No weak spots anywhere

When I learnt that Skrowaczewski had passed away, I started to study his legacy more extensively. I knew some of his work; his Halle Brahms 1 which was my first encounter with Brahms symphonies, reliable but hardly spectacular, his Shostakovich 10th - excellent although no match for Karajan - and some of his work with Rubinstein. I had borrowed from a library his acclaimed Bruckner set, and being a Bruckner devotee regarded his readings somewhat too sober and low profile for my liking.

Luckily I started my re-survey of his Bruckner with the eighth symphony. Always having struggled to grasp it in its totality, Skrowaczewski managed to really nail it. Everything is audible here, yet the reading ceases to be a mere X-ray of the piece. Instead it breathes life into it, suddenly everything falling into its place. Skrowaczewski Eighth is one of the greatest Bruckner recordings ever, on a par with Wand 4th, Horenstein 5th, Klemperer 6th and Furtwängler 9th. Otherwise his Bruckner is of extremely consistent quality: it rarely peaks above e.g Jochum but never fails.  If I would have to recommend one cycle of Bruckner´s symphonies, I might well start from here especially as all of his orchestral output is included.

The real surprise here is the Beethoven cycle. Having listened to dozens of complete recordings and possessing a few - Toscanini, Furtwängler, Norrington, Walter, Kempe, Jochum, Wand, Szell - his Beethoven is an absolute winner. There are no weak spots anywhere. If I had to mention some individual recordings, I would point out the Eroica, Pastorale and Ninth. The slow movement of Eroica made me really listen although I already thought to know the symphony; correspondingly, the slow movement of the Pastorale made me repeat it several times. The ninth might well be the most successful modern sounding version I have heard, at least the same standard as Szell and Karajan. In general, Skrowaczewski's Beethoven is full-bodied yet transparent, muscular yet lean. If you happened to possess just this set of Beethoven symphonies, you would not be at all hard done.

Skrowaczewski's Brahms is considerably better played than the Hallé recordings. They are slowish in the Giulini manner yet at least in first symphony more forward going. Perhaps the third symphony sags a little bit although it is played beautifully. Schumann symphonies are played with vitality and the heavenly slow movement of the second movement a fitting farewell to the conductor himself: a thoughful and selfless musician, a George Szell with humanity or a Carlo Maria Giulini with some added vitality injected. The Bartok disc is really enjoyable, Divertimento attacks from the outset with real fervour and the Concerto for orchestra starts perhaps a little bit cautiously yet it gathers pace and real excitement. Here the structural grasp reminds me of Jascha Horenstein. The recording of the Berlioz' Symphony Fantastique manages to convey some meaningful symphonic coherence into this Fantasia Sinfonica in Skrowaczewski's style that completely avoids any sensationalism or cheap trills.

This excellently assembled and produced box set is simply glorious, on a par with a similar one by Günter Wand (which btw has a less inconvenient packaging). Only a diehard-affiocionade buys this for Skrowaczewki's own compositions although they are certainly more purposeful than Fortner that Wand has to offer for good measure.

Skrowaczewski is one of the greatest unsung conductors of his time, and this collection makes him proud. One is really hard pressed to find a finer big box that is devoted to just one conductor (e.g. Karajan Symphony Edition contains sensationally great stuff and beside that, recordings that are plainly impossible in their sheer empty glossiness). This set contains mostly keepers, as the saying goes, at least Bruckner and Beethoven are definitely such.

My review of the Stanislaw Skrowaczewski 90th birthday jubilee box as released at Amazon.co.uk can be read by clicking the headline of this blogging.