New Additions

I recently added four new additions to my CD library. ArkivMusic has had some things on sale lately that were too good for me to pass up.

I begin with something that was not on sale, but comes at such a reasonable price, especially given the talent involved, that temptation was too great. David Zinman busted on the scene with his cycle of Beethoven symphonies in the late 1990s, recordings that used a new edition of Beethoven's symphonies, and added some refreshing elements, such as some improvised ornamentation, transforming these masterworks from text to art. The same can be said of his collaboration with Christian Tetzlaff performing Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Not only is the interpretation first-rate, but gone is the standard Fritz Kreisler cadenzas. In their place, Tetzlaff transcribed cadenzas from a piano concerto arrangement Beethoven made of his violin concerto. Certainly a refreshing change from the grossly virtuosic cadenzas of Kreisler.

My next purchase was a special re-issue of the complete symphonies of Haydn conducted by Antal Dorati with the Philharmonica Hungarica. This re-issue is limited, and was issued for the 200th anniversary of Haydn's death. With 33 CDs comprising the set, I have not made it through all the symphonies yet, but the ones I have heard so far have been good. It may be some of the recording levels or Dorati's interpretation of the works, but some musical lines are more present than others, and this is a good thing in some cases. Interesting features that often get buried come to the surface.


For some years now, I have wanted Verdi operas performed at La Scala, the famed, legendary Mecca of Italian opera. As Fate would have it, Deutsche Grammophon recently released a 21-CD box set of eight Verdi operas and the Requiem performed at La Scala. The operas included in the set are: Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Un ballo in maschera, Don Carlos, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, and Aida. These are not live recordings, but they are performed at the opera house, and with amazing talent. Legendary names like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Mirella Fiorentini, Renata Scotto, Carlo Bergonzi, Mirella Freni, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, and Jose van Dam appear in the set. So far I have made it through the first four operas and the first two acts of Don Carlos and have really enjoyed the recordings. Un ballo in maschera, which I saw performed in Cincinnati a couple of summers ago, does not get performed enough. The music is some of Verdi's best during his early career.

My final purchase took over two months from when I ordered it to arrive. I am a fan of Jascha Horenstein's approach to symphonic music, particularly the large-scale works. He is of course a cult hero for Mahlerites, myself included, but his interpretation of Beethoven's Ninth is one of my favorites, especially the third movement. Satisfied with his Mahler and Beethoven interpretations, I decided to buy this CD to hear his interpretation of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony and Leos Janacek's Sinfonietta. The Dvorak is among the best I have come across and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some aspects of Mahler comes across in this interpretation, such as a few sudden shifts in tempi and some spots where the brass are more prominent than other recordings (but not detracting from the principle material). His interpretation of the Janacek however eludes me, and leaves me somewhat dissappointed. This lies squarely on the tempo of the work as a whole. As I compared the running times of Horenstein with that of Rafael Kubelik, I realised how out of the box Horenstein's approach is. The least time differential between the two conductors comes in the fourth movement, with Horenstein about 30 seconds behind Kubelik. The greatest occurs in the fifth movement with Horenstein 2 minutes behind Kubelik! In summation, Horenstien's interpretation is vastly slower than Kubelik's. Whereas Kubelik's interpretation of the familiar opening movement retains the usual fanfare tempo we come to expect, Horenstein's interpretaion or tempo selection makes the movement sound more like a slow processional. It is interesting, but I still cannot understand the decision for the slow tempos.