Former Cleveland Orchestra music director Christoph von Dohnanyi claimed his predecessor George Szell’s Beethoven cycle to be “the Bible”. Indeed, in the stereo era’s first decade these 1957-66 recordings set high standards for stylish perception, orchestral finesse, and the kind of textural clarity associated with the finest chamber ensembles. A mainstay of Sony’s budget Essential Classics series for years, they’re now repackaged in facsimiles of their original LP jackets and are recoupled accordingly. As a result, the Third, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Symphonies each now occupy a single CD. On LP, the Fifth Symphony originally was coupled with Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, and it’s presented that way here–since Szell’s Jupiter is one of the greatest ever, with the clearest, most exultant performance of the Finale on disc, there’s no reason to complain! On the plus side, A/B comparisons with the Essential Classics editions reveal the present transfers to be marginally more resonant and fuller of body, but not to the point where you need to upgrade.
However, the recording quality varies from session to session. While the 1957 “Eroica” is impressively open and well balanced for its vintage, the 1963 Fourth is strident and too heavily equalized toward the mid-range. Oddly enough, the Leonore Overture No. 3 from the same sessions sounds light years better, with the off-stage trumpets balanced in ideal perspective. The 1963 Fifth’s close-up, hard-hitting sonics lack the breathing room that makes the 1962 “Pastoral” sound more translucent and airy by comparison.
Sonic quibbles aside, the Szell/Cleveland synergy works many wonders. Listen to the seamless transition from the Second Symphony’s broad first-movement introduction into the main theme, or how the Eroica’s Funeral March achieves a shattering climax by virtue of Szell’s unswervingly steady tempo and pinpointed linear clarity. While the Pastoral Storm lacks one or two lightning bolts, the gorgeously sculpted woodwind solos in the Scene by the Brook and the Merry Gathering are of the highest distinction. Note too the perfectly aligned orchestral choirs and carefully gauged tempo relationships between sections in the Seventh’s Scherzo. And although Szell often favored fast tempos, he reins in the skittish finales of the Fourth and Eighth in order to secure optimum melodic definition and shape.
The First Symphony is similar to Toscanini’s lean, forward-pressing interpretation, albeit without the Maestro’s crisp humor, and I prefer Szell’s 1966 Concertgebouw Fifth for its superior sound and detail. Szell’s Ninth doesn’t reach out to the cosmos and the infinite stars, but rather generates its fiery elegance from the blazing sun, so to speak. The vocal quartet is a dream team, and you can almost take dictation from Robert Shaw’s chorus. In addition to the welcome overtures, we have the first CD release of the complete Creatures of Prometheus, led with dramatic flair and character by Louis Lane, Szell’s long-time assistant conductor (and an underrated maestro in his own right). It goes without saying that there are many other ways to play these works, plus many excellent Beethoven cycles that benefit from modern-day engineering–including Wand, Blomstedt, Gielen, Blomstedt, and Barenboim. Yet Szell’s gold standard continues to defy time.
