My listening post this evening is (again) in front of the TV series Blue Bloods, this time it’s Season 2 Episode 12 “The Job.” One of the biggest surprises to me is how good of an actor Donnie Wahlberg is. So much so that I can’t tell he’s acting. Do you know what I mean?
Anyway, while Donnie does his post-New Kids On The Block thing as an actor, I’m sitting here with earbuds in, listening to Hungarian-American conductor Goerge Szell (1897-1970), the Cleveland Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor.
I’ve encountered Maestro Szell eight times previous to this morning, 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!”
Day 124. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 142. Rating: “Meh!”
So, let’s review…
That’s four “Meh!” and four “Huzzah!” ratings.
What will this evening bring?
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 9 in D minor),
from this particular conductor (Szell, at age 64 and age 70) and this particular orchestra (The Cleveland Orchestra), at this particular time in history (April 21 & 22, 1961 – tracks 1-5 – and August 25, 1967 – track 6, the choral part) on this particular record label (Sony Classical) is as follows:
I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso………………….15:39
II. Molto vivace………………………………………..11:26
III. Adagio molto e cantabile……………………………..15:25
IV. Finale (A)…………………………………………….6:11
IV. Finale (B)…………………………………………….17:55
Total running time: 66:02
My Rating:
Recording quality: 4 (noticeable tape hiss; otherwise, a well-recorded performance)
Overall musicianship: 3 (uneven; sometimes inspired, sometimes rote)
CD liner notes: 0 (none; boo! hiss!)
How does this make me feel: 4 (“Huzzah!”)
I was all set to award this a “Meh!” rating.
But I kept listening to it, probably about three more times.
And it grew on me.
Which is odd because, sometimes, it felt like it was too fast. Sometimes, it felt too slow. And the tape hiss was bugging me.
But there was something going on that I grokked.
The more I listened, the more the tape hiss, the seeming tempo variations, and the choral part recorded six years after the first three movements didn’t bother me.
I wondered why the choral part was recorded so much later than the first three movements. Did something go wrong with the recording? Did the powers that be (maybe maestro Szell himself?) decide it wasn’t up to par? Don’t know.
Reluctantly, I changed my rating from “Meh!” to “Huzzah!”
Which means this was an iffy performance/recording that may take you awhile to get into it, too.
Or not.
Remember, it’s all subjective. You may like it right away.