by Peter Cates

Bruckner

Symphony No. 8
Anton Nanut conducting the Ljublana Symphony Orchestra; Stradivari Classics, SCD-6059, CD, recorded 1980s.

If I had to pick only one conductor whose recordings I could take to a desert island, it would be Anton Nanut (1932-2017) . He conducted almost every piece of music as if it were the most beautiful and exciting music to be heard this side of heaven, equaling, if not surpassing, the most well known conductors of the last 100 years.

He was below the radar of listeners in the United States during the Iron Curtain years, pre-1989, as he transformed the orchestra in Ljublana, Slovenia, then a part of Yugoslavia, into a world class ensemble. Since the late ‘80s, his recordings began appearing mainly on cheapie labels while his frequent appearances in Japan and more sporadic ones in the U.S. increased his international reputation. Meanwhile, live concerts with Japanese orchestras have appeared on that country’s labels and are super expensive on Amazon- I do own a CD of a 2013 live concert featuring one very powerful and beautiful Brahms 4th Symphony among the batch of Brahms 4ths on my shelves and paid a few dollars more than the norm.

The 8th Symphony of Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) is a magnificently beautiful, soaring, exciting 76 minutes of music that displays the full range of the orchestra. Being a devout Catholic, Bruckner intended for his music to praise God, to evoke His full glory. Nanut delivered a gripping, deeply moving performance and I found a copy of the cd at the Waterville Bull Moose for 4 bucks after searching high and low on Amazon.

Several Nanut recordings can also be heard on YouTube.

Burt Bacharach

Plays His Hits
Kapp, KS-3577, stereo LP, released 1965.

Now 90, Burt Bacharach has been intertwined with so much of pop music’s infrastructure as a composer, pianist, arranger, conductor, etc. I would recommend a reading of his Wiki biography which is a super-lengthy chronicle of his hugely phenomenal musical achievements by themselves. The Dionne Warwick mega-hits; the musical Promises, Promises; and his collaborations with Carol Bayer Sager, Christopher Cross and Elvis Costello are still tips of the iceberg.

The LP posted above with chorus and orchestra is a suavely and vibrantly played assortment of 11 songs, over half of which have been recorded a zillion times and features such classics as Always Something There to Remind Me, Walk on By, Wives and Lovers, Blue on Blue, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart and Joel Grey doing vocal honors on What’s New Pussycat.

And most of it can be heard on Youtube!

The great conductor, Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989), recorded one beauty of a Dvorak New World Symphony for Deutsche Grammophon with the Berlin Philharmonic back in 1964, and it can be bought cheaply through Amazon as part of a mega box set of many CDs featuring this conductor’s legacy or as a single CD. He did at least four others but this is the only DG one with the Berlin Philharmonic. And this recording is on YouTube also!

by Peter Cates

Beethoven

Pastoral Symphony and Leonore Overture No. 3
Wilhelm Furtwangler conducting the Turin Radio Orchestra of Italy; Urania URN 22.227, CD, from a 1952 broadcast and issued 2002.

Wilhelm Furtwangler (1886-1954) was one conductor now considered by more collectors and listeners to classical recordings to be very close to the greatest who ever lived – despite a catalog of recordings that are often live broadcasts of just fair to average sound quality, a wayward conducting technique and a tendency to do certain pieces over and over; for example, there are 11 or more different performances of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony.

But there is an exalted inspiration that seeps into his conducting and stirs this listener. He will use very slow, lumbering tempos or speed them to a Richard Petty level to achieve these depths. Sometimes he misses this target and mixes good and bad qualities. Still, a friend who owns just about every lp, cassette and cd of him commented to me that even 5 minutes of inspired music-making will be 10 or 15 bucks well spent .

Because of Furtwangler’s decision to stay in Germany during the Hitler years of 1933-45, he stirred a lot of controversy. And because of limited space, I cannot go into detail. However, it should also be known that the conductor used his influence to help many individuals and their families to leave Germany for safe haven . Those curious should check out Google and other related sources.

These two Beethovens are available in numerous good modern editions by other conductors but this cd should please fans of the conductor and is cheaply priced and available through the online Berkshire Record Outlet where I found my copy.

Haydn

Symphonies 83, 84 and 88
Jane Glover conducting the London Mozart Players; Musical Heritage Society 322541A, cassette, recorded 1989.

Jane Glover has become one of the finest interpreters of lesser known baroque composers such as Cavalli, on whom she has expended much research, and of the later two geniuses of the 18th century classical period, Mozart and Haydn. These three works of the latter are among the most graceful, spirited symphonies to be found in the composer’s very extensive catalog. And Glover and her players deliver exceptional performances.

The Last Hurrah

starring Spencer Tracy, Basil Rathbone, John Carradine, Pat O’Brien, etc.; directed by John Ford; Columbia Pictures, dvd, 1958, 121 minutes.

Spencer Tracy delivers one of his typically first class performances as Frank Skeffington, the Irish-American mayor of an unnamed New England City who is running for a fifth term. The conflicts between him, because of his roguish but essentially decent populist style of leadership, and a couple of power blocs, especially the old blue blood wasps, lend much interest to the story line, which is both funny and moving. And the large superb cast, which includes the other above-mentioned names, has been called by one reviewer “the largest collection of scene-stealers in the history of cinema.”

The Cars

Since You’re Gone; Think It Over
Elektra/Asylum, E 47433, seven inch 45, recorded 1981.

The group, Cars, was formed in Boston, in 1976 – the same year I moved back to Maine after my three-year sojourn in Beantown. After listening to this 45, I found myself captivated by the pulsating arrangements, utilizing interesting percussion sounds, but was unimpressed by the namby pamby two songs which went nowhere!

Dvorak

9th Symphony From the New World
James Loughran conducting the London Philharmonic; Mendelssohn: The 4th, or Italian Symphony- Antonio Pedrotti conducting the Czech Philharmonic; Net Surfin’, VMK-1059, cd, Dvorak recorded 1997, Mendelssohn from 1951.

This CD features two very talented conductors not generally known to even the typical American concertgoer and their interpretations of very well known symphonies. The Scottish-born James Loughran, now 87 and still active as a conductor and teacher, did one of the loveliest, most satisfying recordings of the Dvorak New World.

The even more unknown but very gifted Italian, Antonio Pedrotti (1901-1975) left one gem of an Italian Symphony, a Mendel­ssohn staple that can work as quickly as a sleeping pill in the wrong hands; this Maestro imbued the piece with perkiness, elegance and sweet poetry in just the right proportions. The CD is very cheaply priced on Amazon.

by Peter Cates

Morton Gould

South of the Border
Columbia, m-593, 4 ten-inch 78s, recorded mid-’40s.

A very gifted pianist, composer, arranger and conductor, Morton Gould (1913-1996) straddled the worlds of classical and popular music very comfortably in a manner similar to Andre Kostelanetz, conductor and film composer John Williams and the latter’s Boston Pops predecessor, Arthur Fiedler. His classical compositions, often evoking American history, include Fall River Legend with its depiction of Lizzie Borden; and my favorite, the very powerful Spirituals for Orchestra. In later years, he wrote pieces featuring a rapper and a singing chorus of firemen for the city of Pittsburgh.

His LPs conducting such favorites as Rimsky’s Scheherazade, Copland’s Rodeo, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 and ballet waltzes, etc., are on my shelves.

But his most successful endeavors lay in the imaginative arranging of pop standards on a slew of albums, from the ‘40s until the late ‘60s, that were frequently categorized as mood music, similar to those of Kostelanetz, Fiedler, Percy Faith, Mantovani, Paul Weston and Bert Kaempfert. The above set consists of such hits as Brazil, Cielito Lindo, La Golondrina, and the mirthful Mexican Hat Dance. Unfortunately, it was only released on 78s and a ten-inch LP and is out of print, but a copy is listed on Amazon for 12 bucks; two selections from the album are also accessible on YouTube.

Frank Sinatra

The Voice
Columbia CL 743, LP, released 1955.

By the time this re-issue of selected early-to-mid ‘40s 78s appeared, Sinatra had been with Capitol records a couple of years. However, Columbia had quickly realized the cash cow potential of their own stockpile of tapes and began releasing 10- and 12-inch LP transfers. The move has proven very successful in the 65 years since.

The Voice contains 12 exquisite examples of the singer’s phrasing, characterizing and other facets of his unique set of pipes. And Axel Stordahl’s arrangements achieved a compatibility with “Old Blue Eyes” that was later matched only by Nelson Riddle. The songs include A Ghost of a Chance, Try a Little Tenderness, Spring is Here, etc. and the album has been transferred to CD.

An FS quote – “Alcohol is man’s worst enemy, but the Bible says to love your enemy!”

Tchaikovsky

Symphony No.6, “Pathetique”; Serenade for Strings; for the 6th, Marko Munih conducting the Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ljubljana; for the Serenade, Conrad Von Der Goltz conducting a chamber orchestra; CBS Special Productions PT 21698, cassette, released 1989.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) conducted the world premiere of his 6th Symphony just nine days before his death, caused supposedly by cholera after drinking an unboiled glass of water in a restaurant. To my mind, it is one very emotionally searing work and has benefited from a rich list of good to very great recordings, of which I own a few dozen.

The above is conducted by the 82-year-old Marko Munih, one of two very gifted conductors – the other being his late contemporary, Anton Nanut, who died just last year at 85 – whose recordings, via mainly cheap CDs sometimes labelled confusingly, have made their way to Western collectors since the collapse of the Iron Curtain. The performance is intensely powerful yet nicely poetic, while the playing is responsive and masterful, definitely as accomplished as the world’s finest in both Europe and the U.S. The sense of tragedy in the final 4th movement is well sustained.

The beautiful Serenade is also performed well.

by Peter Cates

Jermaine Jackson

Frontiers
Motown M7-898R1, LP, recorded 1978.

Older brother of Janet, the late Michael and six other siblings and former member of the Jackson 5, Jermaine Jackson has reached a pinnacle of success as singer, songwriter, reality TV star and Jackson family spokesman at the nice young age of 63. The above LP, Frontiers, is a solid, very listenable example of late seventies Motown soul. My personal favorite among the eight tracks is the vibrant, charming Castles of Sands, the instrumentation alone worth the price of admission.

A few tidbits – like the rest of the family, he was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness but converted to Islam in 1989. He’s the father of seven children from three wives and a girlfriend.

Finally in 2015, his third wife was arrested and charged with physically abusing her husband and would file for divorce citing irreconcilable differences!

Most of the album can be heard on YouTube.

Sibelius 5th Symphony No. 5

Night Ride and Sunrise
Georges Pretre conducting the New Philharmonia; RCA Victor LSC-2996, stereo LP, recorded 1968.

Conductor Georges Pretre (1924-2017) gave performances of these two works of the great Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) that are a bit more refined than the roaring, majestic, almost savage ones of the other notable conductors of the past – and a few of today. But the unique power and beauty of both works does reveal itself gradually.

The record’s producer, Richard Mohr, wrote an essay for this album that provided insight into Pretre’s working methods and revealed the relentless, sweating studying and rehearsing over and over again before a tape machine is even turned on. Pretre knew perfection for this record was impossible but he was determined to come veryyyyyyyyyyyyy close !

Sibelius wrote about his own feelings when he finished composing the 5th Symphony. “I already begin to see dimly the mountain that I shall certainly ascend. God opens His door for a moment and His orchestra plays the Fifth Symphony.”

Since I have been listening to this piece for more than 40 years, I totally agree with the composer on this one!

Father Brown

starring Mark Williams, etc., BBC TV series, six seasons since 2013.

I just started watching 10 days ago, and am on episode 6. I read some of the stories over 30 years ago and enjoyed the plots, perky characters and the moral and spiritual edification of them, the reasons why I like the show as well. I have not seen the ‘70s BBC version with the late Kenneth More!

by Peter Cates

Rimsky-Korsakov

Scheherazade
Seiji Ozawa conducting the Boston Symphony; Stravinsky: Firebird Suite-Lorin Maazel conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony; Khachaturian: Gayne Ballet Suite excerpts- Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic; Deutsche Grammophon- 413 155-4, 88 minute cassette, from 1960 and 1978 original tapes.

The exotic, very listenable and ever popular Scheherazade has received a deluge of recordings since the beginning of records; conductor Andre Previn once commented on its popularity among musicians as the reason for the high quality of most recordings, as opposed to other frequently recorded pieces.

Seiji Ozawa conducted a nice performance with the Boston Symphony back in 1978 that is part of the above tape, along with 2 other items, from different conductors and orchestras- namely the Stravinsky Firebird Suite and Khachaturian Gayne Suite. This cassette of 88 minutes of great Russian orchestral music may be deleted but it often shows up at used record stores and thrift shops and on Amazon.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Mojo
Reprise-523971-2, CD, recorded 2010.

Tom Petty (1950-2017) was, I confess, one artist I had little familiarity with before hearing this CD. And it is one great collection of 15 songs that are most definitely rock, but exciting, musically satisfying rock that will withstand repeat hearings, unlike most other albums of the genre.

One powerful, moving track is the last one, Good Enough, about the narrator’s past love for a woman who had the kind of allure that would consume one’s soul – hence the reason to finally cut her loose or be destroyed:

“God bless this land/God bless this whiskey/I can’t trust love/It’s far too risky/If she marries into money/She’s still gonna miss me/And that’s good enough/Gonna have to be good enough.”

Janacek

Slavonic Mass
Bretislav Bakala conducting the Brno Radio Symphony Orchestra, chorus, and soloists; Urania URLP 7072, 12- inch LP, recorded early ‘50s.

Leos Janacek (1854-1928) was to 20th century Czech classical music what Antonin Dvorak was in the 19th century – two composers who carved a unique importance in their country’s cultural life that prevails to this day.

During his early years, Janacek displayed talent in playing piano and organ and conducting choirs. For a while, he was a music critic but got into trouble with some powerful institutions because of his very severe, outspoken opinions. Thus he practically starved for a few years. Eventually, he found work as a conductor and established a music conservatory in the Czech city of Brno, where he spent upwards of 40 years teaching, researching and composing.

His compositions began flowing in 1904 with the opera, Jenufa, when he was already 50. But it was another 12 years before it became an international success and brought fame to its composer. Other works followed, firmly establishing Janacek as a major figure of his time.

The main reason for the popularity of his music was its wild, very exciting use of irregular, complicated rhythms and exotic half-melodies. Many listeners, including myself, were grabbed by these works when hearing them for the first time, without knowing or even caring what was happening. His Sinfonietta is an excellent introduction and can be heard on youtube in a number of different performances.

The above Slavonic Mass is similarly characterful, far from being the typical solemn affair that Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven, and Verdi wrote, just to name a few great examples. But it too has a beauty of its own, even though eerie, weird, haunting and startling are adjectives that come to mind.

Its world premiere wasn’t until shortly after Janacek’s death in 1928, while the first US performance in 1930 in New York City utilized singers and musicians from the Metropolitan Opera. This week’s record features the extraordinarily gifted conductor, Bretislav Bakala (1897-1958), delivering an interpretation of exceptional drama, atmosphere, poetry and sheer power and setting a standard for later recordings, several of which are very fine. I own a few of them featuring such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Rudolf Kempe, Karel Ancerl, Antoni Wit, etc.

An addendum: Unfortunately, Bakala left the tiniest handful of recordings, but a CD often cheaply priced, is floating around on a few sites such as Berkshire Record Outlet, and Amazon; it features mid-’50s Iron Curtain radio broadcasts of him and the great Russian pianist, Sviatoslav Richter, collaborating in two very exciting and satisfying performances of the Beethoven First and Third Piano Concertos. Very highly recommended!

Little Jimmy Dickens

Country Boy; I’m Fading Fast with the Time
Columbia-20585, ten-inch 78, recorded 1949.

Standing 4 feet, 11 inches tall, Jimmy Dickens (1920-2015) nicknamed himself “Little” after he began scoring hits. He was singing on a Saginaw, Michigan, radio station where he was heard by Roy Acuff, who then brought him to the attention of both Columbia records and the Grand Ole Opry. Country Boy hit #7 on the charts along with numerous others during his 17-year association with the label before leaving in 1965 to record for Decca and, in 1971, United Artists.

This record contains two songs imbued with a pleasant, down home, endearing charm that was uniquely his own. In 1951, he would be instrumental in paying Roy Acuff’s good deed forward by discovering Marty Robbins and bringing him to the attention of Columbia.