From the archives
Andrew Mcgregor takes in a pair of releases marking the legacy of German conductor Karl Münchinger
Two sets of Karl Münchinger’s Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra recordings on Decca remind us what they brought to the interpretation of Baroque music over 25 years, and also what we might have been missing. Münchinger founded his orchestra in 1945, conducting it until he retired in 1988. The earliest recording in The Baroque Legacy (Eloquence 484 0160; 8 CDS) is his 1951 Vivaldi Four Seasons, the first of three accounts here; rather startlingly, Münchinger’s approach remained consistent over two decades – a plodding opening to Spring, a Romantic approach to the slow movements and livelier finales. In 1951 the harpsichord was considered an innovative addition; by 1972 Igor Kipnis’s continuo playing was more imaginative while violinist Konstanty Kulka shows more stylistic awareness. The Bach suites from the ’60s are effortful, despite flautist Jean-pierre Rampal’s characterful contributions. Not much JC Bach was available when Münchinger recorded six symphonies in the early ’70s, and Haydn’s Symphony No. 45 bids a final ‘Farewell’ to the Baroque. The original LP covers (a nice touch) include one showing the misattribution of Wassenaer’s Concerti Armonici to Pergolesi.
So what have we been missing? The Classical Legacy (Eloquence 484 0170; 8 CDS) shows that Münchinger’s reputation as a
Baroque pioneer overshadowed some fine recordings that have weathered the passage of time rather better. Haydn and Mozart symphonies with what sounds like a slightly slimmed-down
Vienna Philharmonic in the ’50s, the stylish clarity and rhythmic poise of Münchinger’s approach occasionally undermined by some questionable period editions – the Trio in Haydn’s Clock Symphony ‘corrected’ by an editor who didn’t appreciate Haydn’s humour – and instrumental additions, trumpets and drums in Haydn’s Miracle Symphony. With the Stuttgart Kammerorchester, pianist Wilhelm Kempff is a predictable pleasure to encounter in Mozart concertos, as is cellist Pierre Fournier in Boccherini and Haydn, and Alfred Prinz in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto.
The Gambler Suite; Autumnal; The Mistress of the Copper Mountain, Op. 129; Wedding Suite, Op. 126; Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127
Lahti Symphony Orchestra/
Dima Slobodeniouk
BIS BIS-2301 (hybrid CD/SACD)
62:42 mins
Neither of the relatively unfamiliar offcuts from stage works represented here quite works out of context. Prokofiev’s operatic adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s The Gambler, about shady goings on between Russians and others in the German town of Roulettenburg, offers a string of first-rate musical characterisations. But just being given the names of the four main personages here doesn’t help us much; nor does the note fill us in (or observe that the bolder melodies come from a substantial remodelling of the 1915 original in the 1920s). It’s typical Prokofiev cut-and-paste, but there’s great lyric warmth in the way Dima Slobodeniouk and his Lahti players handle the opening theme and the pathos of Babulenka, the capricious old lady who loses everything at the gambling table. Prokofiev’s trumpet writing really stands out here, and the bluesy, vibrato-ed solo in the portrait of the perverse heroine Polina is outstanding. A little more thrust wouldn’t have gone amiss, but textures remain clear and phrases always shapely.
The early tone-poem Autumn one can take or leave; the near contemporary Dreams is better, I think, but the introduction to The Stone Flower – trumpets again – depicting a kind of Urals equivalent of Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen makes you sit up and listen. It’s all downhill from there on, inspiration-wise; Prokofiev in his last years was frail and this is ballet to order, but again this team makes the melodies as interesting as it can. Demonstration-quality sound is a good companion throughout. David Nice
PERFORMANCE ★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★★
JS Bach • Goldberg • Vivaldi