George Szell - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4; Beethoven: Music from 'Egmont' (1990)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 323 Mb | Total time: 64:05 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Decca | # 425 972-2 | Recorded: 1962, 1969
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 323 Mb | Total time: 64:05 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Decca | # 425 972-2 | Recorded: 1962, 1969
Szell's performance is again of quite a different order, one of the very finest ever put on disc, white hot even beyond Bernstein's. The late John Culshaw, producer at the sessions in Walthamstow Assembly Hall in 1962, used to enjoy telling the story of winding up an already angry George Szell. That inspired tyrant of a conductor was furious at the start of the session to find that many players were not the same as those who had just given the concert performance with him. When he came back to listen to the first playback Culshaw deliberately kept the controls rather low, making the result seem dull. That prompted Szell, back on the podium, to unleash a force in the subsequent takes that has to be heard to be believed.