More Blind Comparisons! - Symphonie fantastique

[Larry Rinkel]

Hey Greta, welcome back! Finally someone who likes D and E! I thought I erased the names. I know one kept coming up with a picture of supposedly the album which I couldn't erase, but since it's the wrong album I thought it wouldn't matter.  What do people think about Greta's comments on D and E, also B?

I'd have to listen again to D and E, but may not have time. I'm virtually certain I have E in my collection, but B is not who I thought it was. Interesting that the brass effect in D is something we all pick up on.

[MishaK]

OK, folks. I'm going on vacation for a solid month tomorrow, therefore, as promised, herewith the revelations of our mystery performers. Despite the small number of participants, it's been an interesting discussion. I think there are few pieces quite like Symphonie fantastique with such audacious orchestration that challenge an orchestra to produce such fine nuances of colors while playing quite challenging passages. The five excerpts posted here are taken from my collection of over thirty fantastiques. I was hoping to write a bit more in detail, but since I'm in the middle of packing for my departure tomorrow, I'll have to keep it brief.

Clip A:



Wiener Philharmoniker, Bernard Haitink, Decca, recorded at the Sofiensaal, Vienna, 17-20 April 1979

No, it's not digital, it's just Decca's close miking. I have to confess, this is my least favorite performance of the lot. Rubio described it as "neutral" and I would agree. It is neutral to a fault. My main beef with the performance is of a different kind, though. I will touch upon this in the discussion of the other clips in more detail, but to me this performance is just a tad too Viennese. I'm actually surprised nobody apart from M noticed right away that this is the VPO. The sense of phrase, the colors of the winds and brass, the smooth strings, all of it point straight to Vienna. But that is to me the problem. This is perhaps the defining work of the French romantic repertiore and, to me, it requires a bit of a different approach to timbre. The various instruments still occupy too much of their own sonic space instead of blending with each other. As far as the performance goes, it is highly accomplished and it exhibits Haitink's trademark qualities of rich tone but never at the expense of transparency. That being said, the reverb of the hall eats up some of the faster passages. The final run in particular sounds less articulated than it probably was vivo. Many of you discussed the particularities of the tuba playing in the dies irae. Here, the dies irae is rather tuba-heavy, with the bassoons almost inaudible, instead of the tuba blending in.

Clip B:



Berliner Philharmoniker, Rudolf Kempe, EMI, recorded 3 June 1959

This is an old early stereo recording that has been reissued in many guises. I have it on a cheap Spanish two-fer (Classicos del Milenio). No, it's not a French orchestra! And I think that is what's amazing here. Like in Markevitch's 1953 mono recording with the same band, we get here the BPO the way it sounded before Karajan completely changed its sonic landscape, but here it's in glorious stereo. I received this recording last year in a package from my dad and immediately thought "do I really need yet another fantastique?". A few bars into this performance and I was completely hooked. Kempe has such a phenomenal sense of phrase and is such a compelling story-teller and I think this recording shows that even in repertoire not normally associated with him. Just listen to how he sets up the scene in those first few bars up to that first appropriately nasty brass entry. Just a slight twitch here a small ritard here and the stage is set. Phenomenal sense of atmosphere. But what's really neat here and what you don't get from this band in the next two, three decades in this repertoire is how they adjust to the orchestral textures of this particular work. The woodwinds sound appropriately French and blended, the brass most of the time reasonably light. Every now and then, their normal character comes through and you hear more weighty brass and there is no denying those lush Berliner strings. Articulation and balances are as good as anyone could hope for. I find this a massively interesting performance not just because it shows the Berliners producing uncommon colors, but also because Kempe's is a very personal interpretation. It doesn't really follow in anyone else's style. It has its moments of frenzy, but it is also rather measured elsewhere (the ronde, for instance). It is structured, but not cerebral, emotionally compelling, but not maniacal. My one negative comment here is that the bells sound more like noise from a steel factory.

Clip C:



Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris, André Cluytens, EMI, recorded live on tour Tokyo, Metropolitan Festival Hall, 10 May 1964

A quintessentially French performance. I was slightly dismayed at the number of negative comments on this performance, but one should have probably compared it to other French performances of the same time to appreciate its qualities. Yes, Cluytens goes quite crazy here and takes some liberties with tempo indications, but compared to, say, Munch or Paray, this is harmless stuff. It's quite driven, but fairly straightforwardly structured. What makes this performance special to me is that it is one of the most accomplished performances of a French orchestra of this era, thus preserving a certain sound that faded quite a bit in decades to come, but with far fewer bloopers. That it is a single take live performance is all the more astounding. Others fared less well at slower tempos with multiple takes in the studio. I disagree that there are any train wrecks here. There are no major booboos at all. The orchestra keeps together quite well for the most part despite Cluytens's tempos. What is lacking here is a bit of articulation, which is most certainly due to a less than adequate recording setup. You've got to love the way Cluytens sets up the opening atmosphere here. It is pregnant with doom. Bells are woefully out of tune, unfortunately. The dies irae is quite tuba-heavy here, but has a nice singing tuba sound. It is quite different from the tuba playing on any of the other clips. 

Clip D:



Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, Teldec, recorded in Orchestra Hall, Chicago over the course of several live performances in May 1995

The CSO recorded this work four times and this performance stands head and shoulders above the other three for many of the qualities mentioned in the discussion here. What characterized the CSO during Barenboim's tenure was an incredible ability of the various sections of the orchestra to uncannily match each other's timbres and blend into something completely new and different and that quality is exhibited quite well here. The winds play as a single, blended block, flutes nicely blend with either strings or winds, as appropriate. The brass add nastiness where needed, but never overwhelm. The overall sound is transparent yet smooth, fleet and agile. What I find fascinating here is how Barenboim's approach to this piece has matured. He recorded this work before with the Orchestre de Paris and the BPO, but here, he's really paying attention to colors and he even seems to incorporate some HIP approaches. Almost everyone has commented on the exeptionally fine and colorful tuba playing in the dies irae. Of all modern orchestra performances I have heard, this one comes probably the closest to capturing the unique effect of the original ophicleide/serpent orchestration through simply adjusting the attack of the tuba. The dies irae here is basically led by the bassoons with the tuba and the double basses providing depth, color and buzz. As with all of Barenboim's better efforts, this performance straddles a fine balance between the cerebral and the emotional. You get the clear structure but also a compelling dramatic arc. Barenboim pays exceptional attention to the finest nuances in dynamics and the recording reproduces these quite well. The bells are superbly in tune, if a little too onstage for my taste. The final held out note in the brass is wonderfully clear.

Clip E:



Wiener Symphoniker, Georges Prêtre, Teldec, recorded 1985

I will admit this performance unfortunately doesn't feature the best of sound. It's a bit boxy and distant and betrays its vintage. But it is a valuable document for a number of reasons. First of all, Prêtre is the last living direct descendant of a virtually extinct French tradition which he inherited from his mentors Dervaux and Cluytens. (I think you can hear the interpretive similarity to Clip B.) He was music director of the VSO for many years (he's scheduled to lead the VPO's next New Year's concert) and really turned it into an astonishingly virtuosic and versatile band. Secondly, some typically French tempo idiosyncracies aside, he is amazingly faithful to the score. Dynamics are observed extremely well and the bells are placed offstage as Berlioz asks for, yet they are balanced very well with the rest of the orchestra. There is a wonderful bassoon/tuba balance in the dies irae, with the tuba nicely "singing", not pushing the notes. One might perhaps fault Prêtre for producing a somewhat overly controlled effort that slightly lacks spark in places. But I nonetheless find this an immensly gratifying performance.

So, hopefully, there was something for everyone here. As usual, de gustibus non est disputandum. But I think everyone discovered new things in the score through this close listening exercise. (I certainly didn't realize before that there were other editions that didn't have the "derrière la scene" instruction for the bells.)  And perhaps you even found a few interesting perviously unknown recordings which may find their way into your library soon. As I said, I'm off for a month, so I won't be around for more of this for a while. (I do have some Schumann, Brahms and Debussy comparisons in the pipeline, though, if you want more.) Due to my impending departure, I unfortunately also don't have the time to upload complete performances for the participants here. When I return in August, I could be persuaded to upload the Cluytens or Haitink if anyone is interested, as both of those are OOP as it appears. In any case, thanks everyone for participating.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Come on ! Where is Bernstein !!!

[MishaK]

Come on ! Where is Bernstein !!!

There are so many that one could have used. I would have liked to have compared Davis, Martinon and Jansons as well, but 5x10 minutes of music is enough, I think. 

[Greta]

Interesting choices, O Mensch! The Pretre recording I quite liked, what I heard of it, very well-played and a solid performance. Thanks for alerting me to the excellent Barenboim recording, I've been happy with Dohnanyi/Cleveland here but will have to look out for that one now.

And indeed, I would never have guessed Berlin for B, though not necessarily French either, I liked the bells the most in that one. Nothing really objectionable for Haitink, it's a very good performance even it doesn't grab you, but C is just amusing, they were clearly having a blast that night. Would be fun to hear the rest of it!

Good excuse to dig out my score and spend some time with it, I'm going to be seeing this live this fall (for the first time) under Dutoit with Verbier and really looking forward to it.

I'm going to post a Mystery thread later this evening to fill our little gap, from another colorful and rather popular piece. Have fun on your holiday!

[M forever]

Those are some interesting and in the case of the Kempe recording, rather shocking revelations. Pity I don't have time to comment on these in detail right now, maybe later today or in the next few days.

[Greta]

Bumped because there is now video of an excellent performance of this movement on YouTube, the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pinchas Steinberg, who I was heretofore not acquainted with, but I really like how he conducts this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/IrezpUWIY98

(Did that embed thing work, I think so? ) (BTW, if you click on the video itself it opens in a new window, if you click just "play" it plays right in GMG)

Really nice playing by NHK there, very full deep sound and lots of energy.