SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY CONDUCTS MUSIC FROM RUSSIA
CD-4981(1)
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Exasperated by the lack of fervor in the Boston Symphony's
playing at rehearsal, Serge Koussevitzky vented his utmost contempt: "You
play as if it is something nothing!" A variant was, "It sounds like price
five cents," as was his poetical protest against dry literalism: "It smells
from office." In these words can be found the greatest virtue of Koussevitzky's
approach, a passion for every note of music as if it were the most important
of all-and, for the moment, it was. Music was about something; an unheroic
Heldenleben brought the complaint, "Nu, und woo is das hero?" In his international
"idiosyncratic" of speech, which spilled over into his conducting, is evidence
of a life which at times sounds precisely like an MGM musical. If Koussevitzky
was deficient in technique, which no one had ever required him to study
solidly, and spent little time considering form and artistic intention,
supposedly making his readings too subjective, few disasters occurred. While
the conductor continued to better himself, the orchestra learned to take
cues from each other, resulting in a radiant chamber-music sound achieved
by no other orchestra. Koussevitzky is documented in this extremely fine-sounding
recording by two staples from his Russian repertoire along with the world
premiere of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 9.
CD-4981(1) SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY CONDUCTS MUSIC FROM RUSSIA:
N. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36 (1888) (live 31/3/45;
D. SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 9 in E-flat, Op. 70 (1945) (live 10/8/46).
All recorded in Massachusetts and released here for the first time in super
sound. Total time: 62:23. (AAD) Released by the Koussevitzky Recordings
Trust.
UPC # 0-17685-49812-1 Not available in the U.S.A. for copyright reasons.