Review: Martinon"s Stupendous Erato ICON Box
Vložit
- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- After his tenure in Chicago, in the mid 60s Jean Martinon returned to France where he proceeded to record a huge swath of 20th-century French repertoire, much of it available from no one else--works by Roussel, Pierné, Ibert, Schmitt, Honegger, Dukas, Poulenc and many others. Better still, the performances were uniformly excellent. Here they are, in this 14-CD set, recoupled to give us 75-80 minute playing times on almost every disc. This set is one of the great bargains in the catalogue, even aside from the fact that it is musically invaluable.
Totally agree! One of the great boxes available on the market. Armin Jordan's "french box" (ERATO) deserves a review as well.
Martinon was an absolutely fantastic conductor, especially Debussy and Ravel from Martinon is amazing and second to none. The ORTF recordings lack a bit bass and body but stunning 3D depth and very detailed. I'm an audiophile and I'm very happy with the ORTF recordings.
Happy to see that this set is still available. I hope your review will inspire viewers to snap it up befor eit goes the way of other EMI Icons. Martinon's advocacy of 20th Century French repertoire helped me to appreciate composers that were unknown to me prior to purchasing this set a couple of years ago. This set also makes the perfect complement to EMI/Warner's other Martinon box--thecomplete Debbusy/Ravel orchestral music.
Congratulations Dave! Your video appears to have moved this Martinon Icon box to Amazon's #1 Best Seller in "Chamber Music", ahead of Classical Naptime for Tots.
A great box that I have indeed savored and happily acquired thanks to your great box set video. It makes me so happy to hear you talk about Roussel again, this time with the bonus of Pierné and Schmitt. I think Schmitt is next in line for one of your videos on neglected composers; he’s so wonderful. People NEED to know about the Psalm 47, Tragedie de Salome, and the 2nd symphony (Oramo recording!). I’m flying to Paris next month to hear the Psalm and his Reves played by the Orch National de France. A few years ago I did the same to hear the Orch de Paris play Schmitt 2nd Antoine et Cleopatre Suite, Roussel Padmavati 2nd Suite, d’Indy Istar, Debussy Khamma, Ravel Sheherezade. That was some program!
Your praise for Jean Martinon, and for this particular collection of his late recordings, makes me feel clever for having acquired it in the past year, on one of those searches for lesser known Classical music. Well, this - as you well noted - had 10 cds (out of 14!) worth of works by people I had heard of, but mostly not their music. Figuring I would never buy up all that stuff separately, I decided to go for the box as a sampler of sorts - in full recognition it was going to sound great, since it was Martinon, a legend (had heard his Berlioz, and some Chicago recordings). As David says, what could go wrong?..
Well. To spoil it: nothing! The more I listen, the more I find myself liking even the music I never expected to. The late 19th c. and early-to-mid 20th c. French repertoire is wonderfully melodic (if sometimes quirky), with very few of the serialist-atonal-minimalist nonsense... sorry fans of that. :) Seems one can be modern without being jarring and going nowhere. :)) Throughout, very elegant performances of inventive and colorful repertoire. And even the attempts at "mainstream" Romantics with Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Schumann (especially the latter for me), made in practically Martinon's last year on Earth, are very compelling. I concur with the author of booklet notes that the plans for this conductor's Brahms and Schumann cycles being cancelled by Death was a real loss. Long story short - and probably the shortest "review" I could write - this release is cheap enough to be enticing even for uninitiated, and it proves rewarding beyond belief. Now we should get that Debussy / Ravel set as well... I read the producers consciously did not put anything by those two composers here in order to explore rare works, and we ought to be grateful.
I'm sure there is an endless supply of these "still available" boxes to review, but would you consider reviewing the Kubelik Complete DG Recordings box? Thank you for your insights and good humor.
It's in my shopping basket, thanks David.
Great box! I have the Debussy/Ravel box too. My favourite La Mer. Nobody gets that quite like he does. Maybe Baudo, but it's not as good.
There is another superb version of the "Psalm 47" by Georges Tzipine with Denise Duval. Tzipine did a lot to promote "listenable" contemporary French music of his day, including Roussel and Honegger, Challan, Rivier... He's hardly ever mentioned these days. EMI did release a double CD of his stuff a while back though, well worth hearing,
Yes, but the sonics are better and the Tzipine was one a French EMI twofer that never had international distribution and vanished almost instantly.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Right on both counts. The Tzipine version was the première recording of the work and does suffer a bit from poorer sonics. For fans pf great "historical recordings" and Denise Duval I should add, then. Cheers!
I've just received a copy of this box. It's very interesting to compare to a box of Karajan recordings from a decade or two earlier, with the Philharmonia and Berlin. Very different musical personalities.
This is truly a great set, just got it. Unfortunately, the sleeve for CD8 has a duplicate of CD7 in it, rather than disc 8. I read online that this was a problem with a batch of these that went out for sale. It’s the Dukas disc which I was really looking forward to (having said that, I have EMI’s A Portrait of Dukas two disc set that contains most of what this missing disc has). I’ve contacted Warner Classics about a replacement but no response. No matter, this is a great set and I now know the wonders of a few composers I never knew before!
This was a wonderful recommendation! I am still working on the first two discs. Any thoughts on the audio quality of the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony?
Wonderfull video as usual. Thanks David. Would love to hear your thoughts on the Fremaux icon box.
Dave, another suggestion on a recording that is still available and might be worthy of a video - "The Chicago Principal: First Chair Soloists Play Famous Concertos", a 2 disc set on DG with pieces by Mozart, Haydn, Schumann, RVW, Britten and Ravel. I see that you gave it a 10/10 review back in 2003. I stumbled across it recently and while the pieces might be "famous", some of them like the RVW tuba concerto and Schumann Konzertstuck aren't that easy to come across in recordings. What a collection of horn and woodwind players the CSO had in the late 70's and early 80's.
I have it sitting on a "to do" pile, so thanks for reminding me. Stay tuned...
Just bouht this after your review. Have some duplication, even with Japanese remastering (Ibert), but most performances I don’t have. I have it on my wish list for a while, though. Great review!
Congratulations for your french prononciation! I totally agree with your comment on CDs timing. It is becoming annoying to get more and more big boxes which could be reduced by half their size if they really packed each CD (Sony...). I dont care if the price per CD is higher and they also could print each original jacket in the booklet if they want but the shelf space needed is a major argument for me when I want to buy a new box. Icon series was great for that. Too bad it was not always "complete" discography of the artist.
AH another box...I couldn't decide which Buchbinder Beethoven box to get, after reading Jed Distler's typically judicious review of the latest DG cycle. Decided to go with RCA just based on sound quality.
Dave, at 10:45 you said Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 2 with Sylvia Kersenbaum, but you meant Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 with Sylvia Kersenbaum. Still, as you say, "not a work that we hear done every day" (and I think it is the uncut version).
Sounds like a good box to add to my collection. I already have a few of these recordings but not enough to rule out the purchase.
I wonder why the other Saint-Saëns symphonies were not included. Martinon recorded all five of them for EMI. The box doesn't claim to be the "complete" Martinon on EMI/Erato/Warner, but it seems like a missed opportunity not to include them.
Yes, sorry. PC2.
I suppose they weren't included because, just like the Ravel and Debussy, they were compiled in a separate box (still available if you want it, by the way).
@@josecarmona9168 AND in the still relatively new Warner Saint-Saëns Edition. There, they lie complete along all the other nuggets. I was honestly surprised by the variety and quality of S-S's Chamber music, but the whole box is fabulous.
I picked up this set on your recommendation on the 12 great box set. Between this and the Jochum box are some of the best music you could ask for.
So happy you are enjoying them! Thanks for letting us all know.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Ha! Nice April fools joke. I doubt anyone is wondering what I think. I do enjoy the videos. Thanks.
Oh! If only he had gathered a collection of the greatest French wind players and recorded Schmitt’s “Dionysiaques”! Would have been the reference recording.
Did Martinon do a recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra of Carl Nielson s Symphony No 4 ?
Yes.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks
And Dave was instrumental in getting the bad side break fixed between the 2nd and 3rd movements for the big Martinon RCA box!
If I want to buy 1 Martinon box, which one should I start with? I can see 4 Martinon boxes available - ICON box, Debussy & Ravel box, Decca box, and Chicago box
Depends on what you need. Debussy and Ravel first if you need Debussy and Ravel. Otherwise, this one.
Eloquence also edited the DG box and the Philips box, but I think they are now deleted.
@@josecarmona9168 I just purchased the two Eloquence boxes (7 discs total). Some are earlier recordings of works found in the ICON box, nearly all with Lamoureux, but also Mozart and Prokofiev.
Dave, you referenced briefly at the beginning of the video Martinon’s recording of the Shostakovich 1st symphony. It was done with the London Symphony and is easily my favorite version of the piece (apologies to Jarvi who is also quite good) I am not sure what Martinon’s relationship with the LSO was, but he also recorded a brilliant Borodin 2nd symphony with the ensemble that I have never heard equaled. You make a fine case for this box, but I would still go with his Chicago box as a first choice.
If that's your preference, I can't argue with it!