Barbirolli on the Continent

Sir John Barbirolli: The Complete Warner Recordings includes five CDs of recordings made on the European continent. In chronological order these sessions account for the following repertoire:

1. January, 1964: Gustav Mahler’s ninth symphony in D minor performed by the Berlin Philharmonic in recording sessions at the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in the Dahlem section of Berlin
2. December, 1967: the four symphonies of Johannes Brahms, along with the “Academic Festival” and “Tragic” overtures and the Opus 56a orchestral version of the set of variations on a theme attributed to Joseph Haydn performed by the Vienna Philharmonic in recording sessions in the Großer Saal (great hall) of the Musikverein in Vienna
3. December, 1968: Claude Debussy’s set of three orchestral nocturnes and the three “symphonic sketches” collected under the title “La mer” (the sea) performed by the Orchestre de Paris in recording sessions at the Salle Wagram in Paris

Other than the recordings that Barbirolli made with the New York Philharmonic between 1936 and 1942, these are the recording sessions that took place away from British soil that have been most circulated. A more thorough account can be found on the Discography tab on the Barbirolli Web page compiled by the AllMusic Web site.

My personal opinion is that the “jewel in the crown” of these sessions can definitely be found in Vienna. Accounting for the conductors that have presented their interpretations of Brahms in the Musikverein almost defies enumeration, and I suspect that any number of readers might be skeptical about what this British conductor of Italian and French parentage could possibly have added to the mix to deserve attention. Indeed, the Hallé sessions are decidedly scant in the Brahms compositions that were recorded.

Nevertheless, Brahms has suffered under too many conductors that approach his music with a business-as-usual attitude. So it is most important to recognize that Barbirolli is not one of those conductors. Even in the Opus 80 “Academic Festival” overture, he appreciates the many subtleties in Brahms’ score, never overplaying them but always making sure that they register with the attentive listener. For several decades Sergiu Celibidache has been the Brahms conductor most likely to get me to sit up and take notice. Now I realize that Barbirolli can summon my listening skills just as effectively.

The same may be said of his approach to Mahler in Berlin. I first took notice of Barbirolli’s expressive interpretations of Mahler when Sir John Barbirolli: The Great EMI Recordings was released to mark the 40th anniversary of the conductor’s death. (That collection included many Barbirolli recordings that I previously had on vinyl.) The EMI anthology included Mahler’s fifth symphony, which I had experienced many times under many different conductors; but my attention was locked in on Barbirolli’s reading from beginning to end. Lightning struck again, with just as much impact, when his recording of the sixth symphony was included in EMI’s Complete Works Mahler collection to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The Berlin recording of the ninth predates the sessions for both the fifth and the sixth, but the impact is just as great.

Barbirolli’s Debussy recordings are much more spare. The fact is that the combined duration of the two works he recorded in Paris is shorter than that of the Mahler ninth. Another fact is that neither of these pieces shows up in Barbirolli’s New York recordings. However, that earlier collection includes “Ibéria,” the second of the three Images pour orchestre compositions and the rhapsody for clarinet and orchestra, as well as the orchestral arrangement of the final “Ballet” movement from the four-hand Petite Suite. However, even if the Paris selections are the most familiar warhorses, Barbirolli is as sensitively attentive with his musicians as he had previous been with the Viennese and the Berliners.