Posted by Richard on February 16, 2002 at 10:43:09:
In Reply to: Old CSO Low Brass......overrated???????? posted by Terry Aikman on February 16, 2002 at 00:32:09:
The very recording you cite, the Solti Mahler 5th, from Solti's 1st recording sessions with the CSO, marked a downturn in the quality of in CSO recordings, and of symphonic recording in general. This was due to the arrival of multi-channel miking, and reliance on multi-option mixing consoles rather than acoustics and the ears of the performers. It marked the arrival of the officious producer who rode roughshod over the performers. In earlier times no one rode roughshod over Stokowski, Reiner, Rubinstein, or Heifetz. With few exceptions, artists of Solti's generation were intimidated by the technology, reliant on the technicians, and when before the mikes, tended to regard themselves as the employees of the record companies. The Solti Mahler 5th and 6th, products of Decca's first CSO sessions are, ASIDE from playing considerations, among the most atrociously produced symphonic recordings ever made. They bear no resemblence to the sound of any real orchestra as heard in a concert setting. What they do to the sound of Arnold Jacobs is nothing less than professional character asassination.
As for the playing in the early Solti period. I feel he had an axe to grind, and ego to burn. He arrived to a CSO which was still in excellent shape despite a reputation for slippage, due more to critics needing to justify their positions than any real problems. Solti would tighten the bolts, apply the polish, and with his connections, get them a reputation. But he wanted more. In that early period, in the brass playing especially, you could almost hear Solti saying, "You are the BEST, the BIGGEST, the LOUDEST, but for me you will be even MORE." The result was a loss of that fine inner blend that had been developed under Reiner, and an increase in forcing. It seems worse in recordings than it did live. Solti/CSO gave performances that rocked in Carnegie Hall, but it was a sound that didn't record well, especially by early Decca producers.
Later on things changed for the better. Solti mellowed, production teams changed, and the recordings began to resemble performances we might have actually experienced.
For me, one of the most natural sounding recordings of the Solti era, and one of the greatest performances, is the EMI recording of Shostakovich 4th under Andre Previn (ca.1975). Let that be at least one antidote.