Charles Mackerras.(Collections)

Charles Mackerras

JANACEK: Sinfonietta; Overtures; ENESCO: Romanian Rhapsody 1; BARTOK: Romanian Folk Dances; DVORAK: Slavonic Dance 2; BRAHMS: Hungarian Dances 5+6

Pro Arte & Philharmonia Orchestras

Testament 1325--76 minutes

This was Mackerras's first recording of the Sinfonietta, as well as my introduction to the piece. It's still the rawest, most earthy rendition on record--and a far cry from his slick, polished, and otherwise conventional London remake. Here the brasses buzz, snarl, and make all manner of rude noises. The trumpets, nonetheless, are capable of producing a gorgeously rounded sonority (at 3:30 in II for example), and the solo oboe and strings are breathtakingly beautiful. Mackerras deserves extra credit for getting these amazing results from a mere pick-up orchestra.

This reading of the Sinfonietta strides forward boldly. Mackerras whips his ensemble into a tremendous frenzy in the opening movements, then turns in one of the most serene and seductive accounts of the lovely nocturne at the beginning of III. With his extreme and often unexpected contrasts of timbre, tempo, and dynamics, this familiar music somehow seems utterly fresh and new. The 1959 recording is thin, harsh, and congested. Ancerl had a much better ...