June 1, 2009
Boxed in by Box Sets
When it comes to questions of what sort of recordings -- or
what specific ones -- are worth keeping, we sooner or later have to confront the
phenomenon of the "integral" series, or cycle, or whatever terminology one may
prefer. In the early years of LP, George Mendelssohns Vox label ushered in "the
Age of Complete" with boxed sets of concerti grossi by Vivaldi, a sound enough
premise since Vivaldi and his contemporaries published such works in sets of 12. Now we
have, from numerous sources, all the Beethoven symphonies in one box, all the Beethoven
string quartets in one box, all the Haydn symphonies -- Haydn symphonies, numbering
107! -- and quartets, and trios, and piano sonatas. And of course similar coverage of
numerous other composers works in various categories, not necessarily in one box,
but identifiable as a single series, with the same performers on the same label
throughout.
Well, the "integral" approach is certainly a
convenient one. It provides comprehensive coverage, it avoids duplications, and it usually
saves on shelf space as well. But, is it really an esthetically satisfying way to go about
collecting recordings? Apart from the consideration that the new phenomenon of downloads
may render such questions beside the point by the time these words see publication, the
answer can only be a resounding yes -- except that it may also be a resounding certainly
not.
If common sense is to prevail, then this sort of decision,
like so many others, has to be pursued on an individual basis, and that is meant in a
double sense, in that each individual listener must judge each individual
case on its own merits. What are the odds of getting all-surpassing performances of all
those Haydn symphonies from a single performing entity? Not so great, perhaps, but the
famous Doráti set with the Philharmonia Hungarica, on Decca, is nevertheless of such
exceptional importance, and exceptional convenience, that it may be said to have beat
those odds. Ernst Märzendorfer and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra maintained a high level
of excellence in the Haydn cycle the Musical Heritage Society issued on individual LPs
before Doráti did his; but Dorátis, undertaken with the direct counsel of the
outstanding Haydn authority H.C. Robbins Landon, came out in LP box sets available in
stores, and included not only the Sinfonia concertante and the two symphonies identified
as "A" and "B" rather than by number but also alternative movements
for some of the numbered symphonies boxes that could be purchased in stores around the
world. Landons exceptionally detailed annotation for the LP sets, treasurable in
their own right, has been cut to the bone for the CDs, but here is the entire cycle, with
the supplements just noted, in a single box of 33 CDs.
Listeners who love Haydn symphonies enough to invest in
that set are surely going to want to supplement it with additional recordings of some of
the individual works, but will not value that big box any the less for that. Similarly,
there are integral sets of Haydns string quartets, but who, with working ears, would
think of forgoing the Hagen Quartets absolutely incomparable realization of Op.74,
No.3 (the one called " The Horseman," or "The Rider")?
David Zinmans enlivening and revealing readings of
the Beethoven symphonies constitute a remarkable set with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra,
on the economical Arte Nova label. Eight of the nine performances can hold their own
against virtually all competition, with only the Ninth in this set excelled by more than
one or two other recordings.
There are generally what used to be called "swings and
roundabouts" in weighing any "integral" set against the option of
individual recordings of the works represented, but it may be acknowledged that there have
been more than a few such sets that are unarguably worth buying and worth keeping, simply
because everything in them seems to work so well. In this category we might cite the
Dvorák symphonies conducted by István Kertész on Decca and by Witold Rowicki on
Philips, both with the London SO; the Tchaikovsky symphonies, again on Philips, with the
same orchestra under Igor Markevitch; the Beethoven Quartets played by the Talich Quartet
on Calliope and by the Quartetto Italiano on Philips; Beethovens violin-and-piano
sonatas with Arthur Grumiaux and Clara Haskil, transferred from Philips to Decca;
Beethovens Trios with the Beaux Arts Trio, on Philips; Beethovens piano
sonatas with Richard Goode on Nonesuch, Alfred Brendel on Philips, or Anton Kuerti on
Analekta Fleur de Lys; Sibeliuss symphonies with Paavo Berglund and the Helsinki
Philharmonic on EMI, with Osmo Vänskä and the Lahti SO on BIS, or with Herbert Blomstedt
and the San Francisco SO on Decca; the Mozart quartets with the Amadeus or the Hagen
Quartet; the Mozart symphonies with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Prague Chamber Orchestra
on Telarc; the symphonies of Arnold Bax conducted by Vernon Handley on Chandos -- and on
and on . . .
What provoked these thoughts at this time was the more or
less simultaneous appearance of integral sets of orchestral music by two Scandinavian
composers, music very clearly beyond what anyone would regard as the "standard
repertory." Indeed, some of this music would make the Bax symphonies, which after all
have had several "integral" recordings in the last few years, as well as
memorable ones of some of the individual symphonies, seem by contrast almost as much a
part of the general repertory as those of Nielsen, Bruckner and Mahler.
Particularly striking is the collection of the 16
symphonies and five shorter orchestral pieces by the Danish composer Rued Langgaard
(1893-1952), issued fairly recently on seven SACDs from Dacapo and now gathered into a
seven-disc set (6.200001). Langgaards name is not entirely unknown to us -- some of
the individual symphonies were available here on LP, and more recently the Finnish
conductor Leif Segerstam has recorded some of them -- but the cycle recorded very
recently, in SACD, by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard has
several things going for it. All the performances are based on the latest scholarly
editions and radiate an altogether understandable national feeling and national pride. All
seven of the CDs in this new set have been issued separately, so the issue now is simply
whether to buy those seven individual CDs or go for the boxed set.
The presentation itself is handsome, convenient and
unusually imaginative. Most such packages nowadays that do not involve "jewel
cases" use a box that doesnt conform to the dimensions of the "jewel
case" and have the discs in envelopes that are a little too snug for removal without
fingerprints on the surfaces. The Langgaard boxs length and width are the same as
those of the "jewel case," and its innards are unique: instead of envelopes, the
CDs are in a permanently affixed folder that fans out for easy access, and a separate
folder contains the annotative booklet. That booklet, however, is where the one drawback
is encountered.
When these recordings were issued on individual CDs, each
one was accompanied with extensive annotation, mostly by the Langgaard authority Bendt
Viinholt Nielsen. The boxed set, however, gives us only that writers brief general
introduction and the texts of the sung portions of the Symphonies Nos. 2, 8, 14 and 15.
This, Im afraid, is not a minor matter. Langgaards music is not at all well
known to most of us. All 16 of his symphonies and all the shorter works have programmatic
or descriptive titles that call for some kind of explication; there are soloists and/or a
chorus in some of the symphonies, and No.5 exists in two different versions, both of which
are included here.
Two of the short pieces also involve a chorus, and all five
of them have intriguing titles -- Drapa (on the death of Edvard Grieg); Sphinx;
Hvidbjerg-Drapa; Danmarks Radio; Res absurda!? -- but there is not a
word about any of them, not even a hint as to the meaning of the term Drapa. On the
symphonies themselves there is not much more: just the barest reference to the sort of
symphonist Valen was, with next-to-nothing on any of the individual works. Space was made
available, however, for background on the orchestra and the two choruses and for
biographical sketches of the four soloists: the soprano Inger Dam-Jensen, heard in
Symphony No.2, "Awakening of Spring"; the pianist Per Salo, who performs in
No.3, "The Flush of Youth" (with chorus); the tenor Lars Petersen, in No.8,
"Memories at Amalienborg," and the basso Johan Reuter, in No.15, "The Sea
Storm."
This represents a curious notion of priorities, and I can
well imagine that many collectors would prefer the seven separate CDs on which these
splendid recordings were originally issued, simply for the more informative annotation,
which in this instance is hardly a frill and might be regarded as downright indispensable.
Bendt Viinholt Nielsen not only advises, in the booklet accompanying the CD of Symphonies
Nos. 15 and 16 and the five short pieces (6.220519), that the word Drapa is
"an old Norse poem of homage," but throughout the series provides a great deal
of helpful and detailed information on all the music: what it is all about, how it relates
to the composers life and times, why we have two versions of the Fifth Symphony, and
a good deal more.
In instances of similar omissions of one kind or another,
other companies have provided the missing material on their respective websites, but so
far Dacapo has not offered that option, and has given no indication that it may be offered
in the future. In this case, the omission must be a major consideration, and despite the
economy in terms of both purchase price and shelf space, I would have to recommend the
individual CDs. Either way, though, this music is worth your attention.
The music of the Norwegian composer Fartein Valen is no
less in need of background and description, which BIS of course provides with its
customary fastidiousness in its coverage of all of his orchestral works on three CDs
issued separately. Valens name, like Langgaards, has not been entirely unknown
to us. Some of this composers works, too, had been issued on LP -- more than 50
years ago, on Mercury, and subsequently on Philips. Some 20 years ago the Norwegian label
Simax brought out a CD set of Valens four symphonies, performed by the Bergen
Philharmonic under Aldo Ceccato. The new BIS recordings not only give us everything, but,
as we expect from this label, the performances, by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra under
Christian Eggen, and the sound quality are first-rate, and the documentation is
authoritative (if not quite as detailed as what Dacapo had for its individual Langgaard
discs). In this case the analytical notes, by Arvid O. Vollsnes, are augmented by an
explanation from the conductor, Eggen, who assigned himself the task of figuring out from
the composers sketches what he intended to put into his frequently spotty scores.
Indeed, those scores were not merely spotty but, as Eggen
writes, created "numerous practical problems . . . Incorrect accidentals and
incomplete instructions are the least of these. It is worse when phrases lack both
beginning and end and the so-called fair copy of the manuscript has almost as many
mistakes as the printed score. This has caused numerous people (including publishers,
copyists, conductors and musicians) to form the impression that this is how it should be,
with disastrous results. Valens music has been performed with gaping holes and
illogical solutions. . . . The idea has been to reconstruct the works just as Valen
intended them . . . "
The audible results here are certainly persuasive. Valen
was born in Stavanger; his music has a long tradition of performance there, and the
orchestra has come through splendidly in adapting to Christian Eggens new editions
of the scores. So far this "integral" series is offered only in the form of
three individual CDs, and there is no word from BIS about the possibility of their
eventually being offered in a single box. As there is also no real alternative in this
case, the word "integral" becomes synonymous with "self-recommending,"
and it seems likely that anyone sampling one of these discs will want to follow up with
the other two.
Volume 1 (CD-1522) comprises the Symphony No.1, the Violin
Concerto (with Elise Båtnes), the Pastorale, Sonetto di Michelangelo and Cantico
di ringraziamento. The works in Volume 2 (CD-1632) are the Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3, Nenia,
An die Hoffnung and Epithalamion. The Fourth Symphony and the Piano Concerto
(with Einar Henning Smebye) are the big works in Volume 3 (CD-1642), which is filled out
by The Churchyard by the Sea, La Isla de las Calmas and the Ode to
Solitude. All the performances on these three discs, like those of the Langgaard works
on Dacapo, may be regarded as definitive for more or less the same reasons -- which is to
say, in all the ways that count.
. . . Richard Freed
richardf@ultraaudio.com
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