A hair-raising experience. I remembered it only too well. When I listened to it again the night before Barenboim's Beethoven cycle at Royal Festival Hall, I was shocked on my hotel bed in London; I was covered in goose pimples. The ferocity of the reading is like emptying a glass of Vodka in one gulp.He has been branded by an orchestral member as a "cross between Caesar and Satan". An apt description in a way.
Toscaninian rigour lightened up with the fire of passion.
The sound is good for that era.
In fact this was only the second recording to include the fist movement exposition repeat. (Mengelberg's 1930 PSONY was the first).
ReplyDeleteMy friend Bob (91 this year) played on this recording and under just about every other conductor of note (except Toscanini - it's a long story) you could think of.
For him de Sabata was THE man.
BTW, no mention of Scherchen's 1958 Eroica?
Hi dgrb,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your comments. It's great to hear from you who knows someone having first-hand knowledge of the recording and the orchestra and conductors. Could you please tell us more?
Scherchen's 1958 Westminster Eroica is very special indeed but for some reason my heart just can't (probably my fault) resonate with it.
Best regards,
Horace
You can find more about my friend BobTheBass at his blog: http://robertmeyer.wordpress.com/about-2/.
ReplyDeleteAmong the other recordings you can hear him on: Karajan's EMI Beethoven cycle, Klemperer's cycle, Furtwaengler's Brahms 2.
He was Britten's bassist in the English Opera Company and bassists can blame Bob for the difficulties his his bass parts!
Joined the 1950s Philharmonia later was principal of the BBC SO before moving to Canada as principal of the Vancouver SO.
He also played with Acker Bilk for a time!
His book of reminiscences, which I helped him with toa very limited extent, is an excellent read.
Hi dgrb,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the info. I've added his site in my "Lovely Links" gadget.
Best regards,
Horace