Scheherazade/Polovtsian Dances

This 1967 performance by Karajan and Schwalbe is definitely one for the records although it is certainly not the best by Karajan specifically. Schwalbe's flawless performance as a virtuoso in Scheherazade however more than makes up for Karajan's shortcomings in both performances. I actually found more defects in Borodin's Dances than the suites which seemed to bother the previous reviewer. All of these defects are virtually trivial and technical ones though in my opinion and would in no way bother most listeners.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakow was an accomplished Russian composer of the Late Romantic period who was perhaps the foremost master of his contemporaries at composing very lyrical fantasy suites based on Arabian motifs such as this one. The themes in Russian art such as music and literature tend to strongly reflect their cultural values which are founded in grandiose fatalism akin to Tolstoy and Pushkin's literary works. Other than with the nationalist themes of the '1812 Overture', Tchaikovsky is actually not one of the best Russian composers to reflect this as his works tended to remain more along the conventional Western European formats of composition as opposed to Korsakow or Borodin who have much more of this Russian motif of fatalism to their works. Tchaikovsky was actually the least popular composer in Russia during his time primarily for his lack of Russianness in his works. Korsakow chose his stories well in conveying such themes of fatalism as Arab culture is also very fatalistic as demonstrated in the Arabian Nights on which this work is based. In this piece, Sheherazade is held captive by the Caliph of Baghdad and is reciting to him the tale of her love Sinbad and his epic adventures. She is crying through most of her recital and the violin reflects her despair while the bassoon is the Caliph that interacts with the violin. Other characters are represented by various interwining solo instruments while the grandiose epic events make their presence known with the brass and percussion that carry the bulk of work. This is one of the greatest epic suites and violin works ever composed and should definitely be in every classical music lover's collection. As for the peformance itself, this 1967 recording is remastered and sounds pretty good. This is probably not one of Karajan's most epic directions but the violin work for Scheherazade is mesmerizing. Schwalbe puts a lot of passion in this performance and glides the bow in complete confidence to bring out the intense and dramatic lyricism required by the piece. I would rate his performance here as highly as that of any of the more known violin virtuosos such as Heifetz or Perlman. The Polovstian Dances for me were a little more deficient than Sheherazade in that Karajan seemed at points uneven with the pace of the dances and there's also no choir in this rendition.

Despite some of the problems with the performances here, these are still some of the best you can get for these particular compositions. For Russian lyrical pieces as the ones here, German or Eastern European tradition violinists such as Perlman or Heifetz are always good choices. Schwalbe here matches all of them in every way in his outstanding violin performance for Sheherazade. A great purchase!

I am not, generally speaking, a Von Karajan fan. But this recording is top-notch, rivaling (though not surpassing) the famous Beecham recording with the Royal Philharmonic (and with better acoustics.) The stars of this recording are not the conductor, but the individual players of the Berlin Phil, beginning with a most wonderful performance by Michael Schwalbe, the concertmaster playing the violin solos. (indeed it was for these that I purchased this recording.) But each player in virtually every section gets his moment, and illustrates why, during this period, the Berlin was the standard by which all other orchestras were measured.

My one disappointment is that the sonic extremes of the recording make it difficult for me to enjoy on my car stereo.

All the virtues mentioned by other reviewers are certainly here, but this warhorse has received at least half a dozen great performances, and quite a few are either in better sound or give a more Slavic flavor. For sheer vulgar impact--why not?--nothing surpasses Stokowski on London's Phase 4, with its super-highlighted solos. Reiner's version with Chicago has stood the test of time for four decades and is the opposite of Stokowski's reading, being virtuosic but without vulgarity or melodrama, just perfect balance and incredible solo work. Gergiev has a recent version on Philips in excellent digital sound with highly detailed orchestral work--and the list goes on through Kondrashin, Jansons, Chailly, Temirkanov, two other rip-roaring Stokowskis (one on EMI, the other on RCA), and not least the treasurable Beecham on EMI.

That said, I would put this Karajan performance near the top for its sheer virtuosity but not at the summit itself.