Complete Columbia Collection

These recordings, principally issued in 78 rpm form initially, have been beautifully restored and re-engineered, and the result is a clear idea albeit monophonic idea about Reiner's intentions and interpretations in some cases decades before he rerecorded a number of these works with the CSO, and it includes some surprises not historically available on CD, I believe. I don't want to write a treatise on this---others will and will do far more competently than can I. However, if you are a Reiner fanatic, as I have been since age 8, don't stop here. Order the box. You will not regret it.

thanks to sony for releasing the colunbia records the great fritz reiner well over due ! thank`s sony again for realising the recording s 0f the 1940`s fritz reiner the great one

The word “complete” in a title always requires some exploration. Fritz Reiner made six Wagner recordings for Columbia Records in Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall on March 14, 1940. All but Ride of the Valkyries were technically unsatisfactory and were never issued; four of them were rerecorded on January 9, 1941, but the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde was not remade. A November 15, 1941 Night on Bald Mountain was discarded for a single wrong note by the oboe; patching was not possible in the pre-tape era, and there was no time left in the session to rerecord the side. The entire piece was remade on March 26 and 27, 1945. But in this set, the word “Reiner” also needs some caveats: Sony likes to issue CDs which are exact copies of LPs, thus dragging along items which have no connection to Reiner. The four Bach sacred arias, sung by contralto Carol Brice, are accompanied by the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony under Daniel Saidenberg. And seven songs by Dargomyzhsky, Marx, Mussorgsky, and Richard Strauss are sung by Ljuba Welitsch with piano accompaniment by Paul Ulanowsky. Of course, you could have figured that out from the headnote—if you had a spreadsheet and an hour or two to spare. One of the advantages of Sony’s many historical box sets has been the reappearance of monaural recordings that were neglected throughout the stereo and digital eras. All these recordings, made from 1940 to 1950, are mono; a large percentage of them were issued on early LPs in the late 1940s but have not been heard since (except on pirate CDs). Everything on those early LPs has been remastered from original matrices, either for an earlier CD issue or for this set. Columbia engineers would travel to Pittsburgh once a year and record a dozen or more works in a few days of morning and afternoon sessions. Columbia’s Pittsburgh recordings tended to be cold and dry, and these transfers were made by a wide variety of individuals and organizations; the resultant quality varies enormously. As will become apparent in the following musings, Columbia’s recordings varied year by year: all the 1946 ones were worse (thin, harsh, cold) than before; all the 1947 ones—recorded on magnetic tape instead of lacquers—are superb. Disc contents are organized by various means: all-French. all-Strauss, all-Carol Brice, all-March 1945 (Beethoven. Mussorgsky, Gershwin), so I’ll just take the CDs in numerical order: CD 1: Professor Kenneth Morgan, Reiner’s biographer, writes in the notes that Reiner’s “dynamic account of Ravel’s La Valse … provides agile brass playing but lacks a degree of warmth.” Nor does it sound very French. Debussy’s “Ibéria,” on the other hand, is convincingly Spanish. The “Tarantella styrienne” is gorgeous, even at Reiner’s breathless pace; the sound of this transfer of the 1947 recording, warm and rich, with clean, silky strings, is so fine as to make one wonder about the condition of some of the sources of other Pittsburgh recordings. The Berlioz is, well, Berlioz, in all his glory. CD 2: The Ride of the Valkyries is the only recording that survives from that first 1940 session in Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall; every other Reiner/Pittsburgh recording was made in Syria Mosque, a huge (3,750 seats), odd-shaped concert hall (a shallow, wide oval) where the orchestra performed from 1926 to 1971. The sound for the Ride is warm and embracing. It’s obvious that the cold, sometimes dry sound of the Pittsburgh Symphony in the 1940s was due to the acoustics in the Syria Mosque as well as to Reiner’s wishes. His Wagner, all on this disc, offers a breath of fresh air, crisp and incisive, the fast music very fast and potent. The orchestra sounds wonderful in either acoustic, the 1941 recorded sound better than in some of Columbia’s later sessions. CD 3: Reiner polishes off Beethoven’s Second Symphony in less than 30 minutes, thanks to generally upbeat but never too rapid tempos and the absence of the first-movement repeat. His crisp, cool style suits the symphony well, although the Larghetto could use a bit more warmth. The orchestra plays excellently, but violins can screech at ff, horns and trumpets are dull; balancing this is a particularly lovely first bassoon. The 1945 monaural recording captures the orchestra well; there is a bit of echo, most noticeable at the final chord of the Scherzo. Night on Bald Mountain gets a wild, almost frightening performance—just what the music is supposed to do—only partly assuaged by a warm, tender closing section. Two cuts had to be made to squeeze the piece onto a single 78. Robert Russell Bennett’s Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture, written at Reiner’s instigation, is lovingly rendered. It makes an impressive, 24-minute tone poem, reminiscent of An American in Paris, that could belong on a concert with Beethoven and Mussorgsky. CD 4: It’s wonderful to hear the Brahms First Concerto come in under 44 minutes; today it’s more likely to take 54. Rudolf Serkin’s playing is superb—in the finale, heavenly! Reiner’s accompaniment is elemental, forceful, but the orchestra sounds dreadful. Strings are edgy, thin, and wiry; woodwinds can have a metallic twang, and brass are dull. I don’t remember that the original LP sounded bad, so I suspect that the masters—or whatever sources were used—were damaged. Another indication is several audible ticks at the close of the Adagio. Serkin’s 1961 stereo remake with Ormandy, at virtually identical tempos, is preferable, for the well-recorded Philadelphia Orchestra. CD 5: Reiner was as close to Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra as any conductor: He studied with Bartók in Budapest, he encouraged the concerto’s commission, and he made this, its first recording, with the original ending (beating van Beinum’s Concertgebouw by seven months). Tempos are the same as in Reiner’s famous Chicago Symphony recording: faster than Bartók’s score indicates in movement 2, slower in 3. Each orchestra has its plusses: gleaming trumpets in Chicago, warm, colorful bassoons and clarinets in Pittsburgh. A few passages sound a bit uncertain here, as if the orchestra, and Reiner, had not yet gotten the rhythmic details and balances down cold; the first movement is a bit cautious. On the other hand, the swirling harp and muted trumpet near the end of 2 are marvelous. While RCA’s Living Stereo recording is deservedly famous, Columbia’s monaural recording is excellent, and the transfers have come up well. Glinka’s Kamarinskaya, one of the earliest pieces of Russian music as we know it, is a barrel of fun. Reiner brings us a sensational performance of the Overture to Il signor Bruschino; who but Rossini could pack such a wide variety of music into four plus minutes? CD 6: Morgan’s program notes call Carol Brice “a now largely forgotten singer.” Of course! She was an African American who was given few chances to develop a reputation on the opera stage. Her thrilling contralto reminds one of Marian Anderson: even more color, if without the depth and the artistry. Her Mahler songs are too bright, too fast (Reiner fast, one might say), and she does not hit all the high notes well, but her performances have that indefinable magic—character—that make them memorable. The same plusses and minuses may be attributed to her Bach arias, which are not conducted by Reiner. She and he are together again for Manuel de Falla’s El amor brujo, a fiery yet seductive performance in which Brice is magnificent. Besides singing in many Broadway musicals, Brice was Addie in New York City Opera’s recording of Marc Blitzstein’s Regina and Maria in the Houston Opera Porgy and Bess. Forgotten? Not in this house! CD 7: Reiner was an unusually versatile conductor, as at home with a Strauss waltz as with a Strauss tone poem. His Brahms Hungarian Dances are pure Reiner: very fast, very slow, very explosive—not comfortable background music for the cocktail hour. It may have gone against Reiner’s principles, but his Johann Strauss waltzes ooze charm, with a languorous Viennese swing. Lovely! Broadway orchestrator Don Walker has ruined Richard Rodgers’s Carousel Waltz, turning it into first a bad Johann Strauss waltz and then a bad Richard Strauss tone poem. Walker gets his comeuppance: A shrill, squeaky oboe sabotages his piece. CD 8: The young Reiner was friends with Richard Strauss and became one of the strongest contributors to the legacy of Strauss recordings; his renowned Chicago Symphony Ein Heldenleden is a catalog perennial. The Pittsburgh performance is more lyrical than one might expect from Reiner, with conventional tempos, never too fast or too slow, lacking the moment-to-moment frenzy of Mengelberg’s New York and Amsterdam recordings. Columbia’s 1947 monaural recording holds up well in a fine transfer, but it is no match for RCA’s Living Stereo. By comparison, the 1946 Le bourgeois gentilhomme immediately strikes one as tinny and harsh, but Reiner’s performance is as delectable as Strauss’s music, so one soon adapts to the sound. CD 9: The first and final movements of Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony are lightning fast—no lollygagging for Fritz Reiner! Yet there are tender moments as well. The 1946 recording has come up well, with a nice sheen to the strings. The G-Minor Symphony is given a marvelous performance, crisp and clean, with none of the maundering it is so often subjected to. Only a slowdown for the opening Molto Allegro’s final cadence reveals its age. The 1947 recorded sound is as fine as mono ever delivered. The Bach Suite, with a large string section, is tough and sinewy, but Sebastian Caratelli’s flute is winning in the final Badinerie. The orchestra goes wild in Lucien Cailliet’s gargantuan orchestration of the “Little” Fugue in G Minor. CD 10: The Shostakovich Sixth is a disappointment: Neither the orchestra nor the dry recorded sound enable Reiner to probe the depths or reach the heights of the Largo, and the scherzo and finale are workmanlike performances at best. Good stereo sound has done much for this music, beginning with Boult and Bernstein. The Colas Breugnon Overture, Kabalevsky’s greatest hit, was recorded on the same day as the Shostakovich and transferred by the same outfit. Who can say why it turns out to be so much more brilliant? Dances of Galánta, Kodály’s fiery masterpiece (pace Háry János) gets a stunning performance that sounds fine here; Sigurd Bockman plays the clarinet solos with panache. So does Léo Weiner’s charming, spirited “Old Hungarian Dances.” Bartók’s two Hungarian Sketches, “Bear Dance” and “Slightly Tipsy,” recorded two years later (1947) with a new technology—tape—get warm, full, airy recorded sound. None of these three Hungarian works was released on 78s or LPs, only on a Masterworks Heritage CD. What a loss for my teen years! CD 11: Reiner’s Brandenburg Concertos, recorded in seven 1949 sessions at Columbia’s 30th Street Studios, received many plaudits at the time; today, it’s hard to hear why. Perhaps it was the presence of a major conductor (rather than a Baroque specialist), or the rosters of star instrumentalists: Hugo Kolberg and Felix Eyle, violin; William Lincer, viola; Leonard Rose, cello, Julius Baker, flute, Robert Bloom, oboe; William Vacchiano, trumpet; Fernando Valenti and Sylvia Marlowe, harpsichord. The orchestra (4/2/2/2) was called Columbia String Ensemble, and it is dreadful. It screeches horribly in the opening Allegro of the First Concerto, and the tutti of the Menuetto is a mess. The soloists may play well, but there is little feeling of ensemble. Admittedly, there weren’t many distinguished sets of the Brandenburgs at the time; soon thereafter came fine ones by the London Baroque Ensemble under Karl Haas, and from the Prades Festival with equally famous soloists under Pablo Casals. The Reiner performances are excessively punchy; perhaps they were very early attempts at historical practice with modern instruments. Vacchiano is successful at the original pitch (many earlier recordings transposed all or part of the trumpet line down an octave), but it is so difficult that he gets out of sync with the others for a moment in the opening movement of the Second Concerto. The playing in the opening movement of the Third is heavy—without grace in this most gracious of the Brandenburgs. A very rapid pace rescues its finale. CD 12: Reiner takes the opening Allegro of the Fourth Concerto at the near-presto, to which we are now accustomed but was uncommon at the time. The string ensemble seems less ugly, but perhaps it’s just that it is often covered by the modern flutes, which are too penetrating for the music. In the Fifth Concerto, Baker’s bright flute submerges both Kolb’s violin and Marlowe’s harpsichord, which is very reticent, even in solo passages. The three are in better balance in the Affettuoso. This performance of the Sixth Concerto is quite fine: Lincer and Nicholas Biro are the excellent violists, and the first movement is taken at a reasonable allegro—today’s prestissimos drive me crazy. The ensemble seems to improve as they go through the concertos, but they were not recorded in numerical order. CD 13: Ljuba Welitch had a mid-sized but penetrating soprano that could reach the last row of the family circle. She pours out dramatic gold in Donna Anna’s two arias from Don Giovanni, with Reiner leading the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. One is reminded of Maria Callas. In the final scene from Salome, Welitch is not only a potent force, but the character of her voice makes her a more believable teenager than most sopranos who essay the role. On this disc she also sings seven songs with piano accompaniment. CD 14: The final CD presents two of Reiner’s great performances of Richard Strauss. Gregor Piatigorsky is the cellist and Vladimir Bakaleinikoff the violist in Don Quixote. The 1941 recording sounds full, rich, and sweet. The Don Juan, recorded earlier that year, is bright but a but edgy. Reiner remade these two Strauss works plus Ein Heldenleben and Le bourgeois gentilhomme in stereo in Chicago. The Chicago performances strike one as a well-oiled machine coasting along; the Pittsburgh ones as a group of fine musicians playing their hearts out. Honegger’s Concertino for Piano and Orchestra was part of Oscar Levant’s repertoire; he played it with the New York Philharmonic under Mitropoulos in 1949 but had already recorded it with Reiner and the pick-up orchestra called the Columbia Symphony; it was tacked on to an Ormandy LP. A colorful virtuoso showpiece, it comes as something of a shock after the Strauss tone poems. Each CD cover reproduces an LP cover, front and back; LP record labels are also mimicked. But there are often other, unidentified works on the CD. The CDs are numbered (1 to 14) in the booklet but not on the discs or their covers—so don’t get them out of order! The booklet includes extraordinarily complete discographic details, including reproductions of a contract card, a matrix number listing, a master work sheet, and three job sheets—plus a long explanation as to why there is an inconsistency in one case. It certainly supersedes the Reiner portion of my Pittsburgh Symphony discography in ARSC Journal 47:1. With the caveat that I wish all the transfers had been as fine as the best of them, this is superb presentation of Fritz Reiner’s monaural recordings, 1940 to 1950. It may sit proudly beside the 63-disc Fritz Reiner–The Complete RCA Album Collection.

Le Reiner d'avant Chicago : à Pittsburg et en mono, mais pour des interprétations d'un niveau au moins égal. Splendides enregistrements, rien à jeter ! Avec Reiner, on est toujours sur les cimes. Bartok, Strauss, les extraits de Don Giovanni (Welitsch et l'orchestre du Met) et bien sûr l'archi-super-légendaire scène finale de Salome (la même Welitsch, le même orchestre). Et tant d'autres choses encore ! UN EXTRAORDINAIRE ET PRÉCIEUX COFFRET !

Caja de 14 CD que recopila toda la discografía de la Sinfónica de Pittsburgh de Reiner junto con las grabaciones de Columbia que hizo después de mudarse a Nueva York en 1948 para convertirse en director principal de la Metropolitan Opera. Reiner ya era un experimentado director de Wagner cuando llegó a Pittsburgh y como era de esperar sus primeras sesiones en febrero y marzo de 1940 incluyeron Ride of the Valkyries. Encontramos algunos ejemplos excelentes del repertorio muy variado del director: la Sexta Sinfonía de Shostakovich; la primera grabación de la suite de Robert Russell Bennett de Porgy and Bess de Gershwin; el Divertimento No. 1 de su amigo húngaro Léo Weiner; las Danzas de Galánta de otro compatriota, Zoltán Kodály; y la Segunda Sinfonía de Beethoven. Reiner dirigió su última grabación de Pittsburgh, Ein Heldenleben de Strauss, en noviembre de 1947. Mención especial merecen los Conciertos de Brandenburgo de Bach y muchas Danzas Húngaras de Brahms, interpretadas siempre con la rítmica elástica y llena de modernidad que aún hoy en día sigue siendo fascinante y típica de Reiner.

Der ungarische Ausnahmedirigent jüdischer Herkunft hat zu späterer Zeit (1954-63) eine Menge maßstabsetzender Stereo-Aufnahmen mit dem Chicago SO hinterlassen, die vor Jahren in einer 63-CD-Box erschienen sind. Hier ist er in gutem Mono zu erleben (1940-1950). Fast die Hälfte dieser Aufnahmen mit der Pittsburgh SO wurden Jahre später in Stereo mit der Chicago SO neu aufgenommen. Die Interpretationen gehen dabei meist grundsätzlich in dieselbe Richtung, werden aber im Ganzen - bis auf Bartok - in den 40'ern schneller gespielt. Jedoch haben die späteren Aufnahmen bessere Klangqualität. Hier gibt es einige Werke, die in Reiners Diskografie einzigartig sind: so Bachs Brandenburgische Konzerte, Beethovens Sinfonie 2, Mozarts Sinfonie 35, Schostakowitschs Sinfonie 6, Kodaly, Mahlers Lieder, Ravels La Valse. Sowie Broadway-Musik von Gershwin und Richard Rogers. Es sind 14 CDs in Originalcovern mit Rückseiten und 64 Seiten Booklet, mit neuen 24-Bit-Transfers. 2 CD's mit Mozart/Beethoven bzw. Schostakowitsch/Kodaly... gab es schon 1996 mal. Die R. Strauss-Aufnahmen mit dem RCA Victor SO gab es bereits auf Fritz Reiner Conducts Strauss-Complete Recordings . Auf Great Conductors of the 20th Century war schon das 'El Amor Brujo' de Fallas zu hören. Bachs Brandenburgische Konzerte sind in den 40'ern eigentlich noch Breitwand-Sound, erklingen hier aber schon recht transparent (mit ausgesuchten Solisten 1949 in New York aufgenommen) und deutlich frischer als mit Karajan in den 60'ern, was auch für die 2. Suite gilt. Schön ist die orchestrierte Fuge. Die Arien sind nicht von Reiner dirigiert, fallen aber nicht ab. - Beethovens Sinfonie Nr. 2 ist ebenso hervorragend wie Mozarts Sinfonien Nr. 35 + 40. Schostakowitschs Sinfonie Nr. 6 liegt auf höchstem Niveau vor. Kodalys von heimatlicher Folklore inspirierte Tänze sind beim Ungarn Reiner in besten Händen. Dass Reiners Aufnahmen von R. Strauss Spitzenklasse waren, dürfte bekannt sein. Die Le Bourgeois gentilhomme-Suite hat hier zwei Sätze mehr als bei der Stereo-Aufnahme. Brahms ist schmissiger als mit den Wiener Philharmonikern (durchweg schneller), aber auch weniger gediegen. Auch die Strauss-Walzer werden schneller gespielt, jedoch sehr gut. Bartoks Konzert wird etwas langsamer, aber gut interpretiert - doch nicht ganz mein Geschmack. De Fallas 'El Amor Brujo' mit Carol Brice ist besonders überzeugend, noch besser als in Stereo. Und Mahlers Lieder klingen mit dieser Sängerin sehr schön - mit leichten Störgeräuschen beim 3., mehr noch beim 4. Lied. Das Brahms-Konzert - so gut es gespielt ist - schneidet klanglich noch am schlechtesten ab. Mussorgsky ist auch hier sehr überzeugend. Ein herausragender Wagner. Auch Ravel und Debussy werden in der gewohnten Qualität dargeboten. Die orchestrale Gershwin-Synthese ist ein Gewinn. Rogers: ganz nett. Honegger: schön gespielt, Stück nicht sehr bedeutend. Die CD mit Ljuba Welitsch mag ich gar nicht, weil ich mit ihrem Sopran nichts anfangen kann - Geschmackssache. - Insgesamt aber sehr überzeugend. MONO-AUFNAHMEN MIT REINER/PITTSBURGH SO: sofern nicht anders angegeben - Aufnahmen mit einem Sternchen wurden mit dem Chicago SO oder den Wiener Philharmonikern in Stereo aufgenommen (Ausnahme: das Remake Mozart - Sinf. 40 war mono). BACH: — 6 Brandenburgische Konzerte mit Columbia Streichensemble - Solisten sind größtenteils aus der New York Philharmonic (1949) — Suite für Orchester Nr. 2 BWV 1067 (1946) — Kl. Fuge g-Moll BWV 578 orch. Cailliet (1946) BARTOK: — Konzert für Orchester (1946) * (überarbeitete Fassung in beiden Aufnahmen) — Ungarische Skizzen Nr. 2, 4 (1947) * (Reiner nahm alle fünf Skizzen in Chicago auf) BEETHOVEN: — Sinf. Nr. 2 (1945) BERLIOZ: — La damnation de Faust: Rákóczy March (1947) BRAHMS: — Konzert für Klavier Nr. 1 mit Rudolf Serkin (1946) * (wiederaufgenommen mit Arthur Rubinstein in Chicago) — Ungarische Tänze Nr. 1, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 19, 21 (1946) * (wiederaufgenommen für Decca mit Wiener Philharmonikern) DEBUSSY: — Ibéria aus Images (1947) * — Danse (Tarentelle styrienne) (1947) FALLA: — El amor brujo mit Carol Brice Mezzosopran (1946) * (wiederaufgenommen mit Leontyne Price in Chicago) GERSHWIN: — „Porgy and Bess“ Symphonisches Bild arr. Robert Russell Bennett (1945) GLINKA: — Kamarinskaya (1946) HONEGGER: — Concertino für Klavier mit Oscar Levant, Columbia Symphony KABALEVSKY: — Colas Breugnon Ouvertüre (1945) * KODALY: — Tänze aus Galánta (1945) MAHLER: — Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen mit Carol Brice Mezzosopran (1946) MOZART: — Sinfonie Nr. 35 „Haffner“ (1946) — Sinfonie Nr. 40 (1947) * (Chicago-Remake auch mono) — Don Giovanni: — „Don Ottavio, son morta! - Oder sai chi l'onore“ mit Ljuba Welitsch Sopran, Alessio De Paolis Tenor, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (1950) — „Crudele? - Non mi dir, bell' idol mio“ mit Ljuba Welitsch Sopran, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (1950) MUSSORGSKY: — Nacht auf dem kahlen Berge (1945) * RAVEL: — La valse (1947) RICHARD ROGERS: — Karussell: Walzer (1941) ROSSINI: — Il Signor Bruschino: Ouvertüre (1946) * Schostakowitsch: — Sinfonie Nr. 6 (1945) J.STRAUSS II: — Schatz-Walzer Op.418 (1941) * — Wiener Blut Op.354 (1941) * — Rosen aus dem Süden Walzer Op.388 (1941) * R.STRAUSS: — Le Bourgeois gentilhomme Suite (1946) * (das Chicagoer Remake verzichtet auf zwei Sätze) — Don Juan (1941) * — Don Quixote mit Gregor Piatigorsky Cello (1941) * (wiederaufgenommen mit Antonio Janigro in Chicago) — Ein Heldenleben (1947) * — Salome: Finalszene mit Ljuba Welitsch Sopran, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (1949) * (wiederaufgenommen mit Inge Borkh in Chicago) TCHAIKOVSKY: — Suite für Orchester Nr. 1 D-Dur op. 43: Marsch (1945) * WAGNER: — Tannhäuser: Ouvertüre & Venusberg Music (1941) — Lohengrin: Vorspiel zu Aufzügen 1 + 3 (1941) — Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: — Vorspiele zu Aufzügen 1 + 3 (1941) * — Tanz der Lehrlinge (1941) * — Eintritt der Meistersänger (1941) * — Siegfried: Waldweben (1941) — Die Walküre: Walküre (1940) LEO WEINER: — Divertimento Op.20 „Alte ungarische Tänze“ (1945) * in Stereo mit Chicago Symphony oder Wiener Philharmoniker (Ausnahme: Mozart Sinf. 40 remake war mono). AUFNAHMEN NICHT dirigiert von REINER: BACH gesungen von Carol Brice Sopran, mit Daniel Saidenberg, Columbia Rundfunk Konzertorchester (1948): — Magnificat D-Dur BWV 243: — Ex exultavit — Esurientes implevit bonis — Messe in b-Moll BWV 232: — Qui sedes — Agnus Dei SONGS gesungen von Ljuba Welitsch, Sopran, mit Paul Ulanowsky, Klavier (1950): — DARGOMIZHSKY: “Ich bin traurig“, „Der Müller“ — JOSEPH MARX: „Hat dich die Liebe berüht“, Valse de Chopin (Text aus Pierrot Lunaire) — MUSSORGSKY: „Wo bist du, kleines Sternlein?“ — R. STRAUSS: „Cäcilie“, „Die Nacht“ Leider ist die Chicago-Box schon wieder gestrichen. Was leider auch fehlt, sind die Mono-Aufnahmen mit dem RCA Victor SO aus den mittleren Jahren (1950-54'): -Bach: 4 Suites for Orchestra (October 1952) -Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 (Vladimir Horowitz, piano, April 1952) -Bizet: Carmen (May + June 1951) -Brahms: Alto Rhapsody (October 1950) -Gluck: Orfeo et Euridice - Act 2, Minuet and Dance of the Blessed Spirits (June 1953); Act 2 "Che Faro Senza Euridice?", Act 3 "Che puro ciel" (March 1951) -Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel, Act 2: Dream Pantomime (October 1950) -Liszt: Totentanz (Alexander Brailowsky, piano, March 1951) -Mozart: Le Nozze de Figaro, Act 1: "Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio", Act 2: "Voi che sapete" (March 1951) -Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 (Vladimir Horowitz, piano, May + June 1951) -Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 (Gregor Piatigorsky, cello, December 1950) -Strauss, Johann Jr.: Die Fledermaus, Highlights" (sung in English, September 1950) -Strauss, Richard: Der Rosenkavalier, Presentation of the Silver Rose from Act 2, Closing Scene from Act 3 (April 1951); Till Eulenspiegel + Tod und Verklärung (September 1950) Tchaikovsky: Waltzes from Eugene Onegin, The Nutcracker [Waltz of the Flowers], The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake & Sinf. No. 5 [movement 3] (September 1950) -Wagner: Lohengrin, Prelude to Act 3 + Tannhäuser, Act 2, Festival March (October 1950) Vom Robin Hood Dell Orch. = Philadelphia Orchestra: -Brahms: Double Concerto (N. Milstein violin & G. Piatigorsky cello, June 1951) -Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night's Dream - Overture, Scherzo, Intermezzo, Nocturne, Wedding March (June 1951) -Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (William Kapell, June 1951) Vom NBC Symphony: -Mozart: Divertimento No. 11 + Ein Musikalischer Spaß (September 1954) -Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin (January 1952) (nach der Reiner-Diskographie der Stokowski Society).

この全集はライナー/シカゴ響とのものではなく、ピッツバーグ響、コロンビア放送響との録音であり、こちらに記された批評を読むと間違ってしまうので注意してください したがって有名なバルトークやR=コルサコフの「シェエラザード」などは入っていません ライナー好きには貴重なセットである事は間違いないのですが

I've no criticism for Sony, who once again produce a beautiful edition replete with original covers and full discographical information. I love this company. These are the recordings made before Reiner took over the Chicago SO and started producing those incredible Living Stereo LPs. With the best will in the world, the Pittsburgh orchestra is not in the same class and there is a feeling in many of these performances that interpretation almost stops at the point Reiner has achieved maximum precision. The orchestra can do most of what he wants, often at high tempos, but there doesn't seem much left for expression. Inevitably my generalisation admits of many exceptions, especially the fantastic suite from Porgy and Bess, which has never sounded better (actually the arrangement was done for Reiner). The Brahms First Piano Concerto is extremely severe in character -- hardly a performance to return to often. My main grip is with the sound. I'm sure Sony have done the best they can, but what were Columbia thinking? Twenty years previously, i.e. in the late 1920s, companies were producing warmer sound with more bass and concert-hall atmosphere than we get in the late 1940s. It's incredible to think that while Columbia were turning out these ugly recordings with their spot-lit instruments, limited dynamic range, poor bass extension, and a generally harsh, constricted sound, Decca was issuing its early FFRR discs, including Ansermet's stunning Stravinsky recordings. By 1954 or so Reiner had changed orchestras and companies to produce recordings that stand up to comparison with many digital efforts. Aside from this, nobody would deny the historical importance of this set or the fascination of hearing Reiner pre-Chicago. That he improved as a conductor when he left Pittsburgh had never occurred to me before, but I think he probably did.