SWR Classic

Fleeing the antisemitism that was spreading across Europe, violinist Henryk Szeryng gained Mexican citizenship after the Second World War. He was born in Warsaw in 1918 (not Chopin’s birthplace Żelazowa Wola, as is often stated) and studied under Carl Flesch in Berlin before working with Jacques Thibaud and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Fluent in seven languages, Szeryng also worked during the war as an interpreter for the Polish government in exile.Regarded as one of the best violinists of his time, his stardom began to fade after he died in 1988, though his recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin for Deutsche Grammophon went down in history, especially among violinists and Hilary Hahn in particular.Henryk Szeryng has always been consistent. His sober performances and accurate intonation are truly captivating. This ensemble – which lasts more than 5 ½ hours – presents concertos recorded for the German radio SWR between 1956 and 1984 with a sound quality that’s close to a studio recording. It incluced most of his repertoire with Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Lalo, Brahms, Sibelius and Berg. There’s also Schumann’s lesser-known Concerto in D minor (Szeryng was among the first to explore the piece) and a stunning version of his compatriot Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2.While it’s mostly Ernest Bour holding the conductor’s baton, the various SWR orchestras are also conducted by Karl Ristenpart, Paul Sacher and Stanisław Skrowaczewski. © François Hudry/Qobuz

The SWR archives house around 125 recordings of the conductor Carl Schuricht (1880-1967) and thus most of his artistic legacy. This 30-album box set is a re-release of earlier SWR bestsellers and comprises Schuricht's recordings between 1950-1966. The programme included here stretches from the large symphonic repertoire of the 18th to the early 20th century via lesser known works of modern composers like Robert Oboussier and Günther Raphael. The charisma of Schuricht's interpretation skills intensified in his old age, when he seemed to prevail over his physical handicaps through the sheer strength of his artistic presence alone.

With its cover art showing the flags of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and its sombre title, “Baltikum”, this final record from the prodigious SWR Vokalensemble shows clearly its intentions: a commitment to contemporary baltic choral music. The ninth and final episode of a series that Marcus Creed and his vocal ensemble have dedicated to musical portraits of various countries.Of the seven composers presented here, only Arvo Pärt has broken out onto the international stage. This rich compilation allows one to discover music that is generally rather austere, of great beauty and with a meditative strength and sense of calm that characterises the music of baltic composers. A music which owes a lot to the tenacity of leader and violist Gidon Kremer who has dedicated himself for a long time to the discovery of baltic composers. Audiences from around the world can taste this impressive mix of the old and new, attracting listeners who would never go to concerts.This new album presents original, rather intense arrangements of folkloric songs by Estonian Veljo Tormis alongside the orchestral and atmospheric work of Latvia’s leading female musician, Maija Einfelde. Arvo Pärt's exhilarating cantata Dopo la vittoria forms an arc until it reaches total silence in his final choral work And I heard a Voice. Pēteris Vasks is represented with his moving ballad Litene, which commemorates victims of the fight for the liberation of Lithuania. Emerging from a particularly active musical breeding ground, are three young composers that complete this fascinating offering. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Conductor Roger Norrington's performances of Beethoven were controversial in the 1980s when he first offered them; they were controversial in 2002, when he conducted these performances with the late, lamented Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra; and they remain controversial in this 2020 release, even if perhaps as time goes by they become more permanent fixtures of the landscape. Norrington here transferred his historical performance techniques to a modern-instrument orchestra. His trademarks are present: fast tempos that follow the metronome markings from late in Beethoven's life, ignored by most musicians, avoidance of vibrato, and punchy accents that bring out the wind and especially the brass parts. Whatever one thinks of Norrington's readings, it's not possible to claim that he is imposing a system on the music: his readings are detailed and careful. The attraction of this set is that he has a modern orchestra that can follow him through the changes he applies to the Beethoven symphonies. Consider the first movement of the Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 ("Pastoral"), wonderfully delicate despite the high speed. It's worth noting that Norrington is extrapolating backward regarding the tempo for most of these works; Beethoven didn't get a metronome (and it may have been a defective one) until the mid-1810s. The Andante cantabile of the Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21, is a brisk walk indeed, but it does remain cantabile. The problem with Norrington's approach is that when Beethoven does mark a movement Presto, in the Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, he has nowhere to go: his Presto is hardly faster than his other Allegro movements, and in the finale of the Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, he doesn't brutalize the singers with the logical conclusion of his proportions; that movement is brisk but not overly rapid. Again, all these movements, and all the rest of them, are well crafted, and ultimately listeners must decide for themselves about Norrington's approach, which has certainly proven itself durable. The original sound quality and the mastering from the new SWR Music label are unusually good. © TiVo