Matsumura: Symphony nr. 1 - Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps

Teizo Matsumura's First Symphony (1965) has already been included in this listening diary.  At that point, about a year ago, the only option to listen to this work was on NewMusicXX's YouTube channel. Meanwhile, this Naxos recording has also been issued in Europe and so now we can enjoy it in more optimal conditions. It's a 25 minute, brutal piece in a starkly expressionistic idiom. The CD booklet notes (by Koichi Nichi) provide some startling insights about Matsumura's inspiration leading to this work: "After writing Achime, Matsumura felt that he could no longer depend on polyphonic and homophonic techniques in Western music to provide his basic means of expression. His new aim was to write music 'conceived with an Asian mindset' and 'full of primitive energy directly rooted in the very origins of life'. The classic work for which he felt the strongest affinity was Stravinksy's Le sacre du printemps, but its optimistically diatonic melodies and clear rhythms linked to dance were no longer the sound he was seeking. Groping his way forward, he gradually became obsessed with a vague image of an enormous accumulation of chaotic sounds, until one day he was inspired by a photograph of a group many stone images of the Buddha. These took on the appearance of a huge swarm of locusts, wildly sweeping over the earth. Overwhelmed by the image, he determined to write an orchestral work full of such energy, setting to work on his Symphony nr. 1". Indeed, the music seems to reflect these apocalyptic images pretty well. The reading by the Irish RTE NSO led by Takuo Yuasa is impressively cogent. Technically the recording is only average with a sonic image that lacks subtlety and spaciousness. But I'm not complaining as otherwise we wouldn't be able to hear the piece at all.

I thought this audition was a good opportunity to explore Ivan Fischer's recently issued recording of Stravinsky's Sacre. I hold this conductor and his orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, in very high esteem and so I was quite curious to hear what his take was on this 'pièce unique' in the history of Western music. I am sad to say that I came away rather disappointed from this first audition. In fact, from the first bar to the last this reading left me stone cold. I found my mind wandering even during the most explosive tutti. Why was that? For a start I think it has a lot to do with the recording quality. I've heard many good things from Channel Classics but here they missed the mark. Curiously, the sonic picture of this SACD recording strikes me as exhibiting a strange blend of spaciousness and density. I can pick up the acoustic ambience of the Bela Bartok Concert Hall in Budapest's Palace of the Arts quite well. On the other hand there is no sense of depth to the sound at all. It's almost as if the brass section is sitting in my lap. Additionally and curiously, I find the recording lacking in dynamics. And finally there is this kind of sterile gauze stretched over the orchestra that keeps one from 'seeing the musicians' faces'. Indeed, timbres are annoyingly disembodied and 'digital'. They lack vibrancy and the slightly grainy textures that come with real music making. Immediately after the Fischer recording I put an LP on the Michell Gyrodec for comparison: Antal Dorati and the Detroit SO's late 1970s recording for Decca. The difference is immediately and abundantly clear. This is a recording that has amazing body and bite. The brass cut through the thicket like samurai swords. The strings have lifelike presence. And the percussion thunders with massive impact. And all of that in a sonic perspective of believable depth and dynamics. Dorati's reading of the Sacre is a terrifying affair. In contrast, Fischer's strikes me as rather civilised. There is nothing wrong with that. But if he wanted to make a point, it's not clear to me what it is. Textures are rather (but not very) clear, there are some interesting inner voices that come to the surface (but not consistently), tempi are on the whole on the brisk side although some sections (the Spring Rounds in Part I, for example) are taken more broadly. Sometimes I had the distinct feeling that Fischer's approach was a little too studied, hence my mind's propensity to wander. On the whole, the reading struck me as a passable effort. But for Fischer and his band, this is a letdown. There is still a Firebird Suite on this CD I have to listen to. But I'm afraid I'll have to provide some counterweight on Amazon for the glowing reviews that this recording is garnering.