# Performances at 'White Heat'



## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I wonder what makes some performances stand out from all the rest?
We all have our favourites but it seems to me few of them manage to achieve that magical 'white heat'
For me it would be Brahms 4th with Kleiber and the Vienna Phil
I would welcome others views and choices about this


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

There are a lot of elements which make such 'magic,' not all of them readily tangible.

The recording of the four overtures for Beethoven's "Lenore / Fidelio" with Ferenc Fricsay conducting (I think it was the German Southwestern Radio Orchestra) is one of those most electric of performances. The conductor is famous for a profound musical intelligence, and more, getting amazing and memorable performances out of 'second string' orchestras or not yet famous performers. Clearly, the man had a way of communicating with the performers which brought the utmost from them, and that goes beyond 'musical intelligence' or simply sharing one's enthusiasm into far more nebulous areas of 'people skills,' or that one palpable but highly intangible quality called _Charisma._

Sometimes, whatever the reasons, all the performers involved are more than on the same page; they are -- a bit 'spiritually / mystically' -- of one mind; things click, and there is when you have those 'white hot' performances.

I saw a documentary on John Adams, whose violin concerto was being performed in Rotterdam, the Rotterdam orchestra (and I've shamefully forgotten the youngish soloist.) Backstage, Adams was agitatedly pacing, seeming to be near to bursting out with some exclamation or other. After a while, all this agitation turned out to be his thrilled excitement about what was happening onstage (they were playing the hell out of it). He said, "Why is it that so many of the best performances happen in front of smaller audiences?" It had to be more than that, but here was an occasion where not only the conductor and performers were clearly of one mind and wholly invested in the piece, but also there was an audience adding a collective energy of being completely engaged -- as much an overall part of the event as the musicians playing the piece. (This happens live, with that 'electricity' between performers and audience palpable. That same electric quality, when it happens in a recording studio without an audience present, is that much more rare.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Toscanini's Rossini overtures and Eroica spring to mind.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Beethoven 7th with Kleiber.
The 4th movement in particular.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

GioCar said:


> Beethoven 7th with Kleiber.
> The 4th movement in particular.


I would agree and it is interesting this is another Kleiber recording. 
He seems a conductor who limited his repertoire but could get the maximum from an orchestra


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## revdrdave (Jan 8, 2014)

Kondrashin's Shostakovich Fourth...


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

For me Karajan's 80's digital recording of Brahm's 2nd symphony, last movement.
And his EMI Fidelio.
Amazing recordings.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Arturo Toscanini's performance of the Leonore Overture #3 from his 1939 Beethoven cycle.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Karajan's live '52 Tristan. Amazing!!!!
Bohm's Act 3 of Die Walkure, from his live Bayreuth Ring cycle. maybe the most exciting ever.


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