Musical Heritage Society is doing yeoman work in keeping available excellent but rapidly deleted titles such as this one. Herbert Blomstedt coaxes magnificent playing from his San Francisco strings and brass in his absolutely stunning rendition of the Konzertmusik (an incredible second movement in particular), squeezes the maximum of charm and humor from Schwanendreher (and has an excellent soloist in Geraldine Walther), and finds both serenity (first movement) and the necessary grandeur (Passacaglia finale) in Nobilissima Visione. State of the art sound too. Here’s yet another sad example of the inability of major labels to consistently support and promote fine performances of great music over the long term. Let’s hope MHS proves more enlightened. First indications leave room for doubt. Yes, they released it, but their website describes this music’s chief quality as “cerebral introspection”. Now there’s a recommendation for you! Nothing could be further from the facts. This is warm, humane, red-blooded, beautiful music down to its last note. Buy it and enjoy it as such. [6/28/2001]
