Customer Reviews

Sir John Barbirolli : Great Conductors of the 20th Century

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The centre-piece of this fascinating concert is the Mahler 2. This is a very dramatic as well as a predictably passionate reading from Barbirolli, made not very long before his death. The ensemble of the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra can be a bit dodgy at times and there are the occasional spills as well as the thrills of a live performance. Nevertheless, this is a most definitely a performance to be reckoned with and infinitely superior to Sir John's earlier recording with the Berlin Philharmonic. Barbirolli gives huge weight and drama to the main material of the opening movement (just listen to the hammered out, accelerating chords that lead into the recapitulation) while the second subject soars with a passion that Sir John seems uniquely capable of conjuring up with his groans. There is more contrast than usual between the two middle movements: the first has the flow and delicacy to keep it moving with wonderful rich and warm playing of the big cello tune (Barbirolli's own instrument, remember): the second, the scherzo appropriated by Berio for his Sinfonia, is pointed with real piquant wit as St. Anthony makes his futile sermon to the fish, the rute (a kind of birch switch smacked against the casing of a bass drum) is well to the fore, and both trios are done with great beauty of tone. Urlicht is suitably solemn from Birgit Finnila, but wonderfully shaped and coloured by Barbirolli. And the last movement is just immense with, at the end, Helen Donath emerging as she should (but seldom does) from the choir to soar above them, before the gates open for the big "Aufersteh'n" in which the brass descants are thrilling. EMI have done wonders with the sound - compared to other versions of this performance - the richness and depth of the brass chorales in Urlicht and the final movement are beautiful and the very end has earth-shaking tam-tam, bells, organ, etc.

A lot of the rest of the concert shows off Barbirolli as an opera conductor, a very fine one who was grossly underutilised in the age of the LP. But he had been responsible for the memorable Coronation Year Turandot with Martinelli and Eva Turner as well as that finest ever recording of the Meistersinger Quartet with Schumann, Melchior, Schorr et al. The Meistersinger Overture on this set is a fine one with plenty of weight and space to breathe, allowing the wonderful counterpoint to tell as it should - Wagner showing off, saying as it were, "I bet you didn't think all those themes would fit together so well!" There is also the magical and very sexy Act 1 Love Duet from Sir John's wonderful Butterfly with Bergonzi and Scotto.

For the rest, there is a fine set of Enigmas with his beloved Halle, the earlier rarer recording from Pye which is very good but in which there are no surprises if you know his later performance. The surprise here (in repertoire terms, at least) is a magical, fairy tale Mother Goose Suite. One wouldn't normally think of Sir John and Ravel as perfect partners - passionate commitment against a certain aesthetic detachment and all that - but Barbirolli's is a fine performance and the piece can easily take that extra bit of passionate commitment.

These are a highly recommendable pair of discs, worth getting for the Mahler alone.

British critics are nothing if not loyal, and they constantly trot out Sir John Barbirolli as a great conductor, even though it's fairer to say that he could be great at times. As a young man he suffered a huge career setback when he rashly took over the New York Philharmonic in 1936 on the heels of Arturo Toscanini. Nobody could have filled those shoes. Within six years the NY critics drove him out of town (his recordings from that era are nothing special, so it wasn't all persecution), and he retreated to the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, which he single-handedly rebuilt. He stayed there from 1942 until 1970, the year he died. In his last decade he was coaxed to lead the Houston Symphony (of all things), but he made no great splash there, either.

By the last fifteen years of his life Barbirolli came into his own, however, and on this 2-CD set we get the best live performance he gave of the Mahler Second and some excerpts from his wonderful Madame Butterfly, recorded in Rome in 1966. The Mahler is with the Stuttgart Radio Orch., who technically aren't always up to Mahler's deamnds, but one sitll hears Barbirolli's tender and moving way with this composer. Even with inferior orchestras he had something special to say. The sound is very good stereo, also.

The rest is above average, inclduing an early (1956) Enigma Variations with the Halle, but a forsquare Act I Prelude to Die Meistersinger with the London Symphony that does nothing to make Barbirolli shine. All in all, the compilers have done a good job showing Barbirolli off at his best, and since the British keep dozens of his early recordings in print, his best and worst can be heard in great abundance. The Mahler is a bit of a coup, making this an excellent installment in the Great Conductors series.