In 1960, the musical world observed the 100th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Mahler, and at that time, Mahler's music had just gained a foothold on the repertory after orbiting just outside it for some decades. Conductor Bruno Walter, who had been Mahler's friend and musical advocate since before the turn of the century, received a slew of requests for personal appearances from all over the world, but owing to the fragile state of his health, the 85-year-old conductor could only respond to a few of them. One of these appearances proved to be his last in Vienna, the city where his reputation began to thrive some 58 years earlier and where Walter had made his home base in the inter-war years.
So Music and Arts' Bruno Walter: The Vienna Farewell Concert marks an auspicious and historic occasion in the life of one of the towering figures in concert life in the twentieth century. A generation ago, that alone would have been enough to make it a contender in the classical collector's market, and this concert recording made its bow on record as a coveted, limited-edition Bruno Walter Society LP back in the 1970s. Things have changed in the meantime, and while such a recording may be less of a sure thing commercially, Music & Arts have done a very nice job in presenting Bruno Walter: The Vienna Farewell Concert in a package that does it some justice, with good illustrations and excellent annotation.
Walter's program consists of just five works, although it is still a very ambitious one, consisting of the Schubert "Unfinished" Symphony, Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and finally three additional Mahler orchestral lied as an encore. Walter had conducted all of these pieces many, many times; two other live performances of Mahler's Fourth featuring Schwarzkopf are known to exist on tape. Not many knowledgeable listeners will dispute that Walter's finest Fourth is his exquisite CBS studio recording made with the New York Philharmonic and soprano Desi Halban in 1945, and this last performance of it does not improve on the earlier recording. The Schubert is very slow, although still not as slow as it could be; in one 1990s performance, Carlo Maria Giulini takes just a shade off 30 minutes to get through its two movements! The Vienna Philharmonic, though unquestionably moved by the sense of occasion, slips into some bad habits here and there, such as goopy portamento in the string section and unsure intonation in the flutes. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf is, as usual, radiant and scintillating in all of her work on this occasion, and the encores seem to work the best in this concert, thanks in large part to her contribution.
The sound is as good as it is likely to get for this occasion, which means okay, but not great. The recording is muffled and lacking in high end, although at least it is not hissy. With the exception of Schwarzkopf's fine encores, Bruno Walter: The Vienna Farewell Concert is certainly meant for the die-hard Bruno Walter fan; others will find much more to enjoy in his studio alternatives of the two major works featured here.
© TiVo