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During his lifetime Georg Solti was one of the most celebrated conductors ever - between the awards he won for numerous recordings, the posts he held, and his fame in both the symphonic world and the operatic world, he had a claim to be the greatest conductor of his generation. Of course, there are a number of contenders, possibly the major one having initials of HvK. And for those of you who will plump for Lenny, there is a case there, too, although he didn't hold the posts that Solti had, nor did he have anything of the stature in the operatic world. I think Lenny made about 4 studio operatic recordings - Falstaff, Rosenkavalier, Carmen and Tristan. I don't count the West Side Story , even though they tried to make it into an opera.
However, Solti seems to have fallen out of favor after his death, and even during his lifetime there were the naysayers who claimed he had no line, that he conducted Wagner like there was "an orgasm in every bar", and others that found him shallow. IMO, Solti made some terrific recordings - the Ring, the Mahler 8, the Elgar, his Schumann, his Mozart operas, his Strauss operas, etc. I saw him perform live once, with Chicago doing Mozart and Mahler, and it was one of the great concert experiences of my life.
Anyway, I was delighted to read a number of comments below about his Brahms and other recordings that people really seem to like. After all the hype and the inevitable backlash, perhaps we can enjoy his legacy for what it actually was.
Follow Ups:
Just finished photographing all my Solti's album covers and uploaded to flickr. Other than what have been generally praised, his Pictures at an Exhibition has exceptional recording and sound. Same thing to his later Mahler 1st with CSO. When looking at his style, I don't think many consider his Symphonie Fantastique will work, but it did. His Hansel and Gretel has magic too.
His Aida, with Price and Vickers. It was his only recorded collaboration with Vickers, who didn't like Solti and refused to work with him after this recording was made. Too bad, because Vickers was the great heroic tenor of his time and Solti was a great conductor of heroic music. Most pundits seem to place the Muti version at the top of the list, but Solti's Aida is terrific. We don't seem to have voices like Price and Vickers these days.
Opus 33 1/3
On London CS 6503 it has this title. Many (including me for a long time) don't realize that it is the same recording. Stunning sound and nice performances. I used to have the MFSL, but I got an early pressing of the London and thought it sounded at least as good, if not better, so I sold the MFSL. This could be the best sounding orchestra recording that Decca ever did.
I saw Chicago perform the Bruckner 4th with Solti, one of the best performances I have seen. Having been a professional orchestral musician for several decades, I haven't known any fellow musicians who considered Solti to be less than one of the great conductors.
TR
It looks like I have an even dozen of recordings with Solti. One of the Suppe overtures is a duplicate, the album is still sealed. Thank goodness for a database! Most of the titles are FFRR on London. I must admit, I don't play them very often but will plan on doing so. As I record my LP's I'm hearing things that I haven't in some time.
Ashkenazy, Vladimir: Sir Georg Solti, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 In E Flat, Op. 73 "Emperor" LondonFlagstad, London, Watson, Neidlinger: Georg Solti, The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Wagner: Das Rheingold London
Nilsson, Resnik, Collier, Krause: Georg Solti, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Richard Strauss: Elektra Decca
Nilsson, Sutherland, Windgassen, Hotter: Georg Solti, Vienna Philharmonic Wagner: Siegfried London
Solti, Georg: The Vienna Philharmonic Wagner: Die Walkure, Highlights London
Solti, Georg: London Symphony Orchestra Mahler: Symphony No. 9 London
Solti, Georg: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Stravinsky: The Rite Of Spring London
Solti, Georg: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 London
Solti, Georg: The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Suppe Overtures London
Solti, Georg: The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Suppe Overtures London
Troyano, Domingo, TeKanawa: Sir Georg Solti, London Philharmonic Bizet's Carmen London
Troyano, Domingo, TeKanawa: Sir Georg Solti, London Philharmonic Bizet's Carmen Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
Edits: 07/31/14
Forgot to mention his recording of Carmen, with Troyanos and Domingo and when I made my original post. It has always seemed to me to be a wonderful recording. I'm working my way through Bernstein's at the moment, which is very well recorded, but let's just say Lenny is a bit more exaggerated than Solti. For a more in depth view of various Carmen recordings, check out the latest entry on Peter Gutman's Classical Notes. I don't know how that man finds the time to write these overviews, but they are worth reading.
Thanks for the heads up, I'll look up that article right away. I agree, the Carmen is a terrific recording with world class artists at the peak of their prowess.
Hi
I have a number of his vivid Decca recordings and had the privilege of attending his last London concert (Shostakovich 15 at the Barbican). I have a clear memory, too, of his Chicago SO performance of Beethoven 9 at the Proms the year before he died - wonderful! At the end, after prolonged applause, he motioned for silence and said: "You are a wonderful public, but now be good and go home!" Those of us who'd been standing in the Arena promptly went to the pub instead...
Mark
I only saw him once conduct the CSO in Chicago. Among the few recordings I have where he is conducting, I cannot say that I could have conducted any better. Heck, I only took one semester of conducting.
Fans and critics alike should buy his book. Fascinating and intriguing.
:)
My impression of him is that especially for his opera, he did not take front stage like HvK, Sinopoli, Giulini etc. He seemed to take a back seat and support his singers more and let the singers shine. In his best opera recordings, I think his singers were always the standout more so than him. Nothing wrong with that though, Serafin was similar, I think. I used to live in Chicago during the transition years between Solti and Barenboim and always enjoyed his CSO concerts very much.
I'll check my database for any of his titles and will report back tomorrow morning.
the complaint that he drives music too hard seems to be true. My first exposure to Mahler was his CSO 2nd, and I remember being pretty wowed. My first Bruckner was his 4th.
I had a ton of Solti during the "CD era" but have since moved on.
To give you one example, after living with Solti's Ring cycle for years, I stumbled upon Levine's DGG set and while listening to the latter, I was shocked at how voluptuously beautiful Wagner's scoring really was. The singing was a different story. (Goodall's combines great singing with stunningly gorgeous playing, not without a few flubs though.)
It's why I've avoided his "Planets" all these years. Note to self: Conductor stereotypes don't always hold true.
I can understand how Solti made it to the top. I watched Solti in an educational DVD called "Orchestra!" and the conductor's enthusiasm was palpable and infectious.
I can see why people miss him.
nt
Great recording, although it took Sinopoli's recording, unfortunately available only on CD, to open my eyes to the fact that Tannhauser might be Wagner's most beautiful score. Sinopoli has a great cast too - Victor Braun as Wolfram is a bit of a letdown for Solti, IMO - except that I personally can't accept Domingo as Tannhauser - to me, the voice quality if all wrong, and his German not very good. I have heard Kollo a lot on record and once live, and Tannhauser, for Solti, might have been the best thing he ever did. Solti's recording, which was the first of the Paris version, is a must have.
way.)
Having worked with Solti, I would like to add that he was a class act as a person, and great to work with. One of the very best I have ever played under.
I was under the impression that many orchestral musicians weren't fond of him - his nickname was, after all, the "Screaming Skull" - of course the VPO of that era wasn't fond of any Jewish musician so perhaps that was part of it. I do remember that Paul Henry Lang, in his review of Beethoven symphonies published in High Fidelity for the bicentennial (e.g., 1970), gave his view that Solti got more out of the VPO than other conductors did.
Well, 1970 was a long time before I worked with him, LOL! I think he was definitely more mellow when he got older.
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