About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

It doesn't matter which Beethoven symphony he's conducting, Kurt Masur is a one-size-fits-all interpreter. It could be the Olympian "Fourth" or the Dionysic "Seventh," but Masur invariably makes it sound middle-of-the-road massive and more or less monumental. In the graceful "Fourth," Masur leads the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in a performance of tremendous weight, and in the forceful "Seventh," Masur leads them in a performance of immense gravity. These are not bad performances -- Masur is a more than able conductor and the Gewandhaus is a more than capable ensemble -- but neither are they particularly exciting or even especially interesting performances. Compared with recordings by Abbado, Böhm, Celibidache, Davis, Dohnányi, Furtwängler, Kempe, Kleiber, Klemperer, Szell, or Walter, among others, Masur's performance is nothing to write home about.

The actual recordings themselves, however, are worth writing home about. Never released by Philips on LP in the United States except as special imports, the LPs sounded deep, warm, and clear. Rereleased on CD internationally on Philips budget discs, the CDs were not quite as deep or warm, but they were surely clearer. Re-re-released on super audio CD internationally on the PentaTone label, this CD sounds deeper and warmer than the LPs and clearer than the earlier CDs. James Leonard, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

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