Exactly one week from today, Warner Classics will release a 70-CD box set of recordings made by conductor Kurt Masur. Masur first came to public attention as Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, a position he held between 1970 and 1996. In 1991 he also became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, holding that position until 2002. The Warner collection includes EMI Classics recordings of Leipzig performances and Teldec albums of the New York Philharmonic. As may be expected, Amazon.com is currently taking pre-orders for this extensive profile of a major conductor of the twentieth century.
In comparison with other anthology releases, Masur’s repertoire is a bit more limited in scope, even when impressive in quantity. All 70 of the CDs account for music composed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with the twentieth century covering less than a third of the content. As a result, in order to provide a fair account of the content, I felt it necessary to divide the nineteenth century into subcategories. One of those categories is structured around Ludwig van Beethoven (with a few compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart included, even though he died before 1800). Brahms is also allotted a category of his own. The remainder of the nineteenth-century albums are then divided into “early” and “late” categories. This article will “begin the journey” with the “Beethoven+Mozart” category.
My first opportunity to observe Masur’s work on the podium took place back in the Eighties when I was on a business trip to San Francisco. Once I had taken care of moving into my hotel room, I went over to Davies Symphony Hall to see what tickets were available. By happy accident I found myself listening to Masur conducting the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in what I would still call the most riveting account of Beethoven’s Opus 60 (fourth) symphony in B-flat major that I have ever experienced. Masur’s attention to detail could not have been more meticulous, and the SFS players could not have been more attentive to his every gesture.
Sadly, Opus 60 is not included in the Warner Collection. Indeed, the only Beethoven symphony is the Opus 67 (fifth) C minor warhorse. This is one of the recordings made with the New York Philharmonic. As recordings go, it comes about as close to my San Francisco experience as I could have expected. The CD for that performance couples the symphony with a complete account of the incidental music that Beethoven composed for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play Egmont. This scores points for thoroughness. However, the overture rises way above all the other selections, particularly through the intensity of Masur’s interpretation.
The other Philharmonic recordings involve Beethoven and Mozart piano concertos. Hélène Grimaud performs Beethoven’s Opus 58 (fourth) concerto in G major, which is coupled with two solo performances of late piano sonatas, Opus 109 in E major and Opus 110 in A-flat major. Readers probably know by now that my feelings about Grimaud have never risen above lukewarm, and her performances with Masur have not changed that level of enthusiasm. More interesting are his recordings with Helen Huang, who is now on the faculty of the Juilliard School. She appears as soloist in Beethoven’s Opus 15 (first) piano concerto in C major and two Mozart concertos, K. 467 in C major and K. 488 in A major. These are definite high points in the entire collection.
Two Beethoven CDs are devoted to Gewandhaus recordings. One has Yehudi Menuhin playing the Opus 61 violin concerto in D major, sounding as if he had played it too many times (which was probably true). Somewhat more interesting was the account of the Opus 56 “triple” concerto. This brought together violinist Ulf Hoelscher, cellist Heinrich Schiff, and pianist Christian Zacharias, all with attentive chemistry through their interactions with Masur. Hoelscher also provided two “encore” tracks: the two “romances,” Opus 40 in G major and Opus 50 in F major.
Taken as a whole, this is a modest offering, suggesting that Masur’s recording engagements tended to be ruled by breadth, rather than depth.
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