While the first two of the twenty CDs in the Bruno Walter: Complete Warner Classics Remastered Edition provided an informative account of the conductor’s early approaches to performing music by Ludwig van Beethoven, it would be fair to say that the third CD in the collection is “all over the map.” Put another way, the album is unevenly divided between the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries (in that order). Each of those centuries couples two composers: Felix Mendelssohn and Hector Berlioz in the first half and Arcangelo Corelli and George Frideric Handel in the second.
The first thing readers should recognize is that the concept of “historically-informed performance” was about half a century in the future of the recordings made of both Corelli and Handel. Both of them are performed by large ensembles: the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, which was established in Paris in 1828. (A personal “fun fact” is that Charles Munch became chief conductor of this ensemble in 1938; and, following the end of World War II, he made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in December of 1946. He would then become its Music Director in 1949.)
One way to approach this particular CD would be as “a tale of two cities.” Walter’s account of the Handel concerto grosso (Opus 6, Number 12) can be coupled with Berlioz’ Opus 14 “Symphonie fantastique” because they both involve the same Parisian ensemble. On the other hand, the rest of the album involves two London-based orchestra. Handel’s concerto grosso, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, is preceded by the eighth composition in Arcangelo Corelli’s Opus 6 concerti grossi, which was given the inscription “Fatto per la notte di Natal” (made for the night of Christmas). This is often casually known as the “Christmas concerto.”
An engraving of Hector Berlioz (from the Historical and Public Figures Collection at the New York Public Library, public domain in the United States, from Wikimedia Commons)
On the other hand, the CD begins with two excerpt performances by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The first of these is the “Nocturne” taken from Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 61, music he composed to be performed as part of the staging of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is followed by the “Menuet des follets” from the second part of Hector Berlioz’ Opus 24, La Damnation de Faust.
The good news is that technology now makes it easier to listen to these compositions individually without having to worry about whether or not the entire CD was conceived as a “journey!”
