My listening post this morning is the Restaurant-Chain-That-Must-Not-Be-Named where I am partaking of their signature Light Roast coffee, an Asiago bagel (toasted twice) with cream cheese…and a side of Hungarian conductor George Szell (1897-1970), the Cleveland Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major.
The latter was BYO, by the way. They don’t actually sell Szell at the Restaurant-Chain-That-Must-Not-Be-Named.
It’s a delightful breakfast – when they get it right, which is a crap shoot.
I’ve encountered Maestro Szell six times previously, on…
Day 16. Rating: “Meh!”
Day 34. Rating: “Meh!”
Day 53. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 70. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 88. Rating: “Meh!”
Day 106. Rating: “Huzzah!”
That’s not a bad record – three “Meh!” and three “Huzzah!” ratings – but it’s not overwhelming by any means, especially given the fact that there are no liner notes in this CD box set. That’s unconscionable in this day and age. How much would it have cost the record label (Sony Classical) to have someone cite the many virtues of Maestro Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra and print up booklets for the set?
The way I look at it, if a conductor and/or an orchestra is truly worthy of being in print, anyway, why not do justice to them? Tell us why Maestro Szell is worthy of being in print. Tell us why the Cleveland Orchestra is in the Big Five orchestras in the United States.
So adding a booklet adds 50-75 cents (maybe even a whole dollar) to each CD box set. So what? Fans will pay for what they perceive as being worth the asking price.
And one cannot go wrong with a well-written booklet in a CD box set.
’nuff said.
Let’s get down to business.
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 7 in A major), from this particular conductor (Szell, at age 62) and this particular orchestra (The Cleveland Orchestra), at this particular time in history (October 29 & 30, 1959) on this particular record label (Sony Classical) is as follows:
I. Poco sostenuto – Vivace……………………………..11:52
II. Allegretto………………………………………………………7:38
III. Presto – Assai meno presto (trio)……………….7:19
IV. Allegro con brio…………………………………………..7:13
Total running time: 33:22
My Rating:
Recording quality: 3 (noticeable tape hiss, missing a bit of top end; still, not bad for a recording that’s 59 years old)
Overall musicianship: 4 (lyrical, compelling, dynamic, energetic, inspired – brisk?)
CD liner notes: 0 (none; boo! hiss!)
How does this make me feel: 4 (“Huzzah!”)
The first thing I noticed about this performance is that it’s incredibly short – only 33 minutes compared to nearly all others being at or over 40 minutes in length. What did Szell do with the other 10 minutes? Did he just play faster? Did he play less of the symphony?
It didn’t sound like the tempo was too fast. But how do I account for missing 10 minutes?
This is a puzzler for me.
Despite that, this is another “Huzzah!” performance from Maestro Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra!
Movement I is particularly compelling. I was drawn in from the first notes. It held my attention throughout.
The all-important Movement II is what sold me on this performance. It’s lush, powerful, poignant, and magical, a stellar performance, paced just right and brimming over with dynamic range.
Movement III (“Presto”) is corker, too. It’s energetic without being manic.
Movement IV rocks and/or rolls with a vibrancy the finale to Beethoven’s Seventh deserves. It’s well played and dynamic – again, without being frenetic. (I just realized that’s what I disliked about Simon Rattle’s performance of the Seventh yesterday (Day 123). The orchestra sounded like the wheels were coming off – manic, rather than energetic.)
I was never a big fan of Maestro Szell. And I would have dismissed the Cleveland Orchestra out of hand because I never paid attention to them.
But this CD box set is shaping up to be a worthy addition to my growing collection of Classical music.
“Huzzah!”
NOTE: Only two more days left of Beethoven’s Seventh. Then I return to the top of the batting order (Claudio Abbado) and start listening to Beethoven’s Eighth.
Starting tomorrow, I’ll have just 37 days left in my exploration of Beethoven’s nine symphonies. That puts my end date somewhere around Friday, December 28th.
I’ll take the last three days of December off, and start January 1, 2019, listening to everything Mozart composed from the recent limited-edition box set Mozart 225. That’ll take me through 200 more days of Classical music nirvana, ending somewhere in July of 2019.
A full year of Classical music!