"Big tunes" in symphonic finales.

[orff]

Fine.  You be "cheesed off" and avoid the only present recording of the Bendix symphonies, thereby never having the chance to hear them.  Meanwhile I'll enjoy the lovely music, ragged performance and all.

The Martucci First Symphony has a powerful finale - may not include the required "Big Tune" - but packs a punch nevertheless.

[Ilja]

Orff, I certainly didn't intend to 'cheese' you off. But the point is that although I'm grateful for every work that is lifted from oblivion, doing it properly dramatically increases the chances of it remaining 'lifted'. The two recent recordings of the Jadassohn Piano Concerto are a good case in point: it was only after listening to the superior Hyperion rendition that I began to realise what an enjoyable piece it was.

And it is exactly my appreciation of Bendix' symphonies that makes me wish they would receive better treatment. The Arte Nova set of Gernsheim symphonies blew me over not merely because of their compositional quality, but also because they enjoyed such committed performances.

[Syrelius]

Stenhammar's 2nd symphony.

[Mark Thomas]

Dvorak's 2nd. One BIG tune and umpteen other great ones. A whistle fest...

[Steve B]

Does anyone else know the tune to which I referred in Parry 4?; it appears right in the middle of the finale. It is so poignant, full of dignity and sadness; it reappears at the end in a Neilsenesque peroration.

Steve

[Alan Howe]

The Bendix set is truly sub-standard in its execution - both performances and recording - so caution is definitely in order for anyone intending to purchase it. However, I did actually buy the set and I agree that the music has real substance. But it's definitely a case of 'caveat emptor', lest anyone thinks that the set will give unalloyed pleasure...
In contrast, the Gernsheim set on Arte Nova is vastly superior in every respect. It's a shame - the Bendix symphonies deserved better.

[Ilja]

A second problem in this case is that labels will normally not record such symphonies if someone else already has. It's a collector's market, and putting out a second recording is a business risk. So if someone has done a dodgy recording of a given work, it's unlikely that a potentially better outfit will touch it - neither of which does much service to the works themselves.

[John H White]

This doesn't seem to be the case with the Spohr symphonies where 2 rival sets are in the course of being issued by different record firms.

[Ilja]

I didn't say it never happened, just that it was unlikely. There have been cases in which this has happened, but usually either because of new insights into music (the Sterling Raff VC1, for instance, or the Stenhammar PC1) or after a few years had passed and labels saw an opportunity to offer a superior product (... than the Marco Polo offerings, for example.

In the case of the Spohrs I suspect (Gareth?) that had both firms known what the other was doing, they would have done things differently. From a business point of view it is not smart.

[Steve B]

Regarding Bendix Symphonies, I downloaded 2 and 4. I quite like No.2; fast movements pretty manic and zany; with a lush horn melody in the slow movement.

But, I concur, what is going on with that (?Ormsk?Omsk?) orchestra?. The slight edge to Mps does not help, but it is by no means just that! The old Vox orchestras I could cope with- thin, scrappy violins, with a bit of iffy general intonation; but you could easily grasp the melodies. But, an orchestra like this playing music where the harmony is so crucial; late Romantic and chromatic, so that it has an edgy shimmer to it, a bit like some Reger. I am ALMOST certain that is there in the music itself; but the poor intonation and shimmering recording make you almost think its like listening to an electronic SAMPLE of an orchestra.  ???Will give it another try!

I had a slightly analogous experience listening to a selection of 50s and 60s orchestra selections of Ronald Binge short pieces. They have "layered" Mantovani string writing; which results in what, at the time, was meant to give a "cascading" sensation. This means,of course, each string line is very thin and poorly in tune; and again there is a glassy, ethereal sound, so that my initial response went from "yuk" to entering a low-level trance state.

Reminded me of  an earlier electronic instrument, the melatron; which can only produce one note at a time and has a slightly wavering pitch, but is nonetheless haunting.

Perhaps these what are really just out-of-tune performances; but I feel some other, slightly rarified haunting musical genre has been almost created-unintentionally. I am letting my flight of fancy  meander somewhat, but this was the emotional effect of the Binge and Bendix "versions"

Thoughts.

Steve

[Alan Howe]

The Omsk band is just plain duff and the recording glassy and mushy all at the same time. It's probably the worst modern commercial release I have ever heard, although I can think of some others that would run it close.

As Ilja pointed out, the problem is that, as far as other labels are concerned, the Bendix symphonies have been done. Trouble is, they've actually been mangled and no-one else is likely to put any money into re-doing them properly.

So, the lesson is this: if you're going to record something unusual, it'd better be good!! There's unlikely to be a second chance...

[TerraEpon]

The Omsk band is just plain duff and the recording glassy and mushy all at the same time. It's probably the worst modern commercial release I have ever heard, although I can think of some others that would run it close.

Really? I've heard plenty. There's a recording from like 1993 of, I think, Khachartuian's Cello Concerto and Cello Rhapsody that was on Olympia that was...well it was really really bad. The Bendix at least had decent sound quality even if it's a bit...mushy as you say.

[Ilja]

There are two candidates for 'worst release' that spring to mind: one of the MacDowell piano concertos (NOT the Naxos one, a more obscure label) in which soloist, orchestra, conductor and engineers conspired to create something utterly dismal, and a privately released recording of Alexandre Levy's Symphony in E (a Brazilian work from around 1870, I think) from a Brazilian amateur orchestra (Orquestra Filarmonia - Paulo Maron) that just beggars belief.

[JimL]

I think I know the MacDowell release you're talking about.  I forget the name of the artists involved, but wasn't it an American pianist who was introducing both MacDowell concertos to Bulgaria?  I seem to recall that the wonderful final chord of the first concerto (in which the orchestra plays a sharp staccato chord in unison with the piano, leaving the piano to sustain the chord into silence) was literally recomposed into the standard "sustained orchestral chord with drumroll", turning a totally unique moment in the literature into a cliche.  I'd venture a guess that the conductor of the Sofia Symphony (or whatever the orchestra was) was the probable guilty party.  There's another moment towards the end of the 2nd concerto where something, I know not what, happens, and it sounds like an entire bank of microphones simply drops out.

[Peter1953]

I have both MacDowell's PC's played by Vivian Rivkin and the Vienna Opera Orchestra conducted by Dean Dixon on a CD of the MCA label (1992). Although those performers don't look obscure to me, it sounds like a re-release of a re-release or something. After hearing both concertos a few times some years ago, I don't dare to give it another try ever again. But maybe I am not supposed to complain, because it's a recording of 1958...