Search - Schumann;Brahms;Locke;Lonson Sym;Kertesz :: Locke: Music for His Majesty's Sackbutts

An outstanding release on all counts, one of BBC Legends' be

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 12/28/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since his untimely death in a drowning accident in 1973, we haven't gotten much new material from Istvan Kertesz. Almost all of his studio recordings for Decca have remained in print, a testament to his talents. So is this BBC Legends compilation of two live concerts from 1965 and 1966. The Brahms Second stood at the center of Kertesz's romatnic repertoire, but I had forgotten how masterful he was -- this flexible, expressive reading would be hard to better, even from legends like Furtwangler and Karajan. The recorded sound is fine, and the LSO gives their cheif conductor everything they have. The electricity of a live performance is in every bar. This is a must-listen.



The Schumann "Spring" Sym. wasn't part of Kertesz's commercial legacy, so it's doubly good to have it here. Although the liner note writer describes the reading as "lean" (do these hack reviewers have ears?), this is a large-scale, boisterous reading that brings out Schumann's untrammeled joy as few conductors besides Bernstein ever do. Tempos tend to be on the grand side, so anyone who admires the truly lean, fleet accounts from Szell and, more recenlty, Dausgaard, won't be happy. To my ears, however, this entire CD was a delight, and inevitably a sad reminder of the rare musician lost to us -- Kertesz would have been only 79 this year."