Bruno Walter - The Edition (2013)

This box set contains the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms, the later symphonies of Mozart, symphonies of Mahler and Bruckner, CDs with rehearsals and many more. The German born conductor Bruno Walter (1876-1962) was known primarily for his interpretations of the Viennese school. Though out of step with 20th century trends he was such a fine musician that he became a major figure - filling the wide gulf between the extremes of his day - Arturo Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler.

He was an associate of Gustav Mahler and a long and faithful proponent and interpreter of Mahler's music.

He conducted the world premieres of “Das Lied von der Erde” (1911) and the “Symphony No. 9” (1912).

In 1925, he helped institute the Salzburg Festival and was named musical director of the Berlin Staatsoper. In 1929, Walter had a falling out with the Berlin opera management and departed to succeed Wilhelm Furtwängler at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.

In 1933 he left Germany when the Nazis came to power and went to Austria and from there in 1938 to France. Walter finally left Europe in 1939 and settled in the United States where he already had a strong following. He built up a reputation as a respected conductor under whom musicians enjoyed working. Amongst other orchestras, he frequently conducted the New York Philharmonic.

In 1957 a West Coast recording ensemble named Columbia Symphony Orchestra was specially put together for Walter to produce new recordings of famous works by Bruckner and Mahler in stereo.

Composer: Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, …
Performer: Walter Hendl, John Corigliano Sr., Leonard Rose, Martha Lipton, …
Conductor: Bruno Walter
Orchestra/Ensemble: Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Occidental College Consort, New York Philharmonic, …

Reviews: Bruno Walter began his conducting career in 1894.
Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner were (just barely) contemporaries. Bruckner died in 1896, Brahms in 1897.
Gustav Mahler was very much a contemporary.
He hired Bruno Walter as an assistant in 1894, and Walter was part of Mahler's inner circle until the composer's death in 1911.
[Klemperer was part of the inner circle from 1905-1911].

Bruno Walter was a Nineteenth Century musician who survived into the Modern Age.
A true dinosaur.
Thanks to the forward thinking of Columbia Records, the 82 year-old conductor was brought out of retirement in 1958 to record his core repertoire in modern stereo sound.
This continued until his death in 1962.

I first started listening to classical music when I was fifteen - in 1964.
My first big crush was Herbert von Karajan.
I think I may have been influenced by the sheer look and feel of 1960s Deutsche Gramophon LP records.
They were twice as thick as American records, came in extra-wide plastic-lined sleeves, and didn't snap, crackle and pop like American records.

The infatuation with Karajan lasted about five years, until I discovered Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer at my college record shop (what's a record shop?).
The American pressings were still pretty awful, but the music-making was revelatory: Walter was warm and comforting; Klemperer was imposing and majestic.
Still my two favorite conductors of the stereo era.

Young Bruno Walter could be tough. "Old" Bruno Walter was warm and fuzzy. Musicians loved him.
I loved him.
Dynamic conductors are a dime a dozen. Old Bruno Walter was something special.

Bruno Walter seated his second violins stage right.
This was the custom in the Nineteenth Century.
Composers took it as a given.
You hear a lot of contrapuntal stuff which is absent when all violins are massed together on the left
(Karajan, Bernstein, Solti, and nearly every other modern conductor). *

Walter's early European career is documented in an 8 CD box from EMI: Icon: The Early Recordings
His middle career (1941-1956) was based in New York.
The New York Philharmonic mono recordings were done by Columbia Records.
Many of them are in this box.
Aside from a few New York PO stereo sessions, the late stereo recordings were done in Los Angeles with the "Columbia Symphony".
The "Columbia Symphony" was the Los Angeles Philharmonic under another name (the pre-1958 Columbia Symphony was mostly the New York Philharmonic).

This new Bruno Walter Edition is a straight re-issue of Sony's mid-1990s Bruno Walter Edition.

SOUND QUALITY:
No recordings were newly re-mastered for this box:
"These recordings were mastered using 20-bit technology for "high definition sound".
This was state of the art in 1995. An improvement over 16-bit.
They sound fine to me.

A few of them were reissued after 2000, using "Sony's Direct Stream Digital (DSD) System and SBM Direct".
I own the 2004 "Masterworks Expanded Edition" of Bruckner's Symphony 9.
I did an A/B comparison with the 1996 Bruckner 9 included in the Bruno Walter Edition.
The 2004 CD remastering sounded a tiny bit more impressive, but it was also transferred at a higher level which could affect my judgement.
One thing I noticed is that the timings are absolutely identical, which implies that Sony tweaked the 1996 digital master in 2004, instead of starting from scratch with the 1959 analog master tape, which a true re-mastering would have involved.

BAD NEWS:
The mid-1990s Bruno Walter Edition did not include all of Bruno Walter's stereo recordings.
His stereo Mozart Symphonies 35-41, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Masonic Funeral Music, 4 Overtures, and Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Francescatti were bypassed in favor of the mono New York recordings (Szigeti was soloist in the Beethoven).
I though this was a mistake at the time, and Sony has not corrected the problem.
It would have meant only three additional CDs.
These stereo recordings have been issued separately: Bruno Walter Conducts Mozart - or - [ Mozart: The Last 6 Symphonies - plus - Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik + Overtures K 486 588 492 620 477 (CBS Great Performances) ] - and - Violin Concerto

It would have been nice if Sony had also included the mono New York Beethoven and Brahms Symphonies, and Mahler Symphony 1.
The performances are quite a bit more dynamic.
I still prefer the warm and fuzzy stereo versions, but it would have presented a more rounded picture of Walter's accomplishment.

The packaging is kind of dumb.
A 12 by 12 inch box, just like LP records used to come in.
Very retro, but it doesn't fit on my CD shelf.

No texts or translations for the vocal works.
Inevitable with these budget boxes. Sigh.

GOOD NEWS:
All the rehearsal recordings are included: Beethoven Symphonies 4,5,7,9, Mahler Symphony 9, Mozart Symphony 36, Wagner Siegfried Idyll.**
Even his rehearsals were warm and fuzzy.
When I want to hear the Siegfried-Idyll, I actually prefer this rehearsal to anybody's performance of the complete work.

A gorgeous booklet is included, with lots of well-produced photographs.
A new and excellent biography of Walter (slightly gossipy), plus detailed history of these recordings.

The price is incredibly low.

Highly Recommended.