Customer Reviews

Ravel: Bolero; Debussy, Mussorgsky / Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

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

 

 

This has long been one of my favourite performances of "Pictures". The sound quality from the early 60s recording is very good indeed. I find the pacing to be just right for this extraordinary work. I have listened to a number of versions over the years, including more recent recordings - including the Sinopoli version on DG, and a London Symphony version, as well as a few others that I have forgotten - none of them made my spine tingle like this one has. (The Ashkenazy version is a worthy complement to this version). The Bolero on this disc is also excellent. This is an excellent value CD.

I bought this CD thinking, "Hey, it's the Berlin Phil, it's got to be amazing." Well, it wasn't. If you're looking for "La Mer" or "Bolero", BUY this CD. They are magnificent and hypnotic, demonstrating what the orchestra and its conductor are really capable of. That is why this CD gets 4 stars.

If, on the other hand, you are looking for "Pictures", look elsewhere. The Chicago Symphony under Reiner is the best recording I have found. Next to that, this version just doesn't compare. First of all, the opening Promenade has an uneven sound quality. It almost sounds like the trumpets are switching off on the solo. Not only that, but the trumpet seems to have an unusual buzz in his sound. It's really not pleasant to listen to. This is compounded by Karajan's slow tempos - the opening "Promenade" isn't too bad, but the others just drag. "Gnomus" is played brilliantly in places, but it lacks the twisting, wicked sound of the violins found in the CSO under Reiner. "The Old Castle", however, is one of the CD's strongest tracks. In "Samuel Goldenberg", I was once again displeased with the trumpet. He needs to get control of his tonguing and let some sound out. I know the solo is high and difficult and staccato - I play trumpet myself - but it just sounds ugly. The notes are spit out with little attention to quality and a few bobbles. "Limoges", "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks", and "Tuileries" all lacked the playfulness found with the CSO, while "Baba Yaga" just was not vicious enough for my tastes. "The Great Gate" some of you may really enjoy. It is more calm and less brassy than the CSO version. However, the trumpet is yet again a problem. Either he's shaking and having trouble controlling the notes, or he's putting way too much vibrato in where it's not needed or wanted.

Most of the problems I have with this "Pictures" are interpretational - the BPO does overall play quite well. Some of you will disagree with my notion of how the suite should sound and for you, this might be an excellent recording. I, however, don't like this version very much. I enjoy much more the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Reiner, and also Ashkenazy's piano and orchestral versions.

If not for the excellent recordings of "La Mer" and "Bolero" (both worthy of 5 stars) this would be a one star review. The trumpet playing in "Pictures" is unacceptable by modern standards. The "Samuel Goldenberg" track is particularly bad. It is poorly articulated and out of tune. For reasons I can't explain, continental orchestras of this period lagged far behind their British and American counterparts in the area of brass playing. You should still buy this recording for "La Mer" and "Bolero," but look elsewhere for "Pictures." Better choices include (but are by no means limited to) Szell/Cleveland, Reiner/Chicago, and even Mata/Dallas. Karajan's earlier recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra is far superior to this offering on DG, and offers excellent brass playing throughout. It is available as part of the "Karajan 100th" box on EMI.

The three performances in this CD will help immortalize perhaps the greatest director of the twentieth century: Herbert von Karajan. Karajan's control of Debussy's La Mer (The Sea) leaves you breathless, as it transports you directly to the big blue. Mussorgky's Pictures at an Exhibition, is another excellent example of not only Karajan's genius, but also of the richness of sound and musical textures that the Berliner Philarmoniker (Berlin Philharmonic) is capable. But what really makes this CD worth, is Karajan's direction of Ravel's Bolero, a magnificent, hypnotic composition lasting more than 16 minutes of pulsating musical beauty. If you want to know why von Karajan is considered one of the best orchestral directors, this CD will answer all those questions and eliminate all doubts.

It is interesting that the Austrian Karajan and his German Berlin Phil. Orch. was so competent in the French and Russian repitiore. In all Karajan's programing of more "serious" and more Teutonic works by Beethoven, Brahms ect.; it is ironic that Ravel's "Bolero" is Karajan at his best-this rendition is very intense and at once very passionate. Likewise, Mussorgsky/Ravel's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is also very vivid and sonorous.

"Pictures at an Exhibition" was one of my first introductions to "Classical" music when I was a teenager. It is an outstanding work, that captures the mysterious and very Russian essence of Mussorgsky; but also displays Ravel's orchestral mastery and French sensibility.

Debussy's "La Mer" is a musical portrait of the sea. It creates a mood, more than it delivers a melody; and Karajan and the Berlin Phil. and the "German/Romantic treatment" actually works quite well in giving "La Mer" sweep and power.

Comparison for "Bolero": Bernstein

Comparison for "Pictures": Bernstein; Szell

Comparison for "La Mer": Munch; Boulez/Cleveland Orch.

Herbert von Karajan always played "impressionist" music in a strange way. At a glance, Debussy should be his favourite composer, because his music requires beautiful sound, and Karajan's sound is as beautiful as sound gets. Unfortunately, Herbie is often tempted to look for spectacularity where you shouldn't find it; so "La Mer" sounds much more like Berlioz than Debussy. The "Pictures" are much better, but they fall short from being completely convincing; even though the Berliners play at their best, there's something missing; you can't feel the mysterious sadness of the Old Castle, nor the excitement of the Limoges market, nor the impressive sense of "spleen" that makes the Catacombs so great. The only conductor - after Toscanini - who made the Pictures sound really good is probably Sinopoli, in his DG recording with the NYP. Fortunately, Karajan's Bolero is a pure beauty: nobody ever found a more ideal way to play the "crescendo continuo". If you love Bolero as much as I do, you can forgive Karajan and buy this CD in spite of its disappointing overall quality.

First, the not so great news. The Boléro here is very weak. I never cared for Karajan's take on this piece. Too controlled, too precise. For superior Boléro's see Charles Munch or Seiji Ozawa.

Now, the good news. This is one of the finest recordings of La Mer ever set to record, one of the finest performances by the Berlin Philharmonic ever set to record, and one of Karajan's unequivocal triumphs. Karajan's mastery of this material is nearly self-evident. His musical narrative is taut and lush and completely cogent Debussy, I think (Karajan often did very well with the French repertoire).

Many things present themselves for praise: the control of dynamics. Hear, for instance, with that glorious climax at the end of the first movement, the intensity of the timpani, strings and brass, and then that wonderful diminuendo, all perfectly realized. The Berlin winds play sumptuously in the central movement. And the finale! Listen to fragile gossamer violins while the sensual, lyrical subject is evoked by the winds, then rising to full grandeur with transcendent playing by the Berliners. The ending sonorous tidal wave is pure ecstasy. Above all: color. What Messiaen saw in Debussy is, perhaps, no more clear than here -- the sheer delight of vivid orchestral color.

The Pictures at an Exhibition are also very fine, atmospheric recordings (I especially enjoy the grotesque "Gnomus," and the eerie "Con mortuis in lingua mortua"). This work, however, is, for me, secondary to La Mer.

Based on the Debussy alone: aesthetic quality/sound quality (out of 10): 10/9