Yet another orchestra launches its own label, with mixed results. These two live performances aren’t bad, but neither are they necessary. The First Symphony comes off best: a bright, youthful, swift interpretation with sharp rhythmic characterization in the outer movements and a surprisingly rapid and passionate account of the lento. It’s really very good, with just a few minor slips typical of your average live concert. That’s the good news. Alas, the First is saddled to a lesser account of the Fifth, notably duller in rhythm, particularly in the first two movements. Masur doesn’t find anything like the depth of expression in the largo that, say, conductors as diverse as Bernstein, Previn, Haitink, and Rostropovich have, and his finale is noteworthy for the slowest account of the coda yet preserved on disc. There’s no question of optimism here: this is just plain miserable, and arguably just a bit too obviously so.
The live recording doesn’t help. There’s plenty of ambient noise from the audience–nothing horrible, but more than enough to be annoying in various places. Beyond that, the actual sonics seem compressed in the First Symphony, with soft passages boosted and climaxes leveled out. In the Fifth Symphony, the engineering simply makes the orchestra sound dull, with a notable lack of openness in the treble. If the LPO wants to make a case for its own label, then it will have to do better than this uncompetitive release. The jewel-box sticker offers excerpts of rave reviews of the concerts. Whatever those critics heard (and I am not implying that they are wrong in their assessments), it has not transferred to disc–and that, of course, is the point.
