Sibelius: Finlandia
Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra
Sony Classical
Ormandy’s orchestra was always considered to have the richest orchestral strings on earth. But right from the opening of this recording you’ll know why its brass, woodwinds, and percussion also conveyed their unmistakable “Philadelphia Orchestra sound.” Ormandy gives this performance a thrilling eight-minute charge that ties it together in one breath from beginning to end.
WebTips: This performance is on the same Sibelius Sony Essential Classics album mentioned in Phils 3. (The 2-CD album with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1 mentioned in Phils 3 and Phils 5 has a different recording conducted by Richard Hickox).
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Jan Panenka; Vaclav Smetacek, Prague Symphony
Supraphon
Murray Perahia; Bernard Haitink, Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam
Sony Classical (CBS)
Leon Fleisher; George Szell, Cleveland Orchestra
Sony Classical
Panenka and Smetacek deliver plenty of nuance, light textures, buoyant rhythms, and great flow. Inner details in the orchestra are really clear. If you find the bass is too light, a twist of the knob fixes it fine. This is the most satisfying performance I’ve found.
Perahia’s recording is from his pre-injury days when he was a fully integral but more cautious performer. Nothing escapes his alert attention here, however, and Haitink, always a soft-edged conductor, underpins Perahia’s superb flow with crystal clear orchestral details.
I much prefer Fleisher’s more magical pianism that has an even broader range of subtlety and expression. The second movement is far more poignant as Fleisher draws out the serenity of the chorale, which Szell strongly contrasts with the orchestra’s dramatic bursts. They’re also more driven in the third movement; Fleisher seems rushed, but he’s not-- Szell holds the tempo as steady as a metronome while giving it a stronger underlying pulse than the bell-like Perahia and gentler Haitink. The big problem with Fleisher-Szell is that the engineers bury Fleisher’s left hand and all orchestral details; other than the melody line in orchestra and piano, the rest is clear as mush.
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic (1959)
Sony Classical
Mstislav Rostropovich, London Symphony
LSO
Bernstein and his new orchestra were returning home from probably the most famous State Department-sponsored tour in history, their 1959 post-Sputnik smashing triumph of the Soviet Union, when they stopped off at Boston’s Symphony Hall to make this legendary recording. It has all the electricity that shattered the composer and the audience when they played it in Moscow. One has to be dead not to be stirred in every movement. Shostakovich disagreed with Bernstein’s triumphal interpretation of the last movement but agreed that it was consummately thrilling nonetheless. The inspiration, quality of orchestral playing, and engineering are top of the line.
If, however, you want to know how a Russian “speaks this language”--and not just any Russian but one who knew Shostakovich intimately (and Alexander Solzhenitsyn too, who survived the Gulag and lived to tell about it)--Rostropovich’s London recording will leave you riveted to your chair. This performance has “Stalin” written all over it: the gait of the marches, the emptiness of the flute solos, the poignant outcrying of the weeping strings, the feeling of threat and tension. The ending of the third movement is like a visit to a graveyard, and Rostropovich’s finale is the opposite extreme from Bernstein’s. When it’s over, you’ll feel, “Oh! That’s what it’s all about!” Also, this is one time when Rostropovich gets an orchestra to play with all the precision, stylistic depth, and total rapture that he brought to his cello playing.
If I ever have to depart for a desert island, both recordings will go with me.
WebTips: Bernstein made two Sony recordings with the New York Philharmonic. Be sure to get the 1959 one, not the inferior performance recorded digitally in 1979 in Tokyo. Rostropovich also made an earlier inferior recording with the National Symphony on the Teldec label. Be sure to get the one on the London Symphony’s own label (the LSO disc is a multi-channel SACD recording).
