Here are two of Davis’s first records, and one Szell made three months before his death. You will look in vain for a weakening of grip in this 1970 Cleveland remake of the Schubert (the 1957 Cleveland/Szell recording is now on Sony). There is an uncomfortable moment in the second movement (at 7'35'') where an edit joins two takes at slightly different tempos (at least that’s how it sounds to me; yes, I know Szell supervised all his own editing). On the whole this is, notably in the finale, a characteristic demonstration of Szellian symphonic grip and Cleveland prowess. But beyond that you rarely encounter the generous phrasing and detailing of a Krips or a Wand, and very little of the latter’s properly achieved pianissimos and sudden shafts of special illumination. The orchestra are set quite far back in Severance Hall, and the sound is inclined to opacity at low levels and hardness at high ones.
How different is the 1960/61 Abbey Road sound for the Davis Beethoven and Rossini: clean and clear throughout the considerable dynamic range; only a little chilly and studio-bound if you compare the Beethoven with Monteux’s exactly contemporary LSO Seventh (made in Kingsway Hall and now on Double Decca). Woodwind are often to the fore with the strings, but no more so, and given the quality and character of their playing, especially oboes, and particularly in the Beethoven Scherzo, and all of the Rossini, few will complain. This is Davis’s first of three recordings of the Beethoven. RO enthused about his new Dresden Beethoven cycle last December, and RC too expressed his preference for his Dresden Seventh in his “Replay” in August (page 28). I shall dissent, while noting a momentary suspicion of marking time in Davis’s very steady RPO second movement (skilfully avoided in the even slower Dresden remake), and declare allegiance to this wonderfully alive and incisive first run. Admittedly there are quite a few Sevenths available whose finales offer a “dionysiac experience”, to quote from this recording’s 1961 insert-notes, and this is certainly one of them. But I’m still trying to work out what alternative experience the more experienced Davis’s new Dresden finale is offering, beyond a resonant acoustic blunting a demonstrably lesser degree of attack, drive and brilliance.'