Classical recordings (Oct. 1977)

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above: Vittorio Negri-matching Albinoni's infectious verve.

reviewed by: ROYAL S. BROWN, SCOTT CANTRELL, ABRAM CHIPMAN, R. D. DARRELL, PETER G. DAVIS, SHIRLEY FLEMING, ALFRED FRANKENSTEIN, KENNETH FURIE HARRIS GOLDSMITH, DAVID HAMILTON, DALE S. HARRIS, PHILIP HART, PAUL HENRY LANG IRVING LOWENS, ROBERT C. MARSH ROBERT P. MORGAN, JEREMY NOBLE CONRAD L. OSBORNE, ANDREW PORTER, H. C. ROBBINS LANDON PATRICK J. SMITH, SUSAN THIEMANN SOMMER

ALIBINONI: Concertos (12), Op. 7. Hans Werner Watzig, oboe; Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Vittorio Negri, cond. PHILIPS 6747 138, $15.96 (two discs, manual sequence).

We really know very little about Tommaso Albinoni (1671-1750), an extremely prolific composer of the late baroque with more than forty operas and reams of instrumental music to his credit. Yet he was, with his friend Vivaldi, the most important Italian composer of the period, one whom Bach regarded highly, urging his pupils to study the Italian master's music.

Albinoni shows the same exuberant kinetic energy that so irresistibly propels Vivaldi's music, and his fluent and trans parent polyphonic part-writing must have been what attracted Bach. These concertos of Op. 7, composed somewhere between 1713 and 1717, are superb examples of late baroque ensemble music; Albinoni's formal security is admirable, his invention is rich and gracious, and there is a pleasant Lullian touch, especially in the dancelike final movements. The set consists of groups of concertos--for strings alone (ripieno concertos), for strings and two oboes, and for oboe solo and strings.

Though in the seventeenth century most concertos still belonged in the do camera field (and so still do Bach's Brandenburg Concertos), now the orchestral character is unmistakable. Albinoni's concertos can stand a fairly large orchestra (in his time, especially in Rome, very large string ensembles were not rare), and he is patently seeking an ample and colorful sonority. Vittorio Negri and his excellent Berlin Chamber Orchestra hit just the right tone and style. The conductor knows that any vacillation in tempo. thrust, and mood is out of the question,. and he matches Albinoni's infectious verve. The two oboes, played by first-class artists, fit perfectly within the ensemble, but there is the usual trouble with the inaudible harpsichord. And when in the quiet movements it is faintly heard, it is busy filling out every rest with the modern continuo player's tiresome stereotypes that any eighteenth-century musician would smile at.

On the whole, however, the vigor, the bracing rhythm, and the precise ensemble playing make us forget this blemish. The sound is very good, albeit a mite too open and forward; a little attenuation would help. Now we impatiently await a similar lively and enthusiastic recording (with two audible harpsichords for the continuo) of Albinoni's Op. 9 concertos, which are even more remarkable than the attractive ones recorded here.

-P.H.L.

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Explanation of symbols/formats

Classical IB1 I HI

R1 Recorded tape

Open Reel S.

8-Track Cartridge

Budget Historical Reissue

Cassette

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BACH: Chamber Music, Vol. 2: Flute Sonatas. Leopold Stastny and Frans Bruggen, flutes: Alice Harnoncourt, violin: Nikolaus Harnoncourt:, cello; Herbert Tachezi, harpsichord.

TELEFUNKEN 26.35339. $15.96 (two discs, manual sequence).

Sonatas for Flute and Harpsichord: No. 1. in B minor, S. 1030: No. 3. in A, S. 1032. Sonatas for Flute and Continuo: No. 2. in E minor, S. 1034; No. 3, in E. S. 1035. Trio Sonatas: for Two Flutes and Continuo, in 0. S. 1039; for Flute, Violin, and Continuo. in G, S. 1038' If Oscar Wilde was right in claiming that nothing succeeds like excess. it need he no surprise that the surely excessive purism of the present Das alte Werk program turns out to he so stimulatingly successful. An insistence on the use of appropriate period or replica instruments of course isn't unusual nowadays. but one scarcely anticipates hearing as marked tonal differentiations as those demonstrated to exist between any modern flute and Leopold Stastny's delectably distinctive Grenser Querflate of c. 1750. But I suspect that in this instance, as in so many others, the instrument itself is less significant than the sure musicianship, enlivened with personal relish, with which it is played.

It is this kind of infectious executant zest, shared here by harpsichordist Herbert Tachezi in particular, that is only too rarely displayed by such devout specialists in old music as those associated with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his Vienna Concentus Musicus. Here their musicological piety goes so far as to exclude several standard Bach flute sonatas-presumably on grounds of questionable authenticity, although no case for so high-handed a procedure is argued in the otherwise extremely detailed trilingual notes by Christopher Wolff (on the music itself) and Harnoncourt (on the performances).

It is not unreasonable to exclude the early, questionably spurious S. 1020 Sonata, for violin or flute, and in a collection of ensemble chamber works there may he some justification for omitting the S. 1013 Sonata (or partita) for unaccompanied flute, although most Bach flute-sonata collections do include these. But deleting S. 1031 and S. 1033, respectively one of the standard three flute/harpsichord and three flute/continuo sonatas, is unprecedented.

I'd like to hear the scholarly arguments for casting into outer darkness these two long-esteemed sonatas, the authenticity of which is unquestioned in the Schmieder catalog of Bach's works. If you want to hear all four of the works disdained here, you'll find them well-nigh flawlessly played on a modern flute in the special-priced Rampal collection on RCA (CRL 3-5820, July 1975), with more interpretative personality in Paula Robison's Vanguard set (VSD 71215/ 6, March 1977), as well as by others.

Regardless of content differences, the present set cannot properly be compared with any using modern instruments-al though I can assure you that it's endlessly fascinating, however mind-boggling, to play each movement of each sonata in three or more versions before going on to the next. No two listeners. Bachian specialists or otherwise, are likely to grade the various versions similarly. Whatever one's personal ratings, there's likely to be general agreement that these beautifully clean recordings of Stastny's fluting and Tachezi's performances on properly lightweight Skowronek replicas of French and Italian period harpsichords are consistently stimulating both to one's ears and mind.

Frans Bruggen is an admirable partner for Stastny in the S. 1039 Trio Sonata; Harnoncourt, playing a 1744 Castagneri cello, is no less worthy a partner for Tachezi in the continuo parts. Alice Harnoncourt provides the violin part in the S. 1038 Trio Sonata on a 1665 Stainer (presumably with the curved bow of the period, as in the violin sonatas of Vol. 1 of this Bach chamber mu sic series, Telefunken 26.35310, March 1977)-authentically, no doubt, but with characteristic period stylistic and tonal qualities that lack Stastny's persuasive magic.

The production itself deserves praise:

The two discs are handsomely boxed with a twelve-page booklet that includes a reproduction of Tachezi's inspired reconstruction of S. 1032's first movement, which has been preserved only in a mutilated autograph. In addition, there is a sixteen-page booklet with the scores of all six works (edition unspecified and not necessarily identical to Tachezi's realization of the harpsichord continuo parts).

-R.D.D.

BACH: Chorale Preludes (arr. Mytsalski) See Bruckner Symphony No. 3.

BACH: English Suites (6), S. 806-11. Glenn Gould, piano. [Andrew Kazdin, prod.] Co LUMBIA M2 34578, $15.98 (two discs, automatic sequence).

Baca: Partitas for Harpsichord. Alexis Weissenberg, piano. CONNOISSEUR SOCIETY CS 2117 and 2118, $7.98 each.

CS 2177: No. 1, in B fiat, S. 825; No. 2, in C minor, S. 826; No. 3, in A minor, S. 827. CS 2118: No. 4, in D. S. 828; No. 7, in B minor, S. 831 (French Overture).

BACH: Partitas for Harpsichord: No. 1, in B flat, S. 825; No. 2, in C minor, S. 826. Igor Kipnis, harpsichord. [George Sponhaltz, prod.] ANGEL S 36097, $7.98.

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Critics Corner

The best classical records reviewed in recent months.

BACH: Cantatas, Vols. 15-16. Harnoncourt. TELEFUNKEN 26.35305 (2). 26.35306 (2), Aug.

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4. Pollini, Bohm. DG 2530 791, Sept.

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies Nos. 8, 9. Weingartner.

TURNABOUT THS 65076/7 (2). Symphonies Nos. 3, 5, 9. E. Kleiber.

LONDON TREASURY R 23202, 23232, 23201 (3). Symphony No. 6.

De Sabata. EMI ODEON SH 235. Sept.

Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem et al. Karajan. ANGEL SB 3838 (2), Sept.

DEBUSSY: La Mer; Prelude a l'apres-midi. RAVEL: Bolero. Solti. LONDON CS 7033, Aug.

DELIUS: Violin Concerto; Violin/Cello Concerto. Menuhin, Tortelier, Davies. ANGELS 37262, Sept DUSSEK: Piano Sonatas, Vols. 1-2. Marvin. GENESIS GS 1068, 1069 (2), Sept.

FRANCE: Symphony (with Faure: Pelleas). A. Davis. COLUMBIA M 34506. Symphonic Variations; Les Djinns (with D'Indy: Symphony). Ciccolini, Strauss. ANGEL S 37247. Aug.

GERSHWIN: Porgy and Bess. Dale, Albert, DeMain. RCA ARL 3-2109 (3), Sept.

HANDEL, A. Scalturn: Vocal and Instrumental Works. Blegen, Cooper, Schwarz. COLUMBIA M 34518, Aug HAYDN: La vera costanza. Norman, AhnsjO, Dorati. PHILIPS 6703 077 (3), Aug.

HINDEMITH: Organ Sonatas (3). Baker. DELOS FY 026, Sept.

Ives: Concord Sonata. Kalish. NONESUCH H 71337, Sept.

MAHLER: Symphony No. 9. Giulini. DG 2707 097 (2), July.

MONTEMEZZI: L'Amore dei tre re. Siepi et al., Santi. RCA RED SEAL ARL 2-1945 (2), Aug.

MONTEVERDI: Vespro della Beata Vergine. Soloists, Ledger. ANGEL SB 3837 (2), Aug.

PUCCINI: Suor Angelica. Scotto, Home, Cotrubas, Maazel. COLUMBIA M 34505, July.

PURCELL: Come ye sons of art; Love's goddess sure. Soloists, Munrow. ANGEL S 37251, Aug.

RACHMANINOFF, GLINKA: Songs. Vishnevskaya, Rostropovich. DG 2530 725, July.

THOMSON: The Mother of Us All. Santa Fe Opera, Leppard. NEW WORLD NW 288/9 (2), July.

WAGNER: Die Walkure (in English). Hunter, Bailey, Goodall. ANGEL SELX 3826 (5), Aug.

BAROQUE CONCERTO IN ENGLAND. Dobson. CRD 1031, Sept.

WILHELM Kempff: Bach, Handel, and Gluck Arrangements. DG 2530 647. Sept.

DAVID MUNROW: Music of the Gothic Era. ARCHIV 2710 019 (3), July. Art of the Netherlands.

SERAPHIM SIC 6104 (3). Aug.

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Like almost everyone in my generation. I first got to know Bach's clavier works in piano versions, most memorably on records by such justly esteemed specialists as Ed- win Fischer, Harold Samuel, and Myra Hess. Nowadays, of course, "everyone" knows that only the harpsichord (or, for smaller pieces, the clavichord) is the proper vehicle. Nevertheless, it's good for oldsters to be reminded, and youngsters to learn, that the essential spirit of this music--if not Bach's own tonal embodiments of it--still can be evoked by at least some pianists.

The egregious Glenn Gould is perhaps the most notable of these. Idiosyncratic, mannered, and exasperating as he may be, he is also immeasurably stimulating and at his best immeasurably rewarding. Anyone familiar with his earlier Columbia sets of the six partitas and the six French Suites (together with the French Overture) will know what to expect of his English Suites to love them or hate them, in either case immoderately. Gould's ubiquitous obbligato vocalization is likely to drive many listeners up the wall; others will just drown it out by humming along even louder. And the playing itself surely never has been more buoyant or pointed (with moments of sheer magic like the dream Sarabande of S. 806); nor has it ever been more cleanly and attractively recorded.

This kind of sensitive Bachian pianism is a far cry from an old-style virtuoso's (a Petri's or Rachmaninoff's, say) transcriptions, or even a present-day virtuoso's literal-score piano performances. Weissenberg's brilliantly recorded, supremely bravura playing is spectacular indeed in four of the partitas and the French Overture. (His other two partitas appeared al most a decade ago in Angel S 36437.) Yet while it's impossible not to be impressed, especially by the jeweled articulation of the lively dances, it's no less impossible to ignore the constrained stiffness of the slower passages, the constant tendency to rush, and the complete lack of genuinely Bachian stylistic understanding or empathy.

To hear what the partitas were intended to sound like, one must hear them on a good-sized two-manual harpsichord, but unfortunately the fine Kirkpatrick/Archiv and Richter/Telefunken performances are now out of print in this country. Hence the aching need for Angel's Kipnis series in progress since his S. 831 Seventh Partita (French Overture) appeared last January in S 36096, where it was coupled with the Italian Concerto (as it was by the composer in his 1735 publication of the Clavierilbung, Part II). Now we get the first two of the six partitas (published in 1731 as Part I of the Clavierdbung) in glitteringly bright, robustly sonorous recorded performances on Kipnis' magnificent Rutkowski & Robinette harpsichord. The best-known First Partita again reveals-as did the earlier S. 831-Kip nis at the height of his matured artistry. But the larger-scaled grandeurs of the Second tempt him into moments of over-vehemence and heavy-handedness that, sonically impressive as they certainly are, are less satisfyingly enjoyable for the repeated home listening that the music demands. The lighter moments here are inexhaustibly rewarding, and even for them it's advisable to reduce the playback level. After all, it isn't necessary to take too literally Forkel's 1802 re mark that the set of partitas "made in its time a great noise in the musical world."

-R.D.D

A Musical Offering, S. 1079. Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Karl Munchinger, cond.

[James Mallinson, prod.]

LONDON CS 7045, $7.98. Tape: CS5 7045, $7.95.

Munchinger again plays his orchestral version of the Musical Offering with earnest, almost devout eloquence, and there must still be many home listeners, innocent or disdainful of musicological ideals, who re main willingly susceptible to his evangelistic fervor. For that matter, it is hard for anyone not to be moved by it, and his performance sequence is a convenient one for non-purists, placing their likely favorite sections, the engaging Trio Sonata and the mighty Ricercare a 6, by themselves on the disc's (and cassette's) second side.

But for Bach's presumed own sequence and for executant styles nearer those of his time, one must turn to the versions by Harnoncourt (Telefunken 6.41124), Leonhardt (ABC Classics/Seon ABCL 67007), and Richter (Archiv 198 320)--the last of which I find the most felicitous reconciliation of stylistic authenticity and interpretative vitality. To be sure, I stand red-faced in now abandoning some of my previous reservations about keyboard (harpsichord or organ) performances of the Ricercare a 6.

Only last March, reviewing the first ABC/ Seon releases, I still wrote that "this per haps greatest of all Bach fugues always demands (for me) the lucidity and breadth of the Edwin Fischer string-orchestra arrangement in which I first encountered it." That was memory speaking. Actually rehearing Mtinchinger's (essentially the same) version for strings, whether or not his reading is less virile than Fischer's own, I find that I no longer feel the necessity of having Bach's inner drama explicitly externalized.

-R.D.D.


-------- Janos Ferencsik-musical, fleet performances of Beethoven symphonies

Bartok: Quartets for Strings (6).

New Hungarian Quartet. [Joanna Nickrenz, prod.] VOX SVBX 593, $10.98 (three discs, manual sequence).

Comparison: Juilliard Ot Col. 03S 717

Although the New Hungarian Quartet's playing isn't spectacular, or even markedly individual, it is an intelligent and remark ably well-balanced group, performing the Bart6k quartets with great ease and a sense of freedom that indicates intimate knowledge of the music. These works remain among the technically most difficult in the entire literature, yet here they sound like solid repertory pieces, executed with the sort of security taken for granted in the performance of earlier music but all too often absent in difficult twentieth-century literature.

The New Hungarian's approach differs markedly from that of the Juilliard, whose Bartok cycle is for me one of the highlights of the entire discography of twentieth-century chamber music. The New Hungarian's more relaxed approach is particularly effective in slower, more reflective movements, such as the first of No. 1 or the third of No. 4, or in the grotesque, yet almost whimsical, middle movements of No. 6. The ensemble is not as tight and polished as the Julliard’s, but it is nevertheless quite good and, on the positive side, perhaps some what more flexible. These readings do, however, lack the Juilliard's bite in more driving passages, as in the opening sections of Nos. 4 and 5, and they do not communicate an equal intensity in those extremely fast sections--e.g., the final portion of the middle part of No. 2-where the individual parts are absorbed into a generalized sound tapestry of great textural complexity.

But for those who prefer a somewhat softer edge, the more flowing, less percussive quality of the New Hungarian performances will no doubt be appealing. The sound is good, and a program book is included. -R.P.M.

BEETHOVEN: Sonatas for Piano: No. 1, in F minor, Op 2, No. 1; No. 7, in D, Op. 10, No. 3. Sviatoslav Richter, piano. [John Mordler, prod.] ANGEL S 37266, $7.98 (SQ-encoded disc).

Richter's performances of these early sonatas are fascinating. The sonority is lean and transparent, and on first hearing the phrasing seems wholly clear and objective.

Listening again, however, one notices a delicate inflection here, a tiny stress there, a rainbow of color. In terms of textual fidelity, these are as close to urtext performances as one is likely to get; sometimes the care verges on obsessiveness--note the clipped appoggiatura in the second subject of the first movement of Op. 10. No. 3, and even the double repeats in the outer movements of Op. 2, No. 1, are observed.

For the most part, however, this excellently recorded coupling provides some of the strongest Beethoven playing I have yet heard from Richter. Tempos are mostly right on (the two exceptions are the third movement of Op. 2. No. 1, and the first movement of Op. 10, No. 3-both too slow), and rhythmic scansions are perfectly gauged. In fact, "perfect" is not a bad description of this disc, though some may pre fer the more abandoned-and less perfect Schnabel performances of both pieces or Arrau's more deeply introspective Op. 10, No. 3.

-H.G.

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies: No. 2, in D, Op. 36, No. 4, in B flat, Op. 60. Hungarian State Orchestra, Janos Ferencsik, cond. [Istvan Juhasz, prod.] HUNGAROTON SLPX 11891 (No. 2) and 11894 (No. 4), $7.98 each.

Ferencsik first recorded these symphonies with the Czech Philharmonic for Supraphon more than a decade ago, before he began his Hungaroton Beethoven series.

With these re-recordings that cycle is now complete.

No. 2 is much as I remember it from the earlier version: a fastidiously pointed introduction in the eighteenth -century manner and an otherwise disciplined but unhurried account of the balance. No. 4, though, is a little different this time. The first-movement introduction seems a little faster than before-more akin to Weingartner than to Toscanini, one might say-and the exposition repeat, formerly observed, is not here.

But the chief difference, I suspect, is due less to any drastic change on the podium than to the divergences of the two orchestras. The Czech Philharmonic is a razor sharp, tautly virtuosic orchestra very close to the American taste; the Hungarian State sounds more genial and perhaps smaller in size. Its work, nonetheless, is precise, musical, and expressively nuanced-perhaps a mite raw in the clarinets, but never bothersomely so.

Both symphonies can be warmly recommended in these musical, fleet performances. though it ought be noted that the absence of any fillers (the Czech discs contained bonus overtures) makes these uncommonly expensive versions.

- H.G.


BERLIOZ Leilo, Op. 14b.

Lelic Jean Topard (spkr), Gedda (0 Horatio Buries (t)(bt Captain Jeanha Charles van

ORTF Chorus, Orchestre National de l'ORTF, Jean Martinon, cond. [Rene Challan, prod.] ANGEL S 37139, $7.98 (SQ-encoded disc).

Comparison:

Boulez/London Sym. Col. M 30588

Looking for a way to capitalize on the earlier success of the Symphonie fantastique and consolidate his position in the Parisian avant-garde when he returned in 1832 from his Prix de Rome tour, Berlioz hit upon the idea of stringing together a number of earlier pieces that had been sitting in his desk drawer. In this sequel (originally entitled The Return to Life), a narration by the artist-protagonist of the Fantastique provides the framework for, respectively, an 1827 song with piano, a chorus reworked from the unsuccessful 1829 Rome Prize cantata on Cleopatra's death, a brigands' song for baritone, chorus, and orchestra originally composed around 1828, a song with orchestra (and a short echoing orchestral movement) using material from the 1827 Rome Prize cantata, and an 1830 Fantasia on Shakespeare's The Tempest. The Fantastique's idee fixe is twice introduced, but it can hardly be said to increase the unity of this notably heterogeneous farrago-the narration has to carry that burden, with its extravagant Romantic rodomontade, its adoring references to Shakespeare, and its jeering gibes at critics. Lelio (as it became known sometime before its slight revision and publication in 1855) can't be called a successful piece, but the individual numbers are mostly strong and characteristic.

If it's to make any effect today, I believe, Loll° has to be taken at its own valuation, not watered down-and I'm afraid that is what happens on Martinon's new recording. The hero whispers to us confidentially, rather than proclaiming his miseries, his enthusiasms, his .passions to the world at large. And, although the first five movements are supposed to be performed from behind the curtain, which rises to show the orchestra and chorus only before the Tem pest Fantasia, (when Lelio arises to conduct them after first giving them some musical advice), the acoustic haze that one hears at the start persists right through to the end, as if someone forgot to raise the curtain. In other words, this distant, fuzzy perspective isn't an intentional realization of Berlioz' spatial effect, it's just misconceived engineering (or, perhaps, a botched mixdown by the Capitol folks who mastered the Angel edition from Pathe-Marconi's tapes).

By comparison, it could be argued that the sound of those first five movements in the Boulez version (first released in a boxed set with the Fantastique, it's now available as a single) is too clear and present-but at least you can hear what's happening in the orchestra and chorus, and it sounds vastly livelier and more precise than the work of the ORTF forces. Before the final movement, when Berlioz indicates that the curtain should be raised, the Boulez recording has sounds of tuning up, to good effect; too, its speaker, Jean-Louis Barrault, is more characterful, more extravagant, with a wider range of vocal color than Topard.

The only numbers in which Martinon comes out ahead are the solo songs-first, because he uses two different tenors (the two songs are sung by different characters), and second, because, though neither Charles Buries nor Nicolai Gedda is ideal, both are more idiomatic and gentler of tone than John Mitchinson. But this is a relatively minor advantage when the performance as a whole misses the point so completely. The powerful cross-rhythms in the Chorus of Shades are pretty nearly los The brigands' chorus is exceptionally tam with the soloist almost inaudible--a bore, especially when set next to Boulez' brilliant account, forcefully sung by John Shirley Quirk and crisply played by the LSO. In the striking Aeolian Harp movement, which echoes the preceding song in faint wisps Boulez gets much cleaner playing, and the high-treble scoring (featuring two pianos i the orchestra) at the beginning of the last movement is appropriately crystalline an focused. Both sets include complete text and translations, and I'd say there's no contest.

- D.H

Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. [Laszki Ujhazy, prod.] HUN GAROTON SLPX 11842, $7.98 [recorded 1966].

Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op. 14. North German Radio Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, cond. TURNABOUT TV-34616, $3.98 [recorded 1962].

The Fantastique was something of an idd fixe for these distinguished conductors each of whom made no fewer than five recordings. Both made their first with French orchestra: Munch with the Orchestre National (a version I have never heard); Monteux with the Paris Symphony a passionate, finely controlled performance (his own favorite, according to Doris Monteux's book, It's All in the Music) that hope will be reissued. Both conductors subsequently directed an American orchestra where each made two recordings. Monteux's San Francisco versions suffered from excessive hall resonance and rather coarse orchestral execution; Munch's first Boston version was also rather hysterical and coarsely extroverted, but the 1962 remake (made as his final gesture as departing mu sic director) was a substantial improvement, if rather formally inhibited alongside some of the inspired live performances I re member hearing from him.


----------Hector Berlioz--His Fantastique spawned a farrago

In 1959 Monteux taped another Fantastique, with the Vienna Philharmonic--a poetic but rather mild-mannered performance, well played in an unidiomatic way.

He was reportedly unhappy with the result, which would explain how he came to redo the work in Hamburg in 1962, the performance here issued by Turnabout. His approach stressed the classical rather than the hysterical aspects of the score, and again he presents the music with clean, unaffected phrasing and firmly established basic tem pos for every movement. There is warmth in his reading but not much whimsy. He discouraged such effects as the downward glissandos in the last movement (which, rather surprisingly, Munch too eschews in the newly issued Budapest recording). His Vienna and Hamburg Fantastiques, for all their musical probity and strength, are slightly staid, and both orchestras are un idiomatic-the brass, for instance, has a rounded, euphonious sonority at odds with the cutting edge required by Berlioz' orchestration. The North German Radio Orchestra, however, is less polished than the Vienna Philharmonic, which proves some thing of a blessing: This is a more rugged performance.

Munch's last Fantastique, made in 1967 with the newly formed Orchestre de Paris, was less skillfully played than his second Boston recording and still a bit constrained, by his concert hall standard. The Hungaroton disc originates from Budapest rehearsals in 1966. The Hungarian Radio was experimenting with stereo, and its technicians recorded many concerts and orchestral rehearsals without any thought of public release. At the Fantastique rehearsal, Munch played through a movement at a time and then stopped to make suggestions (not included on the disc!). Performance flaws notwithstanding (there are a few, none serious), I am grateful to have this reminder of Munch in informal dress.

This is an utterly crazy, utterly inspired Fantastique. The tempos are hauled about with manic intensity, yet there is a convincing chop-logic at every turn. The Budapest Symphony responds with a sense of life and-death urgency, and I am tempted to call this the most exciting performance on records.

The Hungarian recording is lustrous and detailed, with a tremendous dynamic range and shimmer. The Turnabout sound is agreeable and well balanced save for congested tuttis (traceable as much to the orchestra as to the engineering, I suspect).

Both versions omit the optional cornet parts and the repeats, and both have a side break in the "Scene aux champs." For all the "big gun" Fantastiques currently avail able-the newer Karajan/Berlin (DG 2530 597, February 1976), the Davis/Concertgebouw (Philips 6500 774, May 1975), and the Martinon/ORTF (Angel S 37138, January 1977)-there is always room in the catalog for two as interesting as these.

-H.G.

Brahms: Orchestral Works. Utah Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Abravanel, cond. [Seymour Solomon, prod] VANGUARD CARDINAL VCS 10117/20, $15.92 (four discs, manual sequence).

Symphonies: No. 1. in C minor. Op. 68; No. 2, in D. Op. 73: No. 3. in F. Op. 90; No. 4, in E minor, Op. 98. Variations on a Theme by Haydn. Op. 56a. Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80. Tragic Overture, Op. 81.

If you've had it with portentous, somber Brahms performances. Abravanel's survey should provide a healthy shot of adrenaline. Tempos really crackle along. In the Second Symphony, for example, the finale goes with a headlong drive I don't recall on records since the mono readings of Walter and Furtwangler. The Tragic Overture wings its way at one basic speed, if not in a single surging and seamless line. The Third Symphony is joyous and impish, without precluding tenderness in the middle movements, and indeed none of this implies rigidity or feverishness. Transitional phrases breathe, and I like Abravanel's liltingly hesitant upbeats in the third movement of the Second Symphony. The Academic Festival Overture, filled with fun and sauciness, seems just about to jam on the brakes before the coda, but it proves only a little Luftpause before the "Gaudeamus igitur" returns proudly in tempo.

Since the Utah strings are not a lush group, they never threaten to swamp the rest of the orchestra, and there is a wealth of detail. If some find the string tone under nourished in the juicier tunes of the Second and Third Symphonies, there is no lack of dolce feeling, and the general light texture is all to the good in the First and Fourth, which are so vulnerable to stodgy, overripe treatment. The violins do seem hard pressed at times in the upper register, but the wonderfully disciplined violas are dark and rustic in sound. The cellos lack a fat sonority, but they know how to sing. The woodwinds are subtle and full of character and charm (the oboes are especially good).

and the Utah horns as heard here could easily pass muster in the Big Five. The trumpets and trombones are okay when they can be heard, but it is disappointing, for ex ample, nearly to lose the trombones' angry peroration beginning at bar 273 of the Fourth Symphony's finale.

Since the only other budget-priced stereo set offering the symphonies, both overtures, and the Haydn Variations is Sawallisch's (Turnabout TV-S 34453/6), rather similar in approach but less skillfully realized, the at traction of the Abravanel set should be obvious. The sonic ambience is smooth as velvet, somewhat distant in perspective. The disc mastering is at a relatively low level, but fortunately the quiet surfaces assure that that's no great problem. One minor mastering flaw in the Academic Festival will, I hope, be corrected: Two separate takes of measure 269 appear to have been spliced together.

-A.C.

BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 3, in D minor. Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, cond.

WESTMINSTER GOLD WGS 8327, $3.98.

Buckner: Symphony No. 9, in D mi nor BACH: Chorale Preludes (13; arr. Mytsalski). Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, cond.

WESTMINSTER GOLD WGS 8347-2, $7.96 (two discs, manual sequence).

These performances hardly sound like the work of the same performers. The Ninth is tentatively played .and murkily recorded, with the brasses especially recessive.

Rhythmic pulse doesn't gel; tempos get pulled around out of restless uncertainty rather than an intuitive feel for this brand of rhetoric. I like Rozhdestvensky's deliberate tempo for the scherzo, but others (e.g., Haitink, Barenboim) have followed the same course within a more convincing over-all framework. The fourth-side Mytsalski arrangements of thirteen Bach chorale preludes are inoffensive but no great attraction. The Ninths of Barenboim (DG 2530 639), Mehta (London CS 6462), and Haitink (Philips 835 381) are not challenged here.

In the Third, to begin with, the acoustics are live and rich-violas full and warm, horns dark and round. Stereo clearly high lights antiphonal strings. Rozhdestvensky allows the symphony to unfold naturally.

The pulse is firm. Phrases sing reasonably, and climaxes are unleashed with consider able power, allowing for the brasses' Russian-style vibrato and some less than impeccable playing from other sections. As a bargain Third, Rozhdestvensky's version is preferable to the somewhat flaccid Schuricht (Seraphim S 60090). &ohm's magisterial reading (London CS 6717) remains my first choice for the 1889 (Nowak) Third, though all Bruckner fans should also get the extremely different 1878 (Haas) edition, available only from Haitink (Philips 835 217).

-A.C.

BRUCKNER: Te Deum.* MOZART: Mass in C, K. 317 (Coronation). Anna Tomova-Sintov, soprano; Agnes Baltsa, mezzo; Peter Schreier and Werner Krenn', tenors; Jose van Dam, bass-baritone; Rudolf Scholz, or gan; Vienna Singverein, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan, cond. [Michel Glotz, Hans Hirsch, and Magdalene Padberg, prod.]

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530 704, $7.98. Tape: 3300 704, $7.98.

Comparisons--Mozart:

Davis London Sym. Phi. 6500 234

Grossmann / Vienna Cathedral Orch. Phi. 835 187

Ristenpart, Saar Chamber Orch. None. H 71041

Horenstein / Vienna Pro Musica Turn. TV-S 34063

Kubelik/Bavarian Radio DG 2530 356

No sooner have I praised the dramatic contrasts delineated in Martin Stephani's Bruckner Te Deum (Telefunken 6.42037, June 1977) when along comes Karajan's performance, which is positively startling in its juxtaposition of spine-chilling pianissimos and roof-raising fortissimos. The chorus phrases in crisp, staccato units and at a strict tempo, while the soloists sing with a plastically molded legato. The Berlin brasses thunder forth with ominous warnings of heavenly might. For many listeners, this will be the most thrilling performance in the work's discography, and I was certainly swept along by the power and originality of Karajan's concept. But then I wonder a bit: Is this a Credo or Passion, or rather a setting of joyous affirmation of the Lord's greatness? Mozart's festive yet intimate 1779 Coro nation Mass (for the unveiling of a painting of the Virgin) also brings forth the theatrical side of Karajan's personality. Again, the soloists seem to be granted a more flexible beat than the chorus (which, as in the Bruckner, is more backwardly recorded than the rest of the forces). And again, there are extremes of dynamics, tempo. phrasing, and texture that I can hardly imagine having been employed in Mozart's time: the highly prominent timpani, the generous ritard into "Et incarnatus," the brutal "Hosanna," the slow and effusive Agnus Dei.

But Karajan's slicker side also appears, as in the many instances where the legato singing all but obliterates evidence of consonants.

None of the older versions of the Bruckner are anything like Karajan's. Some are fine: as I've indicated before, the couplings may ultimately swing the buyer's choice.

Each of the other recordings of the Mozart has attractive features. Grossmann offers boy singers. Ristenpart has a clearly audible positive organ in the Sanctus, lovely work from soprano Teresa Stilt-Randall, and churchly acoustics. Horenstein gives a serious, even dour, reading-not badly engineered considering its origin-and perhaps has the best of the solo quartets. Kubelik comes to life mainly in the Benedictus, one of Mozart's most delectable inspirations, whose opera buffa spirit is flawlessly realized. Davis does almost as well there, and his recording is my over-all first choice, for the faultlessly integrated tempo scheme, the stylistic alertness. and the clean and ideally balanced engineering.

-A.C.

CHOPIN: Piano Works. Krystian Zimerman, piano DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530 826, $7.98.

Andante spianato and Grande polonaise bralante, Op. 22.

Etude in F. Op. 10, No. 8. Mazurkas: in G minor, Op. 24, No 1: in C, Op. 24, No 2: in B flat minor. Op. 24, No. 4.

Preludes, Op. 28: No. 17, in A flat. No 18. in F minor.

Scherzo No.4, in E. Op. 54. Waltz in A flat, Op. 34, No. I.

At the time of the 1975 Warsaw Chopin competition, the winner, the young Polish virtuoso Krystian Zimerman, was eighteen.

Now DG has issued a live recording of his first two programs at the competition (re corded by Polskie Nagrania), and I will be very surprised if it doesn't turn out to be an important document in years to come.

Apparently DG, which has already signed Zimerman to a long-term exclusive contract, is of the same mind.

To be sure, there are gaucheries of the kind that crop up when a relatively inexperienced player is recorded without benefit of retakes. No matter: This is patently the playing of an exciting musical personality, breathtaking as well as breathless. His performance of the E major Scherzo (in many respects the most subtle and pianistically difficult of the four scherzos) tends-like the 1936 studio recording by the relatively young (in his thirties) Vladimir Horowitz toward wild extroversion, with biting accentuation and certain metric surprises and adjustments to the otherwise evenly maintained basic tempo.

In the other works too Zimerman has a tendency to make his already impetuous tempos even faster in technically knotty passages-he is a fiery executant and yet maintains digital incisiveness and a certain poised detachment that result in extreme clarity and a texture constantly enlivened by individuality of voicing. The Grande polonaise brillante emerges with jolting explosiveness and yet manages to keep its architectural shapeliness. The three mazurkas are very personally (and person ably) played, but I am less enthralled with the F major Etude and the A flat Waltz, both a little hard-pressed and lacking in relaxed proportion (note the way Zimerman fails to dwell lovingly over detail in the central part of the etude as Horowitz did, for example, particularly in his later recording).

But here, for once, is a new pianist who really does remind one of Horowitz. This is one of the most impressive debut discs I have ever had the opportunity to review.

The sound reproduction is a trifle hard and bleak but quite realistic, and the processing is first-rate.

-H.G.

GAOUIN: Book of Noels. MARCHAND: Organ Works. Arthur Wills, organ of Ely Cathedral.

[Ted Perry and Martin Compton, prod.] SAGA 5433/4, $13.96 (two discs, manual sequence; distributed by CMS Records).

The newly rebuilt organ in England's Ely Cathedral has proved to be a musical medium of rare versatility, with a chameleon like ability to sound persuasive (and even wholly authentic) in a surprising range of literature. It has (as does organist Arthur Wills) a special affinity for French music.

and rarely can a modern organ have captured so definitively the sounds of the eighteenth-century French instruments: The comets are cohesive and politely aggressive, the trumpets are at once brilliant and richly foundational, the plein jeu has the appropriate fullness, and the balances among the various standardized stop combinations have been handled most sensitively.

The sounds, then, are perfect for these works of Daquin and Marchand, and Wills plays with evident relish. He manages to "civilize" the less presentable moments of the noels-they do represent, after all, the incipient decadence of the whole French classical school of organ music-while capturing all the grandeur of the Marchand pieces. His registrations are scrupulously authentic (while the 16- and 32-foot pedal tones heard in the Marchand works were rare in the eighteenth century, they were available on the largest instruments), and he demonstrates particular care with the "grouped" phrasing and articulation inherent in the eighteenth-century favoring of the three middle fingers. My only reservation concerns his use of pointe unequal values in passages written with notes of equal value--a subtler loure approach would have been more defensible-but I'm willing to concede that the Daquin pieces justify some exaggeration.

The sounds of the Ely Cathedral organ and its spacious acoustical setting have been vividly captured on disc, although the surfaces of the review copy were marred by a somewhat excessive incidence of scattered pops and swishes. The attractive double-fold record jacket contains notes on the music, a complete history and specification of the organ, and, on the cover, a breathtaking color photo of Ely's nave and crossing.

-S.C.


---Krystian Zimerman An exciting recording debut.

DVORAK: Quintet for Piano and Strings, in A, Op. 81. Emanuel Ax, piano; Cleveland Quartet. [Peter Dellheim, prod.] RCA RED SEAL ARL 1-2240, $7.98. Tape: 08 ARK 1 2240, $7.95; ARS 1-2240, $7.95.

DVORAK: Quintet for Piano and Strings, in A, Op. 81; Bagatelles for Harmonium and Strings, Op. 47. Rudolf Firkusny, piano and harmonium; Juilliard Quartet. [Steven Epstein, prod.] COLUMBIA M 34515, $7.98.

These recordings are the latest, but by no means the last, words on the subject of Dvorak's piano quintet. Indeed, both RCA and Columbia have more distinguished versions to their credit (the former's Rubin stein/Guarneri and Heifetz et al., the latter's Curzon/Budapest).

Of the two, though, Ax and the Cleveland Quartet come far closer to the mark. Their genial, expansive reading captures reason ably well the music's songful lyricism and coloristic possibilities. They also observe the first-movement repeat, the first time I recall hearing it. The failings aren't serious.

Sometimes, as in the first-movement coda.

Ax and his colleagues are a trifle subdued (this ought to move ahead with greater abandon), and sometimes the first violin's vibrato thins out or stops completely in an exposed high melody line. Also, some of the internal ensemble is a bit loose, although the basic spirit is always sympathetic. If you are looking for this type of interpretation, the Rubinstein/Guarneri (RCA LSC 3252) gives it with rather more finesse. The Firkusny/Juilliard collaboration might be described as a Czech and a stale mate. Every time the pianist tries to get things moving, the stiff, angular, self-conscious phrasing of the strings effectively nails the performance to the ground. The awkward, stolid cello solo at the very be ginning unfortunately gives accurate indication of what comes later. Furthermore, the sound is flat and cramped, without depth, body, or impact. The piano is tinkly and hard as nails-not at all an accurate replica of Firkusny's sound as I know it from the concert hall-and the acid, disagreeable string tone suggests chalk squeaking on a blackboard. In the Op. 47 Bagatelles, the almost ferocious-sounding harmonium effectively negates the folksy charm of these lovely miniatures.

If you favor the more straitlaced approach to the quintet, Heifetz and company (RCA LSC 2985) do it consummately. My favorites, though, are the Curzon/Budapest version (in Odyssey 32 26 0019) for refined, beautifully organized string playing, the later Curzon/Vienna (London CS 6357) for the most characterful pianism (Curzon's playing with the Budapest is a bit stodgy and inhibited), and the virile Schnabel/Pro Arte interpretation (in clear but ancient sound). H.G.

GRANADOS: Goyescas. Alicia de Larrocha, piano. [James Walker prod.] LONDON CS 7009, $7.98. Tape: fie CS5 7009, $7.95; CS8 7009, $7.95.

GRANADOS: Goyescas. Francisco Aybar, piano. [E. Alan Silver, prod.] CONNOISSEUR SOCIETY CS 2091, $7.98.

GRANADOS: Piano Works, Vol. 1.

Marylene Dosse, piano. [Heinz Jan sen, prod.] Vox SVBX 5484, $10.98 (three discs, manual sequence).

Goyescas; Prelude and Six Pieces on Popular Spanish Songs; Estudios expresivos (6); Impromptus (2); Danza lenta; Allegro de concierto; Cuentos pare la juventud; Barcarole: Aparici6n; Estudio; Capricho espanol.

De Larrocha triumphantly reasserts her interpretive primacy in this opulent re recording of Goyescas. The rich color scheme, rhythmic aliveness, precision of detail, and sheer sensuous subtlety bring her performances as close to perfection as anyone is likely to hear this side of heaven.

And her new Goyescas-unlike her most re cent Albeniz Iberia, which lacked some of her earlier spontaneity-is if anything freer and more vivid than before. London also deserves a good mark for including "El Pe lele," since that piece rightfully belongs among the Goyescas. (Granados in fact included it in his operatic reworking.) The stodgy and gesturesome Aybar Goy escas can be passed over quickly, with a nod to Connoisseur Society's superbly rich, impactive sound and excellent processing, but the playing of the young French-born Marylene Dosse, while not yet in the De Larrocha class, has much to recommend it.

Her pianism has fine articulation, intensity, and temperament. She gives an especially fine account of No. 3 of the Goyescas set, the "Procession by Candlelight," where some might actually prefer her intense angularity and biting ostinato to De Larrocha's lighter, more subtly shaded approach, and while she cannot quite equal

De Larrocha's supple phrasing and color in the popular "Lament of the Maiden and the Nightingale," there can be no doubt that her playing of that piece has shapeliness and comprehension (not to mention impressive pianistic scope). Only in the opening "Flirtation" does Dosse sound a bit too fragmented and ill at ease.

The Vox album, in addition to its low price, has the obvious merit of offering lots of music one might never otherwise hear.

The notes draw an analogy between the Cuentos pars la juventud and Schumann's Kinderszenen, but the real model was the latter's Album fur die Jugend: Note the un canny resemblance between Granados' "The Beggar" and Schumann's "First Sorrow." Dosse plays all of this fare with wit, charm, and-when called for-technical brilliance; and the sound, if a little hard and constricted, is perfectly serviceable. I look forward to hearing Vol. 2 of this project.

-H.G.

HAYDN: Piano Works, Vol. 4. Derso Ranki, piano. [Janos Matyas, prod.]

HUNGAROTON SLPX 11625/7, $23.94 (three discs, manual sequence).

Sonatas: No. 54. in G: No. 55. in B flat; No. 56. in D: No. 57. in F; No. 58, in C. No. 59, in E flat, No. 60, in C; No. 61. in CI; No. 62, in E flat. Variations: in C. H. XVII:5; in F minor, H. XVII:6. Fantasy in C, H. XVII:4.

Hungaroton continues its remarkable pro gram of presenting all of Haydn's keyboard music. These people not only are imaginative and thoroughly aware of the latest contributions of musicological research (they commendably use Christa Landon's excel lent edition of the sonatas), but seem to have an inexhaustible reservoir of bright and capable young Hungarian artists. The works in Vol. 4, composed between 1782 and 1795, are all conceived for the developed hammer piano, and the last three, composed in London, were palpably inspired by the outstanding English instruments, as can be seen not only from the virtuosic writing, but from the five-and-a-half octave compass demanded.


------------Marylene Dosse A fine start for a Granados protect

Two distinct types of sonatas are discernible. The "lady sonatas" (Nos. 54, 55. 58, and 59), so called after Emanuel Bach's designation of some of his sonatas as "for the use of ladies." are indeed dedicated to able amateur-pianist lady friends of Haydn. Though lighter and avoiding complexities both in texture and technique, they are composed with the same care and uncompromising artistry as the greatest of the sonatas. The other type, called "concert sonatas" by Laszlo Somfai, the editor and commentator of the series, in fact requires a consummate command of pianism. Nos. 60 and 62 are prime examples of this style, while No. 61 is somewhere between the two. (No. 57 was a publisher's unauthorized compilation and is partly spurious.) It was not only the excellent instruments that inspired Haydn during his London visit, but also Clementi's sonatas; Haydn, like Beethoven, greatly admired the Anglo Italian pianist/composer/publisher/manufacturer. As we listen to these splendid works, superbly adapted to the genius of the piano, whether a Broadwood or a Stein way, we wonder why they have failed to become staples in the pianists' repertory.

Of the twelve works recorded here, only Nos. 59 and 62, in addition to the great F mi nor Variations, are generally known and occasionally performed, yet nearly all the others are masterpieces as well. Perhaps this fine recording will bring home to us their infinite richesses.

This is a most satisfying recording. The young pianist Derso Ranki (born 1951) is undoubtedly on the way to stardom; he is remarkably mature, with a sense for style, tempo, phrasing, and dynamics worthy of the most seasoned masters of the keyboard.

He has a beautiful tone, light yet substantial in the pianos, never shrill or heavy in the fortes. His rhythm is as sharp as it is varied, his non-legato runs sparkle clean and neat no matter how fast the pace, and his left-hand work is spectacular. Imitations and complementary sentences passing from hand to hand are beautifully equalized. Nowhere in these three records does Ranki slip or slacken his concentration, nor is there a single lapse in taste and aplomb.

Hungaroton has provided this able artist with first-class engineering and has included an elegant booklet containing the detailed and informative notes by Somfai, one of the foremost Haydn scholars. Somfai also coached the performers appearing in the four volumes-no wonder that every thing clicks in this laudable enterprise.

-P.H.L.

HAYDN: Quartets for Strings, Vol. 2.

Aeolian Quartet. [Michael Bremner, prod.] LONDON TREASURY STS 15328/32, $19.90 (five discs, manual sequence).

Op. 0: in E flat. Op.1: No. 1, in B flat; No. 2, in E fiat; No. 3. in 13; No. 4, in G; No. 6, in C. Op. 2: No. 1, in A; No. 2. in E; No. 4, in F; No. 6, in B flat.

In 1757 the young Haydn, invited to a mu sic-making party at Count von Furnberg's estate in Weinzierl, wanted to contribute a piece of music to the occasion. Taking ad vantage of the available musicians, a violinist (the local priest), a violist (the count's estate manager), and a cellist (none other than the equally young Albrechtsberger), and playing the other violin part himself, he delivered a "string quartet." The piece was so well received that Haydn immediately followed it up with several others, and thus the string quartet, the epitome of chamber-music, was started. It became very popular as "house music," more than 150 sets of quartets, three to six works to the set, being published between 1765 and 1800 in Paris alone. Soon the professionals also became interested; Viotti gave weekly quartet concerts beginning with 1785, while Ignaz Schuppanzigh, later to be known as a fore most interpreter of Beethoven, formed a concertizing quartet in 1792 (at the age of sixteen!).

Now this brief and engaging history of the string quartet seems quite simple, but are the works recorded here actually string quartets? Yes and no. Haydn himself called them notturni and divertimenti, and such indeed they are; we must not confuse a medium, four strings, with a genre. While we still encounter views that, because of this confusion, carry the quartet back to the seventeenth century, it was unquestionably an entirely new genre, the work of Haydn, who reconciled baroque polyphony, style galant, Empfindsamkeit, and Storm and Stress to create what we know as the classical style. But the pieces in this album do not yet add up to a genre with firm contours; they are experiments with a view to creating one.

In Op. 1 there is no difference between the fast movements, which are virtually interchangeable; repeatedly one is aware of the shadow of the trio sonata, the principal chamber music form of the previous era, and perhaps some of these quartets even used a continuo. Then again some movements lean toward the concerto (frequent in the divertimento). the first violin lording it over the rest as in the fine Adagio of Op. 2, No. 2. There are tiny sonata constructions, dances, and genuine divertimento finales, but there are also moving adagios and sweet Italian serenades with pizzicato accompaniment.

It is clear that Haydn was searching for a way to bring order into this plenitude of elements, and it is surprising that despite his uncertainty we often hear the typical quartet sound, as for instance in the astonishing first movement of Op. 1, No. 3. He is still searching in Op. 2, but it is plain that there is a definite artistic will at work here;

he now makes the first movement the principal one, the viola is a partner rather than a filler, and the inner parts begin to have a life of their own. Haydn must have realized that the next step required study and re grouping, so there ensued a decade's pause in quartet writing, until in Op. 9 he returned to the task with a much clearer concept of the genre. Op. 3 has been proved to be not his work, and Haydn himself wished his quartets listed as beginning with Op. 9.

Nevertheless, while offering slight though pleasant music, this recording is most welcome to all serious lovers of mu sic. The Aeolian Quartet is a fine group and improves as the recording proceeds from disc to disc. The occasional metallic harshness of the first violin and the robust at tacks that do not fit these miniatures disappear with the second disc; they are probably due to the openness and closeness of the sound, which definitely improves from there on. While the Aeolians do make the usual mistakes (the perfunctory trills on fast notes, wrong auxiliary notes, etc.), they are careful with grace notes and show excellent judgment as to what to repeat, tem pos are judicious, and tuning and ensemble work are unexceptionable.

They also accept and follow the results of recent musicological research. Op. 1. No. 5.

was not recorded because it has been proved to have been originally a symphony with two oboes and two horns; similarly, Op. 2. Nos. 3 and 5. which circulated all over Europe as "sextets" for quartet and two horns, are omitted. It is hoped that these will eventually be recorded in a sort of appendix. P.H.L.

HAYDN: Symphonies: No. 44, in E minor (Trauer); No. 49, in F minor (La Passion).

English Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, cond. [Gunther Breest and Hans Weber, prod.] DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530 708, $7.98.

HAYDN: Paris Symphonies. English Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, cond.

[Suvi Raj Grubb, prod.] EMI/CAPITOL SLS 5065, $23.94 (three discs, manual sequence; distributed by Capitol Imports).

Symphonies: No. 82. in C (The Bear); No 83. in G minor (The Hen); No. 84. in E flat No 85. in B Bat (La Reins): No. 86. in D; No. 87. in A.

Barenhoim's Haydn may not please those who prefer Leonard Bernstein's robust approach or Antal Dorati's crisply cool readings. However. these four records represent a deeply thought-out approach that I have found increasingly persuasive.

Throughout these eight performances there is extraordinary polish and precision in the playing of the English Chamber Orchestra, with which Barenboim has been closely associated. The sound (much the same with EMI and DC) is warm and deeply lustrous: the string vibrato is beautifully controlled, just short of excess for this music. What Barenhoim asks from the orchestra is, as noted, quite different from what other recent Haydn conductors have wanted. In certain respects, his mellow approach to the "Paris" symphonies, for ex ample, recalls Ansermet's (London Treasury STS 15213/5), but Barenhoim flows much more smoothly from one idea to the next and integrates them far more effectively into a whole. His gentler articulation substitutes for Bernstein's earthy robustness a geniality and a sensitivity that tend to make Haydn more human, more civilized and urbane, and his expressive plan readily encompasses the intense feeling of the two Sturm and Drang symphonies on the DC disc.

One would expect Barenboim to he at his best in Haydn's slower writing the first movement introductions and the slow movements--and he certainly plays such passages very expressively, rising to a very special height at the beginning of La Passione. He is less successful with the more decorative slow movements, especially the variations in the " Paris" symphonies. His faster tempos are beautifully articulated, with long phrasing and subtle rhythmic at tack. If the minuets lack their expected snap and if the peasant humor of some of the finales is toned down, everything is placed in a fully thought-out sense of pro portion.

-P.H.

HAYDN: Symphony No 104--See Schubert Symphony No 5 Daniel Barenboim Haydn with polish and precision KHACHATURIAN: Gayane and Spartacus: Excerpts. London Symphony Orchestra, Aram Khachaturian, cond. [John Willan, prod.] AN GEL S 37411, $7.98 (SQ-encoded disc).

Tape: S. 4 XS 37411, $7 98.

KHACHATURIAN: Gayane: Suites Nos. 1-3. National Philharmonic Orches tra, Loris Tjeknavorian. cond. [Charles Gerhardt. prod.] RCA RED SEAL 'CRL 2-2263, $8 98 (two discs, automatic sequence).

The onetime popularity of Khachaturian's Gayane, Masquerade, and Spartacus bal lets. long on the wane, was scarcely re stored by the full-length Bolshoi Theater production of the last-named score that appeared only two years ago 'on Columbia! Melodiya (D4M 33493. November 1975). But perhaps there remains some interest in both these new releases.

The composer is just as slapdash a conductor of his own "Sabre Dance" and other Gayane hits as most interpreters have been and, indeed as he was in a mid-'50s mono Angel disc and his still available 1963 Ga yane and Spartacus Suites (London CS 6322). But now his suites are somewhat differently constituted: The Gayane new comers are the "Lullaby." "Storm." "Mountaineers' Dance." and-Invention": the Spartacus newcomers are the "Variation of Aegina" and the "Entrance of Harmodius and Adagio of Aegina and Harmodius." But what's more interesting than any of the se lections is that these performances presumably represent the septuagenarian com poser's final versions: They were recorded on his visit to London earlier this year. And the recording is gleamingly transparent, with enhanced atmospheric ambience in quadriphonic playback.

The RCA release is something else again.

It is, to the best of my knowledge, the most extensive recording of Gayane to date-not the complete !Janet in any of its versions, hut a three-s:iit, iisrics of tw,mty-four se Lotions from the original 1942 production score. Far mc importantly. It is performed with a surety of control, ;:-.rythrmic precision. free('- from vulgarization. and above all imperious authority that the mu sic his surely never CP.1(1:, 1-.:fure. Right from the arrestina pere-ission-and-trom. pets opening to the blazing windup of the final scene one is consistently held trans fixed-less by the theatrical music itself (al though I've never heard it sound better than it does here) than by the truly high-voltage, electrifying orchestral playing and superbly strong, clean, and open recorded sonics.

Whether or not you want even the biggest and best recorded Gayane, you may well buy this album for the conductor. Loris Tjeknavorian is an Iranian of Armenian de scent (hence his special empathy for the Armenian folk materials Khachaturian draws upon here), who studied for some years in this country. He has composed a number of large-scale works, conducted the Teheran Opera, and in recent years guest-conducted in England, where he now lives. British RCA already has released his Tchaikovsky Pathetique and Sibelius Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, but the Gayane set marks his record debut in the U.S., and he makes a magisterial, even charismatic impression.

-R.D.D.

Luum: Alceste. For an essay review, see page 95

MARCHAND: Organ Works-See Daquin.

Book of Noels.

MARTINU: Toccata e Due Canzoni; Sinfo nietta La Jolla. Zdenek Hnat, piano; Prague Chamber Orchestra. [Pavel Kuhn, prod.]

SUPRAPHON 1 10 1619. $7.98.

While not on the level of Martini's Double Concerto and Second Cello Sonata, both works on this disc generally maintain their drive at a satisfying pace, offering along the way intriguing chordal, instrumental, and rhythmic configurations.

The Toccata e Due Canzoni, composed for Swiss conductor Paul Sacher in 1946, represents a novel approach to constructing a work in movements, with a rhythmically obsessive opening Toccata offset by a pair of more lyrical movements. Yet the canzoni title for those final movements is misleading: although both stress melody more than the Toccata, neither is exactly songlike. In the second movement, multi hued figures form like crystals around a hypnotically repeated, self-enclosed piano motive, while the finale sprawls into three major parts, including another toccata in the middle and a gloomy closing.

The Sinfonietta La Jolla was composed in 1950 for the Musical Arts Society of La Jolla, California. Like the Toccata e Due Canzoni, this three-movement work has a prominent piano part and sounds more symphonic than chamberlike in conception. But the sinfonietta never settles into one mood before changing into another:

Nervous, dramatic ostinatos give way to bright cadences: at the opening of the second movement, ominously thick and dissonant harmonic textures announce nothing more earthshaking than an ingenuous piano theme.

This new reit ass supersedes Supraphon's mono coupling of these works.

The sound is bright and beautifully defined and the performances by the Prague Chamber Orchestra and pianist Zdenek Hnat have energy, commitment, and, for the most part, nice precision.

-R.S.B

Mozart: Mass in C, K. 317--See Bruckner: Te Deum.

MOZART: Serenade No. 10, in B flat, K. 361.

Soloists of the Marlboro Music Festival, Marcel Moyse, cond. [Mischa Schneider, prod.]

MARLBORO RECORDING SOCIETY MRS 11, $7.50 postpaid (Marlboro Recording Society, 5114 Wissioming Road, Washington, D.C. 20016).

Along with other veteran collectors, I re member Marcel Moyse with nostalgic affection as a soloist-a concert and recording flutist as prolific and outstanding in the 78-rpm era as Rampal is nowadays. With his flute recordings ever harder to find, it's especially good to have him reappear as a conductor. (He also conducted a Marlboro Beethoven Octet, currently available in Columbia M 33527.) As a reading of the Gran Partite for thirteen instruments (all reeds and horns except for the double bass Mozart had to use for lack of a double bassoon), Moyse's is more outspokenly romantic in its expressiveness than most younger Mozarteans are likely to approve today. And the playing of the festival group of notable soloists demonstrates much of the best along with a bit of the worst characteristics of similar more or less ad hoc ensembles: on one hand an infectiously fervent relish of their own mu sic-making; on the other, seldom entirely assured attack precision and mutual tonal adjustments. But while I must give strictly musical preference to the famous 1963 Brymer/London Wind Soloists version for London (newly reissued in a five-disc Treasury wind-music set) or, with some reservations, the 1974 De Waart/Nether lands Wind Ensemble version for Philips, the present disc ranks high for its exceptionally vivid and lucid yet expansive recording, made at a live festival performance.

-R.D.D.


---------Herbert von Karajan An Unfinished that joins the select list.

RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 3, in A mi nor, Op. 44. Aleko. Intermezzo and Women's Dance. London Symphony Or chestra, Andre Previn, cond. [Christopher Bishop, prod.] ANGEL S 37260, $7.98 (SQ encoded disc). Tape: se 4XS 37260, $7.98.

Comparisons:

Previn/ London Sym. RCA Gold AGL 1-1527 Ormandy, Philadelphia Col. MS 7081 Stokowski / National Phil. Desmar DSM 1007 Given the growth evident between Previn's two recordings of the Rachmaninoff Second Symphony, I'm somewhat surprised not to find the new Angel Third more clearly superior to the nine-year-old RCA version, now available on the mid-price Gold Seal label. In both performances Previn shows himself more scrupulously attentive to the score than those veteran erstwhile associates of the composer, Stokowski and Ormandy, both of whom retouch scoring (e.g., violas added in the opening bars) and are somewhat cavalier about tempos. (Ormandy also ignores the first-movement repeat.) In the slow movement, only Previn op poses the cantabile mood of the outer sections with a vigorous allegro for the central march--and indeed that episode, like some sections of the finale, was even wilder in the RCA version. Previn also helps maintain that movement's position as the sym phony's expressive center of gravity by phrasing the first movement's lyrical cello tune almost casually, thus lightening the load it carries. His over-all grasp of the score is on a par with that of Rachmaninoff himself (with the Philadelphia Orchestra in RCA ARM 3-0296, mono) and Sanderling (with the Leningrad Philharmonic in Everest 3363/3, rechanneled), though the Lon don Symphony lacks that last measure of tonal and virtuosic glitter heard in the playing of the Philadelphia and Leningrad orchestras.

In addition to its lower price, the old Pre vin recording offers a more substantial filler, the tone poem The Rock, although I have no complaints about the Angel filler, lilting readings of the two best movements of the Aleko Suite. RCA's sonics are drier, allowing the brasses a bit more thrust than they have in the Angel edition (I have not heard an imported version), and the timpani are crisper and more clearly defined on the older recording. Angel's bass, however, is tighter and clearer.

-A.C.

Schubert: Symphony No. 5, in B flat, D. 485; Minuets and Trios, D. 89.

Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Rudolf Barshai, cond. WESTMINSTER GOLD WGS 8335, $3.98.

SCHUBERT: Symphonies: No. 5, in B flat, D. 485; No. 8, in B minor, D. 759 (Unfinished).

Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink, cond. PHILIPS 9500 099, $7.98. Tape: so 7300 512, $7.95.

SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 8, in B minor, D. 759 (Unfinished).

HAYDN: Symphony No. 104, in D ( London). Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan, cond. [Michel Glotz, prod.] ANGEL S 37058, $7.98. Tape: so 4XS 37058, $7.98.

SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 9, in C, D. 944. Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink, cond. PHILIPS 9500 097, $7.98. Tape: so 7300 510, $7.95.

A wide interpretive spectrum can be found on these overlapping discs. One might expect the Moscow Chamber Orchestra to stress the small-scaled chamber-music aspects of the early Fifth Symphony, but just the opposite occurs: With full-bodied, close sound, red-blooded and expansively Ro mantic phrasing, easygoing tempos, and an insistence on every repeat (even in the finale), Barshai's interpretation almost seems like a misguided attempt to swell the charming little work to the dimensions of another Symphony No. 5 in B flat, Anton Bruckner's. It does seem a bit bloated (though hardly as turgid as the Bruckner monstrosity!), and I take exception to a bit of dynamic hanky-panky (why, for in stance, the tricky fadeout for the final cadence of the exposition in the first movement?), but in the end the performance is winning because Barshai obviously cares deeply for the music and shows it with a plentitude of affectionate nuancing. This beautifully played, well-produced version is warmly recommended. The filler, the early D. 89 minuets and trios (presumably the same performance once available on Angel coupled with the Mozart Symphony No. 40) hardly has the stature of the extra symphony usually found coupled with this music, but it is good to have these often creative, charming juvenilia available in so ex pert a performance.

Haitink also gives more than the usual quota of repeats, but he stops short of Barshai. His interpretations of the Fifth and Unfinished are a bit problematical, and I still haven't completely made up my mind about them. Three movements of the Fifth are rather brisk and objective, apparently stressing the structural rather than the sentimental side of the music, but other conductors (Toscanini, Van Beinum, and-in a very different way-Klemperer) have pursued a similar course with greater success. I do in fact prefer a cogent classical view of the work to a formless "Romantic" one (Bruno Walter's, for instance), but phrases must sing, rapid runs must be articulated with air between the notes, and rhythms, however stringently maintained, must have spring and flexibility. The Concertgebouw plays excellently, but its dark sonority lacks elegance.

Haitink, for all his earnest sincerity, sounds tightly unimaginative here, and surely the graceless way the double basses bump the accompaniment to the last movement's second theme cannot wholly be blamed on their excessive proximity in the recorded balance. Furthermore, the Minuet sounds outrageously solemn (is Haitink trying to make it akin to the equivalent movement of Mozart's K. 550?), with annoying pauses before and after the central trio section. I am hoping for a reissue of the beautiful old Van Beinum recording in London's Treasury series. In the meantime, the Fifth Symphony is well served by the Barshai, the rustic, solid, leisurely Klemperer (Angel S 36164, coupled with an outstanding Un finished), the taut, quicksilver Toscanini (in the undoctored German mono issue, AT 123), and-the best general recommendation--the Fischer-Dieskau (Angel S 36965), a bracing middle-of-the-road compromise between Gemdtlichkeit and classicism, beautifully played and smoothly recorded.

Haitink's Unfinished is measured, scrupulous to detail, and again rather matter of-fact. Here the Concertgebouw's somber ensemble tone is more appropriate, but if you want this haunting work in yearning, Romantic, opulent splendor, be warned:

Haitink is interested in bars, phrases, and structures, not metaphysics. One curious detail calls for comment: Like Szell, he opts for an iconoclastic reading of the text that keeps the B natural in the second-bassoon part at bars 109 (exposition) and 327 (re capitulation). According to the Norton critical score, Schubert crossed out the C sharp usually found in its place. I think that the idea of a pedal point is an inspired one; I also believe that a composer's instructions ought to be carried out. That B natural, however, just doesn't work. The resultant chord becomes excruciatingly sour because the instrumental balance is off. Had Schubert heard this work performed (it wasn't premiered until 1865, thirty-seven years after his death), he would almost certainly have had second thoughts about this mis calculation.

Karajan's new Unfinished, better even than his fine DG version (139001, still avail able), certainly joins those of Casals, Cantelli, Jochum, Klemperer, and Toscanini on my select list. His interpretation has changed only slightly in its externals; the new performance is fractionally slower and less unanimous than its predecessor. But, paradoxically, the tiny imprecisions increase the spiritual communicativeness of the great Berlin ensemble's still extra ordinary playing. And Angel's SQ-encoded quadriphony reproduces the performance with less gloss and more patina than the slightly soupy, over-glamorous DG sound.

(In conventional folded stereo, it may seem opaque with some systems.) The Haydn Symphony No. 104 is equally marvelous. Again, the sound of the orchestra is spacious, dark, and resonant, but the tempos are mostly lively, well sprung, and unpretentiously light-footed. This is Haydn with power, vigor, and (by no means a regular feature of Karajan's work) humor. One odd detail: In Karajan's old Vienna Philharmonic version (now on London Treasury), he shortened the grand pauses in the minuet from two bars to one. In the new performance, the first of these is given its full value, but the last two times around Karajan takes only five beats of silence. Strange are the ways of great conductors (or not-so-great tape editors?).

Haitink's account of the "Great" C major is one of the better modern versions. His first-movement introduction is a shade slow, and I wish that he hadn't bowed to tradition with that senseless accelerando into the Allegro. The second movement too is a bit sedate, but the rhythmic scansion is good enough to preserve the alla marcia feeling. The orchestral playing has the Concertgebouw's customary dark magnificence, though I would prefer greater articulation and detail. Otherwise the interpretation is sound and without bothersome eccentricity. Karajan's Berlin version (DG 139 043) is still my favorite modern account, and Toscanini's recently revived 1941 Philadelphia performance (in RCA CRM 5-1900) is an interpretation of over whelming propulsion and lyrical magnificence. It should be noted, however, that his 1953 NBC recording has reappeared in an imported German RCA edition (AT 151) with sound so vastly improved over the original domestic issue that that performance now becomes a serious rival to the Philadelphia account. H.G.

SCHUMANN: Liederkreis, Op. 39; Frauen liebe und Leben, Op 42. Jessye Norman, soprano; Irwin Gage, piano. PHILIPS 9500 110, $7.98.

ElSCHUMANN: Liederkreis, Op. 39; Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42.

Mildred Miller, mezzo-soprano; John Wustman, piano. [Daniel Nimetz, prod.] MuSICAL HERITAGE MHS 3556, $4.95 ($3.50 to members) plus 954 postage. Tape: EV MHC 5556, $6.95 ($4.95 to members) (Musical Heritage Society, MHS Building, Oakhurst, N.J. 07755).

Despite the popularity of these song cycles, really first-rate performances are hard to come by on records. For my taste only Elly Ameling (Philips 6500 706) among contemporary singers can offer the right blend of intelligence, feeling, and vocal persuasiveness in Frauenliebe und Leben. Sad to say, there is no Ameling recording of the Op. 39 Liederkreis, and until one becomes avail able the best bet is probably Fischer Dieskau's (Angel S 36266).

Of the new versions, Jessye Norman's strikes me as decidedly the less good. Not only is the soprano in uneasy voice (though she sounds better in the Liederkreis than in Frauenliebe), but she is also remarkably bland in her interpretations. Irwin Gage, moreover, is nowhere near as poetical as these accompaniments ideally require, and in certain songs (for example, "Sasser Freund, du blickest" from Frauenliebe and "Auf einer Burg" from Liederkreis) he is deadly slow. On the whole, in fact, the Nor man/Gage performances are under vitalized as well as under characterized.

Mildred Miller and John Wustman are more communicative and engaging. Miller's performance is full of illuminating details, as in the phrase "phantastische Nacht" in "Schtine Fremde," where she captures to perfection the speaker's sense of wonderment by means of a judicious emphasis on the adjective. Similarly, at the end of "Wal desgesprach," when the Lorelei addresses her words of doom to the lonely traveler, Norman sounds singularly unthreatening, Miller strikingly baleful.

Miller's drawback is her present vocal state. Not only is the tone often squeezed and the breath control imperfect, but there is an annoying tendency to deal with as many of the technical problems as possible by means of intrusive aspirates ("Du Ring an meinem Fi-hin-ger," and so forth). Even so, there isn't any doubt in my mind that for all her vocal faults Miller is closer to the essence of Schumann's Lieder than Norman.

Philips' sound is rather close for my taste, though the pressing is flawless and there are texts with translations. Musical Heritage offers a better acoustic ambience, a less fine pressing, and no texts.

----D.S.H.

SCHUMANN: Sonatas for Piano: in F sharp minor, Op. 11; in G minor, Op. 22. Lazar Berman, piano. [Valentin Skoblo, prod.] Columbia/ MELODIYA M 34528, $7.98.

Berman's recording of the F sharp minor Sonata has greater control and beauty of detail than his Carnegie Hall performance in November 1976, but many of my reservations still stand. To begin at the beginning, I find his playing of the introduction deficient in organic comprehension: The rubato, mostly agitation followed by waiting for the next beat, sounds rupturing and in elastic, and many of the quirky rhythmic, textural, and harmonic turns are smoothed over with a hard efficiency that quells the rapturous, soaring quality of the writing.

Pollini's performance (DG 2530 379), ostensibly of similar style, was far more organic and effective, and while many-my self included-find Arrau's reading (Philips 802 793) tortured and nit-picking, it does achieve a depth of character beyond the reach of either Berman or Pollini.

The G minor Sonata, which Berman has probably been playing longer (indeed he has recorded it before), seems somewhat more native to his instincts. But again he sounds entirely too comfortable in the scurrying outer movements (which are marked "as fast as possible" and then in turn "faster" and "still faster") and his cantabile in the slow movement sounds pale alongside the singing of Kempff (DG 2530 348, deleted), Arrau (Philips 6500 394), Gelber (Connoisseur Society CS 2085), Engel (in Telefunken 46.35039), and Argerich (DG 2530 193).

Berman, in short, provides some accomplished piano playing, but Schumann asks for more in the way of poetry and dangerous risks. The Soviet reproduction, though, is far superior to that of the Beethoven sonatas (Columbia M 34218, March 1977) recorded last year in the U.S.

-H.G.

STRAUSS, R.: Burleske for Piano and Orchestra; Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, in D minor, Op. 8. Malcolm Frager, piano; Ulf Hoelscher, violin; Dresden State Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe, cond. [David Mottley, prod.] ANGEL S 37267, $7.98 (SQ-encoded disc).

Angel continues to dole out single discs drawn from Kempe's great four-volume, fourteen-disc Richard Strauss orchestral-works legacy. The present example, like last November's horn concertos (S 37004), is a needed new recording of less-familiar concerted works. The 1881-82 violin concerto, incredibly the product of an eighteen-year-old gymnasium (high school) graduate, is particularly welcome. For one thing, this orthodox, often Brahmsian, music has been unjustly belittled by admirers of the far more individual later tone poems and operas. Considered more objectively on its own merits and for its own time, it is no table for an already magisterially assured technique, both in composition and orchestration, and as a brilliantly effective bravura showpiece. For another, the work has been recorded rarely, and never before as impressively-in both performance and engineering--as it is here by Hoelscher and Kempe.

The Burleske of 1885-86 (three years be fore the first tone poem, Don Juan) has fared much better on discs, but the new Frager/ Kempe version has at least a slight edge in performance over the Serkin/Ormandy, if only for its more zestful humor, and a big advantage in recording that demonstrates the technological progress made since 1970. Convincingly natural big-hall warmth and spaciousness are evoked al most as well in stereo as they are in quad playback.

-R.D.D.

Strauss, R.: Don Quixote, Op. 35. Samuel Mayes, cello; Joseph de Pasquale, viola; Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. RCA RED SEAL ARL 1-2287, $7.98.

Tape: se ARK 1-2287, $7.95; NU ARS 1 2287, $7.95.

Ormandy's third recording of Don Quixote lacks, for me at least, not only any real sense of personal involvement, but also any real dramatic point, integration, and conviction. Soloist Samuel Mayes seems to be permissively allowed to go his own-mostly easygoing, often mannered and even sentimental-way, while conductor and orchestra follow routinely along. And the over-all absence of definition is heightened (or at least not contradicted) by the rich, warm, but patently soft-focused nature of the recorded sonics, identical in the well processed Dolby cassette edition when its somewhat lower modulation level is compensated in playback to match that of the disc.

For an extraverted, even flamboyant.

Don Quixote, you must turn to the Angel version by Rostropovich and Karajan (S 37057, August 1976). For my own ideal realization of the Don's nobility and humor as well as picaresqueness, in a 1961 recording that continues to defy technological aging, I still cling to the Fournier/Szell masterpiece (Odyssey Y 32224).

-R.D.D.

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No 4, in F minor, Op. 36. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, cond. [Rainer Brock, prod.]

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530 651, $7.98.

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4, in F minor, Op. 36. London Symphony Orchestra, George Szell, cond. LONDON CS 6987, $7.98.

Either of these new records of the Tchaikovsky Fourth would be a welcome addition to the composer's recorded repertory; to have them arrive simultaneously is an added bonus.

The Szell and Abbado approaches may well define permissible extremes in interpreting Tchaikovsky's symphonies. The Szell performance-recorded in the early Sixties but only now released domestically (it first appeared in 1972 in Britain, at budget price!)--is cool and almost classical, avoiding any exaggeration of Tchaikovsky's expression and in fact under playing some of it. His reading has solid musicianship, but it is also rather blood less. For those who prefer Tchaikovsky stripped of his almost hysterical emotion, Szell's reading would be a first choice, al though the sound does show its age, especially alongside the fullness of the Abbado record.

Abbado's is, to put matters directly, the best all-round version of the Fourth currently available. Devotees of other conductors-Karajan, Bernstein, Klemperer, or Ormandy-may quibble over details, but for me Abbado most successfully strikes the balance between fidelity to the score and intensity of expression. Whereas Szell underplays Tchaikovsky's emotion, Abbado intensifies it without falsifying or exploiting it. His superb rhetorical handling of the finale is especially thrilling-intensely projected but never violating the letter and spirit of Tchaikovsky's score.

Moreover, Abbado has established such rapport with the Vienna Philharmonic that it plays better for no one else today, as reflected in the extraordinarily pure intonation of the strings: the soaring clarity of the cellos, the precision of the basses, and the way the violins sound sweet and lyric with out excessive vibrato. I am also impressed by the woodwinds: the all-important oboe solo in the second movement does not have the dry sound once so annoying in this orchestra-the Vienna oboist is in fact fuller in tone and more precise rhythmically than his LSO counterpart under Szell.

-P.H.

TELEMANN: Overtures. Academy of St. Mar tin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner, cond. [Michael Bremner and Chris Hazell, prod.] Argo ZRG 837, $7.98. Tape: se KZRC 837, $7.95.

Overtures: in C (Hamburger Ebb and Fluth); in G (Desnations anciens et moderns): in C.

Telemann has long suffered for his reputation as one of the most prolific composers of all time, but his remarkable versatility and the true stature of his best works are gradually coming-primarily via modern recordings-to be generally recognized. An earlier Marriner/Argo program (ZRG 836, October 1976), which featured the Don Quichotte Suite and Viola Concerto, also included the magnificent late (1765) Overture in D. Now Marriner brings us three more overtures, no less fascinating for their own well-varied musical attractions, yet per haps particularly valuable for their general similarities to and distinctive differentiations from Bach's four overtures (or orchestral suites). And one of these Telemann overtures, also known as his Water Music, of course invites illuminating comparisons with the more extensive Water Music of another giant contemporary, Handel (who was a special correspondent/ friend and admirer of Telemann).

The Overture in C of 1723 (subtitled "Hamburg Ebb and Flow") and the undated Overtures in C and G (the latter subtitled "Of the Ancient and Modern Nations") have all been recorded before (Archiv, Nonesuch, Telefunken), but none of the versions I've heard can match either the present performances (especially notable for their pungent oboes) or Argo's robustly expansive and brilliant recorded sonics, which seem absolutely identical on both tape and disc. And to frost this delicious cake, there are exceptionally informative and detailed notes-supplied for the tape as well as the disc edition-by Christopher Hogwood.

-R.D.D.

VIVALDI: Stabat Mater: Nisi Dominue; Concerto for Orchestra, in G minor. James Bowman, countertenor'; Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood, cond.

[Peter Wadland and Raymond Ware, prod.] OISEAU-LYRE DSLO 506, $7.98.

These solo cantatas call for "alto solo," which, given the composer, the time, and the place, unequivocally means a female alto. As resident maestro at the Pieta, one of the famous Venetian orphanage--conservatories for girls, Vivaldi most certainly composed such works for those admirable young musicians who won the praise of every visitor to their concerts. Yet Christopher Hogwood gives the alto part to a countertenor.

This is quintessentially bel canto music, the golden, warm, sensuous, and insinuating melody of the south-qualities totally missing in the cold, characterless, hooty voice of the countertenor, an English specialty recently resurrected from the shadows of history. James Bowman, though apparently a good musician, has a voice devoid of any color, warmth, and resonance; when he sings a messy di voce, the touch stone of the bel canto, he simply pushes his voice harder, making it sound like a wooden trumpet. (Unfortunately he is also hit closely miked.) This is fine music and these are capable musicians; why don't they just sit down and make music con amore, as they show they can in the good performance of Vivaldi's G minor Concerto a gunfire on the same disc, and not by following a ritual based on nebulous historical facts and figures?

-P.H.L.

-------------

(High Fidelity magazine, Oct 1977)

Also see:

CLASSICAL Reviews (High Fidelity, Jan. 1983)

Re-climbing Everest (remastering recordings of the old Everest label) (Jan. 1990)

 





 

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Updated: Monday, 2022-05-09 14:39 PST