If I Could Choose Only One Recording By...GEORG SOLTI
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2024
- It Would Have To Be...Schoenberg: Moses und Aron (Decca)
Because it plays to his strengths as a conductor of dramatic music, but also represents an unusually daring choice for a conductor not usually known for his risk-taking.
May I put in a word for Solti’s Elgar 1? I was present when he first performed it in London with the LPO. It must have been as much of a shock to them as it was to us in the audience, at a time when we were all used to the stately (but also beautiful and powerful) approach of Sir Adrian Boult. I now have ten versions on CD, but Solti’s is the one I return to most often.
In the days when I used to go to opera performances (no way would I pay to see some aberration now). a Solti performance always meant a stunning orchestral contribution. I’ll never forget his “Falstaff” (ROH/London), I was young at the time and in awe of the orchestral sound, dynamic but from memory never drowned the soloists. I’m sure he was one of the finest Verdi conductors of his time.
Dear Dave, thank you so much for this tribute to Solti's Moses und Aron. I have been wondering when you get to Solti in this series, and wondering what you would choose, but afraid to hazard a guess since I know he is not one of your all-time faves! Nevertheless, you have always been generous to him as choral and opera conductor and I appreciated your comments in this video. Wesley
I was at the production; it certainly was well done, but I would say the audience was more stunned than thrilled. But my fundamentally tonal taste was predisposed to dislike it; mission accomplished...
Guessing you didn't care for Shapey's Concerto Fantastique either ☺ Compared to the crowd's reaction to that, which must've been redolent of the Rite's, its reception to Moses und Aron was gaga
Lol; correct-but the audience was respectful. And I am/was all for its production and glad I saw/heard it, terrible for my own ears as it was...@@mikeziolkowski7294
Great and unexpected choice, Doktor Hurwitz.
Moses und Aron is not something I put very often in my cd player at home, but live at the theater is one of the most impressive operas from the XXth century.
It is also really interesting to read the comments here.
With your "all unmusical or stupid posts will be eliminated" approach, you have created a nice community of music lovers.
Thank you.
Thank you!
In Austria, we have a newspaper called Kronen Zeitung; it's something like "The Sun". When Vienna`s State Opera made the reappraisal of the Götz-Friedrich-staging in 1976, "Moses" was the front cover pic of the Kronen Zeitung. And the performances have been sold out. Guess, why... To solve the riddle: The three naked women have really been naked...
When I started exploring opera the only recording around was the 1954 Hans Rosbaud on Columbia. He certainly knew how it went, but the sound wasn't so hot and its important in this score. The Solti was a revelation even though I knew the Gielen in between. It also beats the Boulez, which I hear as analytical but not essentially sexy in Act 2.
Another great monument to Solti is the Decca Rosenkavalier, which outstrips all the others that I've ever heard including HvK.
I take the heretical position of preferring the "pre-Chicago" Solti recordings. The one that really knocked me out was Elektra with Birgit Nilsson.
Agreed. The orchestra sounded vastly better under Reiner and Martinon. Dave is not a fan of Kubelik's early Chicago period, but I think some of those are really good as well.
The Chicago Symphony under Solti was at its greatest. Fabulous musicians like Bud Hersch on Trumpet, Dale Clevenger on French Horn and Donald Koss on timpani. Being a timpanist myself I found Donald Koss timpani playing absolutely outstanding.
I never much liked Koss, to be honest.
It was Bud Herseth, not Hersch.
I love how Solti told his musicians to do Moses and
Aron as though it's Brahms.
What's fascinating to me about Solti is that it seemingly didn't matter what kind of opera it was, he could consistently nail it. It would be much rarer to find a conductor that could nail symphonic music of such wide ranging styles and periods. But in addition to the big Romantic show-stoppers, Solti could also do Mozart really well (one of the best Figaros on record), as well as expressionist nightmares like Salome. Bohm was sort of like that as well -- in addition to his Mozart and all the German stuff, he did a really terrific Wozzeck.
It certainly doesn't hurt that they were both big enough names that they could usually get really good singers and let them do their thing.
I love Böhm's Wozzeck. How I wish that Solti had recorded it too!
Quite agree, I have the Boulez recording of this besides the Solti. Solti and his CSO forces knocks spots off Boulez. Interestingly Solti also recorded the Schoenberg Variations for Orchestra and that has become my go to version of that work. As an aside I think it would have been fascinating to hear what Solti would have made of the Sibelius and Nielsen Symphonies. Whatever he did with the Sibelius I'm willing to bet that it would have been a hell of a lot more interesting than the Makela cycle. I also feel that Solti's muscular style of conducting might well have suited the equally muscular style of the Nielsen symphonies. Oh well, we shall never know will we.
I might have chosen his "Die Frau Ohne Schatten."
I think the 'live' video one is better than the studio recording that took forever to make. That's just me.
I remember a moment in the Karajan in Salzburg documentary, Herbie in a huff because the chorus showed up late to his Don Giovanni rehearsal after the Moses und Aaron rehearsal went into overtime. Karajan berated his opera director telling him, you have speak “deutsche” to these people.
We’ve picked the same recording!! I’d say this recording outpaces Boulez’s and certainly Gielen’s
Agreed. It's a very beautiful recording, with the CSO on top form.
It dawned on me last Sunday that Cancrizans stony old heart might find new life with any number of recordings from Frederick Fennell - served in morning light with a plate of pancakes. I'm looking forward to you choosing just one recording.
Solti has always been one of my favorite conductors, and although another fan already mentioned his recording of The Marriage of Figaro, which is superb, I’d like to suggest that his Das Rheingold was on another plane entirely, versus his competitors. So was his Siegfried. (I prefer Herbert von Karajan for the Valkyrie, and Götterdämmerung). Very dramatic performances.
Great choice! Leaving aside Solti's Wagner/Strauss/Verdi, I'd also put Moses und Aron in first place, probably with his Marriage of Figaro as runner-up and Eugene Onegin third.
I was sure you were going to choose what wound up being (so I've heard) Georg Solti' and the CSOs number one best seller: the Chicago Bears Fight Song (you know, "Bear down, Chicago Bears.... etc.").
Off topic: would you consider creating & publishing a full-scale guide, an a-z compendium of composers & recommended recordings? Your presentations and preferences are consistent and allow one to correlate one's own preferences to yours -- and that is what makes them so valuable! By correlating our own preferences, we know exactly what to choose! Back in the day, there was a reliable and consistent french guide called "Les indispensables du disque compact classique". It was better than the old Diapason guide (IMHO, Gramophone or Penguin don't come close), but it's been out of print for about 30 years...
On topic: Interestingly, I have the Solti Moses & Aron -but only listened to it once or twice. I am going back to it asap! Regards
That's a tall order and I don't see how I would ever have the time. I have one book (Bruckner symphonies) already done with no sign of a publisher. I think the days of print guides such as this may be over.
@@DavesClassicalGuide If you are serious about that Bruckner tome, I'm sure you are aware that you can self publish. I, for one, would be interested in reading it. Your excellent Mahler book has long had a place on my bookshelf.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thank you for responding. "I think the days of print guides such as this may be over" more's the pity! Regards
I have a box with his complete Chicago orchestra. Very amazing sound of orchestral playing, excellent recording quality. I love everything there except Beethoven's symphony. Both its analog and digital versions are frankly weak. The rest is amazing. I'm still waiting for Dave to review his complete box of Chicago records.
My choice would have been Salome with Nilsson - but I presume its already placed on the "Reference record shelf" ready to be unleashed when time is right 😄
Now that the CSO has Klaus Mäkäla, they can do the Gurrelieder.
That IS an incredible recording!!!!! I thought you might pick Der ring des Nibelungen -- that would have been like telling the genie, "I wish for three more wishes!"
Your pick of "Moses and Aaron" is fine with me. I would argue that making great music is NOT about Bud Herseth, Dale Clevenger, Jay Friedman or Donald Koss - especially NOT Donald Koss (worst timpanist I have every heard, bar none!). Singling these people out is pointing at precisely what went wrong with the C.S.O. in the latter Solti years. Orchestra Hall is really becoming dated and substandard, acoustically speaking. The brass got in the habit of blowing ever louder so they could hear themselves off of the back wall - get themselves some feedback, in other words. I saw them do Mahler 5 under Solti in the latter 1980's. I didn't know they had brought a string section along until they got to the Adagietto. The entire orchestra sounded as though it was at war with itself. Since I'm not a big opera person, I own only one Solti recording. It is the one that has Kodaly's "Peacock Variations" (and an only OK version of that); Boris Blacher's "Paganini" Variations (this what I wanted the disc for), and the Elgar "Enigma" Variations - all with the Vienna Phil. The poor attention to detail, timbres and balances is very representative of late Solti orchestral recordings. It's certainly not among the better Decca recordings made with the V.P.O., that's for certain. It's not really 'bad' - it's just not great. I wanted the Blacher, and I found the disc cheap. I'm actually even tempted to get rid of this one, as I have vastly better recordings of the wonderful "Peacock" Variations.
You know we're on the same page here.
Wow. Interesting choice. I DO NOT LIKE twelve tone music, but I can understand how it could work in a dramatic theater context. Still, I would choose almost anything else due to my obvious prejudice. I agree that Solti was at his best in the theater--I really like his recording of Bizet's Carmen, for example--and I also really get off on hearing the Chicago Symphony during his tenure. Solti and the CSO was certainly a potent combination.
Solti might have given us a great Wozzeck or Lulu. I read somewhere that at the time of his death, Solti was annotating a score of Bach's St. John Passion for a potential recording. A follow up to his splendid St. Matthew which, surprisingly enough, is probably the finest recording of that work using modern forces since the days of Klemperer and Richter. However, I think I would have chosen his recording of Haydn's "The Seasons" as an offering to Cancrizans. Though Böhm's probably remains the reference recording for that work, Solti's actually surpasses its predecessor in vigor, warmth and (surpisingly) charm.
I agree about his St. Matt. Decca had Dohnanyi do the two Bergs, so that might have precluded Solti, even though the Lulu was without an Act 3.
Of course, we need a Dohnanyi box
Dave, you are right - in addition to opera, he really had a knack for blockbusters. When I saw the title on the thumbnail for this video, I thought you were going to pick The Planets!! ☺
Interesting choice, I have never listened to this work. thanks Dave!
Thank you Dave! I was not aware of this particular Solti recording! Is it also the reference recording, if there is one at all? I was wondering, because Rosbaud's is excellent too and he even conducted the world premiere.
There is no reference recording, but it's a great one.
Well I accept the rationale here, but, let's face it: if you were going to nominate a single Solti recording to anything other than an evil God, it would have to be his Ring cycle.
I don't think so. There are several fine Ring cycles, and I don't even think this represents his best Wagner.
Well, Solti's Decca cycle is at the minimum a "safe" recommendation according to consensus. If I remember correctly it's the first complete studio and stereo recording of the cycle. Yes, I would place his ring cycle as his RR.
Absolutely the reference Ring for a number of reasons
I thought of Solti's Ring, too, although it's too bad that at the end of Walkure the orchestras not together and Hans Hotter is singing out of tune. John Culshaw's book, The Ring Resounding, talks about the problems they had at that point in the recording process.
@@jimslancio for me Hotter’s only competition to his Solti Wotan is his own earlier Bayreuth Wotans. His greatness as a Liedersinger really shows in the Walkure Act Two where we are riveted on every word of the Narration. Sorry no other complete Ring Wotan can match him for experience, detail and relation to other characters. A career noted for every excellence save sheer vocal beauty’s