Review: DG 111's Hit and Miss Conductor Box

[@fred6904]

Dear Mr Hurwitz! I would like to ask you to consider to do more box sets talks. They are so entertaining. Best wishes Fred.

[@edwinbelete76]

For Karajan, I might have included his disc featuring the Nielsen 4th and Sibelius' Tapiola. His Beethoven 9th is fine but not special. The Markevitch Symphonie Fantastique is thrilling and should be there. But I salute DG for including the Giulini Bruckner 9th, which might be the greatest recording of his career. The Kubelik disc is absolutely essential so they got that right. But where is Bohm's Beethoven 6/Schubert 5 disc? All in all, a disappointing set.

[@richardsauer7494]

Here's some good news : Decca will release the complete Zoltan Kocsis on 26 discs in October, and especially for Dave Hurwitz, Christian Thielemann and the VPO have finished recording Bruckner's Symphony no. 0 and no. 1 for their on-going Sony cycle.

[@finnaboing]

this video just makes me wish one of these big labels would do some kind of "Unusual Repertoire" box where it's just the conductors doing repertoire they're not known for. maybe it'll be good, maybe it'll be bad, I dunno, but it's gotta be more interesting than the eight millionth CD issue of Karajan's Beethoven 9th that all of your customers already have five copies of

[@lukewaddell67]

If DG had to have a Karajan Beethoven 9th (and really, I don't blame them, Karajan could do a great Ninth), they should have used the 1977 recording, where you can actually hear the chorus properly! Or they could have included his Mahler 9th, in addition to all the other wonderful recordings you mentioned.

[@johnzito3124]

14:57 "We're finally looking up a little after that trough...[takes one look at the next disc]...Oh, back to the trough." Hilarious.

[@richardsandmeyer4431]

For me the problem with this type of set is duplication. I already have most of the CDs from this set that I like, and it's not worth buying the entire box just to get the two or three additional items that I would want. If I were just getting into classical music, it might be a fair introduction if it were available at a low enough price. Even then there are some puzzling choices by DG.

[@anttivirolainen8223]

That Boulez's DG recording where he conducts i.a. Stravinsky's Le chant du rossignol is an absolutely astonishing disc. I don't know what the people at DG were thinking when they decided to include Boulez's recording of those two Stravinsky symphonies. I have that disc as well, and I've never liked it (for a good reason). But on the other hand, when they have to compile a versatile box set like that, and they try to include every conductor who is worth knowing (and has done records to the label), I guess some compromises become inevitable. Box sets like that often seem to be about the art of compromise than about the actual art...

[@davidaiken1061]

I always enjoy your reviews of boxes new or old, and this was no exception. Your assessment was fair: some treasures, some unusual choices, and a lot of stuff that collectors already have. Too much standard repertoire, too much BPO. I particularly appreciated your remark about the Järvi selection--why not Stenhammar or Berwald? Does DG have a Järvi box in the works, I wonder? That would be something worth considering. I gather there is a Böhm/Decca box scheduled for release sometime soon. That one particularly interests me, since I am a great admirer of that conductor, but am unfamiliar with his early LP recordings. Speaking of Böhm, I might well have picked his Bruckner 8 for the DG 111 collection. It a fabulous recording, tensely dramatic (as you pointed out), and beautifully played. One of my top three choices for that work. In any case, thanks for a very interesting and helpful review.

[@benjamingreenfield9569]

Bohm's Bruckner 7 would have been a great choice as well and they could have saved Bruckner 8 for Karajan and the Vienna Phil instead of reissuing the 9th for the 138,923th time.

[@davidaiken1061]

@@benjamingreenfield9569 Excellent recommendation, Benjamin. The Karajan VPO Bruckner 8 is probably that work's greatest recording to date (I never say "ever"!), and the Böhm Bruckner 7 is also quite magnificent. You could also spin it the other way: Karajan's VPO B 7 is also his finest version of that work (in my estimation), and then for B 8 we could choose Böhm. I am sympathetic to David's preference for including Böhm Beethoven 9. It's a majestic account of the work, but a bit too weighty for me (for that work, I'm a Toscanini and Szell devotee).

[@benjamingreenfield9569]

@@davidaiken1061 The Beethoven symphony that I always liked best from Bohm was the Pastoral (I think someone else recommended that as worth including in this box) but there's certainly nothing at all wrong with the Bohm recording of the 9th. The point is they could have done a much better job of curating this box, but clearly no one was going to be 100% happy with all their selections.

[@murraylow4523]

Gosh where to start Dave, thanks! I never would buy this type of box but agree with most of your criticisms. Particularly poor use of Fricsay, Markevich, Karajan, Bohm, Boulez, Jochum (and looking at those names if you can’t get those right as DG you’re in real trouble!) Maybe some of Boulez’ Ravel, or dare I say a Webern disc or something of his own, then you could have had Karajan doing Pelleas et Melisande but that’s just one of many permutations possible. Their treatment of the Archiv conductors is particularly reprehensible, but then I suppose there’s another one of these cubes devoted to that. But as you say, there’s better Gardiner, and no Pinnock here at all, or McCreesh or Richter etc etc etc. There are better things they could have done with Minkowski but obvs they were avoiding the Archiv imprint as far as possible. Dear me…

[@kennethkleszynski1744]

Hey Dave--You mentioned Previn's (very fine) recording of the Korngold Symphony. How about an overview of that work's various recordings. And while you're at it, would you consider doing a survey of the major Gershwin orchestral and concerted works?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I have done reviews of individual discs of this repertoire, the Korngold most recently, where I mentioned the best versions.

[@vincentd.1424]

The return of the scarves!

[@stevenbugala8375]

It’s puzzling to me that they would pick stuff from Karajan, Kleiber, and Kubelik, that’s widely available in some many other guises. I’m not saying they needed to pick Herb’s weird Orff recording…but surely they could’ve picked something a little more untraditional.

[@francoisjoubert6867]

Very weird Orff indeed. A composition to torture people with.

[@stevenbugala8375]

@@francoisjoubert6867 Totally!

[@JaneSmith_]

Speaking of Rosbaud's Haydn (which is featured in this box), there is a Rosbaud SWR Haydn box that has not been reviewed either on this channel or on ClassicsToday. It might be a nice idea for you to do a video on it Dave. The box actually features quite a broad selection of the symphonies (including some of the early and middle period ones) with some of the concertos tossed in as a bonus.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yes, I have it.

[@jverheij97]

I want that Jochum Mozart/Schubert disc desperately, but I can find it nowhere somehow.

[@cosimagrundkotter906]

Dear David Hurwitz, there are still things ou didn't talk about previously - sort of: A discussion of recordings of the Brahms 2nd Symphony. Of course: You made a great video on the best Brahms Symphony cycles, however 2nd symphony doesn't get it's share of attention, don't you think so? PLEEEEAAASE ;-)

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Chill. I'll get there.

[@cosimagrundkotter906]

@@DavesClassicalGuide You are the Best!

[@estel5335]

Big news, but Missa Solemnis is first!

[@cosimagrundkotter906]

@@estel5335 Granted

[@raphaelfournier8273]

Very well said on the non-value Thielemann.

[@xavierotazu5805]

They probabyl do not include the best recordings (or those who almost everybody wants) in this kind of boxes because they want to sell them separately and at full price.

[@petertaplin4365]

No Dutoit? what about his LSO Petrouchka?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Seems like French conductors don't matter.

[@allthisuselessbeauty-kr7]

What a lost opportunity - just off the top of my head Karajan Prokofiev 5, Maazel Ravel L'enfant, Boulez Bartok The Wooden Prince & , Cantata Profunda, Pinnock Handel Concerti Grossi Op 6, and on......

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yep.

[@estel5335]

Yes, either his Ravel or his Firebird/Falla is missing. It's really a pity..they are stupendous!

[@allthisuselessbeauty-kr7]

@@estel5335 Well Maazel got included but newer, less persuasive recordings. Just thought of more to add to my missed opportunity list I'd have also included Tilson Thomas' Ives, Ruggles & Piston disc with Boston (great stuff).

[@caleblaw2331]

I would prefer getting the big boxes of the artists that I like the most, not a big box of 1 CD per conductor box. If you like Bernstein, get a Bernstein box. If you like Schuricht, get a Schuricht box. The problem of these "teasing" boxes is, I'd forget what they have in there. If I want to listen to certain piece of music, I'd go to other boxes. I won't remember if this 111 box has certain pieces or not. At the end, I may never listen to it or the best case scenario is to listen to it once and never come back to it

[@AlexMadorsky]

Even if we grade this box on a curve, as it seems we must with all such similar products, it doesn’t seem like this selection gets very high marks. From a sales perspective, I get lumping in big-name maestros who were barely DG artists, but even then it seems like some better repertoire choices with less repetition and more creativity could have and should have been made. On top of that you don’t get the best output of Bohm, Jochum, Fricsay, and others. So much greatness, but a lot of mediocrity here too. If I were still in the cube-buying business this would be a definite pass for me.

[@stevesincock941]

Yeah marketing is a big factor.

[@tonytaylor3476]

Somebody liked this video, but How can someone like a 30 minute video, when David posted it 3 minutes ago? I’m watching now, just as it’s posted…not possible to watch this in 3 minutes from first posting, unless you’re Dr Who, is it?

[@murraylow4523]

Hi Tony - I think what’s going on is that some people use the like/ unlike button to add/ not add a video to a priority list to view later.

[@AlexMadorsky]

Although I was not one of the early bird likes, I do hit “like” on all of Dave’s videos because I…like all of them! Even when I don’t agree with all of what is said or I have little intrinsic interest in the recordings under discussion, I always enjoy watching. I do, however, refrain from commenting on the videos until I have watched them in their entirety.

[@murraylow4523]

@@haineshisway ah ok, well, this is the only KZbin channel I watch so sorry for being a neophyte. If I like something it adds it to a list however….

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Well, I do like myself but not that way...

[@stevesincock941]

I do it so I can watch it later and to ensure the videos keep appearing on my KZbin feed

[@ashotghantarjyan116]

What's wrong with Gardiner?!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Not Gardiner generally, those particular performances. He's done some wonderful things, but those? I don't think so.

[@Gustav_Mahler]

Don't you think, he's done the best Beethoven cycle on period instruments? Do you?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

@@Gustav_Mahler No.

[@daigreatcoat44]

I'm waiting for DG's "Great Styrofoam Slabs of the Century" box. It will (or ought to) include a medieval slab for use with authentic recordings.......

[@jankucera8180]

Where is Lenny?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I mentioned that clearly--Mahler 1 and 2.

[@jankucera8180]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Sorry... too many things going on simultaneously... I should be more careful.

[@veselinboyadzhiev4724]

Where is the scarf of irredeemable chutzpah?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Wasn't in this video. I have it for VERY special occasions.

[@Don-md6wn]

@@DavesClassicalGuide You could have pulled it on DG for having a 40 disc box and giving one of them to Thielemann.