Dimitri Mitropoulos was a major figure at the podium of several major U.S. orchestras, although he may be unduly overlooked because he had a tendency to take over orchestras after the departure of somewhat "bigger named" conductors (Minneapolis after
Ormandy, New York after
Stokowski, the
Met after
Walter...). Both his fans and detractors tended to zero in on a single attribute: his extremely impassioned performances, particularly in live concerts. This 1957 recording of
Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique with the
New York Philharmonic, however, doesn't exactly fit
Mitropoulos' M.O. While the technical execution is of the same high quality that one would expect from New York, particularly in the late '50s, the overall feeling of the performance is somewhat bland and flat. The "Dreams" more like daydreams and the "March to the Scaffold" more like a leisurely afternoon walk.
Mitropoulos' tempo choices are conservative throughout and not characteristic of his conducting. This album also has the string orchestra arrangement of
Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht.
Mitropoulos had a special affinity for
Schoenberg and other members of the Second Viennese School and his passion and intensity is much more clear in this piece. Even in its original version for string sextet, Verklarte Nacht is fiendishly difficult to play in tune; adding an entire string section only makes this more difficult. Regrettably, the New York players did not bring their A-game to this performance, and intonation is often very sloppy and imprecise. ~ Mike Brownell, All Music Guide
