Erich Kleiber, Jean Martinon - The Decca 78s - Eloquence: ELQ4829386 - 2 CDs or download

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Erich Kleiber delivers rhythmically compelling accounts of Mozart and Beethoven symphonies. Scrawny string sound undermines Jean Martinon’s refined accounts of Ravel and Chabrier. — BBC Music Magazine, December 2019, 3 out of 5 stars

Release Date: 9th Aug 2019
Catalogue No: ELQ4829386
Label: Eloquence
Length: 2 hours 7 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Handel: Berenice - Act 2: Andante Larghetto

Work length3:35

$1.10

$1.50

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Erich Kleiber
Recorded: 1949-04-25
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550

Work length21:30

$4.40

$6.00

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Erich Kleiber
Recorded: 1949-04-25
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Molto allegro

Track length5:28

$1.10

$1.50

2. Andante

Track length7:18

$1.10

$1.50

3. Menuetto (Allegretto)

Track length4:04

$1.10

$1.50

4. Finale (Allegro assai)

Track length4:40

$1.10

$1.50

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 'Pastoral'

Work length38:58

$5.50

$7.50

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Erich Kleiber
Recorded: 1948-02-25
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande: Allegro ma non troppo

Track length9:17

$1.10

$1.50

2. Szene am Bach: (Andante molto mosso)

Track length13:45

$1.10

$1.50

3. Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute (Allegro)

Track length2:55

$1.10

$1.50

4. Gewitter, Sturm (Allegro)

Track length3:17

$1.10

$1.50

5. Hirtengesang. Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm: Allegretto

Track length9:44

$1.10

$1.50

Strauss, Josef: Sphärenklänge, Op. 235

Work length8:11

$1.10

$1.50

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Erich Kleiber
Recorded: 1948-02-20
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Strauss, J, II: Der Zigeunerbaron Overture

Work length7:43

$1.10

$1.50

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Erich Kleiber
Recorded: 1948-02-20
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Dvořák: Carnival Overture, Op. 92

Work length9:06

$1.10

$1.50

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Erich Kleiber
Recorded: 1948-02-21
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Tchaikovsky: Adieu, fôrets (from The Maid of Orléans)

Work length7:40

$1.10

$1.50

Eugenia Zareska (mezzo-soprano)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jean Martinon
Recorded: 1947-05-14
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Chabrier: Suite Pastorale

Work length16:50

$4.40

$6.00

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jean Martinon
Recorded: 1948-12-15
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Idylle

Track length4:11

$1.10

$1.50

2. Danse villageoise

Track length3:46

$1.10

$1.50

3. Sous bois

Track length4:15

$1.10

$1.50

4. Scherzo-Valse

Track length4:38

$1.10

$1.50

Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin

Work length13:58

$4.40

$6.00

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jean Martinon
Recorded: 1947-05-13
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Prélude

Track length3:04

$1.10

$1.50

2. Forlane

Track length3:25

$1.10

$1.50

3. Menuet

Track length4:34

$1.10

$1.50

4. Rigaudon

Track length2:55

$1.10

$1.50

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Decca studio recordings made between 1947 and 1949 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, newly compiled and remastered by Mark Obert-Thorn and including material new to CD.

Decca first presented its ‘ffrr’ technology – full frequency range recording – in 1944, originally developed by the company’s engineers as a means of detecting and identifying German submarines through their engine noises. Following the success of Stravinsky’s Petrushka with Ernest Ansermet (made in 1946 and reissued by Eloquence in its comprehensive series dedicated to the Swiss conductor) other major artists visiting London were invited to make records at the acoustically excellent Kingsway Hall. One of them was Erich Kleiber, who had attracted a considerable following in London through his concerts.

‘Audiences did not merely listen and applaud,’ remembered his friend, the scholar Jacques Barzun. ‘They knew what they were doing.’ His repertoire for Decca mirrored his concerts: symphonies by Mozart and Beethoven, overtures by Dvořák and Handel, and Strauss-family favourites, all done with superb attention to rhythmic lift and dynamic balance so that, combined with Decca’s pioneering technology, listeners could (and still can) hear inside the scores to a degree still remarkable for the late 1940s. The old ideal of classical 'objectivity’ was Kleiber's inspiration for Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony: he was ‘a conductor’s conductor’, observed The Spectator’s reviewer, seeing Kleiber in concert at the time of these recordings, who obtained precisely what he wanted with ‘instinctive ease and economy of means’.

The French conductor Jean Martinon also had a short-lived relationship with Decca in London before making most of his records in the US for RCA. They include deliciously light-textured accounts of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and Chabrier’s Suite Pastorale as well as another gramophone rarity: the farewell aria for Joan of Arc in Tchaikovsky’s opera The Maid of Orleans, sung by the Polish mezzo-soprano Eugenia Zareska.

‘[Kleiber] sets a norm, from the outset, of genuine, much-felt happiness … immensely wide dynamic range.’ Gramophone, December 1951 (Kleiber: Beethoven ‘Pastoral’)

‘A suavely poised yet dramatic interpretation.’ The Times, July 1952 (Kleiber: Mozart K550)

‘[Martinon is] a conductor of rare sensibility judging by his reading of this subtle score. The playing of the London Philharmonic is absolutely first rate … The clarity and balance of the recording is undoubtedly one of Decca’s best efforts.’ Gramophone, April 1950 (Martinon: Ravel)

Reviews

December 2019

Erich Kleiber delivers rhythmically compelling accounts of Mozart and Beethoven symphonies. Scrawny string sound undermines Jean Martinon’s refined accounts of Ravel and Chabrier.

Erich Kleiber, Jean Martinon - The Decca 78s

2 CDs

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