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Mercury Living Presence Boxed Set CD19 van55
These extraordinary performances recorded at the Eastman Theatre, Rochester, in the late 50s, show no sign of fading. In aesthetic, presentation and sound, they are as fresh and vital as when they first came out...and I remember when they did, about 1960.
The greater part of the accolades, of course, go to Howard Hanson, whose tenacity and talent changed how the USA and the world looked at and listened to American music. Here he is in top form before the outstanding ensemble he built. In the concerti, the point and attack so necessary in Bloch is there, the virtuosity is there, the songfulness and emotion most definitely there. What's remarkable is that Hanson doesn't make a point of it...his Bloch aesthetic is by now so ingrained in our collective conscience that imagining a slack performance of any Bloch piece is brainwork, indeed.
The outstanding Miquelle works into the scheme very well, too. His Schelomo is the meditative king that eschews the rhetoric, bluster, bounce and noise we often get in the work. His Gallic tone is intimate, pure, on point, and even diminuitive at times without in any way being retiring or pusilanimous. He and Hanson stick very close to the music and by doing less, they express more. Miquelle and Hanson's way won't appeal to those who seek "virtuosismo", but will reward those who seek Bloch's creative thought and compositional process. In that way, it's a unique and extraordinary performance.
If you don't know Bloch, this is a superlative way to start. Thanks to Wilma Cozart for refurbing her own sessions so effectively, and Mercury for bringing back these historic performances for more generations to experience.