<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating Document of Solti Rehearsing
Review: This DVD contains extensive rehearsal sequences followed by concert performances of the pieces rehearsed--Wagner's Overture to 'Tannhäuser' and the 'Rákóczi March' ('Hungarian March') from Berlioz' 'Damnation of Faust.' These rehearsals were taped for Süddeutscher Rundfunk Stuttgart in 1966 and 1968 and are in black and white. The sound is reasonably good and the camerawork is excellent. The orchestra is that of the South German Radio (Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart), a second-tier orchestra but one which obviously knows intimately the music in question. Consequently the rehearsal process is that of Solti impressing upon his musicians his conception of the pieces and then seeing those ideas taking shape. It is fascinating to see, up close, Solti's kinetic conducting style, his intimate knowledge of the score, his running commentary to the orchestra as they are playing large chunks of the pieces in rehearsal. He takes especial care to get rhythmic precision and subtle dynamic gradations. His comments are generally encouraging as well as instructive, although occasionally a little irritation shows when he doesn't get what he's asking for. What is fascinating is to see his conception taking shape before our very eyes/ears. For instance, he instructs the superb principal clarinetist on how he wants the seductive Venus theme in the Tannhäuser Overture to go (singing in his croaking 'conductor's voice') and one hears the effect on the clarinet's playing--it immediately becomes more beguiling. I'm not sure who this DVD is intended for. I, for one, have always been fascinated by the rehearsal process and have been a spectator at more orchestral rehearsals than I can count. I suspect there may be others like me who don't have a professional interest in the process but who nonetheless find the behind-the-scenes aspects instructive and entertaining. I can certainly imagine young conductors and conducting students finding much to learn here. The rehearsals are conducted entirely in the Hungarian Solti's excellent German, but there are quite good English subtitles--whoever did them did a terrific job including spot on translations of somewhat esoteric German musical terminology--and there are French and Spanish subtitle options as well. There is, in this series from Süddeutscher Rundfunk, a DVD of rehearsals by Sergiu Celibidache as well. In it he rehearses Bruckner's Mass in F with his own Munich Philharmonic and soloists Margaret Price, Doris Soffel, Peter Straka, Matthias Hölle and Hans Sotin. I haven't seen it but expect it would be equally fascinating. Scott Morrison
Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Document of Solti Rehearsing
Review: This DVD contains extensive rehearsal sequences followed by concert performances of the pieces rehearsed--Wagner's Overture to 'Tannhäuser' and the 'Rákóczi March' ('Hungarian March') from Berlioz' 'Damnation of Faust.' These rehearsals were taped for Süddeutscher Rundfunk Stuttgart in 1966 and 1968 and are in black and white. The sound is reasonably good and the camerawork is excellent. The orchestra is that of the South German Radio (Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart), a second-tier orchestra but one which obviously knows intimately the music in question. Consequently the rehearsal process is that of Solti impressing upon his musicians his conception of the pieces and then seeing those ideas taking shape. It is fascinating to see, up close, Solti's kinetic conducting style, his intimate knowledge of the score, his running commentary to the orchestra as they are playing large chunks of the pieces in rehearsal. He takes especial care to get rhythmic precision and subtle dynamic gradations. His comments are generally encouraging as well as instructive, although occasionally a little irritation shows when he doesn't get what he's asking for. What is fascinating is to see his conception taking shape before our very eyes/ears. For instance, he instructs the superb principal clarinetist on how he wants the seductive Venus theme in the Tannhäuser Overture to go (singing in his croaking 'conductor's voice') and one hears the effect on the clarinet's playing--it immediately becomes more beguiling. I'm not sure who this DVD is intended for. I, for one, have always been fascinated by the rehearsal process and have been a spectator at more orchestral rehearsals than I can count. I suspect there may be others like me who don't have a professional interest in the process but who nonetheless find the behind-the-scenes aspects instructive and entertaining. I can certainly imagine young conductors and conducting students finding much to learn here. The rehearsals are conducted entirely in the Hungarian Solti's excellent German, but there are quite good English subtitles--whoever did them did a terrific job including spot on translations of somewhat esoteric German musical terminology--and there are French and Spanish subtitle options as well. There is, in this series from Süddeutscher Rundfunk, a DVD of rehearsals by Sergiu Celibidache as well. In it he rehearses Bruckner's Mass in F with his own Munich Philharmonic and soloists Margaret Price, Doris Soffel, Peter Straka, Matthias Hölle and Hans Sotin. I haven't seen it but expect it would be equally fascinating. Scott Morrison
<< 1 >>
| 
