Alfredo Campoli, violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Anatole Fistoulari Originally
released in 1952 on 2 Decca LPs, LXT2681-2
Part 1: Acts 1-2 - Duration 47'43" Download ID: 152121/432809 Part 2: Acts 3-4 - Duration 42'54" Download ID: 152123/432810
Acts
1 & 2
Acts
3 & 4
w
Play
sample scene:
Anatole
Fistoulari made two recordings of Swan Lake for Decca: in 1961
a single stereo disk of extracts with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw; and
this two-LP mono set with the LSO in 1952, now offered here.
We have been unable to trace a CD reissue of this earlier recording which
is remarkable in many ways and deserves to be heard again. First,
one might comment on the recorded sound - wide-range in frequency response
and vast in dynamics. Then the violin soloist - not, as usual, the
leader of the 1st violins but here no less a figure than Alfredo Campoli,
making mini-concertos of his two sections.
Also remarkable
is the 'version' - if such it can be called - of the Lake that is presented
here. It is reported to be that of the performance score as used
in the Covent Garden production of the period and, as such, the definitive
'Record Guide' described it as 'Complete' when it made its first
(1953) appearance in that publication. By the next edition that
had been changed to 'Almost Complete', and subsequently it was downgraded
to 'Extracts from'. One has only to compare this version with
a modern 'complete' recording, such as Dutoit's, to realise that 'almost
complete' was optimistic. Almost 60 minutes of music is missing!
Also, here you will find items in different orders (even in different
acts), telescoped, extended, or plain hacked about. The three extra
numbers added by Drigo for the revised 1895 production are here included,
though major items such as No 19, Pas de Six, and No 22 with its excellent
cornet solo, are missing. (One wonders about the integrity of the plot-line
in such a performance...) Probably no other recorded performance
has used precisely this version of Tchaikowsky's music.
Identifying
and labelling the CD tracks of this ballet is always a major
headache for the discographer. We have chosen to use the numbering
scheme (there are at least five others) that has been used for some other
'complete' CD recordings of the Lake, thus allowing easier comparisons
by the eager listener. A simple solution? Far from it.
Even at the very first track we run into problems: is this, as we have
labelled it, an Introduction that precedes Act I; or is it, as other reference
works have it, Act I No 0? And how are the three
extra 'Drigo' pieces to be labelled? We have made an attempt: probably
incorrect, and we invite corrections. We hope these difficulties don't
detract from your enjoyment of a unique recording: the music, after all,
is what these reissues are all about.
Footnote: Since writing these notes we've been made aware of a third recording of Swan Lake by Fistoulari - a 1973 Decca Phaes Four issue with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Ruggiero Ricci taking the solo violin part.
REVIEW
OF TCHAIKOVSKY - "SWAN LAKE"
LSO/Fistouari
(1952)
With
humble apolologies to both Stravinsky and Prokofiev, I must
state that Tschaikowsky is the greatest composer of ballet
music and, further, that "Swan Lake" is his greatest
ballet. Before Tschaikowsky, ballet music was written, like
children, to be seen and not heard. Anyone enduring the dullness
of the complete music of Gluck's "Don Juan", Beethoven's
"The Creatures of Prometheus" or Adam's "Giselle"
without the accompanying mise en scene will quickly understand.
Admittedly, Delibes' Sylvia and Coppelia have greater standalone
musical interest, but even these do not sustain interest through
their 90 minute durations.
What
is different about "Swan Lake" is its symphonic
qualities: themes are introduced and developed; they reappear.
For, example, that most haunting of all oboe melodies representing
the swans comes back in many guises. There are transition
passages instead of stop-and-go dance accompaniments. The
themes and their moods are related to the action of the melodrama
rather than just the gymnastics of the dancers. In short,
one can listen to the music by itself without necessarily
seeing the stage action, although knowing what is going on
greatly enhances one's understanding and pleasure.
I
have owned this Fistoulari recording for 53 years. When stereo
came out and I gave away hundreds of monaural recordings,
this one stayed. But I doubt if I knew how great a recording
it was until I heard it in Pristine Audio's remastering. Although
primarily a ballet conductor, Fistoulari brings out that "symphonic"
quality I so prize in "Swan Lake". The drive is
tremendous, but there is such delicate attention to detail.
There is never a crude moment in a score that other conductors
have played crudely. There is unfailing freshness and elegance.
Tschaikowsky's mastery of orchestration is awesome and so
is the LSO's playing; the front desks are incomparable. There
are perhaps rivals in the Dorati Mercury mono and the Rozhdestvensky
stereo, but this performance for me occupies one of the heights.
There
is some undefinable magic for me in the sound which I cannot
analyze. All I know is that it was 90 minutes of joy.
