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Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
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In Reply to: Solti's Legacy posted by TGR on May 17, 2017 at 16:34:48:
I've posted about this before, but, since you brought up the Ashkenazy recordings of the Beethoven Concertos, I've heard them played back to back with the earlier Cliburn/Reiner recordings of nos. 4 and 5 (both with the CSO). I was amazed by how superior the earlier recordings sounded (even though the Cliburn Fourth dates from the Dynagroove era - LOL!). By the time they were recording the Ashkenazy/Solti Beethoven set, the Decca engineers had obviously added quite a few spot mikes to their basic tree configuration. The result is some relatively clotted and congested sound - which for some listeners might sound like it's Solti's fault, but I'm more inclined to blame the engineers.
So much of Solti's time in Chicago was undermined by Decca's over-microphoned approach to engineering, and it bothered me no end. (Ugh! That first Mahler Fifth they did, where, near the end, you can literally hear the spot mike slider for the horns being manipulated - awful!) But then, by chance, I happened to acquire a Laser Disc of an in-concert Solti/CSO performance of the Bruckner Seventh at Albert Hall. Wow! What a difference the relatively simple microphoning made - So much so that even Solti's basic "generalized energy for everything" approach seemed mitigated, and the music proceeded much more naturally, without the exclamation mark at the end of each phrase!
I'm sure Solti was a fine conductor, but those "accalimed" Decca CSO recordings come in a poor second to the earlier Living Stereo recordings with Reiner and the same orchestra (IMHO), and they affect my perceptions of Solti's conducting accordingly.
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Follow Ups
- I'm not as sanguine about Solti - but I don't think it was all his fault - Chris from Lafayette 19:26:56 05/17/17 (8)
- RE: I'm not as sanguine about Solti - but I don't think it was all his fault - robertkeir 20:42:11 05/17/17 (7)
- Yes - I agree about the Mercury Kubelik recordings - Chris from Lafayette 09:04:01 05/18/17 (6)
- RE: Yes, Decca Mehta/LAPO - Mel 12:36:22 05/18/17 (1)
- Just by chance, I was listening to the Mehta Mahler 3 in my car earlier today - Chris from Lafayette 00:20:32 05/19/17 (0)
- Solti/CSO Brahms... - kuma 12:11:14 05/18/17 (1)
- My favoite Brahms First. I wish the other 3 were as good as the first. - Opus 33 1/3 17:48:49 05/18/17 (0)
- RE: Yes - I agree about the Mercury Kubelik recordings - Inmate51 10:35:21 05/18/17 (1)
- I don't disagree with any of that - Chris from Lafayette 00:22:21 05/19/17 (0)
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