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Re: I have the Ancerl 1966 LP and radio broadcast from the 80's on this work

Posted by Todd Krieger (A) on May 8, 2007 at 04:12:13

In Reply to: I have the Ancerl 1966 LP and radio broadcast from the 80's on this work posted by docw on May 7, 2007 at 16:04:51:

The horns were OK. Not as articulate as they once were. The brass, as I heard it on that broadcast, may have been a tad "top heavy". (A common trait with American orchestras. The trumpet plays the soft parts too loud.)

The new Cleveland sound kind of reminds me of how the Boston Symphony sounded during Ozawa's tenure. I saw the Boston Symphony in concert at Severance Hall. Performed Beethoven's First Symphony and Stravinsky's "Firebird". (People tell me my long-term memory is disgusting.) Two months after experiencing Cleveland do the "Firebird". The main difference being the Boston performance was the full ballet score while Cleveland did the abridged Suite. What struck me, at the time, was what I later learned was "phrasing" and dynamics. Boston had a more "muscular" sound (more like Chicago), was louder, but Cleveland was more dynamic and variation in tonal color. (Several weeks later, an usher at a the BSO concert thought Boston was tuned "sharper" than Cleveland.)

I also recall the Boston having a "split" violin arrangement, with the second violins on the right, playing into the "shell." It was not that popular at the time, like it seems to be now. Cleveland later adopted this arrangement in the midst of Dohnanyi's tenure, and it's been that way ever since. (Welser Moest once said he'd return to the old arrangement, but apparently that never happened.) I personally like the second violins behind the first violins, because the choirs are more distinctive. The chords formed by the strings don't sound as convincing or cohesive in the "split" arrangement, and the second violins almost sound like they're missing altogether. But I've been told that the split sections are preferred in better halls. (Cleveland changed the arrangement around 1992 if I recall. It had nothing to do with the renovation.)

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