Discs and tapes reviewed by:
Robert Ackart, Richard Freed, David Hall, Stoddard Lincoln
BACH: Suites for Orchestra (BWV 1066-1069). English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner cond. ERATO/RCA O NUM 750762 two discs $21.98. (C) MCE 750762 two cassettes $21.98, CD 88048/49 two CD's no list price.
Performance: Splendid
Recording: Excellent
As we would expect from John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, this performance of Bach's Orchestral Suites is full of vitality. The overtures are lofty but never sluggish, the dances bouncy but never skittish, the articulations precise but never choppy. Lisa Beznosiuk turns in a top-drawer performance of the solo-flute part in the B Minor Suite, and the early instruments sound splendid throughout.
Although there are several other fine recordings of the suites, this one alone brings just the right festive quality to the music, and the overall effect is stunning. If you are considering acquiring these works in authentic performances with early instruments, this set is certainly the one to buy.
S.L.
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 7. in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3; Piano Sonata No. 23, in F Minor, Op. 57 ("Appassionata"). Murray Perahia (piano). CBS O IM 39344, IMT 39344, no list price.
Performance: Superb
Recording: First-rate
Although Murray Perahia's altogether remarkable first Beethoven record, the Op. 7 and Op. 22 sonatas (CBS M 36695), must have made everyone who heard it eager for more, CBS has resisted the understandable temptation to rush him into a survey of all thirty-two sonatas, waiting more than two years for this second installment. It is on the same heady level as its predecessor: forceful, communicative, deeply felt, filled with uncommon and convincing insights.
The Appassionata is here allowed a very deliberate opening gesture, and
---------
SYMBOLS:
= DIGITAL-MASTFR ANALOG LP
= STEREO CASSETTE
= DIGITAL COMPACT DISC
= MONOPHONIC RECORDING
--------------------
ASHKENAZY'S BEETHOVEN
VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY'S Cycle of the Beethoven piano concertos with Zubin Mehta and the Vienna Philharmonic was released early this year by London Records in boxed sets of LP's and tapes and is now available on four individual Compact Discs, which is the format in which I listened to it. The new cycle demands comparison with Ashkenazy's first one, done in 1973 with Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony. Those recordings were and are a major achievement musically and sonically, not least because they represent a successful collaboration between two very strong-minded interpreters.
The new set is much more the pianist's show. Overall the performances have a more lyrical emphasis, but I miss a certain crispness in the orchestral part in several of the concertos. For in stance, in the First Concerto, in C Major, Ashkenazy brings a Mozartian elegance to the allegro and the slow movement, but not until the finale do we get the kind of brisk alertness from both soloist and orchestra that the mu sic needs. The CD is filled out with the Six Bagatelles, Op. 126, and Ashkenazy beautifully realizes the lyrical aspects of these delectable jewels from the late-Beethoven workshop.
The Concerto No. 2, in B-flat Major, composed earlier than the C Major, is performed with decidedly more crisp ness and drive. It is coupled with what for me is the finest of all the Beethoven piano concertos, the G Major, No. 4.
It's a pity Ashkenazy takes an overly deliberate tempo in the first movement; despite exquisite solo work, the pace drags. His interpretation works superbly in the slow movement, however, and the finale is appropriately brilliant and crisp.
The C Minor Concerto. No. 3, is Vladimir Ashkenazy (right) with conductor Zubin Mehta somewhat variable, mostly in the orchestral performance. The opening ritornello is too tame, and it takes the entry of the soloist to bring things to life. The outsized cadenza is delivered with enormous fire, conveying some thing of what Beethoven must have sounded like in one of his celebrated improvisations. Two keyboard staples fill out this disc, the Andante favori, which was originally intended for the slow movement of the Waldstein Sonata, and the bagatelle inscribed Far Elise, to which Ashkenazy brings an especially plaintive sweetness.
The Emperor Concerto, in E-flat, finds Ashkenazy and Mehta very much of a mind. The opening movement is done on the grandest scale, with thundering, cadenza-style solo episodes and imperious interjections from the orchestra. The slow movement emerges with Olympian calm and elegance, and the potentially monotonous finale gets a superbly athletic treatment.
All five of the concertos were re corded in Vienna's Sofiensaal, and the sound on the CD's is brilliant and full bodied. The piano is up front but not glaringly spotlighted; it sounds particularly rich in the slow movements of the B-flat and C Minor Concertos. In the pregnant pauses of the famous slow movement of No. 4 the CD's total lack of surface noise or background hiss con tribute greatly to the overall effect.
-David Hall
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5; Six Bagatelles, Op. 126; Andante favori in F Major; Fur Elise. Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano); Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta cond.
LONDON 0 411 899-1 four discs $39.92, 411 899-4 three cassettes $39.92, 411 900-2/903-2 four CD's no list price.
---------------------------------
throughout the work there is the assuring feeling of massive strength held in thoughtful reserve until it can be held in check no more. Instead of just another package of Beethoven's three popular nicknamed sonatas, CBS and Perahia have had the imaginativeness to pair this superb performance with an equally distinguished one of the witty and vivacious early Sonata in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3. The slow movement contains a sort of intimation of what was to come in the later works, but overall it makes for a most agreeable contrast.
No need to go on about it: both sides add further distinction to Perahia's al ready distinguished discography, and to Beethoven's. The sound and pressing are first-rate.
R. F.
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7, in E Major (see Best of the Month, page 57)
CHAUSSON: Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 3. RAVEL: Trio in A Minor. Beaux Arts Trio.
PHILIPS 0 411 141-1 $10.98, 411 141-4 $10.98, 411 141-2 no list price.
Performance: Excellent
Recording: Very good
Chausson's Piano Trio is the sort of piece you rarely get to hear in recital. It is a much earlier work than the famous Symphony in B-flat and the Poeme, but like those orchestral works and the Concerto for Piano, Violin, and String Quartet, the Piano Trio evinces all the qualities we associate with this composer: strong themes (generally in a melancholy or nostalgic vein), insinuating rhythms, and, overall, that curious blend of nobility and voluptuousness that seems to say "Chausson." It is a strong piece, and it could not be in better hands than it is here. For all I know, the Beaux Arts Trio may have dug up the Chausson just to have a fresh companion for the very. familiar Ravel trio, but it sounds as if they have played it, and loved it, for years. So, of course, does the Ravel. The recording is focused a bit closer than I'd have liked, but it is very realistic and well balanced. Highly recommended.
-R. F.
GOUNOD: Romeo et Juliette. Alfredo Kraus (tenor), Romeo; Catherine Malfitano (soprano), Juliette; Jost Van Dam (bass), Frere Laurent; Gino Quilico (baritone), Mercutio; Ann Murray (soprano), Stephano; Gabriel Bacquier (bass), Capulet; others. Choeur Region al Midi-Pyrenees; Choeur du Capitole de Toulouse; Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Michel Plasson, cond. ANGEL 0 DSCX-3960 three discs $36.98, 4D3X-3960 three cassettes $36.98.
Performance: Glowing, stylish
Recording: Excellent
Romeo et Juliette is an immediately accessible opera, but the better musical passages also become more deeply enjoyable as the listener becomes increasingly familiar with them. The libretto, with some variation from Shakespeare, was based on Victor Hugo's then-new translation. The story unfolds with the same straightforward sincerity characteristic of the music. If it is not a great opera, it is a most appealing one and contains some of Gounod's most elegant music.
--- Malfitanos an accomplished Juliette
"Elegant" is perhaps the word to describe this performance too. At the outset there is elegance in Michel Plasson's sure and sensitive conducting. He has a feeling for and an understanding of Gounod's score, which though never profound is always theatrically effective and emotionally appealing, and he brings forth the best from his orchestra and two choruses.
There is more elegance in the diction, which is of a high order throughout, though only one of the principals, Gabriel Bacquier, is French. Everyone's articulation is exemplary.
And, speaking of elegance, what can I say of Alfredo Kraus that has not already been said? He brings a particularly appealing ardent youthfulness to his characterization of Romeo. "Ah, leve-toi, soled!" is a lesson in the art of singing. Later, when he soars, forte, to a high B-natural and then reduces the tone to piano, his technical command and musicality are awesome.
Catherine Malfitano is Juliette. Her clear, silvery voice and sense of character complement Kraus in this evocation of youth and first love. Her Waltz Song is sung simply, not as a showpiece; the Potion Scene, which can easily be over played, and is not infrequently strident, is here contained as part of the total performance. She is an accomplished and sensitive artist. Bacquier, Jose Van Dam, and Gino Quilico are all vocally impressive and dramatically convincing as well, and Ann Murray performs Stephano's "Que fais-tu, blanche Tourterelle . ." with polished grace. There is no weak link in the cast. Highly recommended. R.A.
HANDEL: Water Music. Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Riccardo Muti cond. ANGEL 0 DS-37857 $11.98, 0 4DS-37857 $11.98.
HANDEL: Water Music. Linde Consort, Hans-Martin Linde cond. ANGEL 0 DS-38 154 $11.98, 4DS-38154 $11.98.
HANDEL: Music for the Royal Fire works; Concerto a due coil in F Major.
Cappella Coloniensis, Hans-Martin Linde cond. ANGEL 0 DS-38155 $11.98, C) 4DS-38155 $11.98.
Performances: Muti on target
Recordings: Fine
Riccardo Muti's modern-style performance of Handel's Water Music is a grand one despite the lack of Baroque mannerisms and articulation-and the well-meaning but inappropriate use of short harpsichord cadenzas between some of the movements (surely Handel knew enough not to put a harpsichord on a river barge). The full-bodied sonorities of the Berlin Philharmonic, with excellent horn playing, are well-suited to the large outlines of this out door music.
Hans-Martin Linde, on the other hand, takes full advantage of recent musicological research in his two al bums with early-instrument ensembles, his own Linde Consort and the Cappel la Coloniensis. Details may be authentic, but the sound is dry, the horns (whose playing is somewhat fuzzy) are too dominant, and the movements all tend to sound alike. Moreover, the application of French dotted rhythms to the overture of the Music for the Royal Fireworks (Handel certainly would have written dots if he had wanted them) is unnecessary.
All in all, Muti with the larger orchestra captures Handel's intentions better than Linde. This is a case where basic musicianship is more telling than historical "authenticity."
S. L.
KHACHATURIAN: Violin Concerto in D Major.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Meditation, Op. 42, No. I. Itzhak Perlman (violin); Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta cond. ANGEL 0 DS-38055. $11.98, 4XS-38055 $11.98, CDC-47087-2 no list price.
Performance: Sizzling
Recording: Brilliant
The Khachaturian Violin Concerto is no earth-shaking masterpiece, but when it is played by a virtuoso like Itzhak Perlman, backed by a conductor like Zubin Mehta who has a real flair for this kind of extroverted music, the piece can be a lot of fun. Certainly Perlman, Mehta, and a very alert Israel Philharmonic give the music everything they've got in this recording. They take the end movements at the good, stiff clip the music needs, and in the lush slow movement all the expressive and coloristic stops are pulled out.
Perlman is absolutely at the top of his dazzling form here, with sizzling pas-sage work in the fast movements, an utterly breathtaking execution of the very lengthy and difficult first-movement cadenza, and full justice to the languorous Armenian coloring of the slow movement. He is just as successful in conveying the plaintive lyricism of Tchaikovsky's Meditation (in the Glazounov orchestration).
The somewhat tight acoustical surround works to the advantage of the Khachaturian concerto in helping to achieve a sharp definition of line in the kaleidoscopic wind and percussion sections as well as enhancing the bite of the work's dance-inspired rhythms. I listened to the LP and the CD versions, and both are excellent, though the CD has just that extra measure of definition in the high frequencies and generally greater dynamic impact. The balance between soloist and orchestra in both versions is near perfect. D.H.
MAHLER: Lieder (see Collections MariAnne Haggander)
MOZART: Piano Sonata No. 15, in C Major (K. 545); Piano Sonata in F Major (K. 533/494); Rondo in A Minor (K. 511). Mitsuko Uchida (piano). PHILIPS 0 412 122-1 $10.98, () 412 122-4 $10.98, 412 122-2 no list price.
Performance: Provocative
Recording: Close-up
The first installment in Mitsuko Uchida's Mozart sonata cycle (Philips 412 123) introduced her as an uncommonly intelligent artist and an original musical thinker, though by no means an eccentric one. This second release is similarly provocative, if perhaps a bit less convincing in some respects.
I have no reservations about the A Minor Rondo. Uchida's stark, bare-bones style sets its grim little drama before us in the noblest sort of way, with understated pathos. The same approach in the C Major Sonata, however, for all its crystalline clarity, is a bit jar ring in its cheerlessness. For every listener who finds this performance revelatory of hitherto unsuspected sub stance and depth, I imagine there will be two or three others to whom it will appear instead that Uchida has taken a deliberate pace in order to be sure of getting the notes right, as well as another handful simply baffled by her seeming determination to turn an unassuming sonata facile into a keyboard Eroica.
Her understatement at the ends of the fast movements in both sonatas here strikes me as a curious insistence on anticlimax. But she does get to the very heart of the slow movements! While in general I think I'm happier with Andras Schiff’s performances on his very generously filled London ana log LP's, Uchida's versions are more than intriguing for alternate listening and should insure the most serious attention to whatever she may offer in the future. The piano sound is very realistic and also very close up.
R.F.
RAVEL: The Complete Songs (see Best of the Month, page 58)
RAVEL: Trio in .4 Minor (see CHAUSSON)
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 4, in A Minor, Op. 63; Symphony No. 7, in C Major, Op. 105. Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Berglund cond.
ANGEL 0 DS-38135 $11.98, C) 4DS-38135 . $11.98.
Performance: Distinguished
Recording: Excellent
This appears to be the first pairing of Sibelius's two greatest (or, in any event, two most individual) symphonies on a single LP or tape. It is a very distinguished release and another superb "demo" for the DMM process. Neither of Paavo Berglund's two earlier recordings of the Sibelius Fourth was issued domestically in our country, and neither was in the same class as this new Anglo-Finnish production, musically or sonically. Berglund has the measure of this music, he draws first-rate playing from the Helsinki Philharmonic, and the recording itself misses nothing in terms of vividness or detail. The scherzo could have had a mite more animation, perhaps, and the first movement a deeper sense of the mystic, but there is nothing else to fault, and the work fits snugly on a single side, leaving side two for a possibly even more impressive presentation of the . radiant Seventh, which in every respect is the hands-down winner among currently available recordings.
R.F.
R. STRAUSS: Sinfonia Domestics, Op. 53. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Lorin Maazel cond. DEUTSCHE GRAM MOPHON 0 413 460-1 $10.98, 413 460-4 $10.98, 413 460-2 no list price.
Performance: A charmer
Recording: Very fine
Richard Strauss's Sinfonia Domestica often seems the work of an overbearing egotist exploiting his home life as a vehicle for inflated orchestral virtuosity, but it can be done as a fun piece, full of humor and tenderness, and in the concluding section, with its elaborate double fugue, a brilliant eruption of high spirits.
Lorin Maazel takes essentially the latter route in this superb live recording.
There is both ardor and humor in the first half, and the "dreaming music" offers some wonderfully delicate playing and beautifully worked-out textural balances. In the passages where Strauss has eight horns going their own way at full tilt, the sense of instrumental separation is remarkably well conveyed.
At least nine recordings of the Sinfonia Domestica have been in and out of Schwann, but Maazel's is the only stereo one now available. As far as I am concerned, it fills the bill perfectly. The music may not suit every taste, but for Strauss fans this version is a must. D. H.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Meditation, Op. 42, No. 1 (see KHATCHATURIAN)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4, in F Minor, Op. 36. Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti cond. LON DON 0 414 192-1 $10.98, C) 414 192-4
$10.98, 414 192-2 no list price.
Performance: Powerful Recording: Brilliant Sir Georg Solti's approach to the Tchaikovsky Fourth is straightforward and high-powered without being brutal. I received the greatest pleasure from the way he and the Chicago Symphony shape the transitional and secondary thematic material in the opening movement and from the lovingly handled dynamic gradations in the lengthy coda.
The famous pizzicato scherzo is an ideal showpiece for the CD format, with its perfectly quiet background, and Solti makes the most of it. The much-maligned finale gets a properly fierce treatment where that's needed, but the lyrical details are not neglected. Through out the score, in fact, wherever there are significant counter-figures or themes, Solti gets them in place without exaggeration or affectation. In short, this is a musician-ly interpretation with all the dramatic punch and color one could ask, and the conics are excellent, especially on Compact Disc.
D.H.
WAGNER: Gotterdammerung: Siegfried's Rhine Journey; Siegfried's Death and Funeral March; Brunnhilde's Immolation and Finale. Ute Vinzing (soprano); James King (tenor);
Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Carlos PaIta cond. LODIA 0 LOD-785
$12.98, LOC-785 $12.98, LOCD 785 no list price.
Performance: Noble, spacious
Recording: Awesomely vivid
Carlos PaIta's new package of excerpts from Gotterdammerung is the conductor's first digitally recorded Wagner as well as his first recording with soloists, either instrumental or vocal. The music is performed just as it is in the theater, without the concert endings Humperdinck provided for the two shorter items. All three episodes are given spacious, noble, intensely impassioned readings in which every strand is crystal clear yet blends into the whole so as not to impede the stately momentum.
James King delivers Siegfried's Fare well most affectingly, and in her longer scene Ute Vinzing is a vibrant, striking Brunnhilde. She sounds fresh and youthful, projecting the most touching pathos in reminding us that these are young lovers betrayed and cut down.
The recording does not spotlight either singer. Vinzing has to blend with and cut through Wagner's considerable orchestral forces, and this approach proves to be more striking than one in which the orchestra is held back (by either the conductor or the engineer) to accommodate the singer. The final cataclysm is all one might hope for. The sound is awesomely vivid, especially on the CD, though the LP, processed with DMM, is nearly as impressive. The only lapse is Lodia's failure to provide texts with either version of this splendid recording. R. F.
Collections
PLACIDO DOMINGO AND PILAR LORENGAR: Zarzuela Arias and Duets. Placido Domingo (tenor); Pilar Lorengar (soprano); Austrian Radio Symphony, Garcia Navarro cond. CBS O IM 39210, © IMT 39210, no list price.
Performance: Spirited
Recording: Well balanced
The Spanish zarzuela often evokes the idea of a folk comedy with music, as art less and ingenuous, say, as the play within a play of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Not so, as the notes to this album point out and the performances of Placido Domingo and Pilar Lorengar prove. The zarzuela started as aristocratic entertainment and was later adopted by the common people. While its music has a strong national flavor, it is composed for the purpose at hand, and well composed at that. To judge from the sampling here, the primary emotion is love-cynical love, love turning to hate, romantic love, love of homeland, and even love of God.
Zarzuela music is immediately accessible, and it is performed in this recording with energy, verve, and conviction by two Spanish artists completely at home with their material. Lorengar's tremolo, for example, while sometimes disconcerting in Mozart performances, seems to enhance the excitement of her performances here. Domingo is in fine vocal and interpretative fettle. And the orchestra under Garcia Navarro's sure hand plays with accurate vigor. Re corded in performance at the Salzburg Festival in 1983, the disc includes audience applause that is nearly frenzied in its enthusiasm. With reason.
R.A.
MARIANNE HAGGANDER: Lieder.
Walter: Musikantengruss; Die Lerche; Des Kindes Schlaf; Elfe. Karg-Elert: Ein Wanderlied; Kehr' ein bei mir; Deine Seele; Deine Wirkung; Was die Liebe sei. Mahler: Frahlingsmorgen; Erinnerung; Hans und Grethe; Phantasie; Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grunen Wald; Starke Einbildungskrafi; Ablosung im Sommer; Scheiden und Meiden; Nicht wiedersehen! MariAnne Haggander (soprano); Lars Roos (piano). BLUEBELL/ PSI 0 BELL 180 $9.98.
Performance: Sensitive
Recording: Good presence
This beautifully sung album of songs by Mahler, Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933), and Bruno Walter is unified through the imagistic poetry of the texts, which present word pictures of situations and emotions without narration or, for the most part, comment. In consequence, the music, complementing the words, is all introspective and thoughtful. There are, therefore, no "exciting" pieces in the album, but a different and very valid excitement is evoked by MariAnne Haggander's clear, well-centered soprano, notably warm in the middle register and of some brilliance at the top.
Her diction is excellent, her sense of line admirable, and her interpretations show close identification with the texts as well as thoughtful and sensitive appreciation of the music. She sings with a composed tranquility and tender ness-and a sure sense of control-that make this album a model of lieder performance.
Special mention should be made of the four heretofore unrecorded Walter songs on poems of Josef von Eichendorf. especially the beautiful Die Lerche (The Lark). The Mahler songs, all early and five of them based on the German folk poetry of Das Knaben Wunderhorn, a source Mahler used often, illustrate well the singer's involvement with her material. And the short Ablasung im Sommer demonstrates especially well the strong capabilities of pianist Lars Roos as accompanist.
-R.A.
Also see: Michael Tilson Thomas (Jul. 1985)