OT: Sony reissues all the Martinon/CSO recordings

[Roland Flessner]

Sony has recently issued one of their cheap boxes with all the Jean Martinon/CSO recordings. Much of this material has never been on CD before.

For me, Martinon's own Symphony #4 and the Roussel Bacchus suite are worth the price of the whole set. I have the symphony on vinyl (good condition, too), but I can't recall ever seeing the Roussel except somewhere in a library, and as I recall, it's a knockout performance. The symphony's original diskmate, Peter Mennin's Symphony #7 (a fine piece!), turned up on a CRI CD, but I'd long since lost hope for the Martinon reappearing.

I think Martinon was really underrated here in Chicago. It was a difficult time, with the orchestra unionizing and political stuff going on with the Tribune's critic. But looking back, and listening, Solti on his best day wasn't a third of the conductor Martinon was, and can anyone name a Barenboim/CSO recording that will be as revered as almost anything by Fritz Reiner?

[barry guerrero]

 .     .       .    "can anyone name a Barenboim/CSO recording that will be as revered as almost anything by Fritz Reiner?".

Nope, but I do think that Barenboim's recording of the Schoenberg "Five Orchestral Pieces" is every bit as good as the famous Kubelik/C.S.O. one. (and in modern stereo sound).

I also think the Barenboim/CSO Tchaik. "Pathetique" (T6) is pretty darn good. His Mahler 5 is certainly no worse than the Solti, unless you like it played really fast a la Bruno Walter or Bernstein I. In addition, I really think the Barenboim/C.S.O. Bruckner symphonies box set is pretty darn competitive. B3, B5, B6, B7 and B9 are all remarkably good (B8 was a dud, and parts of B4 are arguably too fast). One could do a lot worse.

It's just too bad that Barenboim didn't recorded an entire set of the major orchestral works of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern with the C.S.O. - they seem to do that music so well (and did do much of it with Rosebaud and Reiner).

Also, it might have been good if Barenboim had taken up an interest in Shostakovich, as I feel that the C.S.O. is far better suited for Shostakovich than Mahler (just one person's opinion, and might have a lot to do Orchestra Hall).

[waderice]

In case many of you Chicago fans here don't know, when Reiner had reached the sunset days of his time in Chicago, it was Hans Rosbaud that he wanted to succeed him as CSO music director.  When Rosbaud died in 1962, Karl Boehm became Reiner's designee as his successor.

While on the subject of Rosbaud, there has been a significant release on the Walhall label of his 1955 Milan performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger.  What little I've heard thus far of it, it portends to be a significant performance, comparable with Reiner's Met and Vienna performances.

Wade

[Roland Flessner]

Fascinating about Rosbaud and Böhm; I hadn't heard that before.

Sorry, I meant to paste in a link with the contents of the Martinon box in my first post:

http://www.mdt.co.uk/martinon-jean-the-complete-chicago-symphony-orchestra-recordings-sony-10cds.html

[barry guerrero]

It's something of a tragedy that the famous series of concerts that Rosbaud did with the C.S.O. didn't get recorded.

[waderice]

It's something of a tragedy that the famous series of concerts that Rosbaud did with the C.S.O. didn't get recorded.

It's said that when Rosbaud performed M9 with the CSO shortly before he died, the players were so taken with his musicianship that they rewarded him with a Tusch.

Wade

[AZContrabassoon]

I suppose it's time to give his Mahler 5th and 7th another listen. The 5th in particular is a thrilling reading that makes me sad that Rosbaud died before the Mahler-explosion of the 60's and 70's and we never got really great recorded sound from him.

[waderice]

I suppose it's time to give his Mahler 5th and 7th another listen. The 5th in particular is a thrilling reading that makes me sad that Rosbaud died before the Mahler-explosion of the 60's and 70's and we never got really great recorded sound from him.

There is a M9 by him - it is a really great performance!  It's with the Südwestfunk Symphonie Orchester, Baden-Baden, recorded in 1957.

Wade

[AZContrabassoon]

I'll have to get that. There's a DLVDE that I haven't heard either.

[barry guerrero]

I know this won't be a popular opinion, but I think the Ormandy "DLvdE" is far better.

[AZContrabassoon]

That doesn't surprise me. Despite the critics, Ormandy's Mahler credentials are well-known and rock solid. It was Ormandy that Alma asked to give the first American performances and recording of the 10th, after all. Not Bernstein who was then making his mark with Mahler in New York.