Review: Paavo Järvi's Complete Telarc Recordings

How did this terrific box come to be? What is the NCA ("New Classical Adventures") label? What's new about 16 CDs of reissued material? I have no idea; but I do know that you should grab this box while you can, since it contains a pretty fabulous collection of romantic and modern classics, very smartly and imaginatively coupled (Stravinsky and Nielsen; Dvořák and Martinu; Shostakovich and Tormis; Sibelius and Tubin), and all boasting superb Telarc sonics. Need I say more? Well, yes--that's the point of the video, but you get the picture.

[charlescoleman]

After Telarc went down, Paavo and the CIncinnati Symphony created their own label entitled ‘CSO Media’ and came out with the album “American Portraits” with music by Jennifer Higdon, Kevin Puts, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Carter Pann and two of my works! I’ve known Paavo for years. And I’m very fortunate to have been among the few living composers he has commissioned. Great guy. And, of course, a great conductor.

[dexblue]

How can you not love Dave ...? He just gave us a wonderful analysis of a great "clump" (one of his favorite words) of the tail end of romantic symphonic music ... I'm ready to call my doctorate in music (thanks Dave ...) ...

[michaelhughes]

I live in Cincinnati, and am fortunate to have purchased all of these recordings on their original Telarc releases, and I have them all signed by Jarvi! I'm also fortunate to have heard most of these works live with him in Cincinnati in Music Hall. In my opinion, the CSO never sounded sharper and more focused than under his baton. Of all these recordings, the two that are standouts for me are the Stravinsky Petrushka disc and the Elgar/Britten disc, though most all of them are outstanding as David clearly agrees!

[garysmith]

Hello David. The interesting thing is, as I type this comment, I am watching Maestro Paavo LIVE from the Berlin Philharmonie (Digital Concert Hall) ! Ties TWO of your video presentations I watched this morning together ((O: How timely !

[UlfilasNZ]

Great box! Bought on your recommendation, thanks Dave!

[kenwuesq]

Coincidentally, I purchased the box from Classic Select World for $30 last week and it's still available. Some of the individual CDs are available for $3. Before I purchased, I relied on your reviews on Classics Today.

[BIGBAROK]

I recommend his Franz Schmidt Symphonies on DG

[DiegoGonzalez-nvqv]

I owned a few of these recordings (Bartok and the Sibelius/Tubin), but inspired by your enthusiasm I took the plunge and ordered the box (although the price was a bit higher than 51$).

[alanmcginn]

Dave. Great video. I had two of Paavo's discs - the Romeo & Juliet on Telarc and the Sibelius Cantatas disc on Virgin (it is absolutely gorgeous by the way). I just picked this set up on ClassicSelect world for 34.99 incl. shipping today. Not sure how you found this thing, but great job. Now I gotta listen to some Riisager after yesterday's talk.

[johnwright]

Paavo Jarvi has recorded some terrific Hindemith in recent years—the Violin Concerto with Zimmermann on BIS, and on Naive, Der Schwanendreher with Tamestit and another orchestral CD of Mathis der Maler, Symphonic Metamorphoses and Five Pieces for strings all with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. All of these are very fine performances. So at least he is keeping the Hindemith flame alive!

[stanpunzel]

Have the Berlioz and Stravinsky/Nielsen on SACD. I will admit to being a fan of SACD. That Nielsen is fabulous. And the bells in the Fantastique are nice and deep. IIRC they had to be recorded out in the street. Will have to look for some of the others....

[jacoboderegoyossainz]

Hi david. Thank you for your reviews. Thanks to them I'm spending again good money on cds like old times, and I guess this is a good thing for the industry and the artists... (I think I love Cds more than any other format). One question concerning this box set. I guess you have the TELARC versions. Have you compared the sound with this membran under license cds? I say that because, I bought them after watching your video, but when I play them, even if they sound good, I have the impresion they should sound even better because when I listen to other recordings the orquesta and the soloists are more "fresh" and open. So, maybe they are not the same transfers than the originals... Maybe I'm wrong but... Just asking.

Anyway, thaks again for the the review and all the fun you give us with these videos.

Regards.

[dmntuba]

Wish Paavo's tenure in Cincinnati had been 20 years long.

[indranilpoddar]

Great find David...also available on Jpc.de at a ridiculously reasonable price

[barryguerrero]

Paavo Jarvi recently recorded a Stravinsky disc in Tokyo (NHK) for RCA that I would really like to have. However, of course, it's had zero distribution outside of Japan so it costs a fortune. It has three works I love, together on a single disc in really good modern sound: "Symphony in Three Movements", "Jeu de Cartes" and "Apollon Musagete". But I ain't payin' 50-something bucks for it.

[frankgyure]

Let’s give a lot of the credit (or all of the credits) to the Management of the real Telarc especially owner Robert Woods( I think that was the owner. Correct if I may be wrong)

[msilverz]

Too bad they didn't include multichannel SACDs. Järvi's multichannel Telarc recordings are some of my favorites (from a purely sonic point of view).

[dmntuba]

Wish you would do a discussion on the history of Telarc.

[pbarach]

I thought about buying this set, but what's the point when most of the performances are very good but rarely top notch? And yes, some of the programming is intelligent, but that is much more important when you're going to a concert?

[AlexMadorsky]

Sounds like this is a worthy box overall, although perhaps enough misses to illustrate why I tend to skip maestro-based boxes. This box does what more recordings and live performances need to do - program the works in an appealing way! The deep, innate conservatism of most American music directors shouldn’t be a difficult problem to solve - just pair an excellent, unheralded composer with one of the greatest hits. I don’t understand why people don’t get you can get away with programming a wonderful Tubin symphony if you pair it with something like Sibelius 2. This is just as true on disc as it is for the concert hall. Maestros and studios, pay heed to what Telarc has done here. If you want us to listen to Brahms 1 or Beethoven 7 for the umpteenth time, at least throw a more interesting ingredient into the stew for us to savor.