Posted by richard on July 24, 2003 at 18:59:49:
In Reply to: CSO VAI Historic Telecast DVDs posted by Steven on July 24, 2003 at 12:48:15:
Here are the facts. The three VAI CSO DVDs comprise the contents of the five VHS tapes previously issued. The DVD with the two Szell programs is the least interesting unless you are a Szell fanatic. Even so, he is much less at ease guest conducting the CSO than he is with his hometown band in Cleveland. Both programs exemplify WGN's worst studio location for an orchestra. No Jake on either program.
The DVD with the Munch and Monteux programs is much better. The Monteux was taped at the Sheraton Hotel Ballroom with an appreciative live audience, and the acoustics and sound are decent. Not much tuba, only the Intro to Act III of Meistersinger, but the program offers lively renditions of Beethoven's 8th, and Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture. Monteux was about 86. The Munch was taped at Orchestra Hall. Though Jacobs and his colleagues don't get quite the on-camera treatment as in the Hindemith, they are shown at appropriate moments, Jake during a major lick in La Valse. Munch has to be seen to be believed. He was known for spontaneity, and he communicated an incredible range of nuance with his face and eyes. The sound of the DVD seems more open and less compressed than the VHS. Even the rather sleepy Rameau/D'Indy Dardanus comes to life, not for its own merits, but because of the attention Munch gives it.
I have seen only portions of the Reiner/Stokowski/Hindemith DVD at a friend's, but as reported below, this is the "Jake" program. He's not on the Reiner, but Reiner in his 1954 prime, full of piss and vinigar leading a bitchin' Beethoven 7th is. This is not the same Beethoven 7th excerpted in the Art of the Conductor video, which was taped in 1962 after a major illness and shows him hardly able to move, and probably on medications. The Stokowski was taped in the same studio as the Szell, but leave it to Stoky to transcend the awful acoustics, and get his usual lush sound from the CSO.
Any questions?