Reviewed
by: RICHARD FREED DAVID HALL GEORGE JELLINEK PAUL KRESH STODDARD LINCOLN
ERIC SALZMAN
J. C. BACH: Quartet in D Major; Quartet in C Major. W. F. E. BACH: Trio in G Major.
W. F. BACH: Duet in F Major. Jean-Pierre Rampal, Eugenia Zukerman (flutes); Pinchas Zukerman (violin, viola); Charles Tunnell (cello). COLUMBIA M 33310 $6.98.
Performance: Delightful
Recording: Clear
It is sheer delight when fine soloists in their own right come together, blend but maintain their own individualities, and produce chamber music of the highest order. That is precisely what has happened in this recording of music by J. S. Bach's oldest and youngest sons and one grandson.
The music itself, beautifully crafted, witty, and charming, was obviously written for galant diversion. Its lightness is perfectly caught in the silvery sound of two flutes heard alone in the fascinating Wilhelm Freidemann duet.
There is slightly more weight to the Wilhelm Friederich Ernst trio, in which the flutes are joined by a viola. The fullest sound and finest music is heard in the two Johann Christian quartets, both with flutes and cello but one with viola and the other with violin. The performances, razor-sharp and elegant, bring forth the joy of the sophisticated pre-Classical style.
S.L.
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Explanation of symbols:
= reel-to-reel stereo tape
= eight-track stereo cartridge
= stereo cassette
= quadraphonic disc
= reel-to-reel quadraphonic tape
= eight-track quadraphonic tape
Monophonic recordings are indicated by the symbol M
The first listing is the one reviewed; other formats, if available, follow it.
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RECORDINGS OF SPECIAL MERIT
J. S. BACH: Suites for Orchestra, BWV 1066 1069. Saar Radio Chamber Orchestra, Karl Ristenpart cond. SINE QUA NON SQN 147/2 two discs $7.96.
Performance: Inspiriting
Recording: Good
J. S. BACH: Suites for Orchestra, BWV 1066 1069. Ars Rediviva, Milan Munclinger cond.
SUPRAPHON 1 10 1361-2 two discs $13.96.
Performance: Robust, affectionate Recording: Rich One of the first recordings to draw my atten tion to the invariably inspiriting musicianship of Karl Ristenpart was this one of the Bach suites, made by the Club Francais du Disque, originally issued here on Everest's Counter point/Esoteric label in the early 1960's, and reissued about a year ago as Everest set 3354/2. What struck me in particular was the very emphatic appoggiatura in the opening phrase of the Third Suite's Gavotte: it was rather a shock, and seemed grotesque at first, but after hearing this one a few times, listen ing to any other version was like listening to an "Add-a-Part" record with one of the instruments missing. In general, all Ristenpart's tempos are sensible, and his phrasing is as filled with life as it is devoid of stuffiness; the playing itself is never less than first-rate (Roger Bourdin is the flutist in Suite No. 2, Maurice Andre leads the trumpets in Nos. 3 and 4), the ensemble seems just the right size, the sound is quite good, and the pressings themselves exceptionally clean. There is no comparably attractive set of the Bach Suites at anything like the modest Sine Qua Non price, and only two or three as fetching in any price category.
One of these may well be the new Munglinger version, which strikes me as the most successful Bach release so far by that scholar-conductor's Prague ensemble. (The Ars Re diviva of course uses period instruments;
Ristenpart uses modern ones.) Munglinger prepared his own performing edition and pro vides a brief, nontechnical written introduction, in which he makes mention of "joy from the very performance of music" and "a true picture of life." These qualities really do come through-and abundantly. Munclinger invests the overtures with more weight than Risten part does, and he seizes on repeats as opportunities for injecting more variety of color into the works. The dance movements are characterized by a wonderful lightness. Munclinger takes the Courante in the First Suite at about the same tempo as Ristenpart does, with just an all but imperceptible degree of greater relaxation that makes for greater lilt (not at all inappropriate) and enables the wind players to be a little more adventurous.
There's not a hint of an appoggiatura in No. 3's Gavotte, but what a beautiful presentation of the much-abused Air! All the playing is on the highest level: beautiful, rich (but not too rich!) string tone, crackling-clean winds. The sound quality, too, is as good as or better than anything Supraphon has achieved heretofore (the date on the labels is 1974), though the surfaces of my review discs were marred by some audible gouges (easy enough to check for this, since Supraphon discs generally are not "factory sealed"). R.F.
BEETHOVEN: King Stephen-Incidental Mu sic, Op. 117; Elegiac Song, Op. 118; Opferlied, Op. 1216; Bundeslied, Op. 122; Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op. 112. Lorna Haywood (soprano); Ambrosian Opera Chorus; London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thom as cond. COLUMBIA M 33509 $6.98.
Performance: Fine Recording: Excellent This is a most enjoyable Beethoven compendium, even though the "Late Choral Music" title of the album applies to opus numbers rather than composition dates. Only the prayerful Opferlied in its fourth (1824) setting and the delectable Bundeslied (to text by Goethe) would reasonably qualify as late compositions, while the other items were composed between 1811 and 1815. In any event, this is all rarely performed Beethoven. The King Stephen music, commissioned for the opening of a new theater in Budapest, is a pleasing amalgam of classic and Magyar elements. The Elegiac Song is Beethoven at his most tender, and the Calm Sea portion of Op. 112 is a fine example of his mature slow-movement manner. The Bundeslied, with its charming wood wind-choir accompaniment, is new to me, but I'll bet it's sung by every schoolchild in Austria and Germany.
Michael Tilson Thomas and the splendid Ambrosian group turn out performances both vital and richly atmospheric, and Lorna Hay wood does a creditable job in the Opferlied. The production work on the recording is abso lutely first-rate throughout.
D.H.
BIZET: Carmen. Regine Crespin (soprano), Carmen; Jeannette Pilou (soprano), Micaela; Gilbert Py (tenor), Don Jose; Jose van Dam (baritone), Escamillo; Maria Rosa Carminati (soprano), Frasquita; Nadine Denize Xmezzo soprano), Mercedes; Pierre Thau (bass), Zu niga; Remy Corazza (tenor), Remendado; Jacques Trigeau (baritone), Dancafre; Paul Guigue (baritone), Morales. Orchestre Phil harmonique de Strasbourg; Choeurs de ('Opera du Rhin, Alain Lombard cond. ERA-Fp STU 70900/902 three discs $20.94.
Performance: Fairly good
Recording: Good, but lacks drama
There are many ways of doing Carmen, and I doubt therefore that we will ever have a re corded performance to please all tastes. This French import, alas, comes nowhere near reaching that elusive goal.
In common with such eminent interpreters as Karajan and Bernstein, Alain Lombard favors slow tempos which, in this case, teeter frequently on the brink of somnolence (the opening of the Danse Bohemienne, to cite one instance). His chorus and orchestra perform well enough, but Lombard has neither the vir tuoso control of a Karajan nor the rhythmic contagiousness of a Bernstein.
The standout vocal performer is Jose van Dam, whose dark and manly baritone is ideal for Escamillo. A singer with style and pa nache, he belts out a firm, resonant Toreador Song and later handles his brief but telling bit in Act III with sensitivity and a great under standing of character. Gilbert Py appears to be a well-seasoned Don Jose, but his tones are unappealing most of the time. Jeannette Pilou's Micaela is better, but in no way out standing.
Regine Crespin is a laudably unmannered Carmen who communicates a natural sensual ity without extravagance. There is charm and intelligence in her interpretation, and there are flashes of tonal allure as well in the mid range and at moderate dynamic levels. Her voice is not always under full control, how ever, the tones growing harsher with in creased volume and the intonation often straying from dead center.
While the overall sound quality is good, there are few signs of any real "production" in this set. Stage effects are scarcely realized, the chorus is not deployed with any apparent degree of dramatic imagination, and many effective bits of action (such as Carmen's dramatic escape at the end of Act I) therefore fall flat. GJ.
BOLLING: Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano. Jean-Pierre .Rampal (flute); Claude Bolling (piano): Marcel Sabiani (drums); Max Hediguer (string bass). COLUMBIA M33233 $6.98.
Performance: Sweet and smooth
Recording: Excellent
Claude Bolling, born in Cannes, acquired a reputation in France as a jazz piano prodigy at the age of fourteen. He went on to perform with such great jazz musicians as Sidney Bechet and Lionel Hampton and to try his hand at composing scores for movies and television. Although he had formal training in harmony and counterpoint, it was listening to records that shaped his composing style especially the records of Duke Ellington, whom he later met. This Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano reflects the Ellington influence but calls on the resources of the classics to shape its form.
Jean-Pierre Rampal is one of the best flute players in the world, and his playing does much to add to the appeal of this series of rather bland pieces of music, hard not to like but equally hard to recall afterwards. The intertwining of blues motifs with the Baroque idiom has been tried before, and the charms of Bolling's improvisatory approach tend to wear thin over such an extended score, de spite the variety in pace and mood afforded by an lrlandaise which turns out to be based on our old friend Greensleeves, a flashy passage for bass flute called Versatile, and a headlong finale marked Veloce. While it's all going on, the sound of Rampal's dazzling flute, abetted by almost muffled drums and murmuring string bass, certainly makes for attractive listening. But Bolling's music tends to go round in circles, and, what with the tenuous quality of the thematic materials, you wind up pretty much where you were when it started. P.K.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
BRAHMS: Sonata No. 3, in F Minor, Op. 5; Rhapsody in G Minor, Op. 79, No. 2. Bruno-Leonardo Gelber (piano). CONNOISSEUR SOCIETY CSQ 2084 $6.98.
Performance: Exuberant
Recording: Excellent
It becomes tiresome. I'm sure, to read about youthful performers playing youthful works youthfully, but what a stunning illustration of that notion we have here! Brahms was all of twenty when he wrote the sonata, Gelber is thirty-four now; fire and spontaneity are the chief characteristics of his performance, as they are of the music. The sonata comes to life as it rarely does, every section vibrant, glowing, and convincing; every time I listen to it I become more convinced that this might yet become one of the most popular works in the repertoire. Gelber's exuberance, leavened with subtle discipline and a fine sense of pro portion, is utterly captivating in the rhapsody as well, and the EMI-originated sound is ex cellent in either two-channel or quadraphonic (SQ) playback. R.F.
BRIAN: Symphony No. 10; Symphony No. 21.
Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra, James Loughran and Eric Pinkett cond. UNICORN RHS 313 $7.98.
Performance: Passable to remarkable
Recording: Good
Havergal Brian died at the age of ninety-two in 1972, having composed thirty-two symphonies, more than half of them after he was eighty. His extraordinary music will have to await considered evaluation in America until a wider cross-section of it becomes available on records, but that may not be very far in the future. Symphonies Nos. 6 and 16 have been
recorded in England by Lyrita and probably will be released here by Musical Heritage Society, and No. 22 has been done by CBS in England, together with Psalm 23 and the English Suite No. 5.
Unlike the gargantuan Gothic Symphony, Havergal Brian's Tenth and Twenty-first Symphonies are relatively brief and highly condensed in expressive substance. The mu sic is not very "English" except, perhaps, in the march episode in the finale of No. 21. In some respects, the Brian idiom as represented here ranges all the way from the super-density of Schoenberg to the bleakest spareness of Shostakovich and Sibelius. The one-movement No. 10 has something of a Mahleresque ambiance, but the message and the means of stating it are wholly Brian's own. The brief storm episode midway in the piece has as much elemental terror as one can know in music, even without resorting to synthesizer and electronic sound technology.
Symphony No. 21 is a more expansive and relaxed piece, with a densely polyphonic opening movement, a ruminative and occasionally acerbic slow movement, a brilliant scherzo, and a highly effective finale. How ever, it needs an orchestra of more virtuosic ...
-------- CLAUDE BOLLING, JEAN-PIERRE RAMPAL: intertwining blues motifs
with Baroque riffs.
... capacity than that of the Leicestershire Schools ensemble to do it justice. The Tenth Symphony comes off better, receiving under James Loughran's capable baton a highly satisfactory realization. The recorded sound, mostly very good, is ample in weight and presence and warmly reverberant in its acoustic surround.
D.H.
DURUFLE: Requiem, Op. 9; Prelude et Fugue sur le Nom d'Alain, Op. 7. Robert King (treble); Christopher Keyte (baritone); Stephen Cleobury (organ); Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge, George Guest cond. ARGO ZRG 787 $6.98.
Performance: British
Recording: Good
The handful of works from the pen of French organist-composer Maurice Durufle (b. 1902) over the past fifty years has achieved classic status among organists and choirmasters-throughout the world, and most of it has been recorded at various times. Durufle's 1947 Requiem, a lovely work in the Faure mold (even to the omission of the Dies !roe sequence), is woven in large part around Gregorian motifs. Scored originally for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, it also has an organ version, which is the one recorded here. The present Argo disc includes the cello obbligato for the Pie Jesu, sung by a boy soloist instead of by the mezzo-soprano heard in the composer’s own recording of the orchestral version issued here on Epic in 1963 and still available on Musical Heritage Society.
This is so essentially a British-church-choir treatment of Durufle's music that I just can't recommend it, especially when the excellently recorded fully scored version by the composer himself is still available. Organist Stephan Cleobury is capable in the effective Prelude et Fugue, but the Musical Heritage Society disc offers a truly authentic reading by Mme. Durufle-Chevalier.
D.H.
DVORAK: Slavonic Dance in E Minor, Op. 72, No. 2 (see SCRIABIN) GOUNOD: Petite Symphonie for Winds. Paul Dunkel (flute); Rudolph Vrbsky, Allan Vogel (oboes); Frank Cohen, John Fullam (clari nets); Alexander Heller, Vincent Ellin (bassoons); Robert Routch, E. Scott Brubak er (horns).
MOZART: Serenade No. II, in Rile Major (K. 375). Richard Woodhams, Rudolph Vrbsky (oboes); Frank Cohen, Richard Stoltzman (clarinets); Eric Arbiter: Alexander Heller (bassoons); Robert Routch, John Serkin (horns). MARLBORO RECORDING SOCIETY MRS-8 $7.00 (from Marlboro Re cording Society, 5114 Wissiomine Road, Washington, D.C. 20016).
Performance: First-rate
Recording: Good
One of the several sources of worthwhile recordings not listed in the Schwann catalog is the Marlboro Recording Society, formed a few years ago to circulate some of the Marlboro Festival material not released by Columbia. The series was produced by Mischa Schneider, the longtime cellist of the Buda pest Quartet, with engineering by some of Columbia's staff and some well-known independents (such as Marc Aubort); all the recordings offered are of live performances before some of the most cooperative audiences anywhere. Both sides of this disc exude the exhilaration that comes from the meeting of happy performers with appreciative listeners, and, both musically and technically, the standards are comparable with those of most studio productions.
Gounod's Petite Symphonic has not been available on records for years, and it is a gem.
The first movement has an intriguing Russian flavor, and, just when one thinks to question it, the ensemble reinforces that impression by simulating the sound of an accordion in a dancelike passage. The rest is typically Gallic, distinguished as much by its imaginative ness as by its refinement. (Gounod was in his late fifties when he composed the Symphonic, with Faust more than fifteen years behind him.) Both the Gouned and the Mozart receive really first-rate performances here.
Unfortunately, the Mozart will represent a duplication for many collectors, since most recordings of the great C-Minor Serenade, K. 388, are paired with K. 375, but this is music eminently worth duplicating, and the Gounod, in any event, is too attractive to forgo. A more serious complaint might be registered over the decision to include the applause at the ends of both sides: in the hall it is surely welcome, and one wants to join in, but in one's own lis tening room it only dispels the mood. R.F.
HAUBIEL: Metamorphoses (Variations on a Theme by Stephen Foster).
LEGINSKA: Three Victorian Portraits. Jeaneane Dowis (piano).
ORION ORS 75188 $6.98.
Performance: Incisive
Recording: Very good
Charles Haubiel got the idea of writing his series of variations on Stephen Foster's Sewanee River when he was giving a music appreciation course at New York University back in 1924. He decided to make his introductory lecture "a survey of the complete spectrum of music literature from the Plain Chant of 600 AD to the experimentations of the 20th century." To dramatize the subject, Haubiel took the Stephen Foster tune and subjected it to a series of treatments in the styles of medieval, Romantic, post-Romantic, Impressionist, twentieth-century experimentalist, and finally American jazz composers. A first-rate parodist with an accurate ear for the mannerisms of everybody from Palestrina to Stravinsky, Haubiel brought his Metamorphoses off so effectively that Paramount Pictures made an educational short using a simplified version of the suite, and he later gave a series of radio talks over WNYC in New York using the same method of illustration.
Metamorphoses is an entertaining form of pedagogy and remains musically valid so long as it toys with the musical accents of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, the early Romantics, and even the French Impressionists, Scriabin, and early Schoenberg. By the time he gets to Gershwin, however, the composer is relying on such obvious references and devices that the whole enterprise bogs down in a kind of heavy-handed long-windedness. Still, there are delightful parodistic stretches along the way, and the work aids understanding of how the language of music altered from one period to the next.
The record is filled out with three interesting fragments by Ethel Leginska (1886-1970), an Englishwoman who changed her name from Liggins to the Polish-sounding Leginska because her teachers told her it would help her career. Evidently it did, for she became ...
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Unaccompanied Bach
---------- THAN MILSTEIN PAUL ZUKOFSKY
THE six works J. S. Bach wrote for solo violin in 1720 are a product of his Cothen years, a period when he produced a whole repertoire of chamber and solo instrumental pieces including six unaccompanied suites for cello plus a similar partita, or suite, for solo flute. Though Bach was primarily a keyboard player, he was thoroughly experienced with the violin, for he had been hired as a performer on that instrument in his earlier Weimar period. One might well wonder, however, what his own performances might have sounded like in works such as these or what other violinists of the time might have made of them, so formidable are their technical difficulties.
Other composers, including Heinrich Biber, had treated the violin as a polyphonic instrument before Bach did. But consider the idea of writing a four-voice fugue for a four stringed instrument that can sound only two strings at a time with a normal bow, and you begin to appreciate the enormous imagination of Bach's conception (as well as that of some of his predecessors).
The six unaccompanied violin pieces are grouped into two sets, one of sonatas, one of partitas, the former being in the old church style four-movement (slow, fast, slow, fast) form, the latter suites of dance movements.
The single best-known movement undoubtedly is the famous Chaconne, which occurs as the final movement of the Partita No. 2, in D Minor, but there are others that have over the years become almost as familiar--the virtuosic Preludio from the Third Partita, for in stance. If, in the realm of Bach's vocal music, the Mass in B Minor and the St. Matthew Passion are considered among the most exalted, we must place the works for solo violin at a similar peak in the composer's instrumental output.
Over the years, many of the most distinguished violinists have committed the six pieces to disc, among them Enesco, Gru miaux, Heifetz, Menuhin, Szerying, Szigeti, and Suk. Some of them have even recorded them twice, as has Nathan Milstein, who re corded the group in the mid-Fifties for Capitol and now has a new set on Deutsche Grammophon. The earlier effort, an admirable and much admired set of performances, is no longer available, but in any case it is certainly superseded by what must surely rank as the seventy-year-old Odessa-born violinist's crowning achievement. His interpretation, immaculately recorded by DG in a penetratingly clear yet warm ambiance, is so extraor dinary that this three-disc album not only must be rated as one of this year's finest re leases but deserves to take its place among the greatest Bach recordings ever made.
FIRST, Milstein's playing is impressive on purely technical grounds. So often these works tend to sound as though the performer is just barely going to make it through, especially in the contrapuntal convolutions of the sonatas' three fugues; even at best, the rapid arpeggiation necessary to sustain three or four melodic lines all at once frequently results in an unpleasant scratchiness, not to mention moments of less than ideal intonation, so that the music seems to set a superhuman, not really achievable task. Well, it simply does not sound that way in Milstein's re cording. Moreover, the comparative ease with which the violinist negotiates these scores is not a result of slower than usual tem pos; there is enough brilliance, dash, and sprightliness to keep the listener almost on the edge of his chair.
Technique aside, Milstein's renditions have an unusually human quality. I find these to be warmly expressive readings in which the mu sic is allowed to flow forward sensibly and the rhythms evoke all their dance origins. Slow movements, too, are handled in a wonderfully graceful manner. Finally, there is Milstein's sense of pacing, which is something quite apart from his judicious choice of tempos. Rather, it is revealed in a subtle rhetoric that causes a movement such as the Chaconne to build and grow from one climax to another.
The pulse is always strong, the architecture always apparent, and the rubato-like inflections clarify the sentence structure of Bach's phrases. Tonally, Milstein's playing is quite beautiful. To be sure, the sound of the violin attack, the Romantically oriented longer-line approach, and the equally Romantically influenced approach to ornaments are far re moved from the violin sound and Baroque performance practice style used by, say, the Concentus Musicus of Vienna. Perhaps some day soon we will be hearing a recording of the six sonatas and partitas played on an authentic, short-necked instrument with the proper bow. It will be fascinating to hear, but will it, I wonder, be able to communicate on the exalted level of Milstein's superb achievement?
I HAVE been an admirer of Paul Zukofsky since first hearing him in the early Sixties when he was still in his teens. He has grown into an extremely accomplished virtuoso, specializing particularly in contemporary music but able to take on the music of any period, whether it be by Paganini or Bach. His set of the unaccompanied Bach, on Vanguard, is in many ways impressive, not least in its brilliance and drive. Here, trills are performed in the accepted eighteenth-century manner (though one could argue about an appoggiatura or two), and the violinist has obviously thought out his interpretations, including the matter of bowings and phrasings, with more than just the usual attention. However, there is an almost unremitting aggressiveness to most of Zukofsky's fast movements, resulting in a definite lack of repose. Baroque music does contain tension, but there must be moments of release as well.
The slow movements of the sonatas are perhaps the most satisfying here, and they convey a gracefulness not often heard in Zukofsky's treatment of the dances in the partitas or the sonata fugues. Overall, I find that the choice of tempos in the fast movements is often too rapid for the context, for harmonic clarity, and for the structure of phrases; even dynamic contrasts, as in the opening of the Third Partita, are almost manneristically excessive. That Zukofsky can play these works technically is beyond doubt, and I would welcome the opportunity to hear what he will be doing with this repertoire in another five or ten years when he has rethought the problems of Baroque dance movements and tempos, and, not least, perhaps adopted a more detailed and expressive manner of phrasing than he presently espouses. Vanguard's sonics are excellent, and Paul Zukofsky has provided a well-documented set of program annotations; the pressings submitted for review were, however, plagued by surface pops and ticks.
-Igor Kipnis
J. S. BACH: The Six Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin (BWV 1001-1006). Na than Milstein (violin). DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2709 047 three discs $23.94.
J. S. BACH: The Six Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin (BWV 1001-1006). Paul Zukofsky (violin). VANGUARD VSD 71194/5/6 three discs $20.94.
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... the first woman conductor to tour the U.S.A. with her own orchestra. She was an outstanding pianist and wrote many published compositions, of which these Three Victorian. Portraits for piano constitute a neat and pretty example. Nothing here ever broke new ground, but the music is attractive and it is incisively played by pianist Jeaneane Dowis, who brings considerable virtuosity to the ambitious Haubiel work as well. P.K.
HERBERT: The Music of Victor Herbert (see Best of the Month, page 73)
LASSUS: Penitential Psalms IV and I. Motets: Ave Regina caelorum; Salve Regina; O mors, quamamara est. Pro Cantione Antique, London: Hamburger Blaserkreis fur Alter Musik, Bruno Turner cond. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON ARCHIV 2533 290 $7.98.
LASSUS: Missa " Bell' Amfitrit' Altera"; Penitential Psalm VII. Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston cond. ARGO ZRG 735 $6.98.
Performances: Excellent
Recordings: Excellent
The various ways Orlando di Lasso (or Ro land de Lassus or Orlandus Lassus) spelled his name reveal him to be one of the most cosmopolitan of Renaissance composers; he was also one of the most prolific, writing in every vocal genre known at that time: Italian madrigals, French chansons, German lieder, Masses, and motets. A superb craftsman, he captured not only the poetic nuances of French, Italian, German, and Latin, but also the mood of his texts, be they lighthearted and witty or serious and sombre. These two al bums demonstrate the composer's latter mood: one of penitential grief and subdued faith. This is by no means to be taken as a criticism but is offered simply as a caveat to those who, recalling Lassus' lighter side, might expect a little joy and merriment.
Although both of these performances are excellent, each takes an entirely different approach to the music. The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral is a large one consisting of boy sopranos, counter-tenors, and standard men's voices. Singing without instrumental accompaniment, their sound is resonant and sumptuous as only an English cathedral choir's can be. Preston bases his expression on the meaning of the words and is not afraid of contrasts in volume and tempo. Especially telling is his reading of the Mass, which is written in the Venetian manner employing a divided chorus. Unlike the Penitential Psalms, the text of the Mass invites contrast of mood.
The Pro Cantione Antique is a chamber group of twelve singers consisting of counter tenors, tenors, and basses. The vocal parts are doubled by Renaissance instruments. Al though their sound is not as lush as that of the Christ Church Cathedral Choir, it has a clarity of line that is the result of the contrasting timbres offered by the various instrumental doublings. Rather than coloring each word, this group maintains a more even flow of tempo and volume and relies on the music alone to underscore the meaning of each word.
Certainly both means of performance are musically valid, but one must point out that the performance of the Pro Cantione Antique is historically the more accurate one. As it turns out, though, it is really six of one and a half-dozen of the other, depending on the listener's preference in sonority. Be ye historically-minded or no, both albums are breath taking if you have a taste for Lassus at his most sombre.
-S.L.
LEGINSKA: Three Victorian Portraits (see HAUBIEL) MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 1, in C Mi nor, Op. 11; Symphony No. 4, in A Major, Op. 90 ("Italian"). Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra, Gary Bertini cond. BASF K BC 22068 $6.98.
Performance: Ingratiating
Recording: Good
Gary Bertini, the Israeli conductor otherwise represented on disc in this country only in works of Webern and Weill, shows a very sympathetic feeling for Mendelssohn in these performances, and he draws first-level playing from the Hamburg orchestra. His way with the music is clearly affectionate, yet never indulgent: rhythms are springy but not "driven." The C-Minor Symphony has had no more persuasive advocate in its few recordings to date (though I miss Louis Lane's version on Columbia, which included both the original Menuetto that Bertini conducts and the Scherzo from the Octet that Mendelssohn orchestrated as a substitute third movement), and this very genial account of the Italian holds its own surprisingly well in a field crowded with recordings by more celebrated conductors. In the opening phrase Bertini indicates that he is more interested in lyrical
--------- ORLANDO DI LASSO (1532-1594)
... flow than in hard brilliance, and this relatively relaxed (but never devitalized) approach emphasizes the radiant freshness of the work.
R.F.
MILHAUD: Saudades do Brasil; Trois Rag-Caprices; Le Printemps (see Best of the Month, page 74)
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 25, in C Major (K. 503). Ivan Moravec (piano); Czech Phil harmonic Orchestra, Josef Vlach cond. Fan tasy in C Minor (K. 475). Ivan Moravec (piano). VANGUARD/SUPRAPHON SU-11 $3.98.
Performance: Outstanding
Recording: Good
It has been far too long since we have had a new recording from Ivan Moravec. Unless I'm mistaken, this release, is only his second concerto disc to be issued here and also only the second on which he plays Mozart; it is quite a demonstration of what we have been missing. If a more stylish, fluid, exquisitely poised statement of the K. 503 Concerto has been available at any time, it was one I over looked. Everything seems so "right" about this performance that once it began I simply forgot about Moravec and just listened to Mozart. This is not to suggest that the playing lacks personality, but Moravec never lets his own push Mozart's from center stage. Placing the orchestral responsibility in the hands of the chamber-music-oriented Josef Vlach was a splendid idea: the great orchestra plays with a polish, alertness, and subtlety to match Moravec's own, and the two elements are ideally meshed. The exalted performance of the solo fantasy that fills out side two is, if anything, even more probing and revealing than the one Moravec recorded for the Connoisseur Society several years ago. All in all, this is an out standing release, and the 1973 date on the la bel not only explains the fine quality of the sound but encourages me to expect more from this source. R.F.
MOZART: Serenade No. 11, in E-flat Major (see GOUNOD) OFFENBACH (arr. Rosenthal): Gaite Parisienne. Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Felix Slatkin cond. ANGEL S-36086 $6.98.
Performance: Welcome
Recording: Aging gracefully
Although it doesn't say so, even in the tiny type reserved at the bottoms of record albums for such admissions, this complete recording of Grate Panisienne is a reissue of the old Capitol SP 8405. But that the album was worth reissuing there is no question. The bal let, with its Toulouse-Lautrec decor, its Flower Girl, cocodettes, Glove Seller, Duke, Bar on, can-can girls, and Peruvian carpetbagger who arrives on the scene with his luggage, was an instant success when it opened at the Theatre de Monte Carlo in the spring of 1938, and the score still glitters today. The music has been recorded many times, notably by Antal Dorati with the Minneapolis Symphony in a version that is still available on the Mercury label, but this complete treatment is a mite less hard-driving and the sound is still remarkably good. Recommended-if it isn't already on your shelf-for raising drooping spirits.
-P. K.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Sonata No. 2, in B-flat Minor, Op. 36; Variations on a Theme by Corelli, Op. 42. Jean-Philippe Collard (piano).
CONNOISSEUR SOCIETY CSQ 2082 $6.98.
Performance: Superb
Recording: A-1
Jean-Philippe Collard proves himself once more a splendid and idiomatic interpreter of Rachmaninoff. Having given us a wonderfully satisfying account of the two sets of Etudes-Tableaux, he now proceeds to do likewise for the incredibly difficult Second Piano Sonata (the original, uncut 1913 version) and the Corelli Variations.
To get an idea of the astonishing range of Collard's piano artistry, one should play side two of the Connoisseur Society disc and hear the exquisite tonal quality and touching simplicity he brings to the initial statement of the Corelli theme-the famous La Follia tune (which, of course, Corelli did not write) used as the basis of variations by dozens of com posers before and after Corelli. Then go to side one and play the wild final pages of the Second Sonata, where Collard's pianistic thunder and lightning would be worthy of even the great Horowitz.
Exciting as Horowitz's reading (Columbia M-30464) is in its overwhelming nervous energy and dramatic contrast, I feel that Collard's slightly more relaxed treatment enables us to hear more of the music itself without becoming swamped by the rhetoric. The Second Sonata is one of the most luxuriant of all Rachmaninoff's instrumental works, and, like the Third Concerto, it yields additional dividends upon close and repeated hearings. The Corelli Variations might seem to be merely a preparatory essay for the deservedly popular Paganini Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, also in variation form, that came three years later in 1934. But there are brilliant and fascinating things in this music for the pianist, and young Collard makes the most of every possibility without in any way compromising his innate musicality.
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The Romantic revival Continues
---------- French caricature (1843) of Franz Liszt, "le diable de l'harmonie"
THREE new releases of neglected Romantic music, one by Michael Ponti and two by Raymond Lewenthal, present us with an aural feast of fascinating musical entrees by Sigismond Thalberg, two main dishes by Franz Liszt, and an assortment of charming Nachspeise from the kitchens of Carl Rei necke, Franklin Taylor, Henri Kling, Daniel Steibelt, Cornelius Gurlitt, and Etienne-Nicolas Maul. The last six gentlemen are the subjects of "Toy Symphonies and Other Fun," conducted from the piano by Raymond Lewenthal and one of two records the pianist made recently for Angel. The other, titled "The Duel Between Liszt and Thalberg," features pairs of pieces by each of those legendary virtuosos, while Ponti's all-Thalberg disc for Candide contains four solo pieces and the composer's only concerto.
Thalberg wrote the Concerto, Op. 5, as a personal "parade piece" for his first important concert tour (of Germany) during the 1829-1830 season. He was eighteen years old, fresh from studies with Mittag, Sechter, Hummel, and Moscheles, and well aware of how to make an effect with the public. Of un certain parentage but handsome good looks, Thalberg had enjoyed an aristocratic upbringing, possessed outstanding social graces, and could play the piano without fault. Chopin heard him in 1830 and stated, "Thalberg plays famously . . . [and] takes tenths as easily as I do octaves." His large stretch influenced his style as a composer as, of course, did his teachers and colleagues. Not surprisingly, Thalberg's concerto emerged quite the prod uct of his environment--elegant and charming, with sweet little tunes bedecked in a glit tering array of sparkling passagework. Hummel, in particular, must have felt flattered to hear so large a quotient of himself in his protege's biggest work.
As played by Ponti, the youthful concerto makes a pleasant impression. The performer capitalizes on the work's inherent lightness of texture without sacrificing dynamic gestures.
Rippling scales and arpeggios sweep from one end of the keyboard to the other more stylish ly than in Ponti's other recordings, and he treats Thalberg's rather nave melodies with a degree of simplicity that is wholly appropriate. The Westphalian Symphony under Richard Kapp provides discreet accompaniment.
(Enjoy it without worrying about the half-dozen or so places in the first and final movements that Ponti has simplified technically. Certain things that were possible on Thalberg's pianos simply cannot be done with elegance on the heavier pianos of today.) Ponti also fares well with a string of waltzes called Les Capricieuses and with the sizzling Huguenots Fantasy (written at the more ma ture age of twenty-four). He is less imaginative with two of Thalberg's less imaginative works, settings of Home, Sweet Home and The Last Rose of Summer. The liner notes by Daniel L. Hitchcock are a mine of information about this extraordinary composer, his life, his associations, and the musical works in question.
Lewenthal's "duel" with Thalberg and Liszt, his first record in several years, con tains even better music but is somewhat puzzling. With the sole exception of Thalberg's Moses Fantasy, none of the pieces figured in a confrontation between the two artists. History notes only one such fracas-in 1837 at the Princess Belgiojoso's salon-and, in his elaborate, idiosyncratic annotations, Lewenthal makes much of it. (The occasion produced a draw; no one could choose between Thalberg's playing of his spanking new Moses Fantasy and Liszt's playing of his Divertissement on Pacini's Niobe, then about a year old.) He takes pains to give Thalberg his due for having developed a number of significant keyboard principles that influenced Liszt as well as Henselt, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Franck, Fain-6, Prokofiev, Godowsky, and Barber, among others. Lewenthal seeks to place Thalberg in perspective with Liszt by using two wonderful operatic fantasies after Rossini by the one-Moses and The Barber of Seville--and, oddly, the Ballade No. 2 and, more to the point, a great transcription of the Funeral March from Donizetti's Dom Sibastien by the other.
One wonders why Lewenthal included the Ballade in this otherwise operatic company.
Surely the vast scope of Thalberg's Moses corresponds adequately to that of Liszt's Dom Sebastien (which Donizetti himself called "frightening"), while the froth of Thalberg's Barber would be balanced better by Liszt's sensational treatment of, say, Les Patineurs from Meyerbeer's Le Prophte. However, the Ballade, no stranger to records, and the Dom Sebastien, a welcome newcomer, receive bold performances. In the grander moments of each Lewenthal calls into play that massive tone which so characterized his Liszt and Alkan albums for RCA a decade ago. He treats the incredibly intricate Thalberg pieces with more delicate fingers. How fascinating it is to hear Rossini's beguiling themes projected against each other within an unending wealth of ever-flickering, awesomely difficult figurations! This music is clearly meant to astonish us-and it does-even though Lewenthal's flamboyant technique almost seems stretched to its outer limits. As does Ponti, Lewenthal resorts to occasional simplifications or revisions of material without deleterious effect.
---- RAYMOND LEWENTHAL
The interested listener will wish to compare the handling of Thalberg's pieces by Messrs.
Ponti and Lewenthal with Earl Wild's note-perfect rendition of the same composer's Don Pasquale Fantasy (Vanguard VRS-1119). The latter sets quite a standard. All three records are valuable for the repertoire they document and for their performances.
LEWENTHAL'S "Toy Symphonies and Other Fun" is an altogether happy affair. There is no breast-beating virtuosity within earshot here-only the amusing sounds of a piano and a few strings augmented by toy instruments of all sorts: tea trays, bottles, whistles, drums, bells, saucepans, milk jugs, kazoos, and so on, all specified by the composers. It's loads of fun, potentially a great party record, and the performers do a sensitive, beautiful job with each precious little piece. Genuine musi cal humor results from such a restrained, sophisticated approach. And Lewenthal's liner notes are delightful too. Let us applaud the achievement and, above all, buy the record. It is unique.
-Frank Cooper
TOY SYMPHONIES AND OTHER FUN. Reinecke: Toy Symphony in C Major. Taylor: Adagio and Finale from Toy Symphony. Kling: Kitchen Symphony, Op. 445. Steibelt: Three Bacchanales, Op. 53. Gurlitt: Toy Symphony in C Major, Op. 169.
Mehul: Overture Burlesque. Raymond Lewenthal (piano); various instrumentalists. Raymond Lewenthal cond. ANGEL S-36080 $6.98.
LISZT: Ballade No. 2, in B Minor (G. 171); Funeral March from Donizetti's "Dom Sebastien" (G. 402). THALBERG: Fantasy on Rossini's "Barber of Seville," Op. 63; Fantasy on Rossini's "Moses," Op. 33. Raymond Lewenthal (piano). ANGEL S-36079 $6.98.
THALBERG: Concerto for Solo Piano; Concert Fantasy on "Les Huguenots," Op. 20; Les Capricieuses Valses, Op. 64; Variations on English and Irish Airs, Opp. 72 and 73. Michael Ponti (piano); Westphalian Symphony Orchestra. Richard Kapp cond. CANDIDE CE 31084 $4.98.
--------- MICHAEL PONTI
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The recording, as processed from Pathe Marconi tapes, is absolutely first-rate-with full-bodied tone and ideal room acoustic, clear and beautifully balanced throughout the entire range of the keyboard, and nicely en hanced in SQ quadraphonic playback by well-gauged additional ambiance.
D.H.
RINISKY-KORSAKOV: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34 (see Scriabin) SCHUBERT: Piano Music (see Choosing Sides, page 96) SCHUBERT: W ehmut; Mignons Gesang; Sehn sucht; Dass sie hier gewesen; Lied der Mignon (I and II); Stiindchen; Der Zwerg; Bertha's Lied in der Nacht; Lila an die Morgenrote; Kbiirchens Lied; Das Madchen; An den Mond; Lied der Anna Lyle. Christa Ludwig (mezzo soprano): Irwin Gage (piano). DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530 528 $7.98.
Performance: Good
Recording: Good
It is always a rewarding experience to discover unknown or rarely heard Schubert songs, even if they do not always turn out to be masterpieces. A recital made up almost entirely of such songs, however, such as Christa Ludwig's second Schubert collection for Deutsche Grammophon, seems to be some thing of a miscalculation. Surely a few of those irresistibly outdoorsy rippling-water, spring-busting-out-all-over songs would have been most welcome here for contrast and variety. As it is, there is a certain sameness of mood not even Christa Ludwig's seasoned artistry can fully overcome. And perhaps that is why she is not always at her best vocally: her sumptuous tones have a tendency to spread around the pitch on occasion. Nonetheless, the best songs (An den Mond, Das Madchen, and Dass sie hier gewesen) are delightfully done, and Miss Ludwig presents Schubert's attractive setting of Der Zwerg (really rather a repulsive poem) with keen dramatic imagination. Irwin Gage's accompaniments are not always as assertive as they could be in these songs, but they are never less than competent.
G.J.
SCRIABIN: The Poem of Ecstasy (Symphony No. 4), op. 54.
DVORAK: Slavonic Dance in E Minor, Op. 72, No: 2. Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski cond. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34. New Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski cond. LONDON PHASE-4 SPC 21117 $6.98.
Performance: Superb Scriabin
Recording: Top-drawer
If it weren't for a rather wayward Capriccio Espagnol, this latest, it of wizardry from Leopold Stokowski would rate a "Special Merit" heading, for in this, his third recording of Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy, we finally have a realization of the music that effectively sets forth the conductor's particular vision of it.
One marvels here not only at the virtuosity of the Czech Philharmonic wind players in their negotiation of Scriabin's leaping, irregular figurations and phrasings, but also at the responsiveness of the entire orchestra to the ebb and flow Stokowski calls for throughout a performance of extraordinary urgency and inexorable momentum. No less remarkable is the London Phase-4 recording, whose characteristic emphasis on inner detail is particularly appropriate in this music. All told, this performance combines the best elements of the two other outstanding recorded versions, the passion of Abbado's and the sensuousness of Mehta's. Both of these achieve a somewhat cleaner and more imposing sound in the final climaxes, but neither matches the urgency and cohesion of Stokowski's total result.
Stokowski's treatment of Dvorak is super-sensual, and his Capriccio Espagnol puts up with a good bit of pulling and hauling as well as some abbreviation in the last pages. Yet, matters of musical taste notwithstanding, I can only marvel, again, at the responsiveness of both the Czech Philharmonic and the New Philharmonia. D.H.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird. New York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez cond. COLUMBIA MQ 33508 $7.98, M 33508 $6.98.
Performance: Beautiful
Recording: Superb
There is no question in my mind that among the recordings Pierre Boulez has made during his tenure with the New York Philharmonic this one of the complete 1910 version of The Firebird in its original luxuriant instrumentation (three harps, celesta, piano, plus augmented brass) will stand as a document of rare merit-of Stravinsky's music, of Boulez's own exceptional conductorial prowess, of the New York Philharmonic players in top form, and of the best work of Columbia's recording staff.
Perhaps the biggest problem of the complete Firebird is what to do with all the music between the big moments that everybody knows from the suites. Stravinsky himself, in his recording for Columbia in 1962 of the stripped-down instrumentation, had come closest thus far to making the whole business cohere into a convincing final result. But now Boulez gives us the best of everything: the gorgeous post-Rimsky orchestral palette; a reading with all the drama and color one could ask (all the big moments come off superbly);
and all the elements of the score in proportion, as to both relative dynamics and flow.
Result: a satisfying listening experience.
Columbia's recorded sound is big and spacious throughout the whole of the two sides,...
--- JESSYE NORMAN: a radiant Euryanthe with a uniquely beautiful
voice
...yet never muzzy on the one hand or exaggerated in detail on the other. The cinerama style ambiance of Columbia's SQ quadraphonic recording contributes handsomely to the magical atmosphere and rich detail of the whole. Word has it that Columbia's budget overrun for the Firebird was substantial. If that was what it took to come up with a .re corded performance of this quality, then I say it was money well spent. D.H.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5, in E Minor, Op. 64 (see The Basic Repertoire, page 50) RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
WEBER: Euryanthe. Siegfried Vogel (bass), King Louis VI; Nicolai Gedda (tenor), Adolar, Count of Nevers; Jessye Norman (soprano), Euryanthe; Tom Krause (baritone), Lysiart; Rita Hunter (soprano), Eglantine von Puiset; Renate Krahmer (soprano), Bertha; Harald Neukirch (tenor), Rudolf. Leipzig Radio Chorus; Dresden State Orchestra, Marek Janowski cond. ANGEL SDL-3764 four discs $27.92.
Performance: Excellent
Recording: Very Good
Operas are often weighted down by their librettos; the specific problem here is not the far fetched story and the stilted language but that a transparently simple incident is passed off as a crucial and tragic climax. Unlike Richard Wagner, who literally copied Euryanthe's plot for Lohengrin, Weber did not take advantage of mystic and superhuman elements to justify otherwise unexplainable doings; his characters, invariably human, are left mercilessly exposed to the hazards of librettist Helmina von Chezy's naive plot manipulations.
All this bodes ill for Euryanthe's future on stage, but this premiere recording discloses musical values that are so plentiful, so varied, and on such a consistently high level of inspiration that they simply command serious attention. The elaborate arias for the principals compare with the best in Der Freischiitz for melodic inspiration and dramatic effectiveness. There are fine ensembles and exceptional choruses, and the orchestral writing often anticipates Berlioz in its richness and lucidity of texture, to say nothing of Weber's familiar mastery of instrumental detail (violas and French horn, in particular).
For the characters, take the King as is, substitute Lohengrin for Adolar, Elsa for Euryanthe, Ortrud for Eglantine, and Telramund for Lysiart, and you get the outline of the dramatic picture. There are specific similarities too, and some of these (Eglantine and Lysiart plotting in the dark to destroy the trusting and innocently wronged Euryanthe) are startling.
There is no Swan, however. In the end, the evildoers are punished, and Euryanthe and Adolar are joined in a dramatically unconvincing but-as usual-musically delectable ensemble.
Jessye Norman is a radiant Euryanthe. The role is not very dramatic, but it is quite demanding, and Miss Norman leaves no room for criticism in her sensitive handling of her scenes. Her voice is uniquely beautiful, sensuous in tone, full without being unwieldy for the florid passages. It is effectively contrasted with Rita Hunter's more incisive tones. She, too, is a remarkable vocalist and, perhaps without fully exploiting the venom in Eglantine's character, makes a lasting impression in that dramatically meatier part.
Nicolai Gedda sounds hard-edged and a bit effortful in his high-lying and difficult opening aria, but he rises to impressive peaks later on.
His singing, furthermore, is dramatically aware and expressive throughout. Tom Krause delivers Lysiart's long and brilliantly written scene in the beginning of Act II with intensity and great dramatic presence. At times I would prefer a smoother and more centered tonal production, but there is no denying the vigor and impact of his interpretation. Siegfried Vogel's royal pronouncements are a shade light, but they are agreeable.
Marek Janowski's clear and sensitive direction honors Weber's beautiful orchestral writing. At times, the orchestra appears too far in the background for dramatic purposes (Eury anthe's dramatic scene, "Zu ihm! Zu ihm!" in Act III is a case in point). A special word of praise is due the Leipzig Radio Chorus-out standing in tone, precision, and articulation.
Frau von Chezy notwithstanding, Euryanthe is a revelation. G.J.
COLLECTIONS
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
JASCHA HEIFETZ: In Concert. Franck: Violin Sonata in A Major. R. Strauss: Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. IS. Bach: Pre lude, Loure, and Gigue, from Partita in E Major, BWV 1006. Bloch: Nis.nin, from Baal Sherri. Debussy: La Plus que Lente. Rach maninoff (arr. Heifetz): Etude-Tableau, Op. 39, No. 4. Falla: Nana, from Seven Popular Spanish Songs. Kreisler: La Chasse. Ravel: Tzigane. Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Sea Mur murs. Jascha Heifetz (violin): Brooks Smith (piano). COLUMBIA M2 33444 two discs $13.98.
Performance: Masterly
Recording: Very good
After an RCA Red Seal association of more than fifty years, the name of Jascha Heifetz now appears on a label of a different color! He was nearing his seventy-second birthday on October 23, 1972, when this concert was aped at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion,
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Los Angeles. The biographical reference is established in the interest of documentation, but let me immediately add that the per former here is the same sovereign fiddler of twenty, thirty, or forty years ago. He still at tacks the most fearsome passages with an almost disdainful boldness and with the con trolled passion that is as much his trademark as that intense, suave tone he cajoles from his instrument. This being an actual concert performance, we may encounter a trifling number of less than perfectly judged chords, or of at tacks short of that superhuman refinement we recall from Heifetz's studio productions. Let us accept them as reassuring proofs of human imperfection.
In the Franck sonata we find the same basic approach that characterized the first Heifetz recording with Artur Rubinstein far back in 1937 (recently reissued on Seraphim 60230): intense, sinuous, briskly yet convincingly paced, in perfect rapport with Brooks Smith, a longtime sonata partner. As for the Strauss sonata, in this, his third recording of the piece, Heifetz gives renewed evidence that no one else plays it with comparable sweep and authority.
I am less happy with the remainder of the program. The three sections of the Bach partita are dazzlingly but rather coldly played, and why are the other three missing? The Debussy and Falla items, old Heifetz favorites, are haunting, and so is his first recording of the Nigun, even at this fast a tempo. But the Kreisler and Rachmaninoff pieces are the kind of virtuoso stunts that offer little reward beyond the proof of their playability. And the Tzigane, in which Jascha Heifetz breaks his own former world record for speed, sounds emptier than ever when done in such a whirl wind manner.
Just the same, this is a remarkable extension of an already staggering documentation of a lifetime of extraordinary music-making. It was recorded under the supervision of RCA's John Pfeiffer in well-balanced, realistic sound, with audience applause that does not intrude on the enjoyment. G J.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
LEO ROSENBLUTH: Jewish Liturgical Mu sic. Rosenbliith: Y'hi Raison; R'tsch; Psalm 116; MVO L'Fanecha; M'loch; V'Hagen.
EPhros: The Priestly Benediction. Pergament: Kol Nidre. Leo Rosenbliith (cantor); Gunilla Von Bahr (flute); Maria Thyrsesson (organ); Andris Vitolins (organ); Chamber Choir of the Royal Conservatory, Stockholm, Eric Ericson cond. BB LP-1 $7.98.
Performance: Conservative but ardent
Recording: Excellent
Leo Rosenbliith, now in his seventies, started his synagogue career as a cantor in Sweden at thirteen and has been chief cantor and choir-leader of the Stockholm Synagogue since 1931. Not content to rest on the glories of his still-powerful voice. Rosenbliith also has busied himself over the years keeping up with the efforts of Jewish composers to interpret the liturgy in new musical modes, and he has written a considerable amount of liturgical music himself. Most of what he sings on this record consists of his own arrangements and original settings of prayers for the Sabbath and for the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement. The music never departs far from traditional embellishments on ancient forms of cantillation and tends to have a nineteenth century ring about it, but the singing itself is simply glorious.
The two other composers whose contributions are featured are the American Gershon Ephros, now in his eighties and long a distinguished composer of-synagogue music, and Moses Pergament, born in 1893, whose Kol Nidre, the opening prayer for the Day of Atonement, consists of an elaborate arrangement of the melody familiar to all who attend the synagogue on the eve of Judaism's holiest day. The Sabbath music heard on side one is mostly subdued and reflective in tone. The music on side two, featuring big accompaniments for flute, organ, and chamber choir, is more ardent and almost operatic in ambition and intensity. Not an inch of new musical ground is broken in this program, but it is movingly interpreted and the sound is splendid. P.K.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
RENEE SANDOR: Piano Recital. Haydn: Sonata in A-flat Major (Hob XVI/46); Sonata in C Major (Hob XV1148). Mozart: Gigue in G Major (K. 574); Adagio in B Minor (K. 540); Menuet in D Major (K. 355); Andante in F Major (K. 616); Rondo in A Minor (K.511). Renee Sandor (piano). HUNGAROTON LXP 11638 $6.98.
Performance: Exquisite
Recording: good
Madame Sandor well deserves the award "Merited Artist of the Hungarian People's Republic." Born in 1899 and known almost exclusively in Hungary, she built her career from the 1920's until about 1970, but really emerged as an outstanding artist around 1960.
This disc is a recording of works played during a series of radio broadcasts made in the Sixties. The two Haydn sonatas reveal two aspects of that composer's inventive piano style: lyric expansiveness and brilliant wit.
The Mozart works are late compositions which display his penchant for expressive chromaticism coupled with exquisite pathos.
Not only are the pieces on this record special, but so is Madame Sandor's beautiful playing. Having at her disposal a warm tone, a superb legato, and a keen sense of articulation, she brings out the music's lyrical qualities. In the first movement of the Haydn A-flat Sonata, for example, rather than playing the intricate passage work for brilliance, she molds it into true melody, thus imbuing it with an expansiveness and lyricism that is frequently overlooked in Haydn's music. She is also meticulous in her observation of the composer's markings of dynamics, accentuation, and articulation. In a day when Mozart and especially Haydn were rarely played by pianists, her presentation of these works must have come as a revelation.
Some may object to her reading of certain ornaments-short appoggiaturas taken before the beat, mordents taken from the principal note before the beat, and trills beginning from the principal note-but these stylistic refinements have been clarified for us only as the result of recent research in interpretation.
The scholar might quibble, but the musician can only revel in Madame Sandor's warmth, sensitivity, and sense of the grand line.
S.L.
BEVERLY SILLS: The Music of Victor Herbert (see Best of the Month, page 73)
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
GERARD SOUZAY: Lieder and Chansons. Schubert: Schwanengesang: Aufenthalt; Ihr Bild; Das Fischermudchen; In der Ferne.
Schumann: Widmung, Op. 25, No. I; Mein schoner Stern, Op. 101, No. 4; Lust der Sturmnacht, Stille Liebe, Stille Trdnen, Op. 35, Nos. 1, 8, and 10. Gounod: voulez-vous aller?; Aimons-nous. Faure: Les Berceaux; La Chanson du P'echeur; Mai. Duparc: Phidyle; L'invitation au Voyage. Debussy: Beau Soir; Ariettes Oubliees-Green. Gerard Souzay (baritone); Dalton Baldwin (piano). SERAPHIM S-60251 $3.98.
Performance: First-rate
Recording: Very good
The liner does not indicate recording dates for this recital. If it is relatively recent, it shows Souzay's voice as remarkably fresh, comfort ably encompassing the required extensions (except for a strained top note or two), and generally projecting the music with consummate art. Only in Schubert's In der Ferne and Schumann's Stille Tranen does one feel that more tonal weight would make the utterance more effective; everywhere else we get sensitive and authoritative interpretations.
The French portion of the recital is even more impressive. The songs are all Souzay specialties, rarely encountered on records and even more rarely, if ever, with Souzay's fault less diction and interpretive mastery. As al ways, Baldwin is an outstanding partner. The recording is fine; synopses are supplied in stead of texts. G.J.
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