In the early days of stereo, RCA released an all-Liszt LP by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops that has remained in my memory as one of the finest things the popular maestro ever committed to disc. Rather than feature its contents as the primary offering of a Living Stereo CD reissue, the producers have chosen to split its contents and use it as filler. Two works, the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 and the high energy Rákoczy March, have been out for some time, coupled with “Hi-Fi Fiedler” (Living Stereo 61497). Now RCA has added to this current disc the two main pieces, Mazeppa and Les Preludes, from the original collection. They are as wonderful as ever–among the best, if not the best, performances of this music. Fiedler doesn’t dawdle or toy around with the melodies; he lets Liszt’s Romantic vision speak for itself, helping it along with brisk tempos and incisive phrasing. Seldom have the fanfares in Les Préludes had such bite and majesty.
The recording is rich and full, with wide separation and good, tight bass, albeit with a little too much reverberation for absolute clarity. The sound deteriorates considerably for the two other offerings on this CD, which were originally recorded a little more than a year after the Liszt. The reverb has been replaced by a more closely focused sound that is harsh and constricted in climaxes, with some decidedly unpleasant cymbal clashes. Fiedler’s Prokofiev is fleet and effervescent, a fine performance undone by the engineering. The Chopin is serviceable, most interesting because it is not the usual Roy Douglas orchestration, but a slightly different one by Leroy Anderson and Peter Bodge. It suffers from being done at the same recording session as the Prokofiev. The Lizst works are the thing here, so please realize that the sound rating is an average for the whole disc.
