Mariss Jansons Live: The Radio Recordings, 1990-2014 (2015)

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Mariss Jansons Live: The Radio Recordings, 1990-2014 (2015)

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After having released boxed cd sets dedicated to former chief conductors Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Chailly (now only available as part of the RCO Live Radio Legacy, RCO 13006), the Anthology-series is now brought up to date with radio recordings featuring Mariss Jansons. After being chief conductor for eleven seasons, Jansons has resigned for health reasons. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's beloved sixth maestro will be succeeded by Daniele Gatti with effect from the 2016/2017 season.

This tribute to Mariss Jansons was compiled by Daniël Esser (former RCO cellist) and Lodewijk Collette (former head of RNW's Music Department), the very team that was responsible for all the previous Anthologies. Drawing on the wealth of recordings in the Dutch public broadcasting network archives and the archives of the BBC, Deutschlandradio and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, this selection emphasizes the extraordinary relationship between Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. It mixes repertoire commonly associated with the maestro with unexpected treats, such as works by Gubaidulina, Varèse and Louis Andriessen. This CD set is an important supplement to the existing discography of Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Mariss Jansons Live, The Radio Recordings 1990-2014 is a limited edition: no more than 1.500 copies are available.

Composer: Louis Andriessen, Hector Berlioz, Anton Bruckner, Maurice Ravel, …
Performer: Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Leo van Doeselaar, …
Conductor: Mariss Jansons
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Reviews: I do hope that R A Hall is happy for me to do this, but I have copied the contents of his helpful post so that I can construct my own review more easily. Overall I enjoyed listening to these performances, but I certainly didn't find them all terribly engaging.

CD1
BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique (01/04/1990) - This performance struck me as rather beautiful. The orchestra appears to be enjoying every moment, though the recorded sound places the orchestra at a distance. For most of the work this lends atmosphere, but in the March to the Scaffold and the Sabbath the brass are possibly a little too recessed to make enough of an impact. Still, a very enjoyable performance.
RAVEL: La Valse (04/02/2007) - This emerges from the mists impressively, and certainly works itself up to a frenzied, powerful conclusion.

CD2
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No.6 (31/10/2004) - This performance did not impress quite as much as I had hoped. Jansons' Chandos series contains an excellent 6th in which the Orchestra injects plenty of energy and drive. Here Jansons seems to rein things in too much, and I really missed the explosive power of Pletnev and Gergiev in the first movement in particular. The finale is very special, with strings singing gloriously, but by then I was not gripped enough to feel moved.
LUTOSLAWSKI: Concerto for Orchestra* (02/09/2005) - This is an electrifying performance in which the full colours of the orchestration show. The Concertgebouw scintillates throughout.

CDs 3 & 4
BARTOK: Concerto for Orchestra (06/06/2003) - Here the distancing of the sound blunts the impact far too much. So many recordings of the Concerto for Orchestra blaze in a way that this recording simply cannot. The tangy colouring of Bartok's score are a little lost, though the pacing is excellent and the Orchestra does play well.
MAHLER: Symphony No.7 (07/12/2000) - Here we have a problem. My own personal issue is that I have over 60 recordings of the 7th (plus more from streaming services) and this matches very few in energy. It does not help that the Concertgebouw was clearly having an off-day, or at least the Brass players were. The first trumpet fluffs too many times in the first movement, and sometimes disappears altogether in the finale. Even these great woodwinds suffer moments of scrambled ensemble in the first few minutes, and the recorded sound does not allow for any real clarity. Jansons' conducting makes great sense of the first movement, however, and the finale does dance.
HINDEMITH: Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber (08/06/2007) - Here the brass are punchy, the winds are pungent and the conducting is full of drive and enthusiasm. A riot of a performance.
WAGEMANS: Moloch (08/06/2007) - Most entertaining. I had not heard this piece, so it was a real pleasure to hear the Orchestra play it like it meant it.

CD5
STRAUSS: Till Elulenspiegel (24/10/2008) - I enjoyed this performance, thought I do wonder if it was ultimately a little devitalised. Jansons' conducting doesn't seem to have much of a string in its step when it needs to.
WEBERN: Im Sommerwind ((29/05/2008) - This is usually a fairly atmospheric piece, but here I missed that atmosphere. The Orchestra sounds like its going through the motions, not particularly inspired by Webern's early work.
BRAHMS: Symphony No.1* (02/09/2005) - This is a very safe performance that I would have been happy to hear in the concert hall but won't be too excited to repeat on disc. In the finale the wonderful brass lines simply remain earthbound, and there is little of the sense of fantasy that you find in the Abbado and Chailly recordings. But it's still an enjoyable performance as such.

CD6
SCHUMANN: Symphony No.1 (23/05/2008) - This is somewhat livelier than the Brahms. Punchy rhythms and enthusiastic energy seem to be the order of the day, and the whole Symphony (No.1, by the way, not No.2 as listed by the kind reviewer from whom I have borrowed) comes up fresh as a daisy.
SIBELIUS: Symphony No.1* (31/08/2009) - This is another piece that is hugely represented in my collection, and that collection includes a truly outstanding first from Jansons in Oslo. Oddly the playing here is even better, at least on a technical level, but tempi are often too slow for the piece to catch fire. Or maybe it's just that the orchestra struggled with the RAH acoustic in which hearing one another can be very difficult. For me the first moment hangs fire from time to time, which is a shame because the atmosphere is powerful.

CD7
BARTOK: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta** (05/09/2010) - This is a superb performance, full of rhythmic vitality and all the Hungarian tang that you could wish for. One of the highlights of the set, for sure. Much better than the Concerto for Orchestra.
BEETHOVEN: Egmont Overture** (11/09/2010) - This is not recorded quite so expansively as the Symphony, and so it comes across as a little Earthbound. But it is excellently played without being particularly memorable.
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No.5 (29/05/2008) - This is more like it! The Orchestra is given somewhat more resplendent sound, and it expands into the acoustic space brilliantly. I love the energy of this performance and found it gripping from start to finish.

CD8
SCHOENBERG: A Survivor from Warsaw** (with Sergei Leiferkus, 04/09/2012) - This was my first encounter with a piece that I have been meaning to tackle. I expected it to be a rather difficult experience but it wasn't. For me it helped that the text is in English (though Leiferkus' accent made it very difficult for him to accurately articulate much of it), so the message hit home pretty squarely. The Orchestral players sound thoroughly engaged.
MUSSORGSKY: Songs and Dances of Death (with Ferruccio Furnaletto, 25/08/2010) - These are brilliantly sung and sensitively supported by a very darl-hued Concertgebouw. The soloist brings out all of the weight and power of the writing. An excellent performance despite the sad intrusion of a mobile phone a few second into the first song. Seriously? Who would do that? The performers seem not to notice!
JANACEK: Taras Bulba (05/11/2010) - This is another very good performance in many ways, though again I wonder if the final movement might have been given an extra vital boost. As the fires rise around Taras the performance does not seem to reach for the heights and I came away feeling a tiny bit short changed.
GUBAIDULINA: Feast During a Plague (21/10/2011) - I loved this! The orchestral effects are beautifully realised, and the electronic sections are wreighty and powerful.

CD9
STRAVINSKY: Capriccio (with Emanuel Ax, 21/10/2011) - This was simply great fun, with the pianist having a field day and the strings on top form.
VARESE: Ameriques (21/10/2011) - Another superb performance, capuring the mood, the sting and the atmosphere of the piece.
MESSAIEN: Hymne au Saint-Sacrement** (05/09/2008) - Ensemble - Particularly within the winds and strings - seems to have been outstanding in this performance. But there are also some magical moments right in the middle of the piece.
STRAVINSKY: Symphony of Psalms** (04/09/2012) - Here the winds really excel, and the choir is excellent too. Woodwing chording is immaculate, but there is also plenty of sensitivity in the choral signing. in the third section the brass really show what they can do. An excellent performance.

CD10
ROSSINI: Overture La gazza ladra (21/09/2014) -Simply great fun. Not much to go wrong here, especially when the playing is so sprightly and clean.
BERIO Dedicases** (05/09/2010) - Here the principal trumpet glows and shines above all else. The complex, often confusing soundworld is expertly handled. The Orchestra sounds like it's having a riot.
POULENC: Concerto for Organ, Timpani, and Strings (28/08/2008) - This possibly lacked the sense of occasion that I was expecting. The recorded sound leaves the orchestra with a lesser impact than I had expected, and the Organ could sound more expansive.
ANDRIESSEN: Mysterien - Version No.1 (03/11/2013) - Another piece new to me. It seems to project itself from the beyond, and the Concertgebouw give it plenty of heft. The only snag is that the recording is a little too close, robbing the work of some mystery. The rhythms are well caught, though.

CD11
STRAUSS: Tod und Verklarung (24/01/2013), - This expanded into the acoustic space rather better than Till, lending much more of a sense of occasion to the performance.
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No.2 (31/01/2010) - Oh no oh no. For me this performance was a fairly big problem. A wonderful first movement, full of subtle detail, tight ensemble and clarity of line sets the scene. And the excellence continues through the next two movements. Rachmaninov's autumnal sound comes through even though there is a certain deadness to the recorded sound. But the finale sports two problems. Firstly there is a definite lack of vitality and the whole thing sags in sections. But worse is the wacking great cut! Why, oh why in this day and age would any orchestra and conductor not play this Symphony in its complete form? That said, Jansons' approach is too laid back, so the movement would probably have buckled without the cut! It's a shame: I love the brass chorales that have been excised. Still, the strings sing their lines nicely and the end is exciting enough. But why why why…..?

CD12
WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude und Liebestod (04/02/2011) - This is a gloriously hefty performance. The very stillness of the writing is wonerfully caught, this time without loss of forward momentum. The strings sound sumptuous.
BRUCKNER: Symphony No.3** (05/09/2008) - I thought that this was a storming performance, gripping from the start to finish. The playing is simply amazing in every department, flawless in its execution. Jansons just seems to find the right sense of line and cumulative power throughout. A wonderful Bruckner 3.

CD13
MARTINU: Violin Concerto No.2 (with Frank Peter Zimmermann, 23/12/2010) - This was, for me, the best thing in this set. Zimmerman is pretty much peerless in his technical command, glowing tone and muscular rhythmic punch, and he is more than ably matched by Jansons' Concertgebouw. Very often I wonder how the magical, other-worldly qualities of Martinu recordings can be achieved with a conventional orchestra and it's tempting to think that there is some trickery going on. But here is a live, one-off performance that still sounds like it's come from the Beyond. The Orchestral strings are simply outstanding.
PROKOFIEV: Symphony No.5 (21/09/2014) - Another very impressive performance, once again Rhythmically taut, springily conducted to deliver punch and verve. The finale is particularly well played.

So there we go. A set that contains many excellent things, but also many performances that are ultimately pretty devitalised. I never expected that from Jansons, but now the picture is clearer. He can be so exciting, but here that only actually happens sometimes. The highlights are surely the Prokofiev, the Stravinsky Cappriccio, the Martinu Concerto, The Lutoslawski Concerto and the Bruckner 3. The rest is variable and often good, but 'good' is not really good enough from the Concertgebouw!