Great Conductors of the 20th Century: Dimitri Mitropoulos [Original recording remastered]

Gustav Mahler (Composer), Hector Berlioz (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Richard [1] Strauss (Composer), Dimitri Mitropoulos (Conductor), New York Philharmonic (Orchestra), WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln (Orchestra), WDR Sinfonie Orchester Köln (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: New York Philharmonic, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, WDR Sinfonie Orchester Köln
• Conductor: Dimitri Mitropoulos
• Composer: Gustav Mahler, Hector Berlioz, Claude Debussy, Richard [1] Strauss
• Audio CD (August 5, 2003)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00006J3L9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,188 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars memorable performances, February 1, 2004

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R. J. Claster "rjclaster" (Van Nuys, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Great Conductors of the 20th Century: Dimitri Mitropoulos (Audio CD)

Mahler lovers should definitely listen to this highly distinctive performance of the 6th symphony, taken from a 1959 radio broadcast. Like Bernstein's Sony account, it is extremely intense, not as frantic and frenzied, but with more flexible adjustments of pace within a basic tempo and a richer, more expressive use of rubato in its shaping of phrases, in distinction to the more emotionally restrained, classically tight recordings of Karajan, Szell and Thomas Sanderling. The orchestra is that of the Cologne Radio, not quite as flawless in its playing as those in the aforementioned recordings, but giving their all, and the sound is in clear, full-bodied and spacious mono.
The other performances on this set are also quite distinctive (they are excerpts from Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet, La Mer and Dance of the Seven Veils, all from 1950s mono recordings with the NY Phil).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dramatic Music-Making by Dimitri, September 19, 2004

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D. J. Zabriskie "zabdart" (Park Ridge, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Great Conductors of the 20th Century: Dimitri Mitropoulos (Audio CD)

The great thing that Mitropoulos brought to the table as a conductor was his innate sense of the drama of music. As noted by other reviewers, Mitropoulos' approached every score afresh without reference to how anybody else did it, achieving remarkable results which were never stale. Nowhere is this more evident than in the remarkable recording of the Mahler Sixth included here. This performance is also available on a more expensive imported collection, but to have it available in this price range makes this a recording no Mahler fan should be without! I reviewed this performance in that collection, but to recap: The clarity of line and detail in this performance, even though it is in mono, is unsurpassed by any recording of this music I have heard. That's not always a virtue, as the first horn of the Cologne Radio Symphony is noticeably off-key in the opening, but Mitropoulos gets right by that and roars through a first movement that's truly astounding. His tempi are flexible, heightening the musical drama. Instead of the prophecy of Nazi jackboots we hear all too frequently in the opening march, Mitropoulos gives of the groans of 19th Century Europe being dragged kicking and screaming into the full horrors of the industrial age. It's a brilliant conceptualization, and probably a lot closer to what Mahler intended. There is more humor to the scherzo here, as well, that what we're used to hearing, but it is all dark, cynical gallows humor. Mitropoulos uses the offstage horns in the adagio not to evoke the calls of pastoral herdsmen, but rather the haunting of the spirits of a way of life already lost forever. Mitropoulos correctly conveys this music's sense of Europe at the crossroads, but it is the crossroads of an older man returning to his home after a long absence, only to find no one he recognizes and nothing to take solace in. In the Sixth, Mahler mourns a world which accomplishes so much materially and technologically at the expense of spiritualty, and that is exactly what Mitropoulos finds in the score and converys better than any other conducter I have heard.
Likewise, the Berlioz and Debussy performances contained here are full of dramatic tension, which Mitropoulos holds onto as long as he can, waiting until the very end to release it. Unfortunately, this dramatic approach to music-making is not so successful with the Strauss selection, taking it to extremes of melodrama which verge on camp.
Nevertheless, get this for the Mahler Sixth! It may not be definitive, but it is nothing short of AMAZING!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great musical imaginaiton poorly served by ragged playing, November 23, 2005

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Great Conductors of the 20th Century: Dimitri Mitropoulos (Audio CD)

Mitropoulos was unlucky to die (on the podium, like Giuseppe Sinopoli after him) at the premature age of 64. His commercial recordings have more or less disappeared, leaving it to pirate recordings and live performances to sustain his renown. Many, many have come out, and although one admires his instinctive gifts and his improvisatory approach--which greatly influenced his protoge Leonard Bernstein--Mitropoulos lays claim to being the sloppiest of all great conductors, excepting only Hermann Scherchen and Jascha Horenstein.

His gifts and defects shine brightly on CD 1, which is devoted to a very alive, sympathetic Mahler Sixth from 1959. It perfectly shows off DM's imaginative sense of Mahler style; everything is so fresh and direct one could swear the music is being invented before our eyes. But the Cologne radio orchestra is far from being able to execute Mahler with technical security (good broadcast stereo for its day, however). If technical defects don't bother you, this performance deserves six stars.

CD 2 comes from studio recordings with Mitropoulos's own NY Phil. and is afflicted with many fewer mishaps. Execution is still fairly slapdash, though. Lovers of imaginative conducting won't care. In excerpts from Berlioz'a Romeo and Juliet(1952) we hear Berlioz on an expressive level to rival and surpass Munch and Monteux. Everything is light, flexible, and seductively musical. La Mer from 1950 is in more detailed sound, although all these mono recordings sound a bit tinny. Mitropoulos's Debussy is eerie, mysterious, and powerful. Mitropoulos was a fierce Strauss conductor, and his 1956 Dance of the Seven Veils is probably the most nerve-wracking you'll ever hear.

Overall, despite the caveats about sound and sloppy orchestral work, few conductors in this series have emerged sounding so inspired. Five stars, without a doubt.