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Elgar: Enigma Variations, In the South - Ashkenazy

Elgar: Enigma Variations, In the South - Ashkenazy

Exton  EXCL-00029

Stereo Hybrid

Classical - Orchestral


Elgar: Enigma Variations Op. 36, In the South Op. 50

Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Vladimir Ashkenazy (conductor)

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Review by John Miller - September 26, 2009

This is the third of Exton's issues of live recordings from the 2008 Elgar Festival with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra recorded in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. Elgar's First Symphony (Elgar: Symphony No. 1 - Ashkenazy) made a strong impression, in both performance and natural recording. As before, the DSD recording is stereo only.

Elgar's Enigma Variations was the first of his orchestral masterpieces to gain him widespread public recognition and it is still the composition which is most played away from British shores. Ashkenazy's reading is good, with solid support from the idiomatic and affectionate playing of the SSO. Each intimate portrait of one of his friends is given its due, but Nimrod (regrettably associated these days with memorial services, whereas it was written as a tribute to Beethoven's slow movements) drags at 4:01 compared with Elgar's own 2:53. The section leaders of the SSO excel in their fine solo playing, and the exuberant 'EDU' Finale, a self-portrait, surges and swells appropriately, with palpable support from the organ. Four stars for Enigma.

'In the South', another masterpiece of glowing orchestral colour which pays homage to Richard Strauss, opens with a good blast of Mediterranean heat, but does not attain the matchless heights of Constantin Silvestri's glorious account with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Too often Ashkenazy casts tension aside in favour of lyrical caressing, and the ominous Grandioso section which reflects the implacable tread of Roman legions, so menacing in Silvestri's hands, is merely slow and ponderous. Three and a half stars for this.

After the Exton mixing engineer has had his way with it, this recording could well be entitled "Concerto for Ashkenazy and Podium". Listening at a good volume level (which reveals a distracting LF rumble throughout), one can hear all of the conductor's vocalisations, pounces, lunges and leaps on the podium, together with a creak from the somewhat loose metal guard rail around the podium (this is DSD, you know!). Seemingly there is a microphone close above Ashkenazy's head. In quiet sections, the sound is passable, but nowhere has near the fine perspectives of the first disc in the series. The mixer-jockey leaps into action at climaxes, bringing the heavy brass and trumpets harshly into the listener's lap with an airless and over-bright sound which is not natural and is just plain nasty. Violins become papery and bright above the stave. At all times there is little depth to the very narrow centre-hugging sound-stage, and no coherent view of the Hall's ambience, which changes as woodwinds are brought closer and then retreat. This wall of sound approach simply does not suit the music and seriously inhibited my assessment of the performances.

Avoid this one. I wish I had.

Copyright © 2009 John Miller and HRAudio.net

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