The Times’s music critic Anthony Tommasini selects his noteworthy recordings of the year, and tells you where to find them in the city’s now-altered classical buying landscape.
Buying Classical CDs in a Post-Tower-Records World
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
When it’s time to recommend noteworthy recordings of the year, I prefer to focus on new releases, not reissues. Still, some of the recordings I was most excited by in 2006 were boxed-set releases of historic items. Before getting to that, though, an obvious question comes up.
Where are classical music lovers in New York supposed to purchase all the recordings recommended by New York Times critics now that Tower Records is going out of business? The store near Lincoln Center shut it doors for good last week, which was, in a way, a relief: it was too depressing to see those decimated bins and empty shelves that once offered the closest thing there was to a comprehensive selection.
There are alternatives, though, and some of them may expand their offerings in light of Tower’s demise.
I recently returned to the classical music section at J&R Music World on Park Row in Lower Manhattan, a block south of City Hall. It does not have the extensive holdings that the Tower near Lincoln Center boasted. Still, the offerings were sizeable and smartly chosen. The guiding spirit there is Jeff Tarlo, an endearingly disheveled New York character and a salesman whom many classical buffs depend on for trustworthy tips.
The record department at Barnes & Noble near Lincoln Center has seen an uptick in business since the dismantling of the Tower across the street. You’d think it would be an opportune time for the store to expand its classical music offerings. Alas, limited shelf space is a problem. Drop by, and you will find enticing items, though not necessarily what you came in looking for.
Many classical music buyers in New York swear by Academy Records at 12 West 18th Street, near Fifth Avenue, which specializes in used recordings on CD and vinyl. You can certainly find some exciting items, often at good prices, and informed staffers to help you.
But as I said in an earlier eulogy to the Tower near Lincoln Center, many buyers, willingly or not, are going to turn to online options. The site of choice for many collectors is ArkivMusic.com, which prides itself on being devoted only to classical music. The site has hot picks each week and easy-to-navigate listings. E-mail inquiries are answered expediently, and the prices are sometimes the best online.
Now, as promised, here are some reissues that I was excited to see this year, as well a historic recording of Wagner’s “Ring” in its first-ever release.
WAGNER, ‘DAS RHEINGOLD’
(Testament, two CDs)
It turns out that the landmark account of Wagner’s “Ring” with Georg Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, begun in 1958, was not the first stereo version. Before that some enterprising Decca engineers attended the Bayreuth Festival in Germany in 1955 and recorded the “Ring” live, in stereo, with the great German conductor Joseph Keilberth. Testament has been releasing the operas one at a time, first “Siegfried,” then “Die Walküre” and now “Das Rheingold.” The casts are incomparable, with Hans Hotter, in his prime, as Wotan; Astrid Varnay, the gleaming Brünnhilde; and Wolfgang Windgassen, in clarion voice, as Siegfried. But Mr. Keilberth’s organic conducting is the revelation. “Götterdämmerung” is due out early next year.
ARTURO TOSCANINI, THE COMPLETE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
Recordings 1941-42
(RCA Red Seal, 3 CDs)
In America, Toscanini was primarily associated with the New York Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. But he worked on occasion with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and this remarkable boxed set from RCA presents performances that he recorded with the this great ensemble at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. As the liner notes explain, though the perfectionist Toscanini demanded precision from the players, he did not try to alter the basic warm, rich sonority of the orchestra.
So the performances captured here have richness quite different from the burnished sound Toscanini drew from the NBC Symphony on those famous live recordings. I especially love the Philadelphia performances of Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C, the “Great,” and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony, performances of pliancy and grace, though with plenty of fire. Debussy’s orchestral masterpiece “La Mer” is also scintillating.
MOZART, THE COMPLETE
Piano Concertos
Murray Perahia (pianist and conductor), the English Chamber Orchestra (Sony Classical, 12 CDs)
In 1975 the pianist Murray Perahia began recording the complete 27 piano concertos of Mozart with the English Chamber Orchestra, conducting from the keyboard. The project took more than a dozen years. Mr. Perahia brings crispness, melting lyricism and, when called for, impish humor to his Mozart, and draws stylish, supple playing from this fine chamber orchestra. Sony Classical has reissued the recordings as a complete set, which should bring new attention to Mr. Perahia’s labor of love.
VERDI, REQUIEM
Sutherland, Horne, Pavarotti, Talvela; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, conductor (Decca, 2 CDs)
There have been so many good recordings of Verdi’s gripping Requiem over the years that I had almost forgotten about this one, recorded in Vienna in 1967 with Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Chorus. Decca has just reissued it. Wow!
Solti draws an electrifying performance from this great orchestra and his stellar roster of vocal soloists.
The soprano Joan Sutherland is in her glory. Though her husband, the conductor Richard Bonynge, molded Ms. Sutherland into a leading exponent of Bel Canto opera and was crucial to her longevity, she often did her most exciting work under other conductors who pushed her to take chances, asSolti does here.
Marilyn Horne is the formidable mezzo-soprano, Martti Talvela the stentorian bass. And Luciano Pavarotti, 32 at the time, is amazing, singing with youthful energy and throbbing intensity.
No wonder the opera world was agog when he appeared on the scene during this period. (The release includes Solti’s vibrant later recording of Verdi’s “Four Sacred Pieces,” with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.)
ROSSINI, ‘SEMIRAMIDE’
Sutherland, Horne; Richard Bonynge, conductor, London Symphony (Decca, 3 CDs)
To give Mr. Bonynge his due, he inspires a memorable account of the title role in “Semiramide” from Ms. Sutherland in this classic recording from 1965-66 of Rossini’s greatest serious opera.
But the big news at the time was the staggering singing of Ms. Horne in the trouser role of Arsace, a valiant warrior and the tormented son of Semiramide, the conniving queen of Babylon.
Though there is a womanly allure in Ms. Horne’s sound, the sheer virility of her signing, the fearless leaps and the flawless coloratura runs give the portrayal a heroic cast. It’s good to have this re-engineered release available.
No matter where you head to find these recordings, in stores or online, happy hunting.
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