PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67; SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43; GRIEG: The Last Spring, Op. 34, No. 2 – Eleanor Roosevelt, narrator/ Boston Symphony Orchestra/Serge Koussevitzky – Naxos Historical

by | Aug 25, 2008 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67; SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43; GRIEG: The Last Spring, Op. 34, No. 2 – Eleanor Roosevelt, narrator/ Boston Symphony Orchestra/Serge Koussevitzky

Naxos Historical 8.111290, 72:42 [Not Distr. in the USA] *****:

 
Some years ago, I participated in an on-air discussion regarding that elusive concept of “name the most perfect recording ever made”; invariably, among collectors, the RCA release LM 1172, the Sibelius Second with Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra would emerge, along with Beecham’s recording of Puccini’s La Boheme with Jussi Bjoerling and Licia Albanese. While such speculation proves futile, the re-issue of the Sibelius (29 November 1950), virtually Koussevitzky’s final recording–with the Grieg on this same disc–deserves a special mention. Having once recorded the D Major in the 1930’s, Koussevitzky likely took his own shaping of the score from that of veteran Robert Kajanus, who had inscribed a series of the composer’s works for the Sibelius Society. The 1950 version has more of Koussevitzky’s volatile character, an unremitting passion that drives the score to surreal heights, a pantheistic tour de force. Accompanying this release–in new remastering by Mark Obert-Thorn–is an unlikely pairing with the 11 August 1950 inscription of Peter and the Wolf with ex-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962). Koussevitzky had made a debut recording of an English-language the political allegory in 1939 with actor Richard Hale, but he decided to eschew “theatrical” antics for Mrs. Roosevelt’s matronly style the second time around. The Grieg derives from the same session as the Symphony in D, an afterthought of grand beauty which appeared on both 78 rpm and 45 rpm.

As a triptych devoted to the purity of the Boston Symphony’s orchestral tone, these inscriptions are never less than immaculate. Roosevelt’s clear diction and didactic style complement the several instrumental choirs’ characterizations of the competing animals for Peter’s undivided attention. One will relish Mrs. Roosevelt’s enunciation of the word “lasso” on this record. The score itself is rife with melodic and metric allusions to the ballet Romeo and Juliet, of which Koussevitzky recorded a few excerpts. The Grieg (29 November 1950) is a string orchestra delight, the second of the Elegiac Melodies which Mengelberg cherished as well. As a valedictory hymn to Koussevitzky, the BSO strings provide a moving testament of elastic and virile power.

The D Major Symphony unfolds in illustrious sound, each note–especially in the BSO woodwinds and horns–etched in silver fire. The tympanic beats thunder even when played mezzo-forte, and the weird evolution of the modal theme–whatever its odd realization of sonata-form–achieves a pulverizing intensity. Every string climax aspires to extra-terrestrial heights, the periods entirely rounded, as to make Karajan weep with envy. The side joins, problematic in prior incarnations of this performance, here flow seamlessly. The superb trumpets come out of nowhere, much like Mozart’s entry of his soli in his Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364. The Aeolian mode Andante may well be the highlight of the inscription, from the opening bass pizzicati over rolling tympani, nodding an acknowledgement to Koussevitzky’s own instrumental beginnings. The superheated figures soon achieve a controlled hysteria, an adumbration of the heroic impulse that drives the entire last movement series of perorations. When the initial struggle of the Andante subsides, Nature reveals her mysteries in a flowering intertwining of motifs from Beethoven and Wagner informed by an idyllic Northern landscape. The convulsions return with unbridled fury; and rarely have the brass and string bass punctuations resounded so passionately, the flute and string lines so purely. If we haven’t been already emotionally spent, the whirlwind Vivacissimo casts us forth toward the abyss, the only relief coming from the BSO oboe and the surrounding flutes, winds, and strings. The horn pedal after the second series of apocalyptic bombardments establishes the trio once more; and then the spasm to the extended, heroic finale, ending with a series of dynamic adjustments to the main clarion theme reminiscent of Ravel’s method in Bolero. It’s hard to find one epithet that characterizes this recorded “event”;  just invoking “noble” or “victorious” to describe Koussevitzky’s last commercial recording belies its ineffable spirit, likely “the most perfect record [he] ever made.”

–Gary Lemco

 

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