Works You Wish Certain Famous Conductors Had Recorded
Fri, Jul 30 2010, 10:34PM
Are there any works you wish certain great conductors had recorded but never did? For example,I wish that Solti had recorded Schoenberg's Gurrelieder and Pelleas &Melisande,for example,or perhaps the Nielsen symphonies, two of which he performed live with the Chicago symphony but never recorded. I've always considered his 70s Symphonie Fantastique one of the most exiting recordings of this work I've ever heard, and would have liked to here possibly the Requiem and other works. His Damnation of Faust is also outstanding. For Liszt,I wish he had recorded more of the symphonic poems. For operas,perhaps Il Trovatore, La Forza Del Destino and Macbeth of Verdi, and Turandot of Puccini( There is a live CD from Cologne of this but I haven't heard it), or perhaps Les Troyens, etc
Or all the Mahler symphonies by Karajan. He made two recordings of the 9th,one live and one studio,and the 4th,5th and 6th. Or more of the Nielsen symphonies; he made a memorable one of the 4th for DG. Or Elektra and a studio Frau Ohne Schatten. (There is a heavily cut live recording from Vienna). There is a live Tannhauser from Vienna also, but I wish he had made a studio version.
For some reason,he never recorded the underrated 3rd symphony of Sibelius.He of course did the other six. It would also have been interesting to hear more Shostakovich from Karajan; he made two recordings of the 10th.
I also wish that Mackerras had gotten a chance to record some of the Wagner operas,but unfortunately his recent death makes this impossible. And it's unfortunate that Kubelik never got a chance to record any of Janacek's operas,or those of Smetanan and Dvorak.
It would also have been wonderful if Fritz Reiner had left complete sets of the Beethoven and Brahms symphonies, and complete recordings of Salome,Elektra,and Der Rosenkavalier,or possibly Wagner. His father Erich had a much wider repertoire but unfortunately too little of it was recorded.
Carlos Kleiber unfortunately left a handful of commercial studio recordings,which have recently been released as a set by DG. If only he had recorded Elektra,Der Rosenkavalier,Otello, and others in the studio,and more Wagner,as well as more Beethoven and Brahms symphonies, or Richard Strauss tone poems.
If only Stokowski had recorded more Mahler than the 2nd symphony or a studio version of the 8th, and perhaps the Tchaikovsky Manfred symphony.
Or more of the Mahler and Bruckner symphonies by Klemperer; he never recorded the first three of Bruckner or 1,3,5,6,and 8 of Mahler. Or more complete Wagner operas such as Lohengrin,Tristan and Meistersinger; he recorded only the Dutchman, but there was I believe a live Lohengrin from Budapest.
If only Leonard Bernstein had left a complete Mahler 10th in the Cooke version; he was also planning to record Britten's Peter Grimes complete before his death, and more Bruckner; there are only a studio 9th from CBS with the New York Phil,and a live DG on with the VPO which was one of his last performances, and a live 6th on a special release of his live New York performances.
Any other suggestions?
Sat, Jul 31 2010, 9:34AM
#2
RE: Works You Wish Certain Famous Conductors Had Recorded
Yes - definitely a full Beethoven symphonies cycle from Carlos Kleiber (indeed anything more from him!); Sibelius 3 from Karajan and imagine Solti doing this work and his treatment of the biting rhythms in the first movement. I think there were for a time some pirate issues of Boheme and Otello conducted by Carlos Kleiber - possibly with Domingo. Just imagine if Toscanini had lived some 10-20 years later than he did - many of his historic performances in modern high quality stereo sound recorded in a good acoustic. George Szell: a complete Sibelius symphony cycle (remember his no.2 with the Concertgebouw?). Not sure how it would have sounded, but how about Karajan and the Berlin Phil doing Rachmaninov Symphony no.2? The list could go on - doubtless many others will contribute - a fascinating thread
Sat, Jul 31 2010, 10:31PM
#3
RE: Works You Wish Certain Famous Conductors Had Recorded
If only Toscanini had better advice regarding his recorded legacy and had lived into the stereo era.
Furtwangler as well.
Both Toscanini and Furtwangler would have left unique versions of Berlioz' Symphony Fantastique.
Furtwangler would have also left interesting versions of Mahler's First , Second, Fourth, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies as well as Das Lied Von Der Erde.
Mahler and Bruckner from Mengleberg.
Wagner from Gunter Wand.
Sat, Jul 31 2010, 11:42PM
#4
RE: Works You Wish Certain Famous Conductors Had Recorded
I love this question! Here goes: a Bernstein Die Walkyrie, a Klemperer Tristan or Mahler Eighth, a Szell Ma Vlast, a Stokowski Daphnis, Maybe a Beecham Ma Vlast, Mahler conducting some of his symphonies (I vote for the 1st.), Szell/Clevland Brandenburgs (although he didn't like the harpsichord). Fritz Reiner had trouble with the Brahms 1st but he was reportedly good with the Brahms 2nd. Stravinsky was supposed to do a good job with the Tchaikowsky 2nd. A complete Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev) from Leinsdorf and a 3rd Symphony from that composer. Also from Leinsdorf, a Bruckner 9th.
Mon, Aug 2 2010, 2:19AM
#5
RE: Works You Wish Certain Famous Conductors Had Recorded
Obviously Karajan should have done Sibelius 3, and more 20th century music in general (Prokofiev's non-"hit" symphonies, and why not Hanson's 2 and 6?). I would have liked to hear him take on Elgar as well - those two seemed made for each other.
A Vaughan Williams cycle by Kondrashin would've been great (or maybe by Svetlanov, but not Gergiev please), and why not Bax as well, since I'm having my druthers?
Mon, Aug 2 2010, 2:29AM
#6
RE: Works You Wish Certain Famous Conductors Had Recorded
Klemperer Ring Cycle?
Tue, Aug 3 2010, 9:53AM
#7
RE: Works You Wish Certain Famous Conductors Had Recorded
There are too many great works/composers that Karajan never conducted to mention here, (even Brahms he only conducted 9 out of the 13 purely orchestral works, excluding the Dances). But, he almost recorded Elgar 2 and Shostakovich 8. Recently his Ives with LAPO and some of his NYPO concerts became available.
On the other hand, there are many works Karajan conducted but never recorded. (Gershwin, Delius, etc - pirates please). There are also works he did record but very difficult to find (Mozart triple concerto, etc). Some are basically internet-only (video of him taking over Alexis Weissenberg's seat in Mozart K 467, his poignant new year's greeting in English on the 1/1/87 VPO concert, etc.)
Another wishful category would be recordings of rare concerts he made with certain musicians: Arrau, Lupu, Pollini, Starker, Tortelier, etc.
Some of his concert DVDs have missing segments. The 1/1/87 DVD mentioned above is supposedly partially taken from 12/31/86. Also would be nice if more videos existed (his final Bruckner 8 and 7, etc).
Then there are works which it's difficult to understand why he did conduct (Carmen suite, etc).
His Russian repertoire is dwarfed by Svetlanov.
Tue, Aug 3 2010, 1:26PM
#8
RE: Works You Wish Certain Famous Conductors Had Recorded
I'm hoping that Solti had the chance to record more Elgar pieces like the Cello Concerto and the Serenade for Strings. I think it would have made a perfect companion piece to the Enigma.
I think I would have liked Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to have had a crack at the Young Person's Guide and then it would have been a better fill-up for their recording of Peter and the Wolf.
As I write this I'm eagerly hoping that one day Gardiner and the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique could record a cycle of Mendelssohn symphonies. I'm keen for a Gardiner/ORR offering of the Scottish & Italian symphonies plus the Hebrides Overture all on one disc. And I'm keen for him and the Monteverdi Choir to do a new Lobgesang, and hopefully couple it to the Gutenberg Festgesang (WoO 9).
And it's a real pity Bernstein didn't record (or perform?) Gershwin's Concerto in F, nor Messiaen's Turangalila after he gave the premiere in 1949.