Erich Leinsdorf Conducts Prokofiev

I agree wholeheartedly with T. Beers's review, that Leinsdorf's Prokofiev was "nonpareil." Leinsdorf remains an underappreciated conductor. Critics have often complained that his interpretations were cold, severe, intellectualized, even pedestrian, while giving him credit for evoking supremely disciplined playing from the ensembles he conducted. As a veteran concertgoer from the Leinsdorf years in Boston, I can testify that, at his best, Leinsdorf was a tremendous interpreter of everything from Viennese classicism to the Second Viennese School. Like Szell, Reiner and Solti, he preferred to exercise maximal control rather than opting for a more genial, laissez-faire style. He learned quite a bit, I wager, from his experience as Toscanini's assistant. However, like those conductors--who were also accused of being hard-nosed disciplinarians--he had an intuitive grasp of orchestral color and a great sense of dramatic timing. His best recordings convey a heady exuberance and confident grasp of musical architecture that are always put in service of the composer and ensemble.Leinsdorf was particularly adept and making even the most difficult, "modernistic" scores tractable to the general public. Prokofiev is a case in point. The enduring fascination of this composer comes largely from his ability to combine, in creative tension, fury and tenderness, brutal primitivism and elegant neoclassicism, spiky dissonance and bittersweet lyricism. Leinsdorf understands this tension fully, and conveys it more successfully than any other conductor of which I am aware.The four Symphonies Leinsdorf got to record--one wonders what corner-office executive nixed the prospect of a complete cycle--are simply outstanding. The Second and Third are among Prokofiev's most difficult; in these works, the the composer fully lives up to his reputation as *enfant terrible* of modernism. In both, Leinsdorf and the BSO take no prisoners in their vehement abandon to Prokofievian primitivism, while allowing the occasional hints of balletic playfulness and passages of soaring lyricism tell just as fully. Leinsdorf's recordings of the Fifth and Sixth have rightly been accorded "classic status." Leinsdorf's bracing and incisive Fifth emphasizes the work's neoclassical spirit, unlike the more romanticized interpretations of Karajan and Ormandy (fine though they are). Leinsdorf's approach is closer to that of Ansermet, though he has a far finer orchestra to work worth. Leinsdorf's Sixth, on the other hand, brings this troubled work in line with Shostakovich, even Mahler, by underscoring its unsettling combination of biting irony and tragic weight. A magnificent, and exhausting, rendition of what may well be Prokofiev's greatest symphony.As for the five Piano Concertos with Browning: I know of no finer versions on record. Browning's virtuosity is as stunning as his perceptiveness is enlightening. Browning is not content merely to toss off the busy passagework as if it were a technical exercise--a temptation into which too many pianists fall in this repertoire--but rather, he takes pains to convey the musical meaning behind the notes. Leinsdorf is with him all the way, delighted in the interplay--sometimes combative, sometimes seductive, frequently comic--between soloist and orchestra, and undoubtedly reveling in the brilliant colors of Prokofiev's scoring. For me, this set of the piano concertos eclipses all of the competition--with the sole exception of Graffman/Szell in nos. 1 & 3 (performances with similar virtues), and perhaps Richter/Wisloki in 5. The two Violin Concertos are also oustanding; the underrated Friedman (a student of Heifetz) dazzling in the D-Major; the young Perlman mellower, but no less assured, in the g-minor.Mr. Beers complained of the inexplicable omission of Leinsdorf's Scythian Suite and the Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. Their loss is lamentable, but at least we are given a rousing Liutenant Kijé and a substantial selection from *Romeo and Juliet*. The latter is beautifully performed, and has the considerable advantage of closely following action of the play (unlike Prokofiev's suites from the complete ballet).Throughout these six CD's, the sound, to my ears, is extraordinarily vivid, well balanced, solidly focused, with a bass register that frequently causes seismic cataclysms (yet, miraculously, without distortion). I did notice, along with Mr. Beers, a momentary clouding of the texture at the beginning of the First Piano Concerto. I can also understand why the other reviewer found the sound too aggressive. But better an excess of immediacy in Prokofiev than a distant wash of orchestral sonority. In short, I found the engineering on the whole as outstanding as the performances.If you enjoy Prokofiev--and certainly there were few twentieth-century composers with such a distinctive, and immediately recognizable, tone of voice--you must have this set. Even if you own recordings of some or all of these works, you should add this to your collection. Given the modest cost (especially in comparison to previous reissues of the Symphonies and Piano Concertos on Testament), I will not complain of the absence of documentation, apart from movement/track listings on the back of the cardboard slipcases in which individual CDs are housed.This set is irresistible; don't hesitate to acquire it.

The performances on this set have been waiting a long time to be released on CD. Try nearly 20 years for almost all of them. Erich Leinsdorf had a special affinity for this music and that can be heard throughout all of Prokofiev's music found in this set. If you're a true fan of the maestro or the composer, don't hesitate to get this great bargain, especially at rates below $20.00 on occasion. Still, I can't be spellbound by any of the six CDs as I'd like to be and worse, know I could be.Curiously, the transfers don't seem to do the performances justice. First the volume levels of the CDs are so high one might mistake these CD duplications of run of the mill and seemingly worn LP masters with elevator music settings. Specifically, set it and forget it. Normally I set my volume knob at a reference location (about 10 o'clock). With this recording I had to immediately lower that to 7 o'clock. That's bizarre. I've never had a single BMG recording behave in this fashion before. There's a strangely inordinate hiss if the piece starts softly. (5th Symphony) Bad analogue tape noises are found here and there; the near non-existent dynamic range makes me wonder if the transfer engineer was familiar with the much wider dynamics of classical orchestral music. That is to say, pop records tend to have almost no dynamic range - they may sound soft on occasion but the levels are kept hot (meaning they're near the very edge of going into distortion.) None of the original tape/CD transfers were successful in this box set. This is true because all of the pieces here chosen have dynamics that challenge the very best digital systems today, much less tape from 1960-70.Be careful - some of the pieces, such as the First Piano Concerto and the Third Symphony start VERY loudly. If your volume is set to your standard level you may well be sorry and your neighbors might be included in that statement, too. Had this been music for virginal, (a very soft keyboard instrument) or lute, well, the dynamic situation would be fine - here its a disaster.I did note the Romeo and Juliet excerpts were slightly better concerning the above and I find them to be better performances than his LAPO set.Were this any other collection, I think I'd advise not buying it. Its such good music making I still give it four stars. You're choice is to spend a fortune on first class transfers from Testament of these exact same LPs! Why did BMG agree to share their great catalogue in such a way? Well, as usual they work both sides of the street.This box set needs to be remastered with the original session tapes. Those sound terrific, unfortunately not one of them was used here.