Once, thanks to the digital boom, conductor
Neeme Järvi succeeded in landing contracts with several different labels, thereby enabling him to record vast stretches of the orchestral repertoire. Before he lost his contracts when the boom went bust,
Järvi succeeded in recording more orchestral music than any other conductor, including
Leonard Bernstein and even
Herbert von Karajan. "Succeeded," however, may be too strong a word. If success is defined as merely recording a work, then
Järvi has succeeded. If, however, success is defined as making a work live, then
Järvi has failed. As this 1986 recording of
Rachmaninov's "The Bells" with the Scottish National Orchestra & Chorus proves,
Järvi was as flat on his feet as he was thick in his waist, as heavy in his hand as he was light in his head. In
Rachmaninov's orchestral masterpiece,
Järvi cannot make the rhythm of the opening Allegro ma non tanto move and cannot make the tempo of the Presto run, cannot make the colors of the Lento glow, and cannot make the textures of the closing Lento lugubre glimmer in the fuliginous gloom. The remaining works on the disc -- a flabby Vocalise with soprano
Suzanne Murphy plus a turgid pair of dances from the opera Aleko and a dreary Caprice bohémien with the
Philharmonia from 1991 -- are all just as successful. Chandos' early digital sound is harsh and glassy.