Do not confuse this version of the First Symphony with Jean Martinon’s LSO recording for Decca, which has popped up on CD now and again. Here the Frenchman only conducts the ballet suite (though his version of the symphony also was very good). No, this is otherwise all Walter Weller and the Suisse Romande, excellent performances both, and for the same reasons. They are crisp, direct, swift, unsentimental, but full of punchy, characterful accents and never lacking in feeling in the slow movements. The way that Weller handles tempo transitions in the First Symphony’s opening movement, for example, also offers a textbook lesson in how to give the music a strong emotional profile–and plenty of excitement–while still respecting its structural integrity.
By 1972, well into the post-Ansermet period, the Swiss orchestra finally was becoming a reliably top-quality ensemble, ironically just as its discographic career on Decca was winding down. The woodwinds in particular have wonderful bite in the outer movements of both symphonies, and Weller takes the scherzo of the Ninth at a clip that many orchestras would find hard to match today. Indeed, the performance of this latter work especially is as fine as any available. If you collect Shostakovich, then by all means get this, particularly as the sonics are also very good by any standard. [3/21/2007]
