Andre Cluytens Box

[maestrob]

Andre Cluytens is well-known to all of us here. He has been long-regarded as much more than a conductor of French music, as his excellent set of Beethoven Symphonies (among other gems) readily attests. Here presented is a collection of his complete symphony and concerto recordings, with many titles available for the first time in stereo (See track listings on amazon.). A gigantic legacy, this box contains 64 CDs for the bargain price of $99.99 with free shipping.

Highly recommended.

[John F]

For me, Cluytens was best as an opera conductor, which of course is not part of this set. Not just in French opera, though his earlier recordings were limited to that; he conducted several Wagner operas at the Bayreuth Festival, and I heard him do Verdi's "Otello" at the Vienna State Opera.

[jserraglio]

Great orchestral conductor. Three of my favorites.

[maestrob]

I have the Faure Requiem and the Shostakovich XI on LP (the Shostakovich was only released in mono, IIRC.). Both are great.

By checking the reviews on amazon, I find that the stereo studio tapes of the Shostakovich have (except for a short gap) survived: for that alone, I would buy this box. His Ravel is outstanding and well worth having, as well as his Beethoven, which was recorded in Berlin before HVK's famous 1962 set.

I didn't know that Cluytens conducted Wagner at Bayreuth: I'd love to hear those tapes if they're available.

There is something about Otello that attracts conductors not usually associated with Verdi (Furtwangler, Gergiev, Cluytens, Barbirolli). It's such a magnificently crafted score that's easy on the conductor.

[John F]

Cluytens's Bayreuth repertoire was "Tannhäuser" in 1955 and 1965, "Die Meistersinger" in 1956-8, "Lohengrin" in 1958, and "Parsifal" in 1957 and 1965. All were Wieland Wagner productions and, in those days, this was a guarantee of a strong cast. I see that "Tannhäuser," "Lohengrin," and "Die Meistersinger" are on YouTube.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPpYIGUk6ik

[jserraglio]

I have the Faure Requiem and the Shostakovich XI on LP (the Shostakovich was only released in mono, IIRC.). Both are great.

By checking the reviews on amazon, I find that the stereo studio tapes of the Shostakovich have (except for a short gap) survived: for that alone, I would buy this box. His Ravel is outstanding and well worth having, as well as his Beethoven, which was recorded in Berlin before HVK's famous 1962 set.

I didn't know that Cluytens conducted Wagner at Bayreuth: I'd love to hear those tapes if they're available.

I have all of the Beethoven cycle and some of the Ravel cmplt orch volumes. Excellent. My first LvB 9th was his on a Seraphim LP, cheapest I could find at the time. Other treasured recs. are his operas Faust and Boris on Angel stereo LPs.

The Testament reissue of the DSCH 11 is stereo.



Other Cluytens Wagner perfs besides Bayreuth have survived:

Parsifal La Scala 1960
Parsifal Vienna State Opera 1956
Siegfried La Scala 1963

[maestrob]

Thanks, gentlemen for the information! I'll give a listen, and report later......

I've also treasured his Faust and Boris Godunov since they were first issued on LP when I was a teenager.

[John F]

I remember the Cluytens/Berlin Beethoven set as superbly played but interpretively anonymous. Listening to a couple of the symphonies on YouTube has confirmed my memory. Other Beethoven recordings with this orchestra, notably Furtwängler's and Karajan's, have a more distinctive approach.

[jserraglio]

Cluytens' musically sound interpretations of the symphonies put Beethoven front and center. Refreshing to hear the BPO in good sound before the Karajan era kicked in and changed everything.

[RebLem]

The Oistrakh/Cluytens LP of the Beethoven Violin Concerto was my first recording of that work. Its the one I learned the concerto from. Its still a very good performance, but no longer my favorite. That would be the Grumiaux/Galleira recording. My number one favorite recording, though, was his recording of Ravel's La Valse. Its one of the two best, I think, with two different interpretive approaches. Listen to the Solti recording of La Valse, and you will hear a genuinely nostalgic performance based on a revanchist, idealized view of the past, a longing for a bygone era that ignores the very considerable faults of that pre-WWI Central European political system. Cluytens, OTOH, takes an entirely different view, the kind of angry view of the aristocracy expressed by Strauss in Der Rosenkavalier: "Get out of our way, dammit, you're holding us back, you are fossils, and if you won't move over, we'll just have to push you over the cliff!"

[jserraglio]

ImportCDs $65.75 + $5.99 shipping = $71.74 for 65 (not 64) discs. Three comments on RMCR praise the remastering:

The entire contents were remastered by Studio Art and Sons, or at least that is how I interpret the sentences about it on page 35 of the booklet. / I've sampled about 10 CDs from this set so far, without doing comparisons to prior transfers, the remastering sounds really well done. / I haven't looked at the mastering dates, but the Beethoven symphonies sound better than I've ever heard them.

http://www.importcds.com/andre-cluytens ... l=nofollow

[maestrob]

Wow! I'm glad I waited! Thanks for that.

BTW: The box I posted says very clearly on the cover "64CD" and the graphic you posted says "65". I wonder which it is?

I think I'll get this.....

[jserraglio]

Wow! I'm glad I waited! Thanks for that.
BTW: The box I posted says very clearly on the cover "64CD" and the graphic you posted says "65". I wonder which it is? I think I'll get this.....

Amazon lists 65 in the track breakdown they usually do for sampling purposes. The price this morning has increased to $69.45.