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Site review by Polly Nomial March 31, 2007
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Performance: Sonics (MC): |
This is one of those discs that is all too easy to review for negative reasons. For all the energy and eloquence that the Camerata Academica des Mozarteums Salzburg provide under Sandor Vegh, there can be no denying the effect of a full string orchestra in Brahms' gorgeous quintet stultifying and robs the masterpiece of all its intimacy - this is curiosity value only (and when sated, deeply unsatisfying).
The Schoenberg has a long and successful history in performance as a string orchestra work; in fact, the lush textures in places almost cry out for such an approach - so much so that the original sextet has been almost completely eclipsed in the recording studio. One immediately calls to mind masterful interpretations such as the BPO under Karajan and the lack of tonal variety of the Camerata Academica is exposed. The grip that can be exerted by this extraordinary music is also missing from the direction of Sandor Vegh so that the story that some interpreters can conjure up becomes a series of fragments - the whole is definitely less than the sum of the parts here.
The recording is fair but as the "surround" layer has been manipulated from a stereo source I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it from this perspective either - this is one case where I am tempted to stick with an RBCD!
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Copyright © 2007 John Broggio and SA-CD.net
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