Recordings That You Are Considering

[Anooj]

Which conductor conducts which Te Deum?
All four are certainly good conductors. If Davis conducts the Berlioz, he's as safe and mainstream as you can get.

Davis does the Berlioz, Rilling the Dvorak.

[hopefullytrusting]

Davis does the Berlioz, Rilling the Dvorak.

I will say that Davis is the only version of that I've enjoyed (as it is one I've struggled with) and Rilling is fine in Dvorak, but not the best.

[Madiel]

I haven't listened to the Dvorak Te Deum for a while. I personally don't remember regarding it as a top drawer work (and I have the Smetacek recording), but that could just be me and/or my memory is faulty.

[DavidW]

If Davis conducts the Berlioz, he's as safe and mainstream as you can get.

Talking about damning with faint praise! IMHO few conductors have shown such passion for Berlioz.

[Jo498]

Yes, the "Berlioz revival" in the 60s was mostly due to Munch who was more German than French (fought on the German side in WW 1), later American and Colin Davis than to any French conductor although Monteux should probably also be mentioned.

[Florestan]

Yes, the "Berlioz revival" in the 60s was mostly due to Munch who was more German than French

That's only fitting: wasn't Berlioz's music accused of being more German than French by his compatriotes? 

[Jo498]

They might have been right in 1840 although I think it was more a strain of romanticism that was as inspired by Lord Byron and Walter Scott as by Goethe's Faust, but they should have gotten used to the style of their greatest 19th century composer by the mid-20th century!

[André]

Yes, the "Berlioz revival" in the 60s was mostly due to Munch who was more German than French (fought on the German side in WW 1), later American and Colin Davis than to any French conductor although Monteux should probably also be mentioned.

Not what I've read in two Munch biographies as well as a number of articles...

Munch fought on the german side because as an Alsatian he was a german citizen (Alsace was German since 1871), therefore he had no say on the matter. The Munch household spoke French at home. Munch spoke German and French, worked in both countries but left Germany for good in 1932 (he was concertmaster at the Gewandhaus Orchestra).

Left for Paris, dropped the umlaut from his name and became outspoken in his aversion to Germany. He refused to conduct german composers during his tenure with the Orchestre des Concerts du Conservatoire (1937-1945). In November 1944, during a concert he stopped the performance when word got out of the liberation of his hometown Strasbourg. He had the orchestra stand to play La Marseillaise.

Received the Légion d'honneur for his role in the french Résistance and in protecting musicians from the Vichy authorities and the Gestapo, etc. Like so many of his countrymen he was bicultural, bilingual but staunchly anti-german.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

For those in the know, what do you guys think about Karl Richter's Bach choral recordings on Archiv? Worth looking into? I sampled some various performances of some cantatas and liked what I heard.

[DavidW]

For those in the know, what do you guys think about Karl Richter's Bach choral recordings on Archiv? Worth looking into? I sampled some various performances of some cantatas and liked what I heard.

They are considered old-fashioned now, but they weren't when they were made. He took great efforts to deliver performances that were transparent and lean, and they were for that time. Very different from someone like Klemperer. It just doesn't sound at all like the period-style performances of today.

I love those recordings, and if you can go into them with the right expectations you can too.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

They are considered old-fashioned now, but they weren't when they were made. He took great efforts to deliver performances that were transparent and lean, and they were for that time. Very different from someone like Klemperer. It just doesn't sound at all like the period-style performances of today.

I love those recordings, and if you can go into them with the right expectations you can too.

Thanks, David. Yeah, they're definitely considered old-fashioned recordings nowadays as so much scholarly work has been done since Richter's time, but what I sampled did sound rather rather alluring, but, unfortunately, I've decided to pass as I currently have a bid on the Gardiner set on Soli Deo Gloria (I already own most of Gardiner's Bach on Archiv), so crossing my fingers I get this set and, after this, I think I'll be done collecting Bach's vocal works as I already own the Suzuki and Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi) sets.

[Mandryka]

[Mandryka]

They are considered old-fashioned now, but they weren't when they were made. He took great efforts to deliver performances that were transparent and lean, and they were for that time. Very different from someone like Klemperer. It just doesn't sound at all like the period-style performances of today.

I love those recordings, and if you can go into them with the right expectations you can too.

Back in the days of CDs I used to love Christ Lag in Todes Banden in the box of Easter cantatas, for Fischer Dieskau singing Hier Ist Das Rechte Osterlamm.

[prémont]

They are considered old-fashioned now, but they weren't when they were made. He took great efforts to deliver performances that were transparent and lean, and they were for that time. Very different from someone like Klemperer. It just doesn't sound at all like the period-style performances of today.

I love those recordings, and if you can go into them with the right expectations you can too.

I tend to agree with this and for that reason I have recently purchased all his DG/Archiv recordings.