Fantasy 2004 [CD-single] [Import]

Fantasy 2004 [CD-single] [Import]

Track Listings

1. Fantasy * Radio Mix*

2. Fantasy * Extended Mix*

3. Fantasy * Original Version*

4. I Wanna * Club Mix*

Amazon.com

This 4-CD set celebrates the 100th anniversary of the London Symphony Orchestra, tracing its development and rise to a place among the world's premier orchestras. Founded in 1904 by 46 disgruntled members of Sir Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra and 53 adventurous young colleagues, the LSO became the first self-governing, cooperatively owned English orchestra. (It was also the first to tour America.) To safeguard its autonomy, the LSO had "Principal Conductors" and guests instead of music directors; in the booklet, the players talk about them very affectionately. Observing the orchestra's evolution and its incredible responsiveness to these very different conductors is one of the fascinations on this journey through a century of music-making. Although the recorded sound is influenced by advances in technology and, in the live recordings, varying acoustics, the playing is invariably wonderful: terrific performances of great music, chosen to bring out the best in musicians and conductors.

The LSO's very first recording of 1914 opens the set: Weber's "Oberon" Overture under Arthur Nikisch. The sound is antique, the strings slide, the trombones bray, the ensemble is messy, but the playing has an exuberance that augurs well for the future. The set ends with two excerpts from Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini under the LSO's present Principal Conductor, Sir Colin Davis, a renowned Berlioz specialist, with whom the orchestra has had a long, close relationship. Captured at London's Barbican Center in 1999, the performance is thrilling, although, like several of the set's live recordings, imperfectly balanced.

Among the highlights are appearances by two guest conductors. In 1938, Bruno Walter--whom the players "felt God had put in charge"--made Beethoven's "Coriolan" Overture sound ravishingly warm and singing; by contrast, Stravinsky's Petrouchka and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, recorded live at the 1994 Salzburg Festival, are driven, steely, almost militaristically precise under George Solti. Josef Krips' performance of Schubert's Sixth Symphony of 1948 projects elegance, delicacy, sweetness, grace, clarity, and leisurely expressiveness; the players felt Krips was turning them into a "suave, homogenous Austrian" orchestra. One of the orchestra's favorite maestros was Pierre Monteux, "who had so much… musicianship and wisdom to impart." Recorded live in Vienna 1963, his Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet is lush and surging, going from ardent lyricism to turbulent passion, and sounds fabulous. In a 1966 Promenade concert, István Kertész goes all out in contrasting dynamics and emotions in Schubert's "Unfinished" and Dvorák's Sixth Symphonies, but the sound at the Albert Hall is not good. At the Barbican in 1997, Debussy's Jeux is all shimmering color, atmosphere and mercurial mood under Michael Tilson Thomas. In this musical cornucopia, listeners will find their own favorites. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

A Spectacular Collection of 100 Years of the LSO.......2005-02-14

Not all the Andante boxed sets I've heard have been wonderful, indeed some (like the 'Falstaff' set) have been not very competitive at all. But this collection of performances by the London Symphony Orchestra is spectacularly good. It contains the orchestra's very earliest recording, under Nikisch, from 1914, and comes all the way forward to some 1990s performances under Colin Davis, Georg Solti and Michael Tilson Thomas. Since Amazon has not (as yet) listed the contents, I shall do so by speaking of each performance in order of its appearance on this 4CD set.

CD1: Nikisch led the orchestra, of course using the old acoustic recording technique, in a historically interesting performance of Weber's Oberon Overture. It is in execrable sound but still one can hear why people revered Nikisch; he shapes and molds the performance beautifully. And it also shows that as far back as 1914 there was an artful application of vibrato (and, alas, rather annoying portamenti) in the string-playing, lest anyone think, as some apparently do, that string vibrato is a more recent thing. This is followed (1935) by the Berlioz's King Lear Overture led by a conductor we don't often associate with that composer, Hamilton Harty. Because of its form, 'Le Roi Lear' is hard to hold together, but Harty shows himself to be a fine Berliozian. We get a warm, dramatic and cohesive 'Coriolan' Overture by Bruno Walter (1938). From 1948 we have Josef Krips leading Schubert's 6th Symphony and I swear they sound like the Vienna Philharmonic of that period, with a warm bloom in the violins and a lightness of spirit that one doesn't hear in the earlier performances. CD1 is finished by what for me is one of the really great performances I've ever heard of Tchaikovsky's 'Romeo and Juliet' Overture, led by Pierre Monteux (1963). There is backbone and lucidity in this performance, something sometimes missing in this hyper-romantic score. The wind playing is magnificent.

CD2: This is given over, rightly, to two marvelous performances, both recorded September 1, 1966 in Royal Albert Hall by István Kertész. Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony is given a dark, lustrous performance; Dvorák's rarely heard Sixth Symphony is, in contrast, as light and wistful a reading as one is ever likely to hear. These two performances, as far as I know never released, are worthy of being placed in the pantheon of great performances of these two works. Stunning playing. It is important to recall that this was the point at which the orchestra had really begun to be considered the greatest in England, and for good reason. Kertész was only the music director for three years but he really brought the orchestra along and it was in exceptional shape when taken over by its next music director, André Previn.

CD3: This CD is devoted to a conductor who was never the LSO's music director but one who had a close relationship with it: Georg Solti. And the two performances here--both recorded the same day in 1994 at the Salzburg Festival--are electrifying. The complete 'Petrushka' features razor-sharp rhythmic ensemble, clarity of texture and, something sometimes not associated with Solti, a romantic, if melancholy, tinge to the tenderer moments of this marvelous score. This is easily the equal of well-regarded recordings by Rattle, Bernstein, Chailly and the composer himself. And it is followed by the echt-Romantic 'Fifth Symphony' by Tchaikovsky. Anyone who thinks Solti couldn't conduct Russian music should take a listen to this and the Petrushka. Any doubts they might have had will evaporate. The amazing thing about the Tchaikovsky is that it is an almost classic performance; he does not give in to the temptation to slobber over the most expressive passages. The orchestra plays like gods; this is perhaps the most virtuosic playing in this set (although there are others that are right up there: the Berg, Berlioz (C. Davis), the Dvorák).

CD4: An astoundingly effective 'Three Pieces for Orchestra' by Berg, conducted with absolute precision coupled with romantic and yet lucid style by Claudio Abbado (rec. 1970, prev. released on DG). (I have been a latecomer to that band of music-lovers who admire Abbado, but that has changed for me over the past year or so. This performance cements my feeling that he is one of the great conductors of our age.) The LSO play for him as if possessed. This is followed by a bit of a letdown, the Elgar 'Cockaigne' Overure, led by André Previn (rec. 1975). I've heard commercial recordings of Previn leading the LSO that rocked my world, but this one remains a bit earthbound. And, I'm sorry to say, much the same happened with Debussy's 'Jeux' (a score I adore) led by Michael Tilson Thomas. The filigree and delicacy is there but the rhythmic precision and emotional heart seem to be a bit lacking. (Somewhat surprisingly, given his reputation as a bit of a stick, Bernard Haitink's recording with the Concertgebouw remains my favorite.) Finally, there are two selections from a live performance of Berlioz's 'Benvenuto Cellini'---the Overture and the Act I trio (with G. Sabbatini, E. Futral, L. Naouri) (rec. 1999). There is, of course, no greater Berlioz conductor currently before the public. Colin Davis has played and recorded most of Berlioz's oeuvre with this orchestra; the LSO has the style in its bones at this point. And this performance is incandescent. (The sound for this selection alone is a bit treble-shy, but that can be easily fixed at playback.)

This set comes with an elaborate program book, hardbound, that contains essays by a number of people associated with the orchestra, as well as interviews with LSO players going back forty or more years. This is definitely a keeper. I am always a little leery of compilation sets like this one, but the high level of artistry and presentation are maintained except as noted above.

4CDs: TT=ca.5 hrs

Scott Morrison