Concert - Leonora Overture No. 3, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in G Op. 58, Tristan und Isolde / Hans Knappertsbusch, Birgit Nilsson, Wilhelm Backhaus, Vienna Philharmonic

Rating:
Summary: An Extraodinary Treasure!
Review: Hans Knappertsbusch was, as the Amazon review indicates, one of the last Great Conductors, especially with the repertoires of Bruckner, Beethoven and Wagner. His personality as well as his remarkable spiritual grasp of music made him absolutely a commanding presence to the orchestras and the patrons of his time. He was ever his own man and even the Iron Fist of Nazi Germany could not make him buckle. He refused to cowtow to fascists of any stripe and for that reason alone will always remain a hero to Music itself.
The DVD herein presents Kna in a televised broadcast with one of his favourite orchestras. He never held much stock in rehearsal, preferring to work without a net to add that sense of spontaneity and danger to surrendering oneself to the confidences of Music. In this particular concert, he and the Vienna orchestra deliver magic and wonders!
His take on EROICA, is not at all magestic. Instead, the Overture opens with a sense of tragedy, that all is not as it might seem for an heroic figure. Anyone who has struggled to achieve anything in their life will know exactly what loss is also carried in victory.
Wilhelm Backhaus, the legendary pianist, delivers the Piano Concerto in G and the sympatico between Kna and Backhaus is a wonder to listen to. Backhaus was, seemingly, born at a piano, and born as well to play Beethoven. That German TV had the presence of mind to select this concert is an extraordinary testament to their artistic devotions. The concert finishes with Wagner and Birgit Nilsson, the finest Wagnerian soprano ever. And what a performance from Tristan and Isolde! Absolutely sublime!
This is a treasure! The sound is remarkable, given the state of recording in 1962. Kna's twilight was arising and he must have had a sense of Time running. His Parsifal and his Ring cycle from these last years were as good as opera gets. Years later on the seminal detective series, "Inspector Morse" on PBS television, the Wgner pieces most often quoted in scoring that series were Knappertsbusch. Fittingly, Morse, as a character, had much in common with Knappertsbusch: a refusal to follow norms for the sheer sake of following them, a belief in his own intellectual prowess, and a conviction that in the moment of spontaneity, like minded souls rose to the occasion. There was also that element fo tragedy that Kna found inside the score itself that required no other embellishment than an honest and disciplined and committed articulation from the artist. This DVD is a treasure for the human soul who seeks ever and always to be true. We owe the producers at ORF a tremendous debt of gratitude for releasing this extraordinary concert by extraordinary artists.

Rating:
Summary: Sublime Indeed
Review: Yes, Nilsson is sublime and more so is Backhaus: it's simply poetic and majestic. One needs to ask himself if other than Wagner, Knappersbusch is equally superb with Beethoven.

The recording, both sound and sight, is acceptable. But it's far from the best, particularly when it was filmed in Vienna in 1962 at a time when we already have stereo recording.

For the piano, it's unmistakenly Backhaus. But for the orchestra, one could barely recognise that it is the Vienna Philharmonic and in any event, the hissing is rather strong.

As far as the photography of Backhaus is concerned, owing to the poor positions of the camera, for about half of the time we can only see part of his right hand ( i.e. the back of his right hand and the first knuckle) plus his profile. For the rest, it's a view of his back at about 50 degree from the air a bit to the right. So, again more often than not, we can only see his right hand. And what's more, the camera often wanders away from the instrument/section playing the theme and there is no exception for the piano: at one time, it would only casually cover it when it's playing the solo part couple of bars later; at another time, it simply wanders away a few bars before it finishes! There were occasions when the camera covers the members of the orchestra who were not playing at all!!

Nevertheless, we are grateful for what we have for giving us some important clues as to how this pianistic giant actually tamed his instrument. Well, the more you watch this DVD, the more you're convinced that no contempories could compare with Hofmann, Lhevinne, Rachmaninov & Backahus.