I first encountered French conductor Andre Cluytens (1905-1967) and Orchestre Philharmonique De Berlin on Day 6.
And then again on Day 24.
On Day 6, I proclaimed his performance “Huzzah!” worthy.
On Day 24, I wrote that I wanted to poke out my ears with a pencil.
So, what will Day 42 bring?
I’ll know in a moment.
First, the facts…
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 3 in E flat Major), from this particular conductor (Cluytens, at age 52-55) and this particular orchestra (Orchestre Philharmonique De Berlin), at this particular time in history (1957-1960) on this particular record label (Parlophone/Warner Music France) is as follows:
I. Allegro con brio………………………………………………………………………14:27
II. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai……………………………………………….16:08
III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Trio…………………………………………………5:24
IV. Finale: Allegro molto – Poco andante – Presto…………………..11:33
Total running time: 47:32
Now, my opinion…
My Rating:
Recording quality: 3 (tape hiss, sounds flat/lack of dynamic range)
Overall musicianship: 3 (sounds uninspired)
CD liner notes: 2 (everything is written in French, which is great if one is from Paris; plus, no clear indication of when these symphonies were recorded)
How does this make me feel: 3
This recorded started off with a very clear, very convincing, very promising one-two punch. Those first two chords were crisp and powerful.
But after that, everything seemed to go downhill.
The recording became less dynamic, seemed to lack top end (treble, in other words). Plus, the performance got sleepy. It seemed to drag, even though the total running time was less than the one from Bohm, the day before.
The only time this performance seemed to come alive (despite the lack of dynamic range in the recording) is the Scherzo (Movement III), and parts of the Finale (like the opening). Other than that, it felt listless.
I can’t give this anything higher than a “Meh!” rating. And even that is being generous.
Granted, I don’t want to poke out my ears with a pencil. Far from it. But this isn’t a performance to which I will ever listen again.
And no one can say I didn’t try.
I listened to this CD 3-4 times through, over two different days. And it did not improve. What I thought of it initially is what I concluded after hearing it four times.
Hard pass.