Search - Hermann Scherchen, Haydn, Beethoven :: Early Recordings

Scherchen At His Finest

Jeffrey Lipscomb | Sacramento, CA United States | 04/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These 1950-51 recordings with Vienna ensembles, originally made for Ultraphon and Supraphon, are among the finest examples of Scherchen's art at its most inspired. Unfortunately, Tahra CDs are getting difficult to find - apparently this 4-CD set has already gone out of print. If you should have some luck and find a copy elsewhere on the internet, don't hesitate: there is genuine greatness on display here.



Haydn's Symphony #48 receives from Scherchen what I feel is one of its two most engaging readings on disc (the other: Karl Ristenpart's on a deleted Accord CD, coupled with wonderful accounts of #31 and #85). The 4 Mozart Symphonies (29, 35, 36, & 40) are all wonderful, though Scherchen's very slow tempo in the 1st mvt. of 29 doesn't quite work for me (still it's better than Beecham's crawl with the LPO on 78s; Szymon Goldberg got it just right on Epic LP). The Haffner & Linz are filled with all kinds of felicitous phrasings and warm-hearted string playing. The 40th here brings out the depth of the music's pathos in a way I have heard in only one other recording (Fritz Lehmann's on a DG LP in urgent need of CD availability, along with the magnificent Schubert 8th that was its discmate).



Scherchen's rendering of Mendelssohn's overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of my all-time favorites. The Beethoven 2nd Symphony is mellower and far more satisfying than the later Royal Phil. account for Westminster. For me, it joins Weingartner (Naxos), Kleiber (Teldec) and Schuricht (Decca) at the very top of the list. Sadly, this exceptional Beethoven 4th is incomplete (the entire 1st mvt. and part of the 2nd were apparently lost). What can be heard of it is in every way superior to the rather hard-boiled 4th that Scherchen later recorded for Westminster. If there is a more delightful account of these Beethoven German Dances, I have yet to hear it. And last, but certainly not least, is Scherchen's "Eroica." I feel it's one of the half-dozen greatest readings ever recorded, VASTLY superior to Scherchen's ludicrously fast stereo acccount (DG Westminster).



Transfers are excellent (the sound is a tad hard in the Haydn, and surprisingly good in the Mendelssohn). The only goof I could detect was an occasional failure to edit-out the repeated notes at the beginning of the subsequent 78 rpm side (notably, so to speak, in the Mozart 40th and the Beethoven 2nd).



Highest recommendation.







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