The Art of George Szell (György Széll)

[George]

Is his Beethoven Symphonies cycle OOP?

Yes.

[Brian]

Oh man, I DO love Szell's collaborations with Leon Fleisher on the Beethoven piano concertos! Maybe my favorite of those recordings is the simply perfect No 4.

Is his Beethoven Symphonies cycle OOP?

No, not at all. Amazon and many other places should still have the cycle, on individual "Sony Essential Classics" discs - they're about $7 each. Now, maybe they're not being printed anymore, but you can definitely still buy your copy!

[RJR]

Since I think Szell is one of the truly great conductors I can't think of anything I would not recommend. If you see Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven on the cover along with his name, snap it up. To restrict myself to just three (and leaving out the Mahler recordings because I know you're not yet a fan):



Sarge

I bought an Epic Lp of Szell conducting Beethoven's Fifth and Mozart's Jupiter back in 1968. I think they are no longer paired. I also have an Lp of Walton Partita for Orchestra, coupled with the first movement of Mahler's 10th. The Mahler 6th is very powerful stuff. Dutilleux's Métaboles was dedicated to Szell and was premiered by Szell and the great Cleveland Orchestra in 1965. I met M. Dutilleux at the premiere of his string quartet Ainsi la nuit in Paris in 1976 (on my birthday, no less), then again at the premiere of his violon concerto, l'arbre des songes, played by Isaac Stern, in Montreal in 1986. He sent me an autographed copy of his autobiography and a postcard of an aerial view of Ile Saint-Louis, where he still resides in Paris.

[jwinter]

I've been a huge Szell fan ever since I first got a cassette player at age eight.  I've been going through my Szell CDs today and re-ripping them into itunes (I just acquired the new Haydn symphonies and Casadesus Mozart sets, which sparked a rummage through the collection), and a random question occurred to me...

I wonder why Szell didn't record more (any?) baroque-era music?  It's interesting to imagine what the Cleveland Orchestra could have done with the Brandenburgs, or if he'd paired up with Leon Fleisher for a go at the Bach keyboard concerti.  I would have thought that contrapunctal music in particular would have been a natural opportunity to show off the precision and articulation that Cleveland was known for...

[Mood4Classical]

Szell's recordings with Sony were the first CD i ever bought (with Ormandy's) I have an emotional tie with them more then something else. I still go back to his Schubert 8, 9, Brahms No1, Brahms double concerto on EMI, a fine dvorak cello cencerto with Fournier, sibelius 2nd and Beethoven 5th with the Concertgebouw.

[Bogey]

Yo, Sarge and other Szell nut cases !

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=156219408&m=156416949

[Sergeant Rock]

Yo, Sarge and other Szell nut cases !

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=156219408&m=156416949

Thanks, Bill    Supper's almost ready so I'll have to listen later this evening.

Sarge

[mjwal]

There's a great live Beethoven piano concerto #3 with Gilels & the VPO on Orfeo - the Beethoven symphony #5 is also very good.

There's a superb live Otello from 1946/MET for the historically minded:
- which is on Archipel too.
I also like his Sinfonia Domestica - and Don Juan & Till are on a CD with Ormandy's Heldenleben in Germany für'n Appel und 'n Ei. There's a fine Don Quixote, I have it on LP, but it doesn't seem to be available on CD right now.
I think his very fine K.364 with Druian & Skernick hasn't been mentioned, it's coupled with the Clarinet Concerto on the Sony disc I have. These are especial favourites of mine, as works and interpretations.

[Old Listener]

Sony has released several boxes of interest for Szell fans

Fleisher / Szell in the Beethoven AND Brahms Piano Concerti.
ArkivMusic link: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=709278

Another box has Szell's Haydn Symphony with the Cleveland Orchestra recordings. (including a superb #92 and older recordings of #88 and 104.  Two versions of 97 as well.)
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Szell-Conducts-Haydn-Symphonies-George/dp/B003TUG3UO/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&coliid=IVP57N91VYCST&colid=1R22J1YR1DE28

The Casadesus / Szell Mozart Piano Concerti recordings too.
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Casadesus-Plays-Mozart/dp/B004H6P2KQ/ref=pd_sim_m_5

All really great recordings at prices much lower than I paid for these recordings.

---
Szell's Mozart symphonies and Beethoven Symphonies were re-mastered for Original Jacket box sets.  To my ears, the sound is better than on the Essential Classics CDs.  Other orchestral music in the sets too.

---
One Philips recording not yet mentioned has Sibleius #2, Beethoven #5 and Mozart #34 with the Concertgebouw.  All fine but this Mozart #34 has no close rivals.

[jwinter]

Yo, Sarge and other Szell nut cases !

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=156219408&m=156416949

Much obliged, will definitely check it out.  Thanks!

[Sergeant Rock]

There's a fine Don Quixote, I have it on LP, but it doesn't seem to be available on CD right now.

Japanese imports are available but they're insanely priced. A few used copies can be had that are much more reasonable (around 25 Euro). I grabbed one a few months ago:




Sarge

[mjwal]

Sony has released several boxes of interest for Szell fans

...

The Casadesus / Szell Mozart Piano Concerti recordings too.
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Casadesus-Plays-Mozart/dp/B004H6P2KQ/ref=pd_sim_m_5

All really great recordings at prices much lower than I paid for these recordings.

The problem with these reissues of the great Mozart piano concertos with Szell/Casadesus is that they have omitted several works, a particular cause for regret being the omission of K.456 and K.466, as noted by one of the Amazon reviewers. In no way are they inferior to the other recordings; they are in mono, but I had not in fact consciously taken note of this before, so engaging are the performances. They were all issued by Sony France in 2 CD boxes - I bought the first set and missed the 2nd, as they disappeared very soon, but later found the latter online as a download. The Sony France boxes include several works for piano solo as well.
A pity they never recorded K.271. I am still searching for my "ideal" recording of this. Any suggestions? I have Brendel/Janigro, Gieseking/Rosbaud, Firkusny/Szell, Serkin/Schneider et j'en oublie. What about the Lili Kraus on Dutton?

[Superhorn]

   Szell recorded the Hamilton Harty version of Handel's Watermusic for Decca with the L.S.O.  As far as I know
it has not been issued on CD, though I may be wrong .

[Sergeant Rock]

   Szell recorded the Hamilton Harty version of Handel's Watermusic for Decca with the L.S.O.  As far as I know
it has not been issued on CD, though I may be wrong .

It has been. The Decca and Philips recordings were boxed up nicely. Five CDs:



The Handel arrangement is credited to Harty/Szell. The Handlel/Harty Royal Fireworks Suite is included too.

Dsthr

[jwinter]

I wonder how many copies Sony would need to sell to consider putting out "George Szell & The Cleveland Orchestra - The Complete Recordings" as one of their box sets?  Hell, between Sarge and me, there's a dozen copies sold right there...   

How big would such a set be?  150 CDs?  I'd be willing to accept one with just the stereo recordings, if that would save space...

[Vesteralen]

I saw the Curzon-Szell Brahms Piano Concerto 1 mentioned earlier on this thread, and it's my favorite version of this work, in spite of the heavy breathing in the slow movement.

Though I have a lot of Szell on LP and CD, including the Beethoven symphony boxed set, my absolute favorite Szell recordings may not have been mentioned yet here.

His Mozart Symphony 39, which I have on LP, has rather unaccountably been missed in most of the CD reissues on his Mozart recordings, but it is single-handedly responsible for my fixation on this piece - the only Mozart symphony I play regularly.

Several posters mentioned his Haydn Symphonies 93-98, but strangely left out my favorite from that set - No. 96 (the misnamed "Miracle").  It is again the recording that made that particular work my favorite Haydn symphony.

[Mandryka]

There's a live Jupiter,  February 8, 1967 from Symphony Hall Boston, which I enjoyed more  than the well known  studio. On symphonyshare.

[Mookalafalas]

I wonder how many copies Sony would need to sell to consider putting out "George Szell & The Cleveland Orchestra - The Complete Recordings" as one of their box sets?  Hell, between Sarge and me, there's a dozen copies sold right there...   

How big would such a set be?  150 CDs?  I'd be willing to accept one with just the stereo recordings, if that would save space...

This is a rather old thread, but deserves reviving, IMO.

  This isn't complete, but at 49 discs is probably the biggest we're going to see for a while. 

  I don't know why it is so expensive right now. I got it for about half the present Amazon price a couple of months ago.

  The sound is excellent.  I didn't understand what people were talking about earlier about enduring the poor sound of historical recordings.  I haven't heard the whole box, but there is nothing here to sniff at, sound-quality wise.  I think a lot of it has been remastered, either for this box or for other recent editions, but remastering doesn't work magic, so I find it hard to believe it could ever have been that bad...or maybe this is just the 49 discs of top sound?  Many are very short, unfortunately, which was absolutely unnecessary, as they are not "original jackets"...

[jochanaan]

I'm very fond of a recording of Mendelssohn's Symphony #4 from the 1960s.  It's coupled with Schubert's Unfinished, also very fine.

[Peter]

This is a rather old thread, but deserves reviving, IMO.

  This isn't complete, but at 49 discs is probably the biggest we're going to see for a while. 

  I don't know why it is so expensive right now. I got it for about half the present Amazon price a couple of months ago.

  The sound is excellent.  I didn't understand what people were talking about earlier about enduring the poor sound of historical recordings.  I haven't heard the whole box, but there is nothing here to sniff at, sound-quality wise.  I think a lot of it has been remastered, either for this box or for other recent editions, but remastering doesn't work magic, so I find it hard to believe it could ever have been that bad...or maybe this is just the 49 discs of top sound?  Many are very short, unfortunately, which was absolutely unnecessary, as they are not "original jackets"...

I was hoping that because that box was an import for the US and under Sony that they would re-release it in a fashion similar to these boxes:

[asin]B003Z9Q4WG[/asin] [asin]B00BNZN27E[/asin]
With the amount of smaller Sony boxes that George Szell already has, I'll probably wait and see if another, cheaper Edition box happens within the next year or two (I need to slow down on my purchases anyway!).