Review: The Big SZELL BOX is Back from Sony! Let's Get To It!
2022 ж. 23 Нау.
18 099 Рет қаралды
The 106 CDs of Szell's Complete Columbia Album Collection comprise the finest group of performances ever assembled. Period. But even with that said, there are some misses among the many hits, along with some duplication of repertoire, and you'll still want to separate the great from the marginally less great. So have a look, and more importantly, a listen. ClassicsToday.com Insider members, check out the review with sound clips here: www.classicstoday.com/review/...
Back in 1977 I was working in the classical music department of The Record Hunter on 5th Ave. Whenever we put the Szell - Robert Marcellus recording of the Mozart clarinet concerto, invariably we would sell a couple of copies. This was the only record during my 2 years there that would always sell itself. So gorgeous!
Even if I already own many of these recordings individually, I followed your advice and bought the full set, and listened about half of it. Indeed, Szell is sitting in the Olympus among the best conductors. And he's truly at times overlooked, if not underestimated. Not a single less than very good performance, many are outstanding.....I absolutely love the wit and panache of his Haydn ( 88's last movement...exhilarating) , the sugar-free tenderness and elegance of his Mozart, the idiomaticity of his Dvorak, the sober rightness of his Schumann, the restrained, modern romanticism of his Brahms (" the progressive").....I could go on an on through the whole series. I love his music making! A box for the ages. David, I'll keep on listening you. Regards from Italy.
Szell was a superb Dvorak conductor but he didn't record the Scherzo Capriccioso or the sixth symphony.What a shame! But I agree that this box is a must have for us who admired his art and grew up with these recordings . Nice review David!
Clevelander here - so excited for this to finally be coming out! The Orchestra is our pride and joy and Szell its greatest leader (apologies and all due respect to Herr Welzer-Most notwithstanding)!!!
The Horowitz/Szell live NYP Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 indeed was on Palexa, but its first "official" release was in the big Horowitz at Carnegie Hall box set that I annotated, which is sadly out-of-print. But how wonderful to see the Szell box back again, and thank you for going through it for all of us.
Yes, Szell/Cleveland represents a consistently higher level of quality across a greater time span than any other conductor/orchestra in recorded history. What a treasure, beautifully preserved in this mega-box. Szell recorded the Symphonia Domestica (and WHY NOT, I ask?; it's a fabulous work) in honor of Strauss' 100th birthday ('64). I'm sure the decision was more complicated, but it seems that the honor went to Columbia's "B Team" (Szell/Cleveland), as opposed to one of their two "A's", NY or Philly. I was a freshman at the Cleveland Institute during Szell's last year, and managed to sit in on a couple on a couple of rehearsals. I heard his performances of Mozart Concerto No. 24 (w/Casadesus) and the Mahler Lied von der Erde (the famous one that almost got recorded commercially, with Janet Baker and Richard Lewis). If we had only known that this was the end of the era...... LR
I've just seen on Amazon that a Dimitri Mitropoulos box is being released by Sony on 22nd April , complete RCA and Columbia recordings on 69 CDs. I'M SO HAPPY!!!
Defintely worth it !
Yeah, for $275....
Thought I’d let everyone know, today George Szell is 125 years old!
Somm Recordings released 'The Forgotten Recordings' a while ago. Some very early stereo stuff (and some mono) from 1954 and 1955, made for Book-of-the-Month Club. It's a nice supplement to this box.
I still have a fondness for Szell's Janacek Sinfonietta. It introduced me to the piece. The Mahler 4 remains one of my favorite 4s. A lot of that stems from the clarity of playing, lack of slop, and avoidance of over-inflating. Raskin's solo pushes it into the sublime.
Szell made a terrific Dvorak 8 for Decca in the fifties. It features the most riotous version of the finale I've ever heard! It's contained in a long-deleted Decca box.
After a long, hard day at work what a joy to come home to this wonderful Szell video. My heart & soul are overjoyed with review/discussion of so many of my favorite recordings 😁
After an unexpected work bonus and a decent tax refund, I finally clicked on this big Szell Columbia box...It arrives tomorrow - and I'm as impatient as a 5-year-old on Christmas Eve for Christmas morning. From September 1965 through the final Szell concert on "home plate" in May 1970, WCLV (Cleveland) made stereo tapes of each concert. These include several works not commercially recorded by Szell & the CO: Mozart's "Prague" Symphony; Beethoven's Triple Concerto & MISSA SOLEMNIS; the Dvorak Violin Concerto; the Bruckner 9th; Mahler's DAS LIED VON DER ERDE; the Sibelius 4th & 7th; and Strauss's op. 7 SERENADE, LE BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME Suite & METAMORPHOSEN...There is also a stunning 1966 Brahms DOUBLE CONCERTO with Isaac Stern & Leonard Rose - even greater than their 1954 NY recording with Bruno Walter and their '59 with Ormandy in Philly. Some of these have been issued in various CO and Szell "anniversary" boxes...But if only SONY, WCLV and the CO would partner for a pristinely remastered box of these and other treasures ! Mark F.
Dave opportunity knocked again, with me having a shot at buying the Szell box. I used to collect a real lot of CDs, buying a lot with each and every year with all my spare pocket change, perhaps with a collecting 2 to 300 per year, dating back from 1985. But around when I turned 65, simultaneously with getting two baths of cancer, I almost say good that my compact disc collecting days we're about to come to an end. The collecting tapered off, although of course the listening never did, and the music appreciation never did. And at that time I kind of asked myself "how many more times am I ever going to get through listening to all of this stuff even which I already had previously collected up until that time again. My collection was substantial for a good number of years. Iona literally thousands of classical, and I froze let's buy a tent with collecting anything else from about that there. But through Good Fortune at Amazon, recently with Jeff bezos putting the Szelll box on sale for the almost unheard-of price of $129. And change plus tax for however long it lasts, as of when I first view this review I ordered it because there were still fourteen left wich surprise me.
I am a big fan of George Szell .I went to the concert by this great conductor in Tokyo .That is my unforgettable musical experience. sorry for my poor English . Thank you .
GREAT VIDEO DAVE!!! Yes, Szell was incredible!! My favorite Wagner disc, too, and I especially enjoy his Richard Strauss. His Till Eulenspiegel makes me fall of my chair in laughter. As do you!! Thanks for all of your fantastic videos. Keep them coming!!! I'm keeping on listening, Dave, thanks to you. See you next time!!
Perfection is great. Humanity is even better. I love Szell recordings. I grabbed this box in a charity sale. What a luck.
Imagine my joy when I saw the notification for your video. I thought this box would never be reissued (I missed it first time around). Growing up in UK Szell wasn't really on my radar, and it's only in recent years that I have started to appreciate him. I have a few choice records (Walton, Hindemith, his fantastic Handel Water Music). But now I get to dive in at the deep end - just ordered the box at a very reasonable price from Grooves, Inc. It was because of you I got the Ormandy box (which is beyond fantastic) and now this. Sony really does these boxes right on every level, as does Eloquence. Wish the other labels would follow their lead......
I grew up with George Szell / Cleveland. Saw him at Severance Hall and Blossom music center during the summer.. He was, according to most critics, was always in the top 5 orchestras during his 24 year tenure. and the only american orchestra in that top 5. I still have the newspaper clipping of his passing in 1970...I was so depressed. The only other conductor that is his equal is Carlos Kleiber. One of my fav recordings beside the Beethoven symphonies is his recording with John Browning of the Barber piano concerto.. the orchestra is so amazing especially in the 2nd movement. He usually stuck with the classical and romantic period , but for some reason he decided to record this great concerto, a staple of the modern era.
Love the way David pets the Big Box as though it was a lovable domestic cat.
I have some anecdotes about Maestro Szell that I could share with you that underscores his magnificent musical presence. Like the time he was auditioning a recent piano performance grad who quipped he knew the Mozart piano concertos. Without missing a beat, Szell sat at his practice piano across from the main piano where the auditioner sat and said: "Okay, then...let's get started, shall we?" Szell proceeded to play from memory the orchedtra piano reduction of hist first PC. The auditioning pianist interrupted him: "Mr. Szell I don't know ALL the Mozart PCs." To which Szell responded without missing a beat: "Well, sir, you come back when you do." While a teenager, I started along my aquired passion for classical music through, of all people, my ophthalmologist. It was in the mid 1960's. He told me that if I was passionate about classical music, I should aquire the recently release Szell/CO Beethoven symphony cycle on Epic. WOW! Can you imagine getting started this way with perhaps the most enduring classical recording for the ages! I would like to think, in obviously a truly mystical and fanciful way, that Mr. Szell and deceased members of the CO of that era perform the Beethoven Symphonies ad infinitum: they are in Heaven after all (we all wish). And sitting in the audience front row with hearing acuity completely restored (again, it is Heaven) is Louie. He is smiling!
Thank you for directing my attention to this George Szell box set. Now i have it. Great to be able to find out these things from someone. Previously i only had like 10-12 original vinyls with Szell. So i knew just how great work he did. 🎼🎶🎶
Man, that Dvorak 7th is in my Top Twenty classical recordings all time. So great.
Now you’ve done it. I had just watched your review of the smallish Szell Warner box and was thinking that should be enough. Some great moments and a sense of Szell as a conductor. Now this rave review of the BIG Szell box. In three months of pouring through your vids, and taking adavnage of insider membership, I don’t recall you ever being so postive about an entire large collection.
Though classical music doesn't get the attention it should it seems the big boxes are lovingly produced as a testament to the artists.
I bought this and requested you do this and now you have and Wunderbar!!! Thanks so much!!
You bet!
@@DavesClassicalGuide You are the best!!
At $4.25 per disk ($445 for the box) on AMZN, this is a steal. If I was just starting out, I would buy it in a heartbeat as a collection cornerstone! Terrific recommendation.
Thanks for the appetite-whetter, Dave. I immediately went to my copy of Tovey's "Essays in musical analysis", on your recommendation, to read his extended essay on Mozart piano concerto No.25 in C major, K.503; but he doesn't include it in the Concertos volume. Could you have read the essay elsewhere? I'm dying to read it. 😊 Thanks. Update... think I've traced it. It is in a Norton Critical Score book on that concerto, edited by Joseph Kerman.
You know, Dave. I had regretted missing the opportunity to get this box for a while. This will definitely compliment my Bruno Walter box very well! I'm on the fence about a few other boxes, such as the Riccardo Muti one, but I'll wait a while longer because the George Szell box has much higher priority right now. :) Now, if only Sony would reissue the Charles Munch box, or even give us a complete Leonard Bernstein box or an Arthur Fielder box!
I have a friend who designed & installed recording equipment for Columbia records. He told me that the Szell LvB 9 is *overmodulated* ! And they released it !!
The Urania label has released a few of Szell's live performances (Beethoven Missa, Brahms German Requiem, Verdi Requiem, etc) but I completely agree that the CO needs to do a comprehensive Szell box.
Until US orchestras get someone with vision and competence instead of accountants, it will not happen.
On the back of the Mendelssohn: Italian Symphony disc it states that Szell conducted amazing Operas for decades. I would love it if there were some recordings of these!
The Szell Sibelius 2 from Tokyo is available on utub, if you want an idea how great it is. Is the CD available anywhere? Also: Szell (on piano) & Rafael Druian (Cleveland concertmaster) did a delightful LP of mozart sonatas. I assume it's not in this box.
I've had this Szell box for a while and only recently ripped (transferred) all of the discs as digital files to my Roon music server. It is nice to have the physical box, the book and the printed materials, but having all of the albums, all 106 of them is ever so convenient.
I love this video but I have to take issue with what you say about Szell's Brahms. Yes, it may be lacking in a kind of Viennese schmaltziness but that lack is more than made up for by the structural and textural clarity. Brahms was first and foremost a musical architect and nobody understood musical structure better than (or, most of the time, as well as) George Szell. The depth of that understanding resulted in recordings of the Brahms orchestral works that are unmatched for their structural clarity and for this very brainy composer especially, that's top priority. An organist friend of mine once said to me "When you hear a piece of music under Szell's baton, you've never heard it before and you'll never hear it again." That's been my experience with Szell's Brahms. But again, and despite the reservations expressed in the above, I love this video. Learned a lot. New and enthusiastic subscriber here.
Dave, I love your (not uncritical!) enthusiasm for this great box. This may be heretical but I much prefer Smetana's From My Life in Szell's orchestral dress to the original. There are three out there including his 1946 Cleveland debut concert and a 1939 NBC Symphony concert (one of the great concerts,all Smetana/Dvorak, in the 17 years of the orchestra) but what a shame he didn't redo it in stereo. I agree with you, if I were to throw one disc in the box overboard it would be the Bartok/Janacek.
Well this is good news! I'll have to add it to the heap...and it gives me hope that they're going to remake several boxes I missed: Munch and Monteux among them.
I just heard the Szell/Horowitz Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no.1. The end is effing INSANE
More insane than Toscanini/Horowitz?! I'll have to listen to that, because it's hard to imagine!
@@dennischiapello3879 To give you a glimpse, listen to the Cadenza in the Toscanini vs the Szell. The latter drives him so hard that he doesn't give a shit about his wrong intonation at the end 🤣. The applause that follows is WILD.
@@dennischiapello3879 Yes, I find the Szell/Horowitz even more insane and wild than the Toscanini/Horowitz ones.
@@jamesherried9269 I’ve listened to both, but I think in the end I prefer the one with Toscanini. It’s better for “everyday” listening, but of course neither are everyday listening at all, they are both kinda shockers :)
Wwwaa what’s wrong with Forrest Murmers? I always liked that. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to. I’m going to continue liking it. 😂
Ill vote for the Bruno Walter box. I've been sitting on the fence about buying it and its still available or just try to find his Mozart(Columbia Symphony Orchestra) and Brahms. Ill keep on listening.
What a comeback!! The force is with us..
I was eagerly anticipating it (the original release of the box, not just your video) for years, and was very careful to look out for track listing to see if that Cleveland Sibelius 2 was in it and, sure enough, not. So I immediately ordered the Tokyo concert release from Sony (still available, phew!) so that i could have slightly closer to complete. But, of course, as you point out, this is nowhere close to complete. That Severance Hall archive of radio tapes must be enormous (didn't they do them every Saturday night for, like, many, many years?). So, indeed, up vote for your call to have someone (anyone) put out a comprehensive box of this, including that damn near unobtainable Missa Solemnis.
From September 1965 through the final Szell concert on "home plate" of May 4, 1970, WCLV (Cleveland) made stereo tapes of each concert. These include several works not commercially recorded by Szell & the CO: Mozart's "Prague" Symphony; Beethoven's Triple Concerto & MISSA SOLEMNIS; the Dvorak Violin Concerto; the Bruckner 9th; Mahler's DAS LIED VON DER ERDE; the Sibelius 4th & 7th; and Strauss's op. 7 SERENADE, LE BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME Suite & METAMORPHOSEN...There is also a stunning 1966 Brahms DOUBLE CONCERTO with Isaac Stern & Leonard Rose - even greater than their 1954 NY recording with Bruno Walter and their '59 with Ormandy in Philly. Some of these have been issued in various CO and Szell "anniversary" editions...But if only SONY, WCLV and the CO would partner for a pristinely remastered box of these and other treasures ! Mark Farrington
Oh my GOD did that La Mer blow my socks off!!
Yeah it's really great, isn't it?
You said it, I listened to it, and it was amazing! I’m going to listen to the Barber Piano Concerto next.
A while back I made a playlist of recordings of the Beethoven 7 Allegretto in order to find the best among the 50 or so top versions. Szell won.
Damn right!
I also like his Dvorak 8 with the Czech PO, live in Lucerne, from 30 August 1969. Radiantly lyrical!
I missed this set the first time it came out. Now, if I didn't subscribe to this channel I could have remained blissfully ignorant of it's availability and saved myself the ~$250 cost of ordering this from Germany. Will these boxed sets never end? (Can't wait for the Mitropoulos one).
I may be an addict. I grew up in Cleveland and have been a Szell groupie for a long time. I got this as soon as it came out (rather, my wife gave it to me for Xmas). I took out the first disc and haven't listened to it in all this time (going on years). I have a problem.
I wanted to let anybody who might be reading this know that this box set is once again in stock as of May 21 at ImportCDs (which has the lowest price that I see at $162.09 currently) and Deep Discount. It's not currently at an affordable price on Amazon, so don't bother looking there.
Hi Dave, Insider here. I just checked volume 3 of Tovey’s Essays in Musical Analysis (the Concerto volume) and I don’t see Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C (number 25) listed there. Did you read it in a different volume? I’d love to read it and then listen to the concerto like you said. Thanks! Josh
It's part of his larger essay on the classical concerto generally, if memory serves.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Yes! It’s in the introductory essay on page 16! Thank you so much!
@@joshuamarkovitz Sure thing!
Forgive me if this is a duplication of another listeners comment, but before I got the big cell box I got “the edition” which was a smaller set. 49 CDs.I believe it might’ve been released by Korean Sony. Fortunately, the Tokyo concert is included in that set. In addition to the barely owes and Mozart and Sibalus you mentioned, there is the fun vaor Oberon overture. Obviously, since I have both, I am a George Szell fan. I was in high school when I fell in love with classical music and especially the George Szell recordings. I just wish there was a decent recording available of his Verdi Requiem performance at Carnegie Hall. Thank you for all you do for classical music fans!
There is an off the air recording of Szell leading Verdi Requiem at Severance Hall. It's just amazing, and the sound is pretty good. I've heard this piece was on the list of items planned for recording, but unfortunately Szell died.
@@poturbg8698 do you know how I might obtain a copy? I’ve heard the pirated Carnegie Hall recording and it is very murky. Thank you.
@@bplonutube The cleveland performance of Szell's leading Verdi Requiem is right here on KZhead. That is the easiest way to hear it. Jusat search for "Verdi Requiem Szell."
@@poturbg8698 thank you!
Beside the Tokyo concert is there anything in that korean box not included in that big one?
Even among all this terrific-ness, I'm sure 10 best recordings are lurking... and that soon enough we'll find which ones make that happy list. Thanks for the heads up, I just ordered one of this treasure troves to go!
You will.
When I joined the mail order Columbia Records Club in the mid-1960s, one of the first things I noticed was Szell/Cleveland was not on Columbia but its subsidiary label, Epic. Also Szell got little publicity from Columbia after heavyweights Ormandy and Bernstein. (Critics seemed to appreciate Szell more than Columbia, which treated Szell like the wayward stepson.). Finally in the late 1960s/early '70s. a few Szells began to appear on Columbia. I remember in particular his dazzling Ring "bleeding chunks." I bought the Szell box back when it was affordable..
Petting the box 😂😂 You crack me up, Dave!
And let's not forget Szell's famous spoken "AND SO FORTH" during the fade-out, providing the perfect ending to J. Strauss' "Perpetuum Mobile" (from "Magic Vienna").
Anybody know if Szell ever did opera in concert in Cleveland?
Like I wrote a few days ago: It was available in Japan a few seeks ago for $250, got bought up really fast, and now the middlemen are selling it for twice that, soon likely much more. The new printing seems to have been quite small. Unless Sony is really being coy and waiting to see what people will pay for this now.
Personally, Szell's recording of the movements from Mahler's 10th are among my favorites Szell items. Just magnificent. Another which would have been extraordinary to include is his recording of the Busoni Piano Concerto with Pietro Scarpini from 1966. I guess that's in the CO archives somewhere. Over on Decca, I always wondered what caused Szell to withhold release of his Tchaikovsky 4th symphony with the LSO? I believe it was only released after his death. Sounds just fine to me! (And, Dave, I never get tired of his rendering the second movement of the Prokofiev 5th. Just super).
I remember reading an interview with John Culshaw who said the Szell could not get the "clean orchestral playing" that he wanted.
The best Moldau ever, and in one take.
The Columbia Symphony recordings with Szell are **all** the Cleveland Orchestra, as the track listing shows. Besides not including Szell's last concert (it was actually his last), the box fails to include tweezers with rubberized tips for extracting the discs from their jackets:)
Columbia used the 'Columbia Symphony' nom de plume with some of Szell's recordings to get around some arcane union rules to make the sessions less expensive. Szell's 'Columbia Symphony' recordings are mostly Mozart concertos where a reduced orchestra was used, but the recordings were all made in Cleveland with members of the Cleveland Orchestra moonlighting as the 'Columbia Symphony'.
Lol. Tweezers. I see what you did there...
@@alanmillsaps2810 Yes, in those cases, Cleveland players were contracted INDIVIDUALLY to form a "Columbia Symphony Orchestra."
@@jimyoung9262 actually the tweezers were Dave's idea in a video some time ago. I went EUREKA and bought some from Amazon. Best and cheapest tweak ever!
I believe Szell’s final performance was actually in Anchorage, Alaska on a return stopover from the Japan tour.
On your recommendation, I splurged and bought this huge box, which will soon be worming its way into my ears. But here’s the thing: I’m not even vaguely rich, and don’t have a ton of disposable income. Can you recommend some excellent boxed sets for, say, under 50 bucks? I’m sure a lot of your viewer would appreciate that. Especially me. Because it’s all about me.
Another Szell/Debussy anecdote that just came to mind....after a concert that included La Mer, the Orchestra was proceeding down the back stairs in Severance Hall while Szell was going upstairs, and a certain member of the violin section was heard to say (loud enough for Szell to hear) "La Mer? It sounded more like Lake Erie to me!"......I understand that violinist was eventually fired for some other quip......
I am just catching up with this review a day late, but I wanted to express my thanks for your thoroughness in discussing the contents of this huge box. I also appreciated your enthusiasm for Szell and the Clevlanders. What a band; what a conductor! That having been said, I confess that I admire his Beethoven more than I enjoy it--the exception being his Eroica, which, like you, I regard as a benchmark. His Ninth, however, lacks a sense of scale, or grandeur, which must be part of the mix. His Pastoral, too, lacks the rustic charm of Klemperer, Böhm, and Walter. There's a tight-fisted quality to Szell's Beethoven that the impeccable playing and classicism don't quite compensate for. Otherwise, I agree wholeheartedly with your plaudits, and your mild criticism of his Brahms and sharper criticsm of his Prokofiev 5. Now, please let's have a survey of the Bruno Walter box.
This started showing up about three weeks ago in listings by some Japanese eBay sellers, where it was going for about $400. I wondered why a bunch of sealed copies of this box had suddenly appeared in Japan and wondered if it was a bootleg. Now I know it’s a legit reprint and it has popped up on Amazon for about $455. Rarewaves offered copies this past week for around $275, but they are already sold out. Nevertheless, $250-$275 now seems to be the benchmark “going rate”. Meanwhile, however, the Ormandy, Walter and Bernstein boxes on Sony can all be had for around $150. I’d still grab this before it disappears but I’m really not interested in all the concerto recordings which seem to make up about a third of this box. I feel like Hamlet with this set. It will probably disappear again before I can make up my mind! 😅 And I am already saving my pennies for the uocoming Mitropoulos box next month! What to do? Does Sony’s decision to reprint this mean they might give us the Reiner box again, too?
Nothing means anything where these people are concerned.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Especially when some things are "beyond price." ...Reminds me of that story about George Bernard Shaw. At a party, he inquired of a young lady, "Would you go to bed with me for a million pounds?" "I suppose I would." "Would you do it for a hundred pounds?" "What do you think I am?!" "We've already established @what@ you are. We are now merely negotiating a price." Even so, what a feast...And if I may add, your "purpose in life" (or at east one of them) has been to successfully help the likes of us through some very bad times.
I never really warmed to Szell in Haydn, much as I love him in many other things. I keep coming back and hoping to change my mind but it never quite takes off for me.
As a student of music in Cleveland, 1968-1969, I learned that Maestro Szell ( always Maestro) performed the Sinfonia Domestica because Sxell hated Ein Heldenleben.
Lol Dave isn't the only one...
I sort of had to revise and extend my proceeding remarks as an appendix, because I talked called a switch in the comment post that. I used to have at least a good 20 to 30 compact discs in this box on oildale. Eckerd's and even if that despite that limitation the sound was magnificent. And how could it be that classical music fans and those that appreciate good music have not already wiped us out the shelves at Amazon? Beats me. Best.
That is indeed the best Moldau. And I had that great Moussorgsky “Pictures” on the A-side of an Odyssey LP backed with the live-in-Sofia Richter piano version. Too much music crammed on each side, but I was about 11 and wasn’t worried about sound quality 😀
My comment got deleted for posting generically about where I bought this in Germany for $250 shipped to the US today. Anyway, I've been waiting for a box like this so today was my day. Thanks David.
JPC in Germany folks.
I love the Szell Brahms cycle, perhaps because it is the one I imprinted on. It is still my favorite overall set (by far), but I have to agree that 2 and 3 are especially good (indeed, they would be my reference recordings for these works). I remember buying and returning the set something like three times because the pressings were so awful. No, I wasn't that fussy, but there would be a point in the first movement of the Second where the needle would skip, and it happened in the same place in the first three sets I tried. Columbia quality control was really that bad. I take your point on the Prokofiev 5. I played it for the first time in years a few weeks ago and was reminded why it had been so long since last I listened to it. One of his very, very few busts. The only other thing I don't care for is his Italian Symphony. I do think it needs to be played with gemütlichkeit, to use the Mrs.' term, and his performance is very driven. I much prefer the Mendelssohn of the person who was the second music director of Cleveland after him. Otherwise, I pretty much prefer him to everyone else in everything he has recorded. The only reason I have not bought the box is I already own 80 percent of it in one form or another.
Szell's Mendelssohn 'Italian' is hardly a dud, but van Beinum's is even greater: just as precise but more fleet and, yes, charming.
I confess I'm more partial to Szell's Brahms symphonies than David is, here. They make a beautiful foil to Bruno Walter's stereo cycle...Szell's1957 stereo First is on the same level as the 1959 Berlin Bohm, but the 1966 re-do IS quite stiff.
I wish complete Arthur Rubinstein set comeback as well it's price are sky high!
Hello Dave, Did you know that someone crossed a GRIEG Elegiac Melody with Wagner's Siegfried? It was called "HEART MURMURS" !!!!!!
Indeed!
I too find Szell's Brahms 1 & 4 stiff, but I really like his 2 and especially 3.
The stereo 1957 First is better than the 1966. Not sure why a remake was ever deemed necessary. Maybe it was because the other 3 symphonies were recorded AFTER the installation of the "Szell Shell" in Severance Hall. And assuming a Szell-Brahms Symphonies box set was contemplated, Columbia or Szell might have wanted the sound to "match" on all 4.
I hope Sony re-issues the John Williams Guitar collection as well.
The late Rich Weiner once quipped about Szell's La Mer.....the orchestra called it "Das Mer"..........
There’re no opera recordings in that box. I mean complete recording. I think it is not only Szell box, but also Walter box or Reiner or Munch boxes except for Monteux box. I wonder why. I don’t know about Ormandy box.
The reason is that none of these conductors except for Monteux (Traviata) and Reiner (Carmen) recorded any complete operas for their labels.
@@poturbg8698 My English was inadequate. I should have said why Sony or CBS or RCA didn’t let them do it? I don’t know about Munch and Ormandy, but Szell, Walter and Reiner appeared in the Met, perhaps regularly. Were they not good? I just wonder.
It's not about "letting them do it." They were orchestral conductors primarily at that stage in their careers. Conductors who led major opera houses conducted operas. Those who led symphony orchestras recorded with them primarily.
@@lewtaratua1719, although many of the conductors like Szell, Walter, and Reiner did lots of opera before they got major orchestras, Ormandy had little experience in that realm. He recorded "Die Fledermaus" in the 1950s--the Met's English version--but that's about it. Szell and Walter were primarily Columbia/Sony conductors, and C/S wasn't recording much opera in the 1950s and 1960s. I wonder if Reiner + opera was a problem for RCA because of repertoire. Reiner was a fine Wagner, Strauss, Beethoven, and Mozart conductor (finer in some areas than in others), but RCA wasn't cranking out operas by those composers.
@@lewtaratua1719 Columbia (CBS) made virtually no studio opera recordings. That explains why conductors who recorded for Columbia, like Szell, do not have complete opera recordings in their discographies. John McClure said that there were plans to have Bruno Walter record Beethoven's Fidelio, but Walter died before anything could be done. RCA did record complete operas, but they placed much more emphasis on the star singers than the conductors. In some cases, singers apparently had veto power over the choice of conductor. RCA generally relied on people who were current operatic conductors (e.g., Serafin) and made most of their recordings overseas, where costs were much lower. The one time they did record an opera with a major US orchestra (Lohengrin with Leinsdorf and the BSO), they lost huge amounts of money.
“He was just so rich in basic fundamental musical values.” Yep
A few years back Sony Japan released an SACD of the live concert that included the stunning live Sibelius 2nd that Dave referred too, and it appears to be still available. Perhaps the reason that Sony excluded this from the box under discussion is that the recording was made by and for Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Quite possible, but Sony released it previously, multiple times.
Difficult to find this box for less than 1K euros in Europe.
I've always liked Szell's recording of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. He had the right idea about the finale, in my opinion. His cut removed the one major blemish in an otherwise tightly constructed work, a passage of no real point or substance, just empty noodling. One can argue that his surgical result is a bit naive, but I view it as an improvement, nonetheless.
You're pretty much alone in that view, but there it is.
I wouldn't assume that. When I've brought this up to my composer friends, they agree with me. It's a weak passage.
I'm not assuming anything. It's a fact.
Aside from very few turkeys, the only fault that I can see is non-inclusions for what Szell did not record.Between this and the Previn box on Warner (Previn generally steered clear of the sorts of works that everyone else did at least for recording -- did Previn ever do a Beethoven symphony cycle? Maybe Previn thought that others did better) that has few duplicates -- and you would get most of the key works of the late Haydn-to-Shostakovich canon. I can dream of Szell with Haydn's Paris Symphonies and the latter London symphonies, a complete Ma Vlast, Mozart's 36th and 38th symphonies, Bruckner 4/5/7, Dvorak 7, Tchaikovsky 4 and 6, Mahler 1/5/9... Shostakovich 1/5/maybe 7... Nielsen and Sibelius seem incompatible, so whichever would have worked. Szell seems just right for Gershwin. But we are talking here about what he did not record.
Yes, Previn did a Beethoven cycle with the Royal Phil on RCA.
@@DavesClassicalGuidePrevin started a Beethoven symphony cycle on RCA, but he never recorded Nos. 1, 2, and 3 (unless they were recorded but never released). I remember this because I got called out once in a discussion group for writing the same thing you just did.
@@DavesClassicalGuide RCA? Those obviously would not be in the Warner box.
Szell recorded Dvorak 7. Also Tchaik 4 for Decca. He was slated to record the second Haydn London set but died before it could be done.
@@bbailey7818 I wasn't sure about Dvorak 7. I notice that Szell recorded few choral works, so that is one gap to fill.I'll take out Dvorahk 7 and add Bizet's symphony. Maybe Saint-Saens' Third?
Dear David Hurwitz, I know where to get this, however, I edited the comment too many times and the Google police removed it. Now, almost anything I post with the name of the place I found it at is removed automatically by the Google police. So, I have no idea how to get this vital information to your audience now, without Google removing it automatically.
How odd.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I just tried responding to your comment and it was removed again! Is there any other way I can contact you so you can inform your audience where to get it?
Oh, and that has FREE shipping to the USA and no tax because it comes from Germany.
@@Jeff-wb3hh Are you posting it in a form that shows up as a URL? KZhead will delete anything with a URL. You should be able to post the name of an online retailer and people can find it.
@@Don-md6wn I gave only the name of the website then the word dot for a period and then the last word of the website which was not "com". Let me try it here: "grooves" period "land". It's in Germany. My shipment just arrived in the USA customs.
I wonder if the Hurwitz Army of rabid collectors is having some influence on record company release decisions? Would be interesting to find out.
I doubt it.
Was Szell line guy or chord guy?
Definitely a line guy.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks, that was my impression too.
Hasn't anybody realized the extreme resemblance between Szell and Stravinsky?
I've got one complaint about my Szell records: most of them I bought as part of the budget-priced "Essential Classics" series on Sony, and they have the worst-ever album covers. Fortunately, I've been ripping all my albums into a very good digital player, which means that I can look up the original LP cover art online and substitute it for the "Essential Classics" covers. Aren't there teams of marketing people in charge of these releases? If you sell people records that look cheap and don't cost much, it makes them think the music probably isn't all that great. I have to admit that I've often tended to assume that my Szell records probably weren't so great thanks to the cheap-looking album cover art. I might have posted this comment to your video about Toscanini and how the industry has been making classical music less and less valuable through their daft approach to marketing it. It's time for me to go through the Szell that I've got once again, to remind myself how good it is.
Szell was so horrified at his album covers that he put into his contract when it was renewed that he had the final say. I'm not sure it made much difference...
@@DavesClassicalGuide At least the originals had pictures of Szell, or of Leon Fleisher, I guess. If only he'd known that his records were going to look even worse in posterity. This music is impossibly beautiful! Make it look that way!
Too bad they did not include the Japan concert and, above all, Beethoven,s Missa.
The Missa is a spectacular live performance in every way, but unfortunately the sound is highly compromised.
$455 at Amazon.
But much less elsewhere.
And worth every cent! 😉
I'm willing to go for about $300, but $455 is gouging IMHO
Do you have the link please ?
@@EddieJazzFan That is about $4 per disc. By any definition it's a steal. You don't have to pay for it, but the fact that it's not the price you are willing to pay doesn't mean it's not a good deal. In fact, it's a great deal. When CDs came out they were $12-15 per disc. Now they are 1/4 of that forty years later (vastly less in real dollar terms), beautifully remastered and repackaged. Consider yourself lucky.