Behind the Scenes--The French orchestral gavotte ... Great hits revived ... Kleiber up to date.
ONF. In 1974, the Orchestre National de l'ORTF celebrated a happy fortieth anniversary; after the disastrously lackluster Sixties, and despite the challenge of the newly created Orchestre de Paris (which proved little challenge after all), the orchestra had regained the prestige of its prewar and postwar glory years, thanks primarily to the directorship of a remarkably wise and able administrator, Pierre Vozlinsky. Then came a near-fatal blow: As part of a bureaucratic shuffle designed to streamline the central government, the Office de Radio diffusion-Télévision Francaise itself was "dismantled," its numerous functions variously fragmented, cut back, switched to other government agencies, or eliminated altogether.
The ORTF's regional orchestras were reduced to three, and in Paris the Orchestre Philharmonique and Orchestre Lyrique will be merged. The National became the Orchestre National de France, but mère than the name was streamlined. The démantlement was designed to "trim personnel" (the official phrase is " dégraisser les effectifs," which has a particularly ugly and impersonal ring); the principal strategy was forced retirement at sixty and generous early retirement at fifty-five. As a result, the National was decimated, losing not only numerical strength (" effectifs"), but also its most experienced players.
Somebody apparently realized that you can't "trim" a symphony orchestra, and the National is now budgeted for 117 people, ironically an increase of nine over its previous size. But to reach that figure, forty-four new musicians will have to be hired all at once, whereupon the whole will have to be re-forged into an ensemble. (No doubt there is a bureaucrat paid to ex plain where the "economy" comes in here. The new retirement program is surely costing a small fortune; and until permanent replacements can be hired, the ONF must engage large numbers of free-lance musicians, many of whom are the newly retired former members of the orchestra!) Vozlinsky meanwhile seems deter mined to preserve and expand the National's role as a "means of animation" in French musical life. In a first rate "dossier" on the ONF's current situation, the September 1975 issue of the French magazine Harmonie quotes Vozlinsky at length on his artistic philosophy, and he makes clear that the orchestra must maintain an innovative role with respect to repertory (while maintaining the highest standards of quality), both as a broad cast orchestra and as one of the dominant forces in Paris concert activity.
Naturally recordings will play a part in the ONF's future. In September, guest conductor Leonard Bern stein conducted and recorded the Berlioz Requiem (for which tenor Stuart Burrows and the Orchestre Philharmonique were also pressed into service) and a Ravel program (including Scheherazade with Marilyn Horne) for CBS. Decca/London plans a Schumann disc conducted by Kurt Masur, including the piano concerto played by one B. Rigutto.
Kleiber. A word of clarification concerning our November report on Carlos Kleiber's EMI contract: If the re port gave the impression, without precisely saying so, that the contract is exclusive, that's because our information did the same. In fact, though, the EMI contract covers only the complete Wozzeck and one or two orchestral recordings. EMI certainly hopes for a great deal more, but Kleiber continues to make his recordings on an individual basis. DG, which already has his highly successful Freischütz and Beethoven Fifth in its catalogue, re mains very much in the picture.
Great Hits from Yesteryear. That's the series name of the first records on the Realistic label, available from Radio Shack dealers for $2.99 each ($3.99 for cassettes and eight-track cartridges). Each of the first five records contains ten original recordings from its period. "Hits of the '40s," prepared for Radio Shack by Capitol Records, features such performers as the Andrews Sisters, Harry James, and Johnny Mercer. The other records were manufactured by Columbia Special Products, though not necessarily drawn from the Columbia catalogue: "Top Hits of the '50s" (the Everly Brothers, the Penguins, et al.); "Top Hits of the '60s," Vols. 1 and 2 (the Kingsmen, the Byrds, et al.); and "Top Hits of the '70s" (Santana, Mac Davis, et al.). Die verkaufte Braut. Eurodisc has made a new quadriphonic recording of Smetana's Bartered Bride, with Czech conductor Jaroslav Krombholc conducting Bavarian Radio forces.
Teresa Stratas, René Kollo, and Walter Berry sing Marie, Hans, and Kezal, respectively. (We haven't inadvertently substituted the German forms for the Czech character names; the recording is in German.) Verdi's pirate. "All in all, this Masna dieri sets a new standard for the
'Verdi revival' recordings." So An drew Porter concluded his December review of Philips' recorded premiere of the work, and Verdi fans should be heartened to learn that Philips has re enlisted Montserrat Caballé, the big gun of its Masnadieri maneuver, for the latest offensive in its early-Verdi campaign. For Il Corsaro, Caballé is joined by Jessye Norman, José Carreras, Gian Piero Mastromei, Clifford Grant, Alexander Oliver (singing two parts, a eunuch and a slave-sounds like one of those days when it just doesn't pay to get out of bed), and John Noble. The conductor, of course, is Philips' resident Verdiano, Lamberto Gardelli.
Boulez. Pierre Boulez and the New York Philharmonic returned from their European tour in time to open their 1975-76 season, the last in the Philharmonic/Fisher Hall we have come to know and ... er, know. (At the end of the season the interior of the hall will be gutted and rebuilt from scratch.) Naturally that means periodic trips to the recording studio; this fall's first projects were Stravinsky's Song of the Nightingale (completion of a project begun last season), Bartók's Wooden Prince, and Wagner's Liebesmahl der Apostel (The Last Supper-a piece for men's chorus and orchestra written in 1843 as part of Wagner's official duties as Hofkapellmeister in Dresden), followed by Falla's Three-Cornered Hat (the complete ballet, with Jan DeGaetani) and Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite.
Berlin, 1908-9. In February 1975, Andrew Porter reviewed Discophilia's release of the acoustical recording of Carmen (KS 1/3), with Emmy Destinn and Karl Jorn, made in Berlin in 1908.
At the time Discophilia promised to issue the Faust, also in German, made the same year. Now German News Company, the U.S. distributor, in forms us that the Faust is on its way.
Destinn and Jorn are the Marguerite and Faust, with Paul Knüpfer (Mé phisto), Desider Zador (Valentin), Marie Gifitze ( Siébel), and Ida von Scheele-Müller (Marthe). The conductor is again Bruno Seidler-Winkler.
Another Berlin acoustical set is announced in Preiser's Court Opera Classics series: the 1909 Tannhauser Act II with Fritz Vogelstrom (Tannhäuser), Anny Krull (Elisabeth), Hermann Weil (Wolfram), and Leon Rains (Landgraf). Preiser too is distributed by German News.
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(High Fidelity, Jan. 1976)
Also see:
Classical: Milstein's Bach ... Die tote Stadt ... Beethoven choral works