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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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In Reply to: RE: The longest recording review I have ever written, I think: 4,000 words posted by semuta on February 22, 2024 at 00:38:25:
The three conductors I revere most are Tennstedt, Celibidache, and Carlos Kleiber.
Circa 1990, Tennstedt conducted a Mahler 1st. Unusually, with the Chicago Symphony. There was, post his death, a CD release I think was sourced from TV audio. I listened and listened, and then I asked John Atkinson to listen. JA and I agreed that we could not put into words what made that recording so special. And, I am going to bring this to JA's attention, and perhaps he will comment (although he does not usually).
BTW, Alex Ross is American. I think I did more than second what he said. Later on, I pointed out the irony that Unicorn's engineer was sweating over precise details, but the conductor he was recording was trying to convey the spiritual message of the music.
People who either watched Horenstein in rehearsals or in recording sessions, or who have listened to raw unedited recording-session tapes, tell me that it was surprising how little Horenstein used words to explain what he wanted. What seemed to happen was the Horenstein slightly modified his beat and his conducting gestures the next time through, and that is how he communicated what he wanted to the orchestra.
But if Jascha Horenstein HIMSELF could not put into words what made his performance different, how could I?
all my best,
john
PS: Brian Zolner of Bricasti told me that he had listened to the Bruck Horenstein Mahler 3 (he had never heard the Unicorn or Urania versions) three times, and he was still "trying to wrap his head around" in what ways it was or was not from the other Mahler 3s in his collection. Brian regularly attends the Boston Symphony, btw, and knows a boatload of classical music. One of the very few people in high-end audio who already knew about Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius" before I mentioned it.
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Follow Ups
- It's one of those recordings that resists objective analysis - John Marks 06:09:37 02/22/24 (2)
- RE: It's one of those recordings that resists objective analysis - semuta 08:44:46 02/22/24 (1)
- RE: It's one of those recordings that resists objective analysis - pbarach 07:33:06 02/25/24 (0)
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