Maurice Abravanel (1903-1993)

pjme · February 26, 2016, 06:50:24 AM

Quote from: ritter on February 26, 2016, 01:25:35 AM
Must relisten, but my recollection is that Pacem in Terris is not really that inspired a piece (some longuers to it), but with some historical importance (the text incorporates parts of the last encyclical by Pope John XXIII). L'Homme et son désir is rather more interesting: a "primitivist", Braziilian-inflected ballet on a scenario by Paul Claudel (he didn't write any text as such, the vocal contributions being simply onomatopoeic). The first production was given by Rold de Maré's Ballets Suédois in 1921. There's a version sans voix which I'd say is more succesful (Edmon Colomer recorded for it for Calliope).

Cheers,

https://www.youtube.com/v/RmfdXF7zWlI

Thanks for the information. Never knew l'Homme et son désir had a version without voices. I love that piece as it is.

Peter

vandermolen · February 26, 2016, 07:42:42 AM

Quote from: André on February 26, 2016, 05:21:05 AM
One should not forget the superb acoustics afforded to these Vanguard discs. They are part and parcel of the attractiveness of the Abravanel legacy. And to ice the cake, the price of the sets is quite unbeatable.

And often with informative booklet notes too.
Thanks pjme for the link too.

jochanaan · February 28, 2016, 05:50:30 AM

I am still fond of Abravanel's recording of Saint Saens' Organ Symphony. He and the Utah Symphony Orchestra get the tempo proportions at the end exactly right (as many do not).

vandermolen · February 28, 2016, 10:48:58 AM

Quote from: jochanaan on February 28, 2016, 05:50:30 AM
I am still fond of Abravanel's recording of Saint Saens' Organ Symphony. He and the Utah Symphony Orchestra get the tempo proportions at the end exactly right (as many do not).

Must look out for that one - thank you. Just ordered his Mahler Symphony 3.

ubertrout · March 01, 2016, 08:10:51 AM

As others have said, one of those conductors who is perpetually described as underrated. He recorded extensively for labels whose catalogs have been widely licensed, meaning a lot of his work has become widely available. He was a friend and student of Bruno Walter and he carried on Walter's legacy in recordings.

There are two major ways to be exposed to Abravanel's music-making these days, not mutually exclusive. The first is through cheap MP3 sets from Amazon - they'll sell you a number of the symphony cycles for $1 or $3 - Mahler: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008J7G5LO; Brahms (with a lot else): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0080K3X4M/; Tchaikovsky: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MEWYCK6/. All of these are also available for free streaming from Amazon. They all make excellent sets for "on the go" listening - all worthwhile listens and the convenience factor of having them available wherever is very nice. They're also good ways to see if you care for his music-making.

On the flip side, many of his recordings have been made available for audiophile reissue. Silverline released many of his recordings on DVD-Audio and Dualdisc (the dualdiscs have the full DVD-Audio program): Mahler 1-6, the Sibelius and Brahms Cycles, the Berlioz Requiem, Vaughan Williams - Sym. No. 6 et cetera, and Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake. These discs all feature 5.1 surround tracks in 24/96 audio along with stereo at that resolution, but I'm skeptical about all of the 5.1 tracks being discrete - many of these recordings were made before the quad era, and Silverline was notorious for upmixing stereo sources. Vanguard/Omega/Artemis released a small line of SACDs, in a mix of stereo and stereo/quad. Classic Records also released Abravanel's Berlioz Requiem as their only quad HDAD disc, along with a stereo-only HDAD disc of the Mahler 8th.

If you find you like Abravanel's work from the cheap stuff on Amazon MP3, the audiophile stuff is mostly still extremely cheap, too. The caveat about many of these recordings is that the orchestra, especially in the early recordings, was not especially strong. Judge for yourself.

vandermolen · March 01, 2016, 09:42:48 AM

Quote from: ubertrout on March 01, 2016, 08:10:51 AM
As others have said, one of those conductors who is perpetually described as underrated. He recorded extensively for labels whose catalogs have been widely licensed, meaning a lot of his work has become widely available. He was a friend and student of Bruno Walter and he carried on Walter's legacy in recordings.

There are two major ways to be exposed to Abravanel's music-making these days, not mutually exclusive. The first is through cheap MP3 sets from Amazon - they'll sell you a number of the symphony cycles for $1 or $3 - Mahler: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008J7G5LO; Brahms (with a lot else): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0080K3X4M/; Tchaikovsky: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MEWYCK6/. All of these are also available for free streaming from Amazon. They all make excellent sets for "on the go" listening - all worthwhile listens and the convenience factor of having them available wherever is very nice. They're also good ways to see if you care for his music-making.

On the flip side, many of his recordings have been made available for audiophile reissue. Silverline released many of his recordings on DVD-Audio and Dualdisc (the dualdiscs have the full DVD-Audio program): Mahler 1-6, the Sibelius and Brahms Cycles, the Berlioz Requiem, Vaughan Williams - Sym. No. 6 et cetera, and Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake. These discs all feature 5.1 surround tracks in 24/96 audio along with stereo at that resolution, but I'm skeptical about all of the 5.1 tracks being discrete - many of these recordings were made before the quad era, and Silverline was notorious for upmixing stereo sources. Vanguard/Omega/Artemis released a small line of SACDs, in a mix of stereo and stereo/quad. Classic Records also released Abravanel's Berlioz Requiem as their only quad HDAD disc, along with a stereo-only HDAD disc of the Mahler 8th.

If you find you like Abravanel's work from the cheap stuff on Amazon MP3, the audiophile stuff is mostly still extremely cheap, too. The caveat about many of these recordings is that the orchestra, especially in the early recordings, was not especially strong. Judge for yourself.

Very interesting - thank you. I have the Silverline VW Symphony 6 and don't like it at all. The DVD has nothing of interest on it and the presentation is very poor. I much prefer the original Vanguard CD release with Dona Nobis Pacem. In my opinion Abravanel is one of the few to get Symphony 6 right and unlike almost every other conductor does not rush the extraordinary 'Dead Sea' Epilogue. It is a most underrated performance which never gets mentioned. I just received Abravanel's Prokofiev set with Alexander Nevsky and Symphony 3 etc which I am looking forward to hearing.

ritter · March 02, 2016, 02:00:28 PM

Thanks to this thread, just ordered a used copy of this...

Looking forward to listening to these pioneering recordings of Varèse by Abravanel...

geralmar · March 02, 2016, 08:44:51 PM

Abravanel recorded the Dvorak "New World Symphony" under the pseudonym "Philip Vernal" for Westminster's budget Whitehall label. This according to rediscovery.us, which also provides a free download.

vandermolen · March 03, 2016, 01:51:05 AM

Quote from: ritter on March 02, 2016, 02:00:28 PM
Thanks to this thread, just ordered a used copy of this...

Looking forward to listening to these pioneering recordings of Varèse by Abravanel...

Let us know what you think. Just listening to his Mahler Symphony 3 which sounds very good.

vandermolen · March 06, 2016, 10:25:55 AM

I have thoroughly enjoyed Abravanel's Utah recording of Mahler's Symphony No.1. It is not so epic as recordings, for example by Abbado but I have never heard a version with such a strong sense of rhythm throughout. The rustic second movement was especially jolly in this version and my attention was gripped throughout. I also found it as moving as any other version - a great discovery. One of the fastest performances at under 49 minutes but I think that is because repeats are not always observed.