A questa ricca tradizione appartiene il Brahms del Trio Testore, solido, strutturalmente impeccabile, vario nei colori, riproduzione perfetta della scrupolosa tavolozza brahmsiana, calibratissimo nei tempi sempre giusti.

Anche Gelber è completamente padrone dello strumento e non manca inoltre della robustezza che è necessaria per reggere la pesantissima scrittura del pezzo.

Dopo Beethoven, AUDITE presenta ora un doppio CD con le incisioni dedicate a...

Chi conosceva alcune di queste incisioni in altri precedenti stampaggi resterà ammirato dall’accuratezza del lavoro di maquillage operato dai tecnici sulle matrici originali che rende godibilissimi tutti gli ascolti anche prescindendo dal loro valore storico, fondamentale per ricostruire le prime tappe di uno dei più grandi direttori del secolo scorso.

Per quanto riguarda la qualità audio è motivo di felicità scoprire che gli archivi della Radio Svizzera hanno conservato con cura e diligenza questo materiale. In particolare la registrazione ciaikovskiana del ’58 offre una qualità assolutamente paragonabile alle registrazioni commerciali coeve sia nella dinamica dinamica sia nella resa timbrica. L’equilibrio tra solista e orchestra (senza trucco e senza inganno) è in entrambi i casi assolutamente perfetto e solo una leggera saturazione rende appena meno godibile la registrazione bartókiana di due anni precedente.

Sul piano tecnico confermano l’accuratezza e il rigore che Szell sapeva ottenere da qualsiasi orchestra con la quale si trovasse a collaborare, una precisione ritmica, una chiarezza formale e un nitore di dettagli sorprendentemente moderni per un interprete nato nel 1897. Qualche piccola sbavatura degli ottoni non compromette quella che resta probabilmente la migliore incisione che ci abbia lasciato dell’Ottava di Dvorák, impreziosita dal velluto timbrico e dalla nobiltà di fraseggio della Filarmonica Ceca in questo repertorio non di poco superiore al virtuosismo lucente della Cleveland Orchestra.

George Szell’s many recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra are almost always characterised by their clear textures, firm rhythmic grasp and fundamental musicality. His reputation as an orchestral dictator – bully, even – may put some listeners off, but listening today one can forget that and enjoy performances that grip from start to finish. The only concern can be that there is too much control and too little spontaneity, reducing the emotional temperature of the music.

That is not the case here with these two live performances at the Lucerne Festival. In the Dvořák in particular the inflexibility which is sometimes found in Szell’s studio recordings is wholly absent. Not that even here Szell could be accused of being wilful, but phrases are allowed to finish more naturally and minor tempo changes occur with apparent spontaneity. The Czech Philharmonic in the late 1960s were at the peak of their form and playing with an individuality in both wind and strings which, as with so many orchestras, has to some degree been lost in more recent years. Occasionally there are minor inaccuracies typical of any concert performance, but these are rare and unimportant. The sound as presented here from broadcast tapes is much more than tolerable for its date, helped no doubt by Szell’s legendary ability to clarify orchestral textures. I usually prefer applause to be omitted, but on this occasion it is so obviously merited that I not merely tolerated it but even welcomed it as being a natural reaction to such a superb performance.

The earlier performance of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 has similar virtues although the orchestra is perhaps less individual. I am unclear as to whether the Swiss Festival Orchestra was a single permanent orchestra or was recruited specifically for the Festival. Again, however, it is similar in general approach to Szell’s studio recordings of the work but with more freedom and more energy.

The booklet is a model of how to add to the listener’s enjoyment of historic live performances, with photographs of Szell, presumably in Lucerne but lacking details of dates or places, and a lengthy and very interesting article on the conductor and the Festival by Malte Lohmann. The cover indicates that these recordings were previously unreleased. It is good that such excellent performances are now available and so well presented on this generously filled disc.

In der auf sechs CDs angelegten Gesamteinspielung der Beethoven-Quartette präsentiert das ‘Quartetto di Cremona’ die zweite Produktion mit den Streichquartetten op. 59/2 und op.127 – zwei Werke, die zeitlich weit auseinanderliegen und Beethovens musikalische Entwicklung exemplarisch darstellen.

Genau wie im Volume I musiziert das ‘Quartetto di Cremona’ mit einer packenden Kompromisslosigkeit. Das 2. Rasumowsky-Quartett lebt von einem ungebändigten inneren Feuer, das lediglich im sublimierten Adagio etwas gezähmt wird. Von natürlicher Frische und forscher Selbstverständlichkeit ist das späte Es-Dur-Quartett geprägt. Hier entsteht definitiv eine Referenzaufnahme.

Audite’s second volume of Beethoven’s String Quartets confirms our high expectations raised when we listened to the first one. This will undoubtedly be a reference recording!

"Holliger's profound empathy for Schumann shines through this outstanding performance which sustain." (BBC Music Magazine)

"Holliger is one of those musicians who hears what he conducts from inside, a crucial virtue in Schumann and neat way to disqualify curmudgeonly commentators who wrongly accuse Schumann of ineptitude in orchestration...Holliger is en route to a complete cycle...His may well be the one to go for." (Gramophone)

"Auspicious start to a Schumann cycle set to throw up a few revelations." (Limelight)

Is there a group of orchestral works in the Romantic canon more vexed than the Schumann symphonies? Indisputably lovely works that have long since won the affection of musicians and audiences, the symphonies' supposed deficiencies and inadequacies are nevertheless routinely, almost reflexively rehearsed. Authorities like Tovey, Lang and Dahlhaus have variously described their perceptions of the symphonies' shortcomings, while a later generation, John Daverio, Linda Correll Roesner and Scott Burnham among them, have insisted that Schumann be considered on his own merits, not Beethoven's. A similar long-standing ambivalence is discernible in recordings of the works. When Bernstein's first set was released with the New York Philharmonic in the early 1960s, its use of Schumann's unaltered scores was widely touted. Yet as recently as 2008 Riccardo Chailly's recording with the Leipzig Gewandhaus used Mahler's reorchestrations and a more recent set by Rozhdestvensky with the Estonian Symphony Orchestra on Melodiya uses George Szell's revisions of Schumann.

A new project which aims to record all of Schumann's orchestral music, including the concertante works and overtures , is now under way with the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cologne under the Swiss oboist, composer and conductor Heinz Holliger. The first instalment, recorded in January and March of 2012, presents the 'Spring' Symphony, the first version of what would become the Fourth Symphony, and the Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52. While the performances are unquestionably earnest and dutiful throughout, one yearns for moments that seem insightful or inspired. The playing is never less than highly competent without being particularly exciting. A rather contained and old-fashioned recorded sound is not helpful though, in and of itself, more lifelike sound reproduction could scarcely create compelling Schumann. Sad to say it is unlikely that this recording will be a stand-out in the Cologne West German Radio Symphony Orchestra's modest discography or, for that matter, in Holliger's more extensive one.

Fortunately there are many, many other choices. Furtwängler, always much admired as a Schumann exponent, recorded only the First and Fourth Symphonies, but these are available on several labels. Of more modern interpretations, few have garnered the enthusiastic accolades of the set by John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Though already 16 years old, for cutting-edge interpretative insights, brilliant sound and appropriately sized forces, these recordings have not been surpassed.