Fritz Lehmann - A Pops Program and More Overtures

Longtime friend of the blog Jean Thorel, himself a conductor, asked for a transfer of this particular recording of Beethoven's Coriolan overture, which I am happy to provide as the final work of this program of pops favorites and overtures as conducted by Fritz Lehmann.

As noted in a previous post devoted to Lehmann, he was a talented conductor who died young in 1956, during a very productive period making recordings for the Deutsche Grammophon company. Today's selections were transferred from contemporary issues on the American Decca label, as detailed below. The sound is quite good.

Music by Bellini, Rossini, Meyerbeer and Verdi

Lehmann made most of his recordings with the Bamberg Symphony, such as these pops items derived from 19th century operas. He switched to the Berlin Philharmonic for the heavier material, such as the Coriolan overture later in the program.

These 1952-53 performances include the following, all highly pleasing and seldom performed on symphonic programs these days:

• Bellini - the Overture to Norma

• Meyerbeer - the Coronation March from Le prophète

• Rossini - the Act III ballet music from Guillaume Tell

• Verdi - the Ballabile from Act III of Otello

Dvořák - Serenade for Strings

Dvořák's Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22, is utterly delightful music that is quite light and thus does not often appear on today's concert programs with their ponderous diets of Bruckner, Mahler and contemporary music. But it makes for pleasant listening on a program such as this.

The recording is from 1955.

Auber - Fra Diavolo Overture

Daniel Auber's charming music is represented by the overture from his 1830 opéra comique Fra Diavolo. This 1951 performance comes from the Munich Philharmonic (also known as the Bayerisches Staatsorchester München).

One English critic complained (without naming him directly) that Sir Thomas Beecham would have made more of this music, an assertion that is impossible to disprove. I can tell you that this is a fine performance.

Gluck - Overture to Alceste

The overture to Christoph Willibald Gluck's 1767 opera Alceste was a popular item back in the days of 78s, being recorded by everyone from Malcolm Sargent to Wilhelm Furtwängler. It's an extraordinary work, here done well by Lehmann and the Berlin Philharmonic.

This is the only composition on the program not written in the 19th century. The recording is from 1952.

Beethoven - Coriolan Overture

Beethoven's overture was written for Collin's 1804 tragedy of that name. It was first performed, however, on a symphonic program, along with premieres of the composer's fourth symphony and fourth piano concerto.

This extraordinarily powerful music is tautly performed by Lehmann and the Berlin orchestra in this 1952 recording.

LINK to all the above performances

Fritz Lehmann

Fritz Lehmann Conducts Romantic Overtures

Fritz Lehmann is a little-remembered conductor whose recording heyday was short, but who did manage to make dozens of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon before his early death at age 52 in 1956.

Lehmann has appeared here twice before - with his recording of The Nutcracker Suite and with Brahms and Schumann overtures, along with two of Dvořák's Slavonic Rhapsodies. This post will revisit the Brahms and Schumann works while adding overtures from the Romantic period by Mendelssohn, Weber and Schubert.

About Fritz Lehmann

To paraphrase myself from an earlier post: Lehmann (1904-56) was a busy conductor who died too young. An enthusiast of Baroque music and early advocate of period performance practices, much of his recorded legacy is from the classical and Romantic periods. DG kept him engaged, but he also recorded for other labels.

Although not reflected in this program, it's important to mention Lehmann's advocacy for Bach and Handel. He was conductor of the Göttingen International Handel Festival, from 1934-44, and then again from 1946-53, where he conducted modern revivals of two Handel operas. His death came while he was conducting a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. At the time he was in the midst of recording the Christmas Oratorio. The final sections were completed with Günther Arndt.

Two Mendelssohn Overtures

In 1951, Lehmann joined with the Berlin Philharmonic for recordings of two sea-going Mendelssohn concert overtures issued on the 10-inch LP above. The first and better known is The Hebrides (also called Fingal's Cave), a marvelous, dramatic work here in a performance that does it full justice.

Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage - written at about the same time as The Hebrides and inspired by Goethe - starts off (uh) calmly. There isn't enough wind to sail. But soon enough the voyage is on its way. The composer's music is never less than interesting, but the work suffers in comparison with its predecessor.

The recordings - like all here with the Berlin orchestra - were made in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche.

Brahms and Schumann Overtures

The second 10-inch LP is the one I have previously featured, but which has been thoroughly reworked for this post.

It combines Brahms' Tragic Overture, the portentous work that has remained familiar in the concert hall for nearly 150 years. Hugely dramatic and impressive, it is one of the composer's best and best-known works. 

Lehmann is a sure hand with this material, again with the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance from 1952.

From that same year we have Schumann's Manfred Overture, the most familiar part of the composer's set of incidental music inspired by the Lord Byron poem. From that music, the overture alone has maintained a footing on symphony programs.

For the Schumann, Lehmann leads the Bamberg Symphony, which is not as refined as the Berlin ensemble, but which still produces a worthy performance whose dramatic qualities make it a good disk mate for the Brahms.

Weber - Der Freischütz Overture

Late in 1952, Lehmann and the Berliners turned their attention to the overture from the first German Romantic opera - Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz, which also is well performed by the musicians from Berlin. The opera itself is far more often heard in Germany than here in the US, but the engaging overture is a welcome program addition.

This pressing appeared in American Decca's budget 10-inch line. Decca reprinted many of Lehmann's recordings and those of other DG conductors such as Paul van Kempen and Ferenc Fricsay. This collection does not include the second piece on the Decca LP - Gluck's Alceste Overture - because it is not from the romantic period.

Two Schubert Overtures from the Same Work

Our final selections are two Schubert overtures associated with the same work - the composer's incidental music to Rosamunde, a play by Helmina von Chézy.

When Schubert assembled his Rosamunde score, he opted to use the overture he had written for his opera Alfonso und Estrella. This is the overture that is now sometimes called the Rosamunde, as it is here.

In 1855, well after the composer's death, a publisher substituted Schubert's Die Zauberharfe overture in an edition of the Rosamunde score. Since then, conductors have generally used that piece when they program the Rosamunde music, at least in part because it's considered better music than the Alfonso und Estrella overture.

Here you can judge for yourself in these 1952-53 performances from Berlin, again from Decca's budget 4000 series.

DG's sound during this period was impressive, although with a tendency to bass heaviness, which I've clarified in these transfers.

LINK

Nutcrackers with Van Kempen and Lehmann

The Pacific Northwest Ballet production

For those of us who can never have too many Nutcracker Suites, here are two from leading mid-century conductors, Paul van Kempen and Fritz Lehmann.

Both maestros chose the suite as constructed by Tchaikovsky himself, designated as Op. 71a. It includes the Miniature Overture, the March, the Dance of the Super-Plum Fairy, the Russian, Arabian and Chinese Dances, the Dance of the Reed Flutes and the Waltz of the Flowers. 

Also on this blog, Op. 71a can be found as performed by the Chicago Symphony and Frederick Stock and the Royal Philharmonic and Sir Thomas Beecham. (The latter is newly remastered.) Finally, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops came up with a different and equally delightful Nutcracker Suite No. 2 in 1949, available here.

More about the Van Kempen and Lehmann recordings below.

Paul van Kempen and the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra

Paul van Kempen

The Dutch conductor Paul van Kempen (1893-1955) spent most of his career working in Germany, a fact that made him less than popular when he returned to the Netherlands for conducting engagements after the war. He was the principal conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra from 1934-42, making this set for Deutsche Grammophon in 1939.

Despite being the second-ranked orchestra in its home city (the best known is the Staatskapelle Dresden), the Philharmonic did well here, as did DG's sound engineers. I would only question the leaden tempo for the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

This transfer comes from what I believe is a postwar pressing on DG's main label; the original issue was on its Polydor imprint.

Fritz Lehmann and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra

Fritz Lehmann

Fritz Lehmann (1904-56) was another busy conductor who died too young. An enthusiast of Baroque music and early advocate of period performance practices, much of his recorded legacy is from the classical and Romantic periods. DG kept him busy but he also recorded for other labels.

This Nutcracker Suite comes from a July 1951 DG session with the Munich Philharmonic. As with the Dresden Philharmonic, the Munich ensemble may be the second-best known orchestra in its home city. The Bavarian State Radio Orchestra perhaps has a higher profile internationally.

EP cover

Like Van Kempen, Lehmann was a highly skilled conductor whose performance with the excellent Munich orchestra will give much pleasure.

This transfer is from the original 78s; DG also issued the set on EPs and LPs with a variety of colorful covers that you can view in the download. One is at right.

Both of these sets were recent addition to the lossless files that can be found on Internet Archive. As always, I've cleaned them up for presentation here.

Fritz Lehmann

The fine German conductor Fritz Lehmann died relatively young, at age 52, while conducting Bach. That was in 1956.

Lehmann recorded fairly often during his career, but not many of his recordings have been re-released. So I will be presenting a few of them here.

This post includes two 10-inch LPs he made for DGG in the early 1950s. The first is of Brahms' Tragic Overture and Schumann's Manfred Overture. The second is two of Dvořák's Slavonic Rhapsodies. The Brahms is with the Berlin Philharmonic; the others are with the Bamberg Symphony.

I recently had a request for Lehmann recordings, and by coincidence I found several of them on a public domain archive. Because I haven't been able to do any of my own transfers lately because of work commitments, I decided to refurbish these and provide them here. They are well worth your listening time, I think.

I will have a second set of Tchaikovsky and French overtures soon. You might want to go to Neal's Historical Classical Recordings Corner if you like these Lehmann recordings. He has a number of transfers of 78 sets.