Search - Carl Maria von Weber, Franz Liszt, Alexander Borodin :: Albert Coates

Excitement regenerated.

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 01/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The original producer of these recordings, Fred Gaisberg, wrote in his 1947 autobiography, "Albert Coates .....with whom I carried out hundreds of adventurous session when the amazing electrical process first came in". This splendid double CD allows C21st listeners to hear some of these "adventurous sessions". There is certainly a sense of excitement here, possibly deriving from the realization that the amazing electrical process allowed orchestral sonorities to be heard as something like the real thing. Recent remastering and processing for this "Great Conductors" series makes them seem even more amazing than they sounded originally. Happily, the recordings were made in two of the world's best recording venues: London's Queen's Hall and Kingsway Hall. Of course, the focus in this series is on the conductor. On the evidence of these recordings, he tended to favor fast speeds. Music from his native Russia is well represented on the first CD, including a robust performance of Borodin's Second Symphony. The "Francesca da Rimini" is slightly cut. From the dozens of Wagner recordings he directed, the famous "Tristan" duet with Leider and Melchior has been selected, partly recorded in Berlin. Both CDs are filled to capacity."