Blomstedt/SFSO: Hindemith Mathis der Maler, etc. - Decca (DDD) - signed by H.B.

$

70

ITEM DESCRIPTION:

This outstanding and now rather rare LP – autographed by the conductor – from Decca (421 523-1, German Teldec pressing / DMM · Direct Metal Mastering, DDD stereo) features Herbert Blomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra's magnificant accounts of Hindemith’s Symphony “Mathis der Maler”, the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, and the Trauermusik (with SFSO principal violist Geraldine Walther), recorded in demonstration quality sound at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco in November 1987, produced by Andrew Cornall and engineered by James Locke and John Pellowe.

 

Blomstedt’s signature is boldly, if rather illegibly, made on the rear panel in black felt tip.

 

Wrote esteemed critic Lionel Salter in the October 1988 issue of The Gramophone: "A quarter of a century after his death, Hindemith's reputation is recovering after the slump that seems to set in after every notable composer's demise. The Mathis der Maier symphony, with its combination of orchestral and contrapuntal virtuosity, nobility, tenderness and tense excitement, is truly a twentieth-century classic, and it is something of a reproach that its last recording should have been made all of 15 years ago. Steinberg plays it very `straight', not letting emotional passages (such as the simple but deeply affecting theme at the death of little Regina) become sentimental, but still sending a thrill down the spine at the glorious climax of the "Three angels" tune and the hair-raising final "Alleluja"; and the Boston strings are wonderfully precise in their enormously busy and exacting lines—a pity that a rather resonant acoustic deprives them of greater immediacy, as well as filling in what should be silences. The new Decca recording (one of the first of what promises to be a fruitful association with the San Francisco orchestra under Blomstedt, who took over its direction in 1984) is made in less resonant surroundings, but is by no means clinical; and Hindemith's counterpoint has never been presented with greater lucidity. If the sound does not match that of Karajan's EMI version for warmth, this is partly due to the violin tone having less roundness and weight; but the brass section deserve special commendation, and

Blomstedt's reading conveys a sense of drama and passion which neither Karajan nor Steinberg equals.

 

“The Concert Music, composed four years before Mathis for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary, similarly bustles with energy: it makes a particularly interesting coupling because thematically it contains foreshadowings of Mathis. Benyamini is a splendidly rich-toned soloist in the "concerto on folksongs", Der Schwanendreher, which is excellently recorded; but I still don't take to the long accelerando he and Barenboim make in the second movement's fugato.

 

“Hindemith had scarcely arrived in London in 1936 to play in the first English performance of Der Schwanendreher when King George V died; and the BBC, feeling that so light-hearted a work would be out of place, and knowing his extraordinary facility, asked him to write something that could be substituted. There and then he sat down and produced, between 11 pm and 5 am, the very moving and beautiful Trauermusik (which ends with an adaptation of the chorale Vor deinen Thron and which he later discovered was familiar in this country as The old hundredth). This work too shows certain family resemblances to the second movement of the Mathis symphony. It is tenderly played here, with Geraldine Walther as a sweet-toned soloist and a full, rich sonority from the San Francisco strings.

 

“Where the new recording of the Symphonic Metamorphosis—a hugely enjoyable work that deserved a less cumbersome title—scores over its rivals is in the matter of balance: the woodwind episode in the 'Hungarian' Allegro is admirably shaped; the flute's embellishments over the lovely theme of the Andantino are in just the right proportions, for once; and the madly busy background texture of the Turandot scherzo is not allowed to become heavy and clotted. Like IM who reviewed the EMI issue, I thought Ormandy "a bit deadpan" in the scherzo, and positively cold-blooded in the Andantino: Blomstedt is more expressive in the latter and finds a good deal more fun in the former—his brass in its jazzy fugato are more convincing than either the LSO's or the Philadelphia's—but to my way of thinking his first two movements are just a bit rushed."

 

CONDITION:

The gradations of condition I use are as follows: MINT, Near-Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

 

The condition of the jacket is near-MINT. Really, the flaws are quite minimal. There is a slight bump to the upper-right corner, but that is all. Otherwise, the album appears virtually as new – overall, this rates as a lovely collector’s copy.  

 

The condition of the LP itself is near-MINT and the playback is outstanding – overall, a truly fine collector's copy.

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