Best Recordings of 2018 (Re-Releases)

Time for a review of classical CDs that were outstanding in 2018 again! This lists the re-releases, the list with all choices, including the new releases, can be found here.

Preamble

For the usual preamble, go to the complete list. Here, meanwhile, are the links to the past iterations on ionarts and Forbes.com:

2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2008—"Almost" | 2009 | 2009—"Almost" | 2010 | 2010—"Almost" | 2011 | 2011—"Almost" | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017

# 10 - Re-Release

Joseph Marx, Orchestral Works v.1, Steven Sloane, Bochum Symphony, Naxos 8.573831

Joseph Marx, Orchestral Works v.1 (Nature Trilogy, Symphonic Night Music, Idyll, Spring Music) S.Sloane / Bochum Symphony Naxos

“To each instrument according to his ability, from each according to its timbre”, you might recall, was – famously – Joseph Marx’ mantra, when sitting in his Vienna office of the university, composing the colorful panoplies that are his orchestral works. There are those who say that his music, untimely then, outdated soon thereafter, lacking modernity or forward-drive, landed on the ash heap of history. But not so, thanks to a band of steady Joseph-Marxists, such as the American-in-Bochum Steven Sloane, who continued the fight and made valuable recordings of this lush whipped double-cream romanticism. These were made for ASV with his Bochum Orchestra – which brought the little band in the coal-mining West a bit of fame. But ASV is no more and the 1994 recordings out of print and scattered to the winds. But here cometh Naxos to the rescue, re-issuing these still very fine (albeit not perfect; just imagine the Vienna Philharmonic in engagement-mode or the Dresden Staatskapelle play these) recordings. For all these reasons, this first of three is most welcome, indeed!

# 9 - Re-Release

Antonio Rosetti, Symphonies & Concertos, Johannes Moesus, Hamburg Symphony, MDG 601 2056-2

Antonio Rosetti, Symphonies & Concertos J.Moesus / Hamburg SO mDG

MDG, that quintessentially Mittelstand-CD label from Germany, has been slapping single disc releases together as Twofers as re-releases for a while – all roughly twenty years after that practice was common with Philips DUOs and EMI double-fortes et al. That’s not to say that good things don’t come of that, especially as the original liner notes are fused and retained which is especially welcome when it comes to the lesser known composers MDG is known to highlight. In this case it was Antonio Rosetti who got that treatment, with MDG joining their symphony and concerto recordings of the Mozart contemporary. Such supremely charming music – to which this set is as fine (or better) an introduction as any. “It isn’t, strictly speaking, absolutely necessary to compare Antonio Rosetti (1750-1792) to Haydn or Mozart. But as soon as you hear a few bars of his D major symphony those two superstars of the classical-classical era will pop to mind. Not that the comparison is new; it was common enough even in the composer’s lifetime.” Full ClassicsToday review here.

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War-Time Wilhelm Furtwängler: Questionable Greatness

The conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler’s art has so imbued itself into the collective conscious of the music-loving public that, to this day, 65 years after his death, the name still evokes greatness. Sure, there are factions – especially the Arturo Toscanini-loving types – that dispute Furtwängler’s greatness. Or those who suggest that for every moment of incandescence there were two of crud. And a modern listener might hear scratchy old recordings that are a far cry from today’s technical standards in terms of sound and performance and wonder what the big deal is. But even for those who cannot ascertain his dare-not-be-questioned ‘wondrous amazingness’ (and if you admit as much, be ready to be painted an ignoramus), the point is probably not to determine Furtwängler’s greatness in terms of what we can glean today from his art but by how lasting a legacy he has left. In fact, it’s perhaps even more amazing for that reputation to be so lasting in face of evidence that doesn’t always support it in ‘conventional ways’.

For decades this mythical reputation has lived off relatively few official releases (which weren’t always the best ones) and an enormous amount of semi-pirated gray-market imprints (which were often of disastrous technical quality). Eventually the Audite label took its painstaking restoration process and has opened much of the Furtwängler vault to potential listeners with their standard-setting releases and sets (especially notable the Complete RIAS recordings box). Now the Berlin Philharmonic, Furtwängler’s own band, gets in on it, too, and delivers what might be reasonably considered the definitive collection of the wartime recordings.

The set of 22 hybrid SACDs, striking a less marshal tone, is actually titled “The Radio Recordings 1939-1945” – and collects every surviving broadcast recording from that time – covering 21 concerts (partially, some) that Furtwängler gave in those years. The relatively good 77cm/s magnetic tape reels, which had been in Soviet custody until after the Cold War, were newly digitized on a custom tape machine of Radio Berlin-Brandenburg’s.

On paper, some of the most interesting ingredients are of course Furtwängler war time Beethoven symphonies: Complete performances of the Fourth (once with and once without an audience present), Fifth (twice), Sixth, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies. (There are also the Coriolan Overture and the Violin and Fourth Piano Concertos with longtime Berlin Philharmonic concert master Erich Röhn and Conrad Hansen as soloists, respectively.) There is some repertoire that has since fallen by the wayside, like Heinz Schubert’s Hymnic Concerto, Furtwängler’s own Symphonic Concerto (with Edwin Fischer as the pianist!), or Ernst Pepping’s Second Symphony. A complete Fifth and Ninth lure the Bruckner lover and Richard Strauss is well presented with tone poems and orchestrated songs. It’s also a pretty one-sided slice of the repertoire that the listener gets: Short pieces by Handel, Gluck and Mozart’s Symphony No.39 are the only earlier-than-romantic works and Ravel and Sibelius are the only non-Germanic entries.

As is typical of the coffee-table vanity sets of the Berlin Philharmonic’s own label, they are luxuriously packaged and shaped exactly so that they won’t fit into a single shelf – CD or book – of human devising. Previously, the CD/Blu-ray releases in that format have, after some time, been re-issued slightly less luxuriously but in conventionally shaped SACD boxes. Given the commemorative nature of this set, that might be less likely. The 180 page bilingual book is terrific, brimming with great photos and many excerpts from Furtwängler’s letters… especially to his record producers, which are telling especially when the conductor talks about his dissatisfaction with the end results.

Also among these excerpts is one snippet that shows that the Toscanini-Furtwängler rivalry was not just a figment of their respective follower’s imagination. Decrying to EMI their lack of interest in recording his performances, Furtwängler wrote them in May of 1953: “While in the past you had mentioned from time to time that I should record the IX. [Beethoven] symphony, I haven’t heard anything about that as of late. Instead I see the IX. Symphony of Toscanini’s praised beyond all measure (even in Germany) in a propagandistic way that stands in gross contrast to the quality of that record.” Furtwängler would be happy to know that he’s been the beneficiary of nearly as much propagandistic praise, since. Whether in gross contrast to the quality of the record, that is yours to decide.

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(More pictures below.)

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Twitter comments: "#pompous, ill judged & tone deaf"

I do love a good argument!

Rarely have I read such a #pompous, ill judged & tone deaf review. What an utter #MoronInChief @ClassicalCritic is. "106 Years #Mahler Eighth: The Best Recordings" via @forbes https://t.co/HyVENdQRzX

— ✍️ Alexander Beck 🎯 (@AlexBeckWriter) January 22, 2019

On ClassicsToday: Peter Gregson Banalizes Bach (CD from Hell)

CD From Hell: Peter Gregson Banalizes Bach

by Jens F. Laurson

I like re-orchestrations, transcriptions, and re-compositions as much as the next guy. In fact, more than the next guy. Max Richter’s re-composed “4 Seasons” is terrific in its way; Hans Zender’s “composed interpretation” of Die Winterreise can be endlessly fascinating. Uri Caine’s Mahler is supremely... Continue Reading [Insider content]

Caro Claudio Abbado, Who Died Today - Five Years Ago

Claudio Abbado's recorded legacy is already undergoing a more critical reception than it had been during his last decades and immediately since his death. The fawning subsides and even in polite society one can point out that he was capable not only of some truly thrilling peaks of interpretation but also of braod swaths of boredom. But on his fifth deathiversary, let's celebrate the good and the great and the marvellous by poiting back to this remembrance of George A. Pieler's and mine for Forbes.com:

The 13 Best Recordings of Claudio Abbado: A Remembrance

...and this portrait of Abbado's I made for the lovely but now defunct European edition of Auditorium Magazine.

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On ClassicsToday: An Audiophile Bach-On-Guitar Delight

An Audiophile Bach-On-Guitar Delight

Review by: Jens F. Laurson

Artistic Quality: ?

Sound Quality: ?

There is no dearth of discs of arrangements of Bach for guitar (Barrios, Segovia, and Tárrega most famously)–nor recordings thereof. Even the Sonatas and Partitas have been covered–by Eliot Fisk, Francesco Teopini, Mats Bergström, and others. But it is rare that a Bach guitar recital of such immediately arresting quality comes along, as this one from Bin Hu on the slightly obscure, Spanish Eudora label.

Bin Hu opens with the Bach-on-guitar evergreen, the Prelude from the Sixth Partita for Solo Violin BWV 1006, before taking on the first and third sonata en gros... continue reading

Record Label BIS Goes Green (You Had Me at "Turtles")

The Swedish record lable BIS, known for its pioneering work in publishing the complete works of Jean Sibelius, dedication to the SACD format, and home to the superb Bach Cantata Cycle under Masaaki Suzuki's, is now setting an example of ecologically conscious CD packaging. Later this month, a press release announced, the label's owner Robert von Bahr will release a Super Audio Compact Disc in an 'ecopak', a 100% recyclable sleeve made of certified cardboard, printed on with soy ink, gummed up eco-friendly glue and water-based varnish. Once they are through their inventory, all of BIS' recordings will use the new sleeves.

Alan Hovhaness, And God Created Great Whales, Concerto No. 8 for Orchestra, Anahid et al. D.Amos, Philharmonia Orchestra Cyrstal Records

In tune with the Zeitgeist, Bahr comments: “The use of plastic is doing enormous harm to the environment. No one can walk away from the pictures of whales, fish and turtles full of plastic without feeling horror.”

While it is safe to say that no BIS jewel-case has ever come in contact with a whale (the products have a considerable longevity and literal shelf life and are consumed in countries with robust recycling and garbage incinerator systems), there is something to be said for the symbolism of reducing the use of plastic and, down the line, potential waste. Aside there is a genuinely green aspect, after all: Although the sleeves cost about 20 percent more to make than a standard plastic CD jewel box, it weighs a third less. This reduces the energy used to ship the product and therefore transport costs, showing that good economic sense is usually also environmentally sound. Naturally, in this day and age, this is marketed in pseudo-scientific bright green colors as "reducing the carbon emissions associated with transport costs..." (surely "carbon dioxide emissions"?), underplaying the perfectly sound and actually ecolocial and economical energy-savings.

"Von Bahr is taking the loss", suggestes the press release, quoting the man himself: “If this helps the recording business move away from plastic packaging in favour of more ecological alternatives, I will be happy,” says the veteran record industry executive. "I have rarely been so inspired by anything. Everything about this is right - the need, the timing and the solution". Admirable, indeed, and with any luck, the public relations side-effect might even make up for some the projected losses when the sales of BIS’ first ecopak, namely a SACD of the Dutch composer Joel Bons' 2019 Music Composition Grawemeyer Award winning work 'Nomaden' - go through the roof. Whales, fish, turtles and consumers are cheering him on.

Recommended listening to reading this item is, quite naturally, Alan Hovhaness' "And God Created Great Whales" from 1970, for orchestra and the taped songs of whales (including humpback [timpani], bowhead [strings], and killer whales [sopranos]). Alas, not available on BIS records.

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In the News: A New Home For Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra

Previously, when the musicians of “The World’s Best Orchestra” – a.k.a. Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – wanted to practice outside the scheduled orchestral rehearsals at the actual Concertgebouw (Amsterdam’s famous shoe-box 1888 concert hall), they had to find their own place to do it; often renting space nearby... [read the full item over on ClassicsToday]

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