Beethoven Recording Producer Engineer Readers Digest Recordings Liner Notes

New York Diary (20-10): Beethoven, Recording Producer and Engineer, Liner Notes, Reader's Digest Recordings
Music in Time of Cholera (Corona), Part III

It's Time for Beethoven After a lot of Mozart and some Bruckner, I finally crave something else - Beethoven, that immortal genius who never backed down and triumphed despite illness and fate, an example for us in this plague.

Beethoven the genius is to be found in his music, not in words and certainly not in the movies. A few days ago Copying Beethoven was on TV. I re-watched a bit and frankly it was a travesty, not one of Agniecska Holland's better films, even if I couldn't take my eyes off Diane Kruger.

Beethoven is one of the greatest thinkers and, yes, music is thought. And unlike many other great composers who entrance us with their varied worlds, his music not only makes us feel, but also provokes us into thinking. As I move through his works in chronological order it always feels like an adventure, a journey for myself. There is always a feeling of universality, something strikingly clear in his 9th symphony and many passages elsewhere. Beethoven is not only about himself. His World is Our World.

By the time you read these words I would have already listened to one cycle of his symphonies, three cycles of his Piano Concertos. It is likely too that I will be going through the great man's Piano Sonatas and String Quartets.

Reader's Digest Recordings A lot of audiophiles know about the Reader's Digest recordings, produced by Charles Gerhardt and recorded by Kenneth Wilkinson and others (basically Decca team). Most were recorded in the famous Walthamstow Hall. They featured excellent orchestras (mostly the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; some London Symphony Orchestra) under several excellent conductors. Dvorak 9th, Brahms 1st, Wagner, Strauss and the Rachmaninov Piano Concertos (soloist Earl Wild) under the under-rated Jascha Horenstein; Sibelius 2nd under John Barbirolli (a benchmark), among others. The problem is, many of these were sequestered into big and heavy "de-luxe" boxes with other lesser performances. Later, budget re-issue label Quintessence, which had a knack of choosing little known but musically superior recordings, re-issued many of these in so-so pressings. Then, Chesky Records acquired the rights to these and issued them on high quality LPs, and then CDs (discontinued, and they fetch good prices now). It should be noted that, aside from Nancy King's King of the Road, Chesky's own "audiophile" recordings are musically forgettable.

I have already finished listening to all 7 discs in my Reader's Digest box of Beethoven Symphonies, issued in 1968, played by the RPO and conducted by the under-rated (in America) Rene Leibowitz (a violinist, composer and conductor). As is frequently my wont, I played them in numeric order. This is not one of the famous ones in the series; what Beethoven is? But it is one of the best in performances and sonics. It comes in its own box. I got to know this cycle because in HK I had once chanced upon 2 used Chesky CD's. I still remember the day I played the 9th; where have you been in my life? After that I vowed to source the rest. These are usually seen in the dollar bins. Over the years I had come across mostly mono boxes (I bought one) and the occasional trashed up stereo counterpart (rarer). It was only last year that I got my perfect stereo box, $7 for 7 LPs. The sound is fantastic. Even though my Heresy's are almost against the wall, the soundstage is still deep and instruments well etched. And the tight performances are exciting as hell. It makes me think of another two of my personal favorites. The little known cycle of Carl Schuricht conducting the Paris Conservatory Orchestra is rarely seen on LP. EMI had issued the CDs in good mono sound. Too bad I no longer have this set (sold my collection in HK) but it is available in a budget Icon series re-issue. Another is the Leipzig Gewandhaus conducted by Franz Konwitschny, now available in a super-bargain box. All three are little known but my top choices.

I then moved on to the Piano Concertos. This morning I dispatched Solomon's mono cycle with the Philharmonia conducted by Herbert Menges and Andre Cluytens.( As I write, I am on Wilhelm Kempff's mono cycle with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Paul van Kempen (American Decca Gold LP), which is superior to his stereo remake. Two great mono cycles from the bargain bins. Sound is lovely with my Denon DL-102.

Basic Repertoire Everyone knows the "Emperor" Concerto, but really all five are essentials. The Largo of Concerto No. 1 is magical and here I am sharing a youtube with you. Kempff , one of my favorite pianists, is as elegant a musician as one shall find. He eschews display, instead preferring to find the inner drama, which he often does. His legato and perfect balance of the hands (seemingly talking to each other) can teach many famous pianists a thing or two. Here, the great BPO under an excellent conductor plays with complete rapport.

Despite the numbering, this is actually Beethoven's second concerto, and he has already fully come into his own. Many pianists who have not recorded all five have recorded this one, among them the great Sviatoslav Richter and Martha Argerich. If you like this one you may want to explore theirs.

 

Liner Notes of Old I didn't read the Decca Gold liner notes until this round, and was overjoyed to discover that it was written by no less a person than the great pianist himself. The writing is very much like his playing, light and perfectly balanced, yet probing. This is the best notes on these works that I have read They are included at the very end of this article.

All that is not the reason why I wanted to write this blip. In the Reader's Digest Beethoven box there is a very nice booklet, in which there is an article by producer Gerhardt that audiophiles interested in the recording process will want to read. He detailed that every symphony has its own requirements. It is really enlightening. That was the era of really knowledgeable producers and engineers. In my opinion, many re-issue LPs don't sound so hot because the producers and engineers don't know the music. The text is attached below.