Reiner Rarities = MENDELSSOHN: A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Overture; Scherzo; Nocturne; Intermezzo; Wedding March; GLUCK: Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Eurydice; LISZT: Totentanz; TCHAIKOVSKY: 5 Waltzes – Alexander Brailowsky, piano/RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra/ Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, Philadelphia/Fritz Reiner
Pristine Audio PASC 235, 78:37 [choice of formats at www.pristineclassical.com] ****:
Assembled from RCA Victor records inscribed 1950-1953, Pristine and its engineer-producer Mark Obert-Thorn vividly resurrect a tribute to the less familiar repertory led by Fritz Reiner (1888-1963), the Hungarian maestro whose small but articulate beat and fiery temper dominated musicians in the concert hall and the operatic theater. Collectors will recall with some pride their ownership of RCA LM 1724 and the ten-inch LP LM 103, respectively, the Mendelssohn and the elusive Tchaikovsky Waltzes Reiner inscribed around the time he recorded his RCA excerpts from Der Fledermaus. Only two of the selections–the Totentanz (with Byron Janis) and the Waltz of the Flowers–received a second recording from Reiner.
Reiner leads the summer “version” of the Philadelphia Orchestra (30 June 1951) for the five-movement suite of Overture and Incidental Music for a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Reiner coveted the Philadelphia Orchestra, despite his glowing successes in Pittsburgh and Chicago, the latter ensemble having under his reign become what Stravinsky called “the most flexible and precise ensemble in the world.” Reiner’s exquisite layering of Mendelssohn’s dragonfly colors for the Overture captures the sweet, magical dalliance and mock heroics of the stage play. The effervescent Scherzo features flute principal Burnett F. Atkinson. The clarity of the Philadelphia strings in their shimmering haste proves no less engaging than the flute pyrotechnics. The French horn principal adds his talent to the Nocturne, a sumptuous affair in silver and sylvan nuances. The Wedding March does not dawdle, the Philadelphia brass and cymbals in foursquare motion, imparting a vigorously noble authority to the conclusion of this familiar suite.
The aura changes significantly with Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits (16 June 1953, taken from LM 2141), its diaphanous grace augmented by the efforts of flute soloist Julius Baker. The RCA pickup ensemble, comprised of NBC Symphony and New York Philharmonic players, constitutes what passed for Leopold Stokowski’s “orchestra” in fellow RCA archives. Reiner takes an expansive view of the Dance, imparting to Orfeo’s flute lament the soul of the lover bereft of his divine light. The Liszt Totentanz (6 March 1951) receives the praiseworthy collaboration of Russian virtuoso Alexander Brailowsky (1896-1976), a pianist who always attended to rounded tone if not digital accuracy. The original RCA LP (LM 1095) featured Brailowsky and Jean Morel in the Franck Symphonic Variations as its B side. The performance has all the hair-raising venom and savage gloating we could demand from Liszt’s response to the Traini fresco of Death’s universal triumphs.
The group of Tchaikovsky waltzes (21-22 September 1950) opens with the Valse from the E Minor Symphony No. 5, a work Reiner never recorded in its entirety. The attention to the cello line, low strings, and clarinet-oboe-bassoon progression gives us a well-breathed sense of Tchaikovsky’s color palette. The ensuing chugging figures enjoy enough plasticity and aerial spaciousness to convince us that they belong to Sleeping Beauty. The Waltz from Eugene Onegin resounds with the heat of a minor detonation, a true rival to the famed inscription by Sir Thomas Beecham. Vivid attacks and eminently clear voice entries attest to the fearfully rewarding discipline of the Reiner experience. The same passion for soulful clarity drives the waltzes from Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, renditions to urge Reiner in the same league as Stokowski in this repertoire, and even more electric. By the time we’ve swayed and lilted to the Dance of the Flowers, we wonder if Reiner made these exquisite gems to spite us in repertory RCA would not allow him to pursue, or just to embarrass the likes of Eugene Ormandy.
–Gary Lemco
