This is an odd choice of repertoire to represent Adrian Boult in EMI’s new Great Artists of the Century Series. Throughout his later career, Boult’s fans were always ready to defend his work in the “international” repertoire, as if his devotion to and decision to specialize in the music of his own country counted against him in the estimation of the rest of the world (certainly not on these shores, it didn’t). Boult did in fact record a decent if unexceptional Brahms cycle for EMI and took a swing at Schubert’s Ninth on more than one occasion, and while by no means shameful, this performance certainly isn’t one for the ages. It is, however, vastly better than the grotesque live performance issued by BBC Legends as part of that label’s program to destroy the reputations of illustrious artists by releasing anything it can get its hands on without regard to quality.
The problems with this performance primarily concern the first and third movements. The opening introduction is droopy, and the music lurches unconvincingly into the opening allegro and then back to the tempo of the introduction for the coda. Boult also relaxes excessively into the second subject, though some listeners may enjoy the “old world” qualities that these maneuvers seemingly represent. Of course Klemperer and Krips, both equally “old world”, manage them better (or do without), but that’s another story. The Andante benefits from Boult’s stoic reserve: it’s all of a piece, and the forward balance of the winds and trombones keeps the music marching along vividly. The scherzo needs more energy and rhythmic precision (despite it’s appealing lilt) to sustain its 14-minute length, but the finale flies by with plenty of fire and an appealing lightness to its incessant triplet figurations in the strings.
The couplings are really excellent. Boult’s Brahms Symphonies, mixed successes though they are, leave no doubt that he’s inside the idiom, and he delivers an excitingly uplifting Academic Festival Overture. Similarly, the Alto Rhapsody not only has Janet Baker in fabulous voice, but Boult knits the piece together with unaffected mastery. At his best, as in these two works, the music simply seems to play itself with everything perfectly in place. The sound in the two Brahms works also has more presence than the somewhat cavernous Schubert. Certainly the conductor’s admirers will want the symphony, if only because it’s a recording long unavailable and one that unquestionably conveys his ideas about how the music should go. On that basis it’s self-recommending, but those looking for a great Schubert Ninth have better options, especially Krips on Decca.
