance whose quick speeds are actually surpassed by his Cologne interpretation of 16 November 1954. Only the Largo movement enjoys a slightly broader tempo, with Kleiber’s treating the famous string quartet sequence like a continuo in the midst of brightly colored concerto grosso. Likely taken directly from the LP (a repeated 1-bar phrase in the first movement sounds like an LP nick), I cannot become too excited about the sound here, either; despite the live broadcast excitement, the opening strings and cor anglais seem to emerge from a telephone booth under water. But the phrasing and the mystical aura reveal Kleiber capable of the same romantic intensity as Toscanini. The flexible pulsation between strings and winds is pure magic; the driven-ness of the performance, even given its occasional rubati a la Mengelberg, is staggering. A real tour-de-force for Kleiber, who could imbue enough drama into anything he led to make it reverberate like Beethoven.
I had the privilege of seeing and hearing cellist-conductor Antonio Janigro (1918-1989) perform at Emory University in Atlanta in the late 1980s, leading his I Solisti di Zagreb ensemble. I presented him, for his autograph, a copy of the Soria RCA recording of the Strauss Don Quixote with Fritz Reiner, which he relished showing a few of his colleagues. The Dvorak Concerto (23 March 1955) is elegant and colossal, with Janigro’s tone in luxurious colors. The Adagio ma non troppo clearly focuses on the solo, with the woodwinds chirruping and warbling harmoniously. Kleiber, never one to dawdle, urges the orchestral tissue forward, but without losing one drop of intricate layered sentiment. Oboe and flute conspire with cello and tympani for gorgeous effects. The recorded sound is clean, much improved upon what seems the artificial constraints of the symphony’s acoustics. The virile, elastic beauty of Janigro’s playing, the nobility and resolution of the concerto’s realization more than compensate for any audiophile’s quibbles with the lack of sonic pungency. Not for “collectors” only.
--Gary Lemco
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