Search - Arnold Bax, Hector Berlioz, Sergey Koussevitzky :: William Primrose Collection, Vol.1

Despite the Sonic Limitations Just About the Sweetest Harold

Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 08/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Several conductors excelled in the Berlioz concerto for viola, Beecham and Toscanini, and in this case Koussevitsky. The original '78s far surpass the dubs that have been made over the decades: this CD doesn't quite tame the boxiness, nor does it win the battle with the deep bass notes, always a prominent feature of Boston and Philadelphia orchestra recordings of this era. The opening quite engulfs one in the darkest, richest imaginable string sounds, all swelling into an organ-like gigantic tone, reminiscent of some mighty bottle of a great Latour, poured from magnum. In those rather primitive electrical days of recording such splendours completely defeated the efforts of the engineers - the inevitable and maddening failure to capture such marvels on record must have driven the attending engineers to some heavy late night drinking.

What does shine through, and the CD's reason for existence, is the legendary Primrose, who seems to own this work given the remarkable number of CD versions we are blessed with of his way in this piece. If this is not the best of the lot, it's still quite good enough to rate five stars. Careful listening reveals a marvelous interplay among the Boston string players - and their version of the final movement remains hors concours. It's fun to compare this with the Toscanini performances, and realize Toscanini was living as a youth in an Italy where the Brigands Lord Byron refers to were still around in the hills outside the urban areas.

Some exceptionally spirited music-making.

The quality of the Bax sonata I'll leave to Bax specialists."