Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Willem Mengelberg :: Mengelberg Conducts Beethoven & Schubert

Mahler's First Booster Plays Beethoven & Schubert

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 10/04/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Willem Mengelberg (1871-1951) was the long-time conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra--and briefly, until wrangling sent him back to Holland in 1931, the co-conductor, with Toscanini, of the New York Philharmonic--who among Mahlerians is well-loved because he was the first conductor of note to take up the music of Gustav Mahler. His only Mahler recording, sadly, was a single performance of the the Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony, already available on an earlier Naxos CD in their Mengelberg series, an extraordinarily good transfer from 78 rpm discs. This disc gives us an opportunity to hear him shorter pieces of the central Germanic repertoire, and since Amazon has not yet posted the contents of this disc I'll do so now:Beethoven: The Creatures of Prometheus Overture, Allegretto and Finale; Coriolan Overture; Leonore Overtures Nos. 1 & 3; Egmont Overture; the second movement Scherzo of the 8th Symphony; 'Turkish March' from The Ruin of Athens.Schubert: Marche militaire, Op. 51, No. 1; Rosamunde Overture.All are with his own orchestra, the Concertgebouw, and make no mistake about it--this orchestra was in superlative condition during the fourteen year period, 1927-1942, over which these recordings were made, although by 1942, when the Marche militaire and the Turkish March were recorded, most of the Jewish members of the orchestra were gone and there is some indication of a falling off of instrumental ensemble. Also, those later recordings are in somewhat muffled sound as compared to those even from the 1920s; perhaps it has something to do with the War. Still, transfer engineer Mark Obert-Thorn has done his usual sterling job. Generally the sound is better than one could have wished. I grew up with a 78 rpm pressing of this Coriolan Overture and it seems to me that this transfer is clearer than what I remember from all those years ago.Mengelberg was a meticulous conductor; his rehearsals were widely known in musical circles as exhaustively detailed and sometimes exasperating for the musicians. Still reports are that his orchestra loved and respected him. He was sometimes criticized, particularly in the era that followed his heyday, as being too wayward or romantic in his interpretations. These performances put the lie to that assessment. These are fairly straightforward readings, although there is sensitive shaping of the material. Only once did I feel he was a little eccentric, and that was in that most 'mechanical' of Beethoven movements, the Scherzo from the Eighth Symphony with its ticking harmonic accompaniment. Here, he makes rather too much of the dynamic contrasts. Still, this is nothing like as wayward as that of, say, Karajan in his last recording of the Eighth when he smoothed out ALL contrast.I particularly liked the First Leonore Overture, partly because Mengelberg and his merry band play it as if it is great music, not just an also-ran. And it was a delight to hear more of the Prometheus music than just the Overture, including the third of the pieces (the Allegretto) Beethoven wrote that contains the theme used in the Eroica Symphony and the Eroica Variations for piano.Best of all, though, are the dramatic overtures: Coriolan, Egmont, and Leonore No. 3. These are masculine, forceful, emotionally engaging performances in more than acceptable sound. And I can't quit before I extol the beauty and grace of the Schubert Rosamunde Overture.These are not performances that should be anyone's only recordings of them, obviously, because of the limited recording techniques available at the time. But they are valuable documents from a great conductor's legacy. TT=68:30Scott Morrison"