Classical Record Reviews (Sept. 1983)

50 Romantic Years

Janacek: Idyll for String Orchestra; Mladi ("Youth") for Wind Sextet. Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz. Nonesuch D-79033, digital, $11.98.

Janacek: Piano Sonata 1.X.; On An Overgrown Path; In The Mist. Ivan Moravec, piano. Nonesuch D-79041, digital, $11.98.

Far less known to the general musical public than Dvorak and Smetana, Janacek was in the direct line following those composers, one of those late Romantics who lived and worked far into our own century, not immune to its radical changes but somehow preserving the flavor of their own times.

These two Nonesuch digitals explore music even less known--since Janacek's biggest reputation is in 20th century opera-and yet, as you will quickly find, it is music full of pleasant familiarity, ever so clearly Czech or, rather, Bohemian, full to the brim with the lilting folk music of that area.

The first of these discs spans almost 50 years. The "Idyll" dates from 1877, when Janacek was 23, spang in the middle of the late Romantic greats whose names still lead in all our music; the "Mladi" or "Youth Sextet" was com posed when Janacek was turning 70 in the midst of the most raucous 1920s.

They aren't that different, these two, and most of that difference is the natural evolution of an active mind, writing with more concentration in the late years. The Roaring Twenties are only faintly heard in the "Mladi," a mild and gentle dissonance that falls back into earlier harmony.

The piano recording comes in be tween, in the early 1900s, and emphasizes the point. Here again it's basically a Romantic idiom, yet with a restless changeability, an instability of harmony, that is accurately of the period. This was a time of passionate politics and nationalism; the Sonata 1.X. (a political date, October 1st, which we would write 10/1) shows some of that feeling to us but not, of course, in the violent fashion of later music-and indeed, one senses that Janacek was a gentle soul, inward, introspective, if fluent and easy in his music to an extraordinary degree.

All in all, it is a curious idiom for listening, whether early or late, this mu sic. There is a kind of out-of-focus quality, a deliberate hesitancy; the square tunes and the open harmonies are disguised in odd-shaped rhythms, irregular phrases. I was reminded, un expectedly, of the higher orders of rock music today. By contrast with Janaeck, other composers who lived on into the 20th century for extended periods--Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Elgar, Saint-Satins--seem show-off extroverts.

One side of the Idyll was recorded on JVC digital equipment, the other on 3M; the piano sonata was recorded on Sony. If you can spot any difference, your engineering ear is better than mine! Purcell: Instrumental music from Gordian Knot; Abdelazer; Trumpet Sonata in D Major, etc. English Chamber Orchestra, Leppard. CBS IM 36707, digital.

The performance of Baroque music has been changing so fast lately that we now find all sorts of ways of doing it, ranging from good old-fashioned symphonic right through the all-authentic (with instruments of the period or modern exact copies)-existing at the same time. The more old-fashioned approaches. as in this recording, are not necessarily the worse ones, nor the better. It all depends.

You have to take each on points.

This collection of a batch of orchestral suites, plus an orchestral sonata for trumpet and strings, comes out of three major Purcell stage works, that being the major source of such music.

Stage or no, however, these correspond to the later suites by Handel, his Water and Fire Music, plus assorted synthetic suites put together in recent times. They comprise in Purcell, as in Handel, a sequence of short numbers, dance music fast and slow, airs tunes--overtures at the beginning, making for a hearty and familiar sound, a bit richer and less predictable in Purcell than in Handel.

Leppard uses modern instruments, but a properly small orchestra, which marks the in-between stage in Baroque performance. With the modern instruments go, alas, some remaining misuses of ornaments, trills, in a way that will horrify the pure of mind who like their old music authentic (including myself!). Similarly with excessive slowdowns (ritards) at some endings.

Who cares? Some do, some don't. My only more substantive criticism is simply that the playing tends to be on the rough side, not very well coordinated, if full of energy.

If you know any Purcell, you will find all sorts of familiar items here even if you think you've never heard the music before. Like Handel, Purcell borrowed from himself at every opportunity. So, too, with Bach, and it is a problem, often enough, to discover which of numerous versions is the original--it really doesn't much matter in Purcell.

Some of these tunes, for example, can be heard in his harpsichord suites.

Debussy: La Mer; Nocturnes. Houston Symphony Orchestra, Women of the Houston Symphony Chorale, Comissiona. Vanguard VA 25015, digital, $7.98.

Franck: Symphony in D minor. Houston Symphony Orchestra, Comissiona. Vanguard VA 25016, digital, $7.98.

My first knowledge of these familiar works goes back to their earliest recordings on 78, at a time when Debussy was modern and Cesar Franck was not far from it; the original traditions of playing then surely still persisted among conductors who had known the com posers them selves. Times have changed, if not the printed scores.

A good many things disturbed me in this Texas-Roumanian set of performances but they are not necessarily criticisms, just observations. The music is generally well played, well balanced as well as nicely recorded.

Most of all, I noticed a certain squareness, a bit of stiffness, as com pared with the sensuous, opulent sound of earlier Debussy playing. The first four descending notes of "La Mer," for instance, contained such mystery, such a sense of space, the grandeur of the vast ocean-how they did it is hard to say: Here, there are just four notes, repeated. No magic. Other coloristic climaxes in this marvelously imaginative piece are suddenly under played, just so many notes in passing.

That's where direct tradition is breaking down! Glitches, drop-outs in the continuity of sense. Not all the time; just at a few important places. Don't take it to heart.

"Fetes," that evening festival that fades away into the night after the climax, goes nervously fast, then fades unconvincingly, at least for these ears.

The magic is not missing, just lessened. But "Sirenes," seldom heard be cause it requires a women's chorus, is excellent, partly thanks to the women who sing with Texas verve, rather too hearty for sirens, to be sure, but with much conviction. The clever Debussy device whereby they seem to sing on one breath for whole minutes at a time (two groups, one cross-fading into the other) was never so neatly accomplished.

Cesar Franck similarly. In earlier playings it was full of an enormous solemnity, of ominous violence, of agonizing sweetness, the harmonic sequences (a Franck trademark) still fresh and amazing. It's all here, but in a more businesslike way, to the point and rather quickly so. That makes it sound more old fashioned than it is. The lovely slow movement, so much like that of the Beethoven 7th, yet so atmospheric, goes far too fast for my tolerance-half the impressiveness is lost.

And yet-music must change.

You could well enjoy this more than the older versions, which might today seem too mannered, too slow.

Interesting minor technical point:

There is some noticeable pre-echo be fore "Fetes" on the Debussy disc. Ha! Can't be on the tape, which is digital.

Must, then, be in the cutting. Only an all-digital CD can totally eliminate this old disc problem.

The Royal Ballet: Elite Syncopations. Music by Scott Joplin and others. Orchestra of the Royal Ballet, Gammon. Vanguard Everyman SRV 373, $3.98.

Do I believe what I see-an LP record for under $4.00? Maybe some body got absent minded. Or nostalgic.

This one, I would say, is mostly for laughs, and not the ones intended over there in Blighty. A British Joplin fest? It would be fine if some of the rock groups and maybe a few of their pink-haired successors might take up Joplin again. But dear me, this isn't that sort of music. This is Royal, official. Frankly, I have never heard more un-raggy rag playing in my life. I couldn't believe that, either. Imagine Queen Liz, or maybe better (if you re member her) good old Queen Mary-with-the-funny-hats, doin' a boogie or cake walk or even a Charleston in front of Parliament assembled, and you have it exactly.

No, it isn't solemn and isn't sup posed to be, after all. It purports to be humorous and maybe the ballet itself was fun to look at-I never saw it. But we have no ballet here, just this so called rag stuff.

By the way, the "others" designation includes quite a batch of rag men in addition to Joplin, the Big Name. Note that most of the music, of course, is arranged for the small orchestra, or for piano, percussion and bass. Some items are the piano original. Twenty-foot grand, no doubt, just the kind that Joplin used.

Jack Glatzer Plays the Caprices of Locatelli. Golden Crest RE 7077, digital, $9.98.

This is musically a most unusual disc, in the music itself and in the playing. We all know the Paganini Ca prices, whether we want to or not and the many later works based on a few of them as themes. Who's ever heard of these extraordinary works, of a slightly earlier time? They date from about 1725 and were originally cadenzas for a dozen violin concerti-two written out for each concerto (presumably for a choice-or was it for two movements?).

These, then, are Baroque virtuoso exercises, whereas the later Paganini Caprices rate as early-Romantic; but in Italy there is not that much difference. In 1725 the Italians were still stylistic leaders, ahead of their time, but by the early 1800s they were lagging behind, the Germans having taken over the lead.

It takes a player, of course, to produce the sound. As must be pointed out again and again today, the big-name instrumentalists are not alone.

The musical woods are full of superb musicians who don't happen to have the temperament, backing, or whatever, to reach the top. If you think any famous name could play these better than Jack Glatzer, out of Texas, you are nuts. A most extraordinary technique and with it a perfect sense of pitch, executed with never the slightest wobble or bobble-it's amazing.

Very fine digitally recorded sound, too.

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique. Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel. Telarc DG 10076, digital, $17.98.

The Telarc-Soundstream engineering combo is just about infallible, disc after disc, but the music is, occasionally, something else. Telarc's home orchestra is the famed Cleveland, and Maazel, at least when this one was made, came with it. This is another of those Romantic bellwether pieces, one of the earliest, full of mystery, magic, horror, sweet sentiment and, above all, heroics. As a kid I just thought it was crazy-but got to like it for all of its impassioned polemics. It has to be done that way! Otherwise it is meaningless. You skimp, it shrivels and dies.

It dies here. I could not finish the two sides. I have never heard a colder more prosaic reading, strictly-at least by the sound-let's get this business done and over with. Either Maazel is an even colder fish than I had supposed, or he merely hates this piece. What can a good orchestra do? Well, this.

You pays your money and you gets the sound. But not the music.

(Audio magazine, Sept. 1983; Edward Tatnall Canby)

More music articles and reviews from AUDIO magazine.

Also see: Classical Record Reviews / Compact Discs (Aug. 1984)

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