This week, nine of my favorite CDs, and one LP, of my favorite recordings by George Szell and friends:
1.
Smetana:
The Moldau from
Ma Vlast;
Three Dances from
The Bartered Bride;
Dvorak:
Carnival Overture;
Slavonic Dances #1 Op. 46; #3 Op. 46; #2 Op. 72; #7 Op. 72 (George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra)
2.
Mozart:
Sinfonia Concertante;
Clarinet Concerto (George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra w/Rafal Druian, violin 7 Abraham Skernick, violin on
Sinfonia Concertante; and Robert Marcellus, clarinet, on the
Clarinet Concerto)
3.
Prokofiev:
Piano Concertos #3 &
1 (George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra w/Gary Graffman, piano); Sonata #3 (Gary Graffman, piano)
4.
Mahler:
Symphony #4 (George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra w/Judith Raskin, soprano)
5.
Tchaikovsky:
Symphony #4 (George Szell/London Symphony Orchestra);
Beethoven: Excerpts from the
Incidental Music to "Egmont" (George Szell/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra w/Pilar Lorengar, soprano)
6.
Brahms:
Violin Concerto (George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra w/David Oistrakh, violin);
Violin Sonata #3 (David Oistrakh, violin & Vladimir Yampolsky, piano)
7.
Brahms:
Piano Concerto #2 (George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra w/Rudolf Serkin);
Richard Strauss:
Burleske (Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra w/Rudolf Serkin, piano)
8.
Wagner:
"Great Orchestral Music" from
"The Ring" (George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra)
9.
Mahler:
The Youth's Magic Horn (George Szell/London Symphony Orchestra w/Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano & Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, baritone)
10.
Barber:
Piano Concerto (George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra w/John Browning, piano);
William Schuman:
A Song of Orpheus (George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra w/Leonard Rose, cello)
Apart from being one of the greatest conductors of the Golden Age of Classical music, George Szell was also a gourmet chef. He was all about balance. Too much spice and the food taste like nothing but spices. Too little spice and the food taste like nothing at all. Sometimes Szell's approach resulted in recordings that I think were too clinical; and I always thought his recordings of the Beethoven and Brahms symphony cycles lacked some warmth and enthusiasm. On the other hand, there were other times when I found that Szell's approach worked just fine.
We start with about the finest recording of
The Moldau, though for me the rest of the CD is mildly entertaining filler.
Next we move on to some wonderful Mozart featuring in-house musicians from Szell's Cleveland Orchestra; and again everything is perfectly balanced and beautiful.
On the Prokofiev CD Szell joins forces with Gary Graffman and while the
Piano Concerto #3 is just fine, the less often recorded,
Piano Concerto #1 is the real treat, where a young, wild, and rebellious Prokofiev seems to want to stick it to Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky, and Rachmaninoff; as he comes up with something very bold, slightly mocking, but also lots of fun.
This is followed by Szell's exquisite recording of Mahler's
Symphony #4 that he made with Judith Raskin, and it is so nice that it practically ruined every other
Mahler 4 for me.
Szell then takes the reins of the London Symphony Orchestra and it's a very powerful and striking rendition of Tchaikovsky's
Symphony #4. The Tchaikovsky CD also features Beethoven's
Incidental Music from "Egmont" and it is some very entertaining filler that shows that when Beethoven wasn't shaking his fist at fate and fighting that secret war with himself; the old master could also be a lot of fun when he wasn't trying to be so serious.
A double dose of Brahms comes next as George Szell joins with violinist, David Oistrakh, on loan from the old Soviet Union in the
Violin Concerto; to be followed by Szell with the classy and refined pianist Rudolf Serkin on the
Piano Concerto #2; and both recordings demonstrate what a great "accompanist" Szell was. Szell (again, the gourmet chef) knew enough to allow the soloist to do their job while he provided just the right amount of flavor from the orchestra. The CD that features the Serkin/Szell recording of Brahms'
Piano Concerto #2 also contains Richard Strauss'
Burleske as filler with Serkin switching out Szell for Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. This is disappointing as
Burleske is so boring, and with a mountain of outstanding Szell and Serkin recordings that are part of the Sony catalog, you'd think they'd come up with something better.
One of those
Wagner's Ring without Words albums comes next, for those of us who don't have the time (or strength) to take that thirteen hour adventure to the realms of Asgard; and Szell holds his own rather nicely in a field of innumerable competitors.
Next, Szell joins forces with the London Symphony Orchestra in a recording of
The Youth's Magic Horn, and having the legendary Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Diskau in tow makes it into a beautiful experience.
We round things out with a very special and rare recording. Unlike, Mitropoulos, Bernstein, Ormandy, or Skokowski who (if only as a courtesy) would somewhat regularly program music by contemporary American composers; Szell was content to stay within the popular and basic repertoire. But here we have an exception, where Szell premiers Samuel Barber's lyrical yet athletic
Piano Concerto with John Browning, along with William Schuman's
A Song of Orpheus with Leonard Rose on cello. Though William Schuman's music is technically tonal, it can also be so thorny and academic that it might as well be atonal (or 12-tone?) as far as the casual listener is concerned. But not so with
A Song of Orpheus which is very listenable and very beautiful. As far as I know,
A Song of Orpheus is impossible to get on a CD unless you want to pay big money for Sony's George Szell box set, or their Leonard Rose box set; so if you happen to see an old LP of it at a yard sale, flea market, or record store, I'd advise you to grab it.
While Barber's
Piano Concerto has been revisited on records and CDs by other pianists and conductors, including a recording where John Browning of the Szell recording later teams up with Leonard Slatkin; to my knowledge the Rose/Szell recording of
A Song of Orpheus has never been recorded by anyone else. So, if you're reading this, Yo-Yo Ma; we already have enough recordings of the Dvorak, Elgar, and Shostakovich
Cello Concertos; and I respectfully ask: why not give
A Song of Orpheus a chance to see the light of day in a new recording?
