Post by Bob HarperPost by Michael SchafferMehta sounds "Scandinavian"...with the LAPO...? What's the difference
between "Scandinavian" and "German"? Does that mean that German music
can exclusively be played with a "German" sound? That would make a
large portion of classical interpreters "unidiomatic" in a large
portion of the repertoire. Like that German repertiore, I think Nielsen
is bigger than folklore.
I told you it was an impressionistic comment, and so it must stand. I
think the Karajan is 'heavy' in a a way we associate--rightly or
wrongly--with German culture. I believe the ones I mentioned liking
manage to avoid this.
Karajan's reading has a lot of sonic substance, but it is far from
heavy. The tempi are rather quick and the playing rather more sharply
outlined and rhythmically aggressive than a lot of the other stuff he
did at the same time. Although not my favorite either, I think it is a
very good recording because it sounds very "modern". I don't see this
as a particularly traditionally German sounding performance at all.
Like his Shostakovich or Honegger readings, this is a good example for
how untypical (for him) some of his readings of non-standard repertoire
(or at least, non-standard for him) can be when compared with some of
the more "typically Karajan" readings of more standard repertoire with
their rounded off and smoothly flowing sonorities. It often puzzles me
when people refer to these recordings as if they sounded just like
Karajan's Brahms, for instance - almost as if they haven't heard them.
The same is true of his second recording of Le Sacre which a lot of
people like to dismiss as "too soft-edged", again without making the
impression that they actually heard it. This second recording actually
has a lot of impact and certain roughness about it which comes as a
real surprise when you hear all the time how "mushy" it sounds.
As always, tastes vary, but it would be nice to discuss music once in a
while rather than people's clicheed ideas of certain interpreters...
Post by Bob HarperPost by Michael SchafferI think the Mars comment is really sad. Many interpreters hammer out
the repetetive rhythms martially. I don't know why, but my wild guess
is that's because it is...Mars? But with Karajan, of course, he was an
NSDAP member, so with him, it specifically sounds like "from
Nuremberg". That may be what you hear, but not with your ears. It's in
your head, and it's a sad prejudice. There are a lot of things I don't
like about Karajan's second Planets. But I never thought of Nuremberg
when I heard this disc, or anybody else's. I think of war in general.
So, when I listen to the CSO performance I have, am I supposed to think
of Vietnam and Napalm?
Oh, Lord, I was afraid of this, and I'm sorry to have pushed that
button. Such was *not* my intention. It's just that with Karajan, and
ignoring his membership in the NSDAP (I really believe he did it without
much thought, and as a means to career advancement, *not* with any
sympathy for its aims), I hear a kind of brutality in 'Mars' that goes
beyond where I think it should, and in an unpleasant way. That is *all*
I meant. To hear another instance of this effect, listen to the end of
the Scherzo fo the 1963 'Eroica'. Those last three chords are slammed
home in a way I find overdone, regardless of the marvelous unanimity of
the playing.
Don't be so touchy.
Bob Harper