Customer Reviews

Pops Caviar: Russian Orchestral Fireworks [Hybrid SACD]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Very exciting to hear these original master tapes better than they sounded when they were recorded thanks to new technology processing.

This review is for clarification purposes only. Apparently there are younger listeners who know nothing of the Pops' constitution. The Boston Pops was (and still is) simply the Boston Symphony Orchestra in nearly full force, missing only those (few) first desk players who chose not to participate. Given the quality of the rest of the musicians, their abscence was hardly missed.

The BSO was considered one of the world's great orchestras. You may purchase any of Pops' recordings with the assurance of a fine orchestra. Their recorded repertoire is simply the material with which a "serious" orchestra did not wish to be associated. They were terrible snobs in those days. Still are actually. It is Boston after all.

Fiedler became the go to guy for this music. Despite his lovable grandfather image, he seems to have been a difficult conductor, and bitter at never having been given a shot at the main repertoire. He may been right. I strongly suggest you try his recording of the Dvorak 9th (RCA SCAD) with the full BSO, which can hold its own with any in the catalogue.

POPS CAVIAR is a collection of Russian music that includes works from the masters of the nineteenth century as well as some selections from the Soviet era. Many of these pieces are favorites of conductor Arthur Fiedler and delighted Pops audiences throughout his tenure. Fielder is not the only conductor who has recorded some of the better known works included in the collection. "Flight of the Bumblebee," "In the Steppes of Central Asia" and the "Polovtsian Dances" from PRINCE IGOR are among classical music's most recorded works and all the great conductors from that era seem to have these Russian masterworks in their recorded legacy. Khachaturian's music from GANYE and MASQUERADE has become familiar but when Fiedler recorded these works, they would have been relatively recent and displayed the way Fiedler not only enjoyed the music he performed but respected the intelligence of his audience who enjoyed old favorites but also appreciated contemporary music.

The CD cover is a reproduction of an actual Pops recording of the same name from the 1950's, which give sit a nostalgic feel, but it is remastered in a way that gives the Pops a more fulsome sound that sometimes lacked in the LP release.

This recording, although better on cd than on vinyl (the reason for the l star rating)is typical of the sloppy directing, playing, and recording that came from the Phlops before John Williams took over after Fiedler retired and whipped them up into a first-class orchestra. No more of the cult status and cashing in on it for Fiedler. The always inebriated Boston audience caused this because they know nothing of music and performance for having put up with him so long. They'd rather sip their champagne and speak of inanities instead of listening to something other than their own voices--such snobs!