Part of the reason, I admit, that I dislike the big Tosca is because of his sanctimonious disparagment of Furtwangler. Having said that, I knew nothing about that when I decided that everything I heard him do had a kind of freneticism about it. My introduction to classical music was mainly via the cheaper labels, especially Supraphon. Then along came the mighty Otto KLemp and after him I was always going to find it hard to adjust to conductors like Toscanini and Solti.
Mravinsky is an interesting case for me. When his recordings and CDs became available in the 70's and late 80's I collected quite a few: the mighty Mravinsky, I thought, why not?
I recall the first time I scratched my head and wondered. It was Bruckner's 9th Symphony. I had a mere five recordings of this work in my collection at that stage - I now have 55. I spent an afternoon comparing them. I had Furtwangler, Klemperer, Jochum Desden, Von Matacic and Mravinsky. The knock-out performance was Jochum's. Furtwangler's was also fantastic but the recording was relatively ancient. I loved the intensity of Klemperer but it lacked Jochum's litheness. Von Matacic was good, the good ole Czech Phil, but it lacked Jochum and Furtwangler's intensity. Mravinsky was simply fast and brutal. And apart from Dawn on the Moscow River from Mussorgski's Konvanchina, which is one of the most stunning things I've encountered - every time I went back to Mravisnky I sensed a manic attack very similar to Toscanini. My main witness for the charge of brutality is his horrible Shostakovich 15. Arg, the horror, the horror.
Finally, I will listen to Tosca's Parsifal: now there is a great piece of music.
The 'china shop' conductors are quite funny. Solti, of course, broke everything he conducted. And when there are that many bits you just sweep them up and put them in the bin.
Toscanini I disliked for many years until I heard him conduct Parsifal extracts with the BBCSO (obviously not live). It threw me. A lot of people dislike it; I love it. Far from a bull in a china shop it's the equivalent of watching grass grow or a very slow game of snooker. Or, a slow, slow burn. But it's also just beautiful. Generally, a lot of his Wagner is like that and it's wonderful. If I'd been born in 1887 I'd have heard his Parsifal at Bayreuth.
Mravinsky I can definitely live with. No one wants dull Shostakovich or Prokofiev; the more shattered it is the better. And listening to his rehearsals of some Shostakovich is terrifying. You don't need to understand Russian to know what is happening here.
Heifetz. When I was studying violin he was in many ways my idol (which young, teenage student doesn't want to play like Heifetz?). But, over the years I have come to dislike his recordings for much the reason you describe. His solo Bach is particularly cold. Give me Ferras, Oistrakh, Milstein, or Kogan any time. I just wish I knew these great violinists at 12 and I might have sounded better.
Pollini - just listen to his Boulez or Stockhausen. You just can't tell if it's perfect or not.
Karajan. The studio wasn't always kind to him. The concert hall was. There are, I am happy to say, many live recordings which prove Karajan was a firebrand conductor - and perfection wasn't a guarantee at some of his concerts. I saw him conduct some Berg and at the end thought he needed a doctor.
So, I do agree with most of what you write - but there is an alternative position to take. Rattle - well.......
After my last post re Under-rated masterpieces, I thought about the notion of Blind Spots. I had an experience with my writing which clarified my understanding of this concept. I had received an email from someone who could not see the point of reading further into the story I consider the best thing I've written. I understood that what he was getting at was to do with the notion of sensibilities. I mentioned to him that my wife loves the works of Gerald Murnane, Proust and Musil. I cannot read more than a page, in Murnane's case more than five sentences, without feeling bored and 'lost'. The writers I feel attuned to include Dostoevesky, Raymond Carver, Tobias Wolff, John Cheever, Alice Munro, if you get my drift. I mentioned a close friend who is a painter. He was invited to a Schoenberg Conference in Canada about ten years ago because he had incorporated Scoenberg into one of his paintings. My friend loves Schoenberg's music, he hates Anton Bruckner's music. I have every work Schoenberg wrote in my collection and hate every second of his music. I just don't 'get it'. I love Bruckner almost more than any other composer. My dislike of Schoenberg has nothing to do with atonality etc, because I love Webern and Berg. There is just something in Schoenberg that just grates on me. The early super-chromatic works are like being fed a diet of whipped cream and the later works sound clinical and come from a place I associate with the area called The Head: I love music, and writing, which comes from The Heart.
Thus my Musical Blind Spots:
Schoenberg: music from the wrong place.
Milhaud: flippy floppy stuff.
Mendelssohn: busy, busy, busy. Where's your soul, man?
Elgar's Dream of Gerontius: God spare me these kinds of dreams: I wish Gerontius permanent insomnia.
Philip Glass:Much of his music reminds me of the Stuck Record syndrome associated with faulty LP's, the same syndrome when CDS get stuck.
Rossini: Momma mia, a kind of perpetual inevitabity about much of his music, I do like some of his piano music, and the Petite Mass.
Liszt: much of his music is pyrotechnical and musically vapid. There are magnificent exceptions, but most of his music leaves me cold and shivering.
Messiaen: Perfect 'nothing' music for me.
Mahler: Symphony 8. Full of sound and fury.
Shostakovich: Symphony 7. Significant that the conductor I despise most - Toscanini conducted the Premiere. This music is the definition of kitsch.
Musicians who I don't understand, or 'get':
The conductors Toscanini, Solti, Mravinsky for reasons to do with bull at the gate, rhino in a china shop approach.
Rattle: I just shake my head every time I hear anything conducted by this charming man. Though I do like something about his Bruckner 9.
Pollini, Heifetz: digital perfection, where's the soul? My Pollini antidote is Arrau. My Heifetz antidote is Szigeti.
Karajan: the original Mantovani. ( Though every now and then, something I hear knocks my socks off. Which is not a pretty sight, most have holes.)
I've probably bored the pants off one and all by now, so I'll leave it at that.
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