• Re: Neeme Jarvi: proficient, skilled, soulless performances

    From Gerard@21:1/5 to All on Wed Feb 8 13:16:46 2023
    Op woensdag 29 juni 2022 om 11:17:36 UTC+2 schreef Gerard:
    Op 2022-06-28 om 23:54 schreef gggg gggg:
    On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 12:16:56 AM UTC-8, gggg gggg wrote:
    On Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at 1:51:07 AM UTC-10, Gerard wrote:
    I'm referring to a recent review on MusicWeb (about symphonies by
    Atterberg).
    http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Mar14/Atterberg_sys_v12_CHSA5116.htm

    The reviewer is deeply disappointed by almost everything Järvi recorded.

    A few quotes:

    ""Neeme Järvi’s continuing Atterberg symphony cycle is frustrating in a way
    that sums up Järvi’s entire career. It both promotes and trivializes >>> little-known music by treating it to proficient, skilled, soulless
    performances. An Atterberg album is a strange place for a music critic to
    take a firm stand, but I’m afraid I have a lot to say.""

    ""He treats almost every composer this way. His lack of empathy contaminates
    his Chabrier album (my colleague Dan Morgan says “incidental charm and >>> colouristic touches barely register”), his Saint-Saëns (my 2012 review seems
    never to have been published: “missing the last degree of romantic
    passion”), his Suppé (my colleague John Sheppard notes “lack of
    commitment”), his Tchaikovsky ballets (Nick Barnard was “hugely
    disappointed”), his Tchaikovsky Sixth Symphony (John Quinn finds he >>> “underplays” emotions “to the point of coolness”), and his Bruckner (“too
    damned fast,” gripes Gavin Dixon). ""

    ""Neeme Järvi will leave behind one of the most conflicted legacies of any
    conductor. He was a passionate advocate for unknown music, but his passion
    typically evaporated on the podium. He persuaded the CEO of BIS to let him
    record the symphonies of Eduard Tubin, a composer whose music I did not like
    until I heard albums by other conductors.""

    ""He adds lots of unheard music into his repertoire, but rarely thinks about
    how to interpret it idiomatically and compassionately. He eagerly takes on
    projects recording obscure composers like Atterberg, and then his approach
    trivializes them.""


    Is this how "we" think about Neeme Järvi?
    Didn't he make better recordings than the ones mentioned? Prokofiev?
    Shostakovich? Sibelius?
    No favorites?
    (Recent Y. upload):

    Neeme Järvi's 10 Best Recordings Previewed, or, How To Be Great Without Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms

    (Recent Y. u.):

    Dave's Faves No. 110 (Rimsky-Korsakov)
    In this case (Rimsky-Korsakov's suites from operas) I concur with the
    quoted reviewer on Musicweb-international.
    Järvi's performances of these suites are rather medioce, compared to recordings by Zinman, Bakels, Schwarz, and (best of all) Serov, or
    Ansermet or Tjeknavorian (to name a few who have made recordings of
    several of those suites).

    It must be the third time now (it's boring) that Dave H. praises Jarvi's mediocre recordings of Rimky's opera suites to heaven ("one of the most exciting things happening in music", "the sonics are amazing", "a wonderful revelation").
    This time not just as the only works by Rimsky that should be saved when all other works would be forbidden or destroyed, but also as the absolutely best recordings of these works - which they are not.

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

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