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PASC207 - Symphony 4 and Six Overtures - Beethoven
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The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Vienna State Opera Orchestra
conducted by Hermann Scherchen Recorded 1954
Transfers and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, December 2009
Original source recordings from the private collection of John Phillips
Cover artwork based on a photograph of Hermann Scherchen
A Pristine Audio Natural Sound XR restoration
Scroll down for PDF covers and cue-sheet download
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Play Symphony 4, 1st mvt:
Hermann Scherchen at his best in Beethoven
Excellent sound quality backs excellent performances from 1954
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4 in B flat, Op. 60
Recorded in September 1954 by Westminster Records
Transferred from UK Nixa LP pressing WLP 20003 The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
conductor Hermann Scherchen
Six Beethoven Overtures The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43 The Ruins of Athens, Op. 113 Consecration of the House, Op. 124 Coriolan, Op. 62 King Stephen, Op. 117
Namensfeier, Op. 115
Recorded in June 1954 by Westminster Records
Transferred from UK Nixa LP pressing WLP 5335 The Vienna State Opera Orchestra
conductor Hermann Scherchen
Notes on the recordings:
"The gramophone's most unpredictable conductor gives a superlative performance of the Beethoven Fourth. It is powerful and tense in a degree not normally associated with the work, but made entirely convincing by the dash and skill of its presentation. The traditional view of the Fourth as a predominantly lyrical symphony has indeed much to recommend it; but the performance here of its first, third and fourth movements welds the lyrical elements briskly, and not at all unacceptably, into a vigorous whole. The slow movement, too, has its felicities: the slightest of accelerandos, just before the end, lends a new point to that familiar demisemiquaver passage. And this movement, along with the others, exhibits to the full the most beautiful orchestral playing: there are woodwind passages here to catch the heart (and, thinking of Scherchen's whirlwind tempo for the bassoon in the finale, the breath!)
As the recording is very good, having all the brilliance but not quite all the richness of the best, this must inevitably become the primary recommendation for a one-sided version of the Fourth; it outclasses Toscanini's H.M.V. on one or two counts. Less tension, if that is sought, may be found in Karajan's reading on the very well-recorded Columbia; here the symphony's finale goes over on to the second side, which is completed by the extended aria Ah, Perfido! An even less tense performance is secured by Krips on his Decca disc; but, though recorded most beautifully smoothly, that record, given wholly to the symphony, is now beginning to look expensive..." - from the Gramophone review of 4th Symphony, April 1956
Some recordings from the 1950s are a pleasure for the transfer and remastering engineer, and these certainly come into that category. Well-recorded for their day, on excellent near-mint pressings, and perfect for XR remastering to bring out the very best sound quality - and, most importantly, some really excellent performances.
Scherchen's recording of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony was originally coupled with a recording of the Fifth, made at the same time and with the same orchestra - the Royal Philharmonic recording under a pseudonym, "The Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of London". My original plan to reunite these recordings for a single release was thwarted by the length of the Overtures LP when coupled with his 1951 recording of the Emperor Concerto with Badura-Skoda, which together run to a little over 82 minutes. Hence the decision to pair here the Overtures with the Fourth, saving the two mighty "Fifths" for another issue due out shortly after this release.
"Music does not have to be understood. It has to be listened to." - Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen (June 21, 1891 – June 12, 1966) was a German conductor.
Born in Berlin, he was originally a violist and played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens. He conducted in Riga from 1914 to 1916 and in Königsberg from 1928 to 1933, after which he left Germany in protest at the Nazi regime and worked in Switzerland. Along with the philanthropist Werner Reinhart, Scherchen played a leading role in shaping the musical life of Winterthur for many years, with numerous premiere performances, the emphasis being placed on contemporary music.
Making his debut with Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, he was a champion of 20th century composers such as Richard Strauss, Webern, Berg and Varèse, and actively promoted the work of younger contemporary composers including Iannis Xenakis and Luigi Nono.
He was the teacher of Karl Amadeus Hartmann, and contributed to the libretto of Hartmann's opera Simplicius Simplicissimus. He also premiered Hartmann's early work Miserae. The conductor Francis Travis was a pupil, then conducting assistant, for five years.
He is probably best known for his orchestral arrangement (and recording) of Johann Sebastian Bach's The Art of Fugue. Another notable achievement is his 1958 recording of Beethoven's Eroica symphony for the Westminster label (subsequently reissued on compact disc), containing what is still (as of 2006) the fastest first movement ever recorded and the closest to Beethoven's own, problematic, metronome mark. His 1953 "Lehrbuch des Dirigierens" ("Treatise on Conducting" ISBN 3-7957-2780-4) is a standard textbook. His recorded repertoire was extremely wide, ranging from Vivaldi to Reinhold Glière.
He died in Florence. He was survived by a number of children, from five wives and other women.
One his sons was Wulff Scherchen. Wulff's six-year relationship with Benjamin Britten started when he was aged thirteen. John Bridcut describes the passionate exchanges of letters between the famous composer and the young boy in Britten's Children.
His daughter, Myriam Scherchen, runs a record label Tahra which produces historic recordings on CD devoted to famous conductors, including Scherchen himself.
Like Vasily Safonov and (in later life) Leopold Stokowski, Scherchen commonly avoided the use of a baton.[3] His technique when in this mode sometimes caused problems for players; an unidentified BBC Symphony Orchestra bassoonist told the singer Ian Wallace that interpreting Scherchen's minuscule hand movements was like trying to milk a flying gnat.[4] According to Fritz Spiegl[5], Scherchen worked largely through verbal instructions to his players and his scores were peppered with reminders of what he needed to say at each critical point in the music.
However, Scherchen did not always dispense with the baton. The film of his rehearsal of his edition of Bach's 'Art of Fugue' with the CBC Toronto Chamber Orchestra shows him using a baton throughout, and very effectively.
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