Search - Carl Maria von Weber, Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Johannes Brahms :: Weber, Schubert, Brahms: Orchestral Works

Another installment of greatness

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I will never stop trying to make up for the lost years when I didn't hear Tennstedt. Now we are getting a steady stream of reissues, and fortunately they capture this passionate, volatile conductor mostly at his best. That's especially true of the offerings from BBC Legends. This CD features a Schubert Ninth and Weber Oberon Over. from 1984 with a Brahms Tragic Over. from 1983. The recordings are in good broadcast stereo remastered to 20-bit digital standards. In every case, what you note right away is that Tenstedt, with his constant demand for more intensity, managed to lift his British musicians from their usual bland professionalism to real heights of musicality.



The opening Oberon Over. is light, fluid, but still intense, one of the best I've heard in years. The main event is the Schubert, taken from the same concdert and showing the same stylistic traits. This is Tennstedt at his most loving, almost in the shadow of Bruno Walter. To combine gentelness with inner vibrancy is a rare gift. The London Phil. doesn't have the finesse of their Viennese or Berlin counterparts, but they capture the spirit perfectly well. At 49 min., this is one of the fastest Ninths I know, mostly because of the speedy second movement, which some may find a bit breathless but which to me is fresh and exciting. The finale is not rushed, however, and has plenty of time to communicate its special joy. Of the three works here, the Tragic Over. that ends the program lacks a touch of intensity, being rather good-natured on the whole but with the right sweep and drive.



In sum, this is another wonderful Tennstedt memento, and I can only hope that the newly founded LPO label will offer many more, along with continued reissues from BBC Legends and Profil, a label that uses official tapes from the Bavarian State Sym. Orchest."