I just don’t understand the folks at BBC Legends. Some of their releases (the Britten: The Performer series, for example) give eloquent testimony to the gems buried in their archives. But they seem to spend most of their time releasing recordings of music that the same artists recorded commercially, usually in much better sound, in the process completely disproving the theory that live performances have more excitement and spontaneity than studio efforts and are therefore inherently of interest. Their latest waste of plastic consists of John Barbirolli’s sluggish trudge with the LSO through Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, whose studio-recorded counterpart already has been released on EMI in tandem with Mahler’s Sixth, where it sounds far more persuasive than it does here. Why? Because despite some odd balances (such as the overly prominent harps), the commercial recording not only features far more accurate playing, but it allows the listener to take in all the interesting detail that Barbirolli’s studied approach uncovers. Live, he simply sounds slow and dull, especially in the opening section (“The Hero”) and in the relentlessly flat-footed battle sequence, which between them comprise (or should comprise) the most exciting music in the whole work. Moreover, the broadcast recording offers a restricted dynamic range, opaque and congested climaxes, and makes the brass playing sound positively hideous.
Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony suffers less from sonic problems, being scored for smaller orchestra, but Barbirolli’s interpretation offers nothing in the way of interest or insight that would compete with the top, say, dozen versions already available, nor that would justify purchase of this disc for this one work alone. In addition, the playing of the LSO is nothing to cheer about. Both the first movement and finale, in particular, reveal Sir John taking some time to warm up and achieve a stable tempo, just the sort of thing you don’t want to preserve forever on disc, even though in this case there isn’t any commercial competition. Of course, it’s never wise to speak in absolutes, and there are circumstances where live recordings of the same works by the same artists can offer an improvement over a studio effort (BBC’s release of Giulini’s Verdi Requiem is a case in point), but absent clear sonic or interpretive advantages there seems little reason to recommend these uninspired, partially redundant, unimpressive-sounding air checks. Beyond that, how does a disc like this serve the reputation of the artist? Get with it, BBC!
