Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 (1862/77)
César Franck (1822-1890)
Symphony in D minor (1886-8)
Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia/Erich Leinsdorf
rec. July 1952, Academy of Music, Philadelphia
Pristine Audio PASC706 [77]
To get to the point: Mark Obert-Thorn’s restorations here are first-rate. The Brahms Symphony has a clarity and vivid immediacy to rival, even to outshine, many stereo productions; my mind’s ear even supplied a bit of a left-right spread, though I don’t see any mention of the company’s “Ambient Stereo” processing. In the Franck, a light “puffing” halo surrounds some wind chords, but otherwise it’s nearly as good.
Indeed, what is the Franck even doing here? Everyone’s favorite cranky Viennese uncle, Erich Leinsdorf, conducting this über-Romantic French symphony? When you think about it, he recorded almost no French repertoire in Boston at all: Munch and Monteux, between them, had already left RCA well-stocked in that department. So I had to hear this.
The first movement is straightforward, reasonably dynamic once past the composer’s clunky double introduction. The pizzicati introducing the central Allegretto movement sound unusually severe, and the scurrying accompaniments on this theme’s recap are taut, but the contrasting middle section bogs down a bit. (Oddly, the clarinet dominates its unisons with the horn, instead of vice versa.) In the finale, the conductor runs a reasonably tight ship, and I liked the violins’ subtly detached articulations in the first theme. He elides the second theme smoothly into the development – many conductors make it a “moment” – but, after that theme’s recap, interposes an unmarked but effective caesura before proceeding. In the last transitional passage before the finish, the harp is much too loud.
The Brahms First Symphony might seem discographically redundant, since Leinsdorf remade it for RCA in stereo, but it’s the real prize here. Where RCA’s Boston Symphony sounded opaque and slightly glassy, the Philadelphia Orchestra – under its summer avatar as the “Robin Hood Dell Orchestra” – produces a sound that’s equally solid, yet also warm and inviting. The performance, too, is livelier and less stodgy than the poker-faced Boston account. The Un poco allegretto actually sounds cheerful, even upbeat; and the clean spaces before the finale’s big horn solo, with its ominous, trombonish presence, and for the ensuing trombone chorale, set those moments up nicely.
The Franck may be the novelty, but it’s the Brahms to which you’ll be returning – and thanks again to Pristine, and to Mr. Obert-Thorn, for supplying these.
Stephen Francis Vasta
stevedisque.wordpress.com/blog
