Legendary treasures? Not exactly; Horenstein was such an inconsistent conductor. The only reason he matters now is because he had an admirably wide range of repertoire and conducted a great deal of fine music at a time when it wasn’t getting much attention. Often as not, though, it was the music that was interesting, not the conducting. Korngold’s Prelude and Carnival from Violanta is a case in point: colorful and evocative, it’s also the best performance (and recording) on this disc. The Shostakovich is dimly engineered, rhythmically heavy-handed in the outer movements, and boring. Mathis der Maler was a Horenstein “speciality”. He recorded it for Unicorn, a performance quite similar to this one. The first two movements come across well enough, but the finale suffers from that fatal rhythmic stiffness so characteristic of many of Horenstein’s performances. It drags. Here, however, in addition in this 1954 French radio recording, the playing is often dismal, and the sonics excruciating. This release does nothing for Horenstein’s reputation. His fans won’t care. They never do.
