Box Set of a Conductor Who Deserved Better

Back cover of the box showing the original album sleeves of all of the recording in the collection being discussed (from the Amazon.com Web page)

The full title of the latest box set to be released by Sony Classical is Louis Lane Conducts the Cleveland Orchestra – The Complete Epic and Columbia Album Collection. Lane joined at Cleveland Orchestra as an apprentice conductor to George Szell in 1947. He then “went through the ranks” through a series of promotions: Assistant Conductor in 1955, Associate Conductor in 1960, and Resident Conductor in 1970. Many probably know the stories about how Szell could not tolerate the pianist Glenn Gould, so Lane conducted Gould’s performances in Cleveland.

Sadly, none of those performances were included in the new Sony Classical box set. Indeed, only the last four of the fourteen CDs in this collection cite Lane as conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. The other thirteen cite him as leading either The Cleveland Pops Orchestra or The Cleveland Sinfonietta. Mind you, there is more than a little substance in those last four CDs. One of them accounts for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 334 divertimento in D major, which extends to six movements in duration. Another is the complete ballet score for The Creatures of Prometheus, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 43. Where dance history is concerned, this is a bit of an outlier, with choreography that predated first the Italians and then the Russians. A more contemporary approach to ballet can be found in the album of suites from “The Wise Virgins” (arrangements of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach by William Walton) and “The Good-Humored Ladies” (Vincenzo Tommasini’s orchestrations of the keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti). Finally, there is an interesting “first symphonies” album, coupling Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 1 in C minor with Franz Schubert’s D. 82 (first completed) symphony in D major.

For better or worse, none of the preceding CDs in the collection are in my wheelhouse. I suspect that the collection of arrangements of tunes from Broadway shows is the most cringe-inducing, but I have no trouble with listeners that would take that CD to be their favorite! Also, there are opportunities to listen to the works of composers who are now pretty much forgotten, such as Arthur Foote, Morton Gould, and Walter Piston. Indeed, if I have any affection at all for the pops genre, it would be for Gould’s “American Salute,” which I played in high school!

Nevertheless, I do not see myself returning to this collection with much frequency!