On 10/05/2014, Donald Tait wrote:
> I support Steve completely about Scherchen's recordings of Haydn
> symphonies. I know that he and I can remember the 1950s, when
> Scherchen's Westminster Haydn symphony recordings were sometimes cited
> as a model. In my experience, they were almost cited as a cult. So I
> bought and still own them all. I remember thinking that Scherchen's
> Westminster LPs of a few earl(ier) symphonies, such as #49, 44, #55
> ("The Schoolmaster"), and perhaps #63 (?) were superb. But his
> recordings of the "London" symphonies (93-104), which I own, were
> sometimes jaw-droppingly weird. One would hear (say) three movements
> that seemed almost ideal with one that could only be described as
> loony. I seem to recall no. 98 as that way concerning the finale.
>
> Some of us surely own the six-LP Westminster album set of
> Scherchen's "London" symphonies. I do. Bound in silk, no less. (Real
> silk? Is it?) Perhaps Steve has kept his, too....
>
I have them in a 6-CD box issued a few years ago by Universal. Compared
to the 1958 recording of the "Military", I found these to be a bit
disappointing. I will dig them out and listen again -- it may be that I
wasn't in the mood for Scherchen at the time.
The Naxos CD transfer of Toscanini's 1929 "Clock" sounds better than the
Camden LP. Mark Obert-Thorn made very good transfers of all of
Toscanini's "official" pre-war recordings on 7 separate Naxos CDs.
Regards
--
Don Cox
[log in to unmask]
|