Any love for Leinsdorf?

Posted by TGR (A) on June 26, 2015 at 12:56:05

Until a few days ago, I had none. I wanted to like him, because of his association with Toscanini, and his book "The Composer's Advocate, but didn't. I saw him perform with the SF Symphony once when he lead an extremely disappointing performance of Dvorak's 9th, and I was not fond of his leadership of the Decca/RCA Die Walkure. I also read Paul Henry Lang's now ancient survey of Beethoven symphonies for High Fidelity, where he is dead on in his review of the Toscanini and Szell sets, and he was generally dismissive of the Leinsdorf set.

But I recently read Canarina's History of the NY Phil from Bernstein to Maazel, in which Leinsdorf was one of the heroes, and my buddy and super record collector Bruckner9 has been singing Leinsdorf's praises to me for some time, especially his Mahler.

I recently acquired most of the volumes of the Franklin Mint's Great Conductor series (only Marriner to go), and decided to give the Leinsdorf set a spin, starting with the Mahler 1 he did with the Royal Philharmonic (originally a Phase-4 release). Imagine my surprise to hear a beautiful, vital and subtle reading (and well-recorded too!), one that made me interested to hear more. Next up was the Brahms Second Piano Concerto with Richter- also well played, and then the Beethoven 4th piano concerto with Rubenstein. Interesting contrast, because Rubenstein seems to lack innigkeit while Leinsdorf's contributions are more than solid. (Listen to Rubenstein's opening phrases, and then the orchestra's response, in the first movement - quite a contrast).

So, huh. I'll need to spin the Walkure again soon, and there are still two records in the Great Conductors set I haven't heard yet. But, as I told Bruckner9, it was time to eat some crow.

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Topic - Any love for Leinsdorf? - TGR 12:56:05 06/26/15 (27)

My favourite Leinsdorf : Beethoven Leonore Overture No.3... - kuma 21:05:52 06/26/15 (0)

I love his Kije and Hary Janos - Daverz 20:10:25 06/26/15 (1)

+1, and you might want to look into ... - rbolaw 16:13:02 06/28/15 (0)

Oh my... - Ivan303 19:28:37 06/26/15 (1)

+1--A very under-appreciated recording. and... - vinyl phanatic 21:09:43 06/26/15 (0)

Leinsdorf had his moments - Chris from Lafayette 17:07:44 06/26/15 (9)

RE: Leinsdorf had his moments - goldenthal 21:32:28 06/28/15 (1)

Yes - Great reminder! - I treasure that recording! [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 00:03:41 06/29/15 (0)

Didn't know you even owned a turntable, Chris [nt] - Amphissa 09:39:10 06/27/15 (1)

But of course. . . in the distant past whence my rheumy impressions endure [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 17:05:19 06/27/15 (0)

Leinsdorf on Sheffield - hifitommy 09:06:52 06/27/15 (3)

Best Sheffiled of all: Leinsdorf's Debussy and Stravinsky - jdaniel@jps.net 08:31:23 06/28/15 (0)

RE: Leinsdorf on Sheffield - theophile 07:15:51 06/28/15 (1)

family - hifitommy 08:01:44 06/28/15 (0)

Jeez, unartistic dolts for engineers. nt - Rick W 21:23:49 06/26/15 (0)

Tried and tried, but seems to be a "just the facts" conductor, except for.... - jdaniel@jps.net 15:45:35 06/26/15 (1)

RE: Tried and tried, but seems to be a "just the facts" conductor, except for.... - TGR 16:12:29 06/26/15 (0)

RE: Any love for Leinsdorf? - docw 14:52:58 06/26/15 (4)

Leinsdorf and Richter didn't hit it off.... - vinyl1 18:07:10 06/26/15 (2)

That may all be true (and I know Richter himself didn't like it) - nevertheless. . . - Chris from Lafayette 19:19:34 06/26/15 (1)

Maazel/Ricther Brahms PC2... - kuma 22:23:54 06/26/15 (0)

Brahms 2 - TGR 15:26:38 06/26/15 (0)

There is a fine Prokofiev series on RCA... - vinyl1 14:30:06 06/26/15 (4)

At least they are on CD... - Ivan303 20:17:41 06/26/15 (2)

Could be worse - Chris from Lafayette 00:00:50 06/27/15 (1)

Blaspheme... - Ivan303 10:18:39 06/27/15 (0)

And add to those, also with the BSO on RCA from that era, - rbolaw 16:48:40 06/26/15 (0)

Any love for Leinsdorf?

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