Review: Zubin Mehta's Estimable LA Legacy
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Decca has released a box containing Zubin Mehta's complete recordings with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. So often derided as a "second best" conductor (on recordings at least), taken in toto this collection turns out to be a gratifyingly consistent, extremely enjoyable 38-disc series. Have we been underestimating Mehta for all these years? Quite possibly.
Gosh, David, you've really outdone yourself here. As someone who has a largely negative response to a lot of Mehta (having sat through a lot of dull/ indifferent/ poorly played NYPO performances at Avery Fisher Hall in the '80s), I have to say that I really appreciate your enthusiastic advocacy of his Decca recordings. It's good to be reminded not only of the glamorous reputation Mehta had back in the '70s, when he was considered part of the young and dynamic Barenboim/ Du Pre/ Ashkenazy/ Perlman/ Zuckerman circle, but of what a terrific conductor he could be in his LAPO days-not “profound” (whatever that means), but certainly exciting. I remember those R. Strauss records as sonic blockbusters, and his Holst Planets, Elgar Enigma Vars, and Nielsen 4th, among others, made a great impression too. (FWIW, a prominent Brucknerian of my acquaintance argues that Z.M. was a very fine and underrated Bruckner conductor.)
If only he hadn't accepted the music directorship in New York-a poisoned chalice, IMO-where, for reasons we needn't go into here, he and the orchestra rarely brought out the best in each other. Suffice to say that I'm now sorely tempted to purchase the LAPO Decca box. Mrs. D. won't thank you for talking me into it... but maybe I will. ~ Regards, John Drexel
Thank you for sharing this, and for having an open mind about the subject.
I recently purchased this box set because many of these records were so important to me in college.
They have aged well and still speak to my soul.
He is the pride of India in the musical world. We are all proud of him as Indians.
A wonderful conductor who really made some great recordings in LA. His Nielsen 4th, Enigma Variations, and Planets remain some of my favorites. He always has a good sense of pacing, balance, and knows how to let the music speak for itself. I wonder how much his time at the NY Phil hurt his reputation; it seems like the local press were never happy with any of his performances. Re-recording a lot of the same repertoire he did in LA in NY probably didn't help.
That about sums it up. I also think critics in those days were allergic to the romantic repertoire that Mehta did especially well. Much as they are today, BTW.
It really was an odd period for both Mehta and NY. One would think it would have been a great match: exciting conductor, fantastic orchestra, great legacies on disk. And yet, with a few exceptions (the Mahler 5, the Gurrerlieder), they produced very few memorable recordings.
A trip down memory lane indeed! The best Petrushka ever, esp. sonically, benchmark blockbusters Le Sacre, Zarathustra, Saint Saens Organ Symphony and Planets. Yay!!!
So glad you remember them too!
Thank you very much for your passionate review. Mehta is one of those conductors by whom I enjoyed everything I heard, yet somehow I got the general feeling that I‘m not “supposed to like” him. Which is usually bollocks, but since there are so many other interesting conductors out there, it did unconsciously led me to listen less and less to him. Thanks for reminding us.
Anyone who can make Joan Sutherland sing words deserves a medal. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I heard them together on "In questa reggia".
That was quite something, wasn't it? A great record.
Indeed, and that _Turandot_ is arguably one of the greatest opera recordings of the 20th Century. It's certainly one of my favourites.
@@ftumschk That was my introduction to Mehta. And what an introduction it was! The orchestra just plays beautiful under his baton in that recording and all of the soloists are at the top of their game. Wonderful.
Having heard and greatly enjoyed Mehta's LAPO recordings of Holst, Liszt, and Tchaikovsky (1812 + R & J), I am very pleased by your positive assessment of his work in LA. Great overview of a conductor too often underrated.
Thanks for listening
I still rate Mehta's Enigma Variations the best version available above the usual contenders. This is a fabulous box. To get all these years ago would cost an absolute fortune.
Totally agree!
Yeah, and now you can essentially get'em at 4 bucks a pop. It's a steal if you ask me.
Hello David:
Found your Mehta traversal interesting ....I agree with most of what you said about his recordings...it should be noted that
recordings during his Los Angeles period were in excellent recorded sound ( great engineering). He was also
more "energized" in LA, whereas in New York , he got too often distracted with the NY Phil. politics /silliness and with Columbia/SONY
He was very sympathetic towards the German Romantic repertoire... I believe he is happier in Israel where he is better appreciated... Anecdote.....I remember a wonderful performance of Mahler No.5 in Carnegie Hall with the Mehta, LA Philharmonic, I was in a box with my girl friend and got jostled to my initial annoyance, only to discover that the culprit of the "offense" was Arthur Rubinstein, I then spent one of the most memorable concert experiences of my entire life...what a warm ,kind and intense concert companion....the performance was electric , and my enjoyment was multiplied many times...so much for sentiment.....(I also grew up In High School on live Stokowski).....I fell in love with Mahler's music long before it was ever fashionable
Thanks for sharing that great experience!
Still waiting for my LAPO box. Those are great recordings with very good sound. Will be nice to have them all in one place.
The nostalgia market is a legitimate thing, and so many of us want to see the original covers, even if it means shorter cd playing time.
During my Holiday break I pulled out the LA Phil box and went thru it again from beginning to end and it was a joyous musical experience.
I grew up on many of these recordings and I love having them all 😍
I had, well still have, this "Tribute to Zubin Mehta" box from Decca. It was lovely, really consistently good selection of his work with the LA Phil and the Israel Philharmonic. This new box excites me very much. Mr. Hurwitz is very right, Mehta doesn't get the rep he deserves and is seen as second best; but boy, is he a good artist, he knows his stuff and delivers! I just have to grab this while its out there. Music is about enjoyment, and you can't go wrong with the LA Phil under Mehta.
I think this is the most solidly enthusiastic you've been for any of your 'big box' overviews to-date. I own some of these performances as individual disks, and rate them highly too. That Mahler third is a blast, especially its first movement. The combo of Jeff Reynolds on low trombone and Roger Bobo in his prime on tuba had me grinning from ear to ear during their more exposed passages, which the recording brings out quite well. They were for me the orchestral low-brass dream team of their era, possibly all-time.
Well, there's a lot to be enthusiastic about. As I said, Mehta is far more consistently fine than Abbado or Rattle, and I think he deserves a boost.
Oh how I love the artistry of Zubin Mehta. I have his Saint-Saens and Liszt. Amongst others. Once again, thank you.
GREAT VIDEO !!!!! I had Dvorak's The Wood Dove, Opus 110 on LP with the 8th Symphony. As you said, hardly anyone was doing the Dvorak symphonic poems back when I was a lad. Also had on LP the L.A. Philharmonic soloist album. The Wieniawski was excellent. I believe the violin soloist was Glen Dicterow. Glen came to the New York Philharmonic when Zubin Mehta did. Guess Zubin knew great talent when he heard it. Glad we agree on Stravinsky's: Rite Of Spring... KEEP THE VIDEOS COMING !!!!!!
I think Mehta is an outstanding Straussian. He recorded some great tone poems with LA.
I remember buying that Alpine Symphony record the week it came out. Didn't know the piece, but was just discovering R.Strauss and loving his music. The record instantly became one of my favorites. I will slightly disagree re. your comment on the sonics sounding a little pale compared to more recent digital offerings - this is a record (like much of the Mehta/LAPA legacy) that still blows your socks off. Interestingly, the Kempe recording was issued in the UK (where I grew up) almost the exact same month. We went from zero recordings to two in a matter of weeks! I love the Kempe Strauss records, but Mehta's Alpine is still my ultimate go-to.
Watched him live many a time with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Fabulous conductor, riveting to watch, and a gentleman.
I’m thinking this is a must buy for me - great that the original LP sleeve covers have been retained - somewhat of a mystery why some conductors get this treatment and others don’t eg the Maazel Cleveland box would have been improved if they had done this (Went out and got this set from the local record shop this morning- we still have a decent record shop in Auckland) From my initial listening one stand out is the Ravel - the most overwhelming Sunrise in the Lever du Jour from Daphnis I’ve ever heard.
The Skryabin Poème de l'Extase, opus 54, is an excellent piece for a "tritone drinking game", whether listening to the piece or even more so more following a score--- every time one encounters the interval of a tritone, one takes a sip from one's favourite (non-alcoholic and carbonated, of course) beverage, after which game one will have drunk oneself into a diabetic coma...
I can see that!
Fun to see all those covers I remember.
How annoying! I grew up in Australia where the classical music reviews we saw were from the Gramophone and Penguin Guides. For anyone who knows what those reviewers said from about the 1970’s for a couple of decades: Musicians performing in the US were mostly slammed. Bernstein was thought of as a mediocre conductor, Ormandy was portrayed as a middle-of-the-road schlockmeister, Stokowski was a kind of freak. Even Szell, Reiner and Munch etc were regarded as being on the fringes. I could go on - lesser-known regional conductors like Abravanel, or Slatkin drew no respect. I can’t think of any US conductor at the time who was thought of as being on a par with the Brits and the Western Europeans. This goes right back to Toscanini where the old Furtwangler story about him being no more than a time beater was repeated approvingly. Attitudes have changed a lot now, but that’s how it was. Dave you have courageously spearheaded a campaign to tackle much of this, and to throw a spotlight onto eastern European musical talent, and conductors who never managed to get top class orchestral appointments - so you speak approvingly of people like Silvestri, Tintner, Ancerl etc.
After praising disc after disc in this Mehta set you summarize - “I’m amazed at how enjoyable the whole thing is” “There’s a reason people were recording this guy, he was really good”. Thanks for this. At the close you say - everyone will have their favorite performance of most of the music, and it won’t be these. Which conductor’s “box” has only all-time favorites, and “reference” recordings? I have listened to scores of your reviews. Here you suggest that part of the reason Zubin Mehta does not get the credit he deserves is his nationality (born in Mumbai) and his long term links with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (which began life with some of the greatest musical refugees from the nazis). So what is at play here? is it parochialism, is it racism and/or anti semitism Is there also an element of the east coast orchestral cabal about it too?
Mehta made some great sounding recordings with the LAPO.
Yes he did!
I haven't heard a lot of them, but the ones I've heard were grossly multi-miked.
I got to know LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS from the Mehta/LA recording. It was imprinted for me and I've heard countless others since, but I still think it's a great one. And you are SO RIGHT about Yvonne Minton; really good singer, great voice. That Nielsen 4, yes great! Awesome audio
Yvonne Minton was super famous during her career - she worked alongside Sutherland, Horne, Crespin, Vickers and many many many others. She was more famous in the UK and Europe - rarely sang in the US.
8:20~ It's quite interesting that in Japan, Mehta's Bruckner is somewhat forgotten (or, implicitly shunned) because a famous music critic Koho Uno quite heavily criticised Mehta's Bruckner in one of his books. I don't know why the hell Uno thought this way.
Mehta;s LA Mahler 3ed had trombone solo by Robert Marsteller, one of the Gods of trombone,
your Scriabin screech...eh singing is great and so to the point, sounds like a Melodya recording from the 60s 😉
My model!
Even though I'm out of shelf space, this new Decca set might find a place somewhere. He was/is a great conductor but I don't think there was any racist attitude for why he wasn't recognized that way: it was the Hollywood taint. There's always been a snobbish attitude from the east coast elites that LA can't make great music, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. And name another Big Name conductor who would "stoop so low" as to record Star Wars? Can you imagine Solti, Maazel, Ormandy, Muti, Szell, Klemperer or any other baton waver doing it? Zubin Mehta is no snob: he recognized great music when he heard it.
That's a very good point too.
The “Hollywood taint” - yes California happily owns that with its performances and with the classical composers who (have) lived in California for a time at least including: Erich Korngold, Miklós Rózsa, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Andre Previn, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Ernst Krenek, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Morton Lauridsen, Terry Riley, Jake Heggie, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Eric Whitacre, Rina Esmail, Christopher Tin and many others - even Benjamin Britten worked on his 4 sea interludes for Peter Grimes in California’s Orange County. The LAPO had music directors prior to Dudamel including: Rodzinski, Klemperer, Wallenstein, van Beinum, Mehta, Giulini, Previn and Salonen. The SF roster has included Monteux, Stokowski, Szell, Walter, Krips, Ozawa, De Waart, Blomstedt & Tilson-Thomas.
I came back to correct an error in my earlier comment, which I don't see posted yet. That Schubert Sixth Symphony was with the Israel Philharmonic, not the VPO. Still wonderful, in my memory.
- David
I'd like to get your take on Yannick Nezet Seguin and Gustavo Dudamel. How do you rate them?
It's too soon to tell, but I think Sequin is better than Dudamel, who hasn't really impressed me at all. But remember, I am only talking about recordings. Live concerts could be another matter entirely.
Speaking of Suppe, Mehta made an excellent disc of von Suppe bon-bons with the Vienna Phil. for Sony. It's really almost a one of kind, now. Frankly, I like the Suppe overtures more than the Rossini, but that's just me. I just wish Decca or Teldec had done a Mahler 8 with Mehta, since so many really good singers worked with him. Purely by coincidence, I was just listening to Mehta's L.A. Mahler 3. Indeed, it's really good. Thomas Stevens (trumpet) sounds great on the posthorn solos in the scherzo. I've always liked Mehta's Nielsen 4, partly because Roger Bobo just tears up the tuba part! The "Alpine" Symphony is fabulous and Mehta's L.A. "Planets" is still competitive with the best (his N.Y. one on Teldec is pretty good too). This was a fun review. Frankly, I think a problem was that Decca promoted the Solti/Chicago stuff so much. Regardless, for most of this stuff, I'll take Mehta/L.A. any day.
Question for Dave: As someone new to these boxes, I confess I made a rookie mistake with this one. I didn't jump on it not because I didn't have any interest, but rather because I didn't understand that classical original-jacket boxes are assumed to be limited-edition unless explicitly said to be otherwise. (I thought that the previous boxes going out of print was a series of coincidences. Really. 😅 As I said-rookie mistake! Live and learn.) So last year I bought the Mehta Warner box (still available), and earmarked the Mehta/LA to potentially be my big purchase this year. Needless to say, it's out of print and it's expensive enough used to not be a good value anymore.
So my question is: Do you think this box will follow the pattern where Decca trots out a more complete edition in a few years, featuring ALL the orchestras he worked with for Decca (much as the Warner and Sony/Columbia boxes do now?) It might be worth it to hold out if that's the case!
I would hold out. Decca hasn't done a Mehta Vienna box, which they should, so there's a possibility a larger edition will show up.
Thank you for this advice! I figured that with Mehta turning 90 in a few years, this was a possibility. Also, I figured that it was a possibility given what just happened with Blomstedt's new box superseding the earlier Blomstedt SanFran-only release. It also makes sense given how much some of Mehta's other output from the period complements his work in LA. For example, the LA box has the Mahler 3, 5 & 10. From what I can gather on Discogs, he also did the Mahler 1 & 4 with Israel and the 2 with Vienna during those years. Similarly, the final Dvorak symphonies are often grouped together. He did 8 & 9 with LA, but the 7th with Israel. By and large, Decca didn't have Mehta record competing versions of the same material, so a complete box would be a good value, and it seems the LA stuff would be a substantial portion of a complete box, so half the remastering/restoration is already done if Decca decides to take that route.
How about a talk on complete Varese sets? Any love for Nagano?
There isn't really enough music. Nagano doesn't impress me.
@@DavesClassicalGuide You mean enough versions? I guess Chailly you'd consider the winner over Nagano, Lyndon-Gee and Boulez?
I think Chailly's Varese set just about wipes the board - I really rate Mehta too and Boulez Sony (not the Chicago DG though).
@@UlfilasNZ Actually no. I'm not a fan of his Ameriques. You really have to do it work by work.
Hi Dave, the Israel comment is to the level of the Orchestra, or an issues around working in Israel?
I'm not sure what you mean.
Hi David the Mehta box arrived yesterday and I have started exploring in earnest. There was an interesting point which I thought was worth sharing...the Tchaikovsky symphony cycle is on 3 CDs...while we know that the 1st and 2nd fit neatly on a single CD, seeing the 3rd and 4th sharing a CD and the 5th and 6th sharing another CD blew me...playing times were 83 min and 88 min...wow!! Even the Karajan Bruckner 8 from the 80s is now available on a single CD...so what is the capacity of a CD now?
I really have no idea how much they can cram on a single CD now.
David Hurwitz hi I guess it may be a moot point now but maybe someday we can hear the entire Mahler 3 on a single disc...we can on DVD audio of course...and streaming does take out the constraints but it was nice to have some idea ...some certainties
His work in NY was pretty uniformly stodgy and thick-sounding. Some of that was perhaps due to Avery Fisher Hall, or maybe the orchestra was just bored with him. Not to say that he wasn't a pro, or came unprepared to the music. But it was hard to get excited about the results beyond a certain level. I do remember when the NYPO came to London in 1985-- the audience went wild, probably because local orchestras were more thin-sounding and not equipped with the fine Italian violins that the New Yorkers used. But it struck me as a dull and slightly vulgar concert. (Brandenburg 3 and Mahler 5)
Still, he'd come in with a reputation for creativity and vigor (and more respect for tradition than Boulez). And don't forget-- he got the job in Los Angeles only because the board chair hired him to be an assistant back in the early 60s. Music director choice Solti took that as his cue to leave, and so Mehta got a real job much sooner than he proabably should have.
As they say, the great is the enemy of the good.
A truism. What if Mehta is truly great? Past a certain point, it's all just a question of taste.
Speaking of boxes, do you have thoughts on the "Art of Chailly" and "Art of Barenboim" boxes?
I have thoughts about everything. ;-)
@@DavesClassicalGuide I am considering them both, but not sure about Barenboim's Paris stuff
@@UlfilasNZ The Chailly box is much better--lot's of good stuff--you are right to be concerned about the Paris recordings of Barenboim; bad sound and often flabby conducting. The Berlioz Requiem is especially awful.
Sounds like a great "starter" box for someone who wants to explore classical music beyond the usual suspects (Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms).
It is, actually.
It's right, people seemed to forget Mehta received his training in Vienna (with the legendary Hans Swarowsky) and is as fine a conductor as any that came out of there. I think in the UK, whilst his LAPO recordings were almost always praised for the recording quality, critical opinion was often a bit more sniffy about interpretation. There was also an implied idea the LAPO, wasn't really comparable with their New York, Boston, Chicago or Cleveland counterparts, or European ensembles, just because they they were in LA. This neglects to acknowledge the fact that musicians there, to this day, are amongst the most proficient anywhere, particularly in terms of their sight reading skills from doing complex film scores (have a listen to John Corigliano's soundtrack to the film Altered States - stunning playing).
never a Mehta fan, ok he is reliable, but seldom inspired (a bit like Maazel) and too often matter of the fact. I've once heard a Mahler 5 in concert with the Israel Phill , after the 2st movement i left and couldnt stand it anymore, it was so dull. But on your final verdict i agree, good performances but seldom great ones, maybe i should give him a shot.
In his ( rather mundane ) autobiography` The Score of my Life ', Mehta talks about how Sir Solti had first choice over repertoire at Decca. It was because of this that he ended up recording big band Strauss/Mahler etc.( thus earning the reputation of a blockbuster conductor rather than a ` serious' one ) rather than the Viennese repertoire he had been brought up on. But, yes, the Nielsen/Varese etc. are really solid. Too bad there is no ` proper' recording of his collaboration with Frank Zappa ? :) :) Just kidding.
I don't particularly care for a lot of Mehta's performances, but I do think I have some sympathy with his problem. I'm sure racism had something to do with Mehta's reception, but I would also imagine it had the opposite effect too - Mehta stopped evolving, he stopped trying, I wonder if he thought after a while if it was worthwhile to always give 100% if nobody would appreciate him for it. The LA Phil and early Israel recordings are great, the early opera recordings are even better. But then he got to NY, and by recorded evidence did nothing in NY he didn't already do in LA, only less energetic, sloppier, less refined... Nobody should ever question Mehta's gifts, and I certainly don't see him as a kind of musical antichrist the way I do Maazel or Dutoit, but I have to imagine that racism made life difficult for both Mehta and Ozawa, both of whom were colossal natural talents, and they have to be remembered as much for the barriers they broke as any musicmaking - and when a good professional make a couple hundred records, at least a dozen or two will be great.
I think Mehta's true metier was in the opera house. He might have been nearly ideal at a not particularly experimental opera house like Covent Garden, where he could have given masterly performances of all of the big five opera composers, and he's obviously left great recordings of all five. It's ironic because the composer he may be his very best at is Wagner, those broadcasts with the Chicago Lyric are great, but he spent fifty years with an orchestra who didn't play Wagner.
I think you may be confusing a career on recordings with a career in concert. i don't think Mehta stopped trying when he got to New York, although it was not a match made in heaven. I think Sony made of mess of its recording program with him (consider how much better those few Teldec recordings are), and it showed. I agree that it was stupid to remake all the same stuff in poorer sound, and it could be that Mehta had little enthusiasm for a lot of what he did--I don't know--but even there we find some really good stuff. Certainly the LA box reveals him as vastly more successful and consistent than the likes of Abbado or Rattle. I also agree with you that he is an excellent conductor of opera--always was.
Racism? On the contrary, I always had the impression that Mehta's American audiences and (presumably) record-buyers regarded him positively as a somewhat exotic, charismatic, urbane, dynamic figure. That certainly was the image that a lot of those Decca LP album covers and the press coverage in those days cultivated. No, not racism; if anything, he was the victim of the same kind of critical snobbery that often disparaged Ormandy, for example. As far as I'm aware, Mehta personally was well liked and (following after Boulez, who definitely was not an audience favorite) was quite popular with New York audiences even if his performances were sloppy; it was the orchestra itself, the critics' response, and the quality (or lack thereof) of Sony's recordings that did him no favors, as David says, and his reputation never seemed to recover after his time in New York. It might simply be that he was one of those musicians who, for whatever reason, as they get older loose energy/ enthusiasm/ interest and just aren't able to maintain (let alone exceed) the high standards they reached in their younger days. Not everyone is a Walter or Klemperer or Blomstedt, unfortunately.
@@DavesClassicalGuide David's article about Mehta's recording career versus performing career addresses these points in cogent detail: www.classicstoday.com/category/editorials/page/7/