Reviewed by: RICHARD FREED DAVID HALL GEORGE JELLINEK
PAUL KRESH STODDARD LINCOLN ERIC SALZMAN
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
AMRAM: Triple Concerto for Woodwind, Brass, and Jazz Quintets and Orchestra. David Amram Jazz Quintet; Rochester Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman cond. Elegy for Violin and Orchestra. Howard Weiss (violin); Rochester Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman cond. FLYING FISH GRO-751 $7.98.
Performance: Excellent
Recording: A bit studioish
David Amram is a one-man cross-cultural musical movement. Beaten around by the critics and not taken seriously by the culture snobs, he is nevertheless one of the most-performed and best-known American composers. He be longs nowhere and everywhere-that is his weakness and his strength. He bucks every tide, says what he feels, does what he wants.
He plays (many instruments), conducts, organizes, writes, and, above all, composes-so far more than a hundred works in just about every possible medium and style.
Amram is best thought of as a jazz musician who has transposed the materials of jazz into the symphonic realm. This is, of course, the Gershwin tradition, and the synthesis has of ten been attempted since, rarely successfully.
But that is only one of Amram's starting points. The Triple Concerto-originally commissioned by the American Symphony Orchestra in 1971-uses three solo quintets (two from the orchestral wind sections plus a jazz ensemble) as well as a big orchestra (including six percussionists), all playing in a stylistic mixture that includes not only blues, gospel, and jazz but also Latin, Middle Eastern, and European classical influences.
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Explanation of symbols:
= reel-to-reel stereo tape
= eight-track stereo cartridge
= stereo cassette
= quadraphonic disc
= digital-master recording
= direct-to-disc recording
Monophonic recordings are indicated by the symbol
The first listing is the one reviewed; other formats, if available, follow it.
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On the other hand, the Elegy, also from than jazzy work with Eastern as well as Anglo-Celtic sources. Amram does not permit himself to be pinned down very easily. In essence he has developed a notion about the essential unity of popular and ethnic styles and has attempted, with a nod here and a bow there, to integrate them into a slightly old-fashioned classical-music concert style. There is no question that it all oozes musicality. The works are flowing and full of good feeling, with an appeal that is at times almost wistful. The performances here are excellent; the Triple Concerto really cooks in a way that is rarely achieved in classical/jazz collaborations. The close miking has produced a kind of studio sound for the soloists that does not always seem to blend ideally with that of the orchestra-the concerto is clearly not an easy recording project but otherwise the recording is good. E.S.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
J. S. BACH: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565); Partita No. 1, in B-flat Major (BWV 825); Italian Concerto (BWV 971); French Suite No. 5, in G Major (BWV 817). Constance Keene (piano). LAUREL-PROTONE LP-16 $7.98.
Performance: Brilliant
Recording: Shower-stall stereo
When I put this on, I thought I must be listening to an item from some Great Golden Age of Piano Recordings reissue series. Constance Keene used to be a major presence on the pianistic scene-a powerful pianist with impeccable fingers and a lot of dash. Of course, this kind of Bach-on-the-piano tradition is old fashioned, and the Early Shower-stall piano sound suggests antiquated engineering standards. But, appearances to the contrary, this is a recent recording; indeed, it is part of a series of Miss Keene's solo recordings made and is sued in Los Angeles. And, whatever the sound, the playing is fabulous: Bach in the Busoni tradition-late-Romantic if you like, but really neo-Classic and very powerful.
This kind of Bach, although not very comfortable to our current notions of Baroque style, The phrasing, the articulation, the contrapuntal clarity! The ugly piano sound is a formidable obstacle, but believe me-the playing makes it all worthwhile. -E.S.
BARRIOS: Guitar Works (see Best of the Month, page 82)
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, in E-flat Major, Op. 73 ("Emperor"). Walter Gieseking (piano); Berlin Reichsender Orchestra, Artur Rother cond. VARESE SARABANDE VC 81080 $7.98.
Performance. Powerful
Recording. 1944 stereo?
This is a remarkable musical-sonic artifact.
Since the basic tape-recording technology had been mastered in Germany even before the outbreak of World War II, it is more than possible that stereophonic recording had been tried there prior to the early 1950's tape work in the U.S. and Britain (though the jacket notes here are not altogether precise as to the provenance and conditions of this particular recording). More important is that the fabled Walter Gieseking is indeed in top form here, and with excellent collaboration from Artur Rother he delivers a reading of the Emperor comparable in power and brilliance to his classic 1938 one with Bruno Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic (now on Turnabout). As for the recording as such, the stereo localization is fairly minimal, but there is some depth perspective. This suggests, to my ear at least, that a Blumlein-style technique employing two closely spaced microphones may have been used. (It's hard to tell since the recording locale was apparently highly reverberant.) The orchestral strings and, to some extent, the piano tone betray what has been described as the "Magnetofon" sound: a somewhat hard, glassy texture. But even this cannot de tract from the musical strength of the performance as a whole. No piano buff or Gieseking fan should be without this fascinating and re ally remarkable document. - D.H.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
BIZET: Carmen. Teresa Berganza (mezzo soprano), Carmen; Placido Domingo (tenor), Don Jose; Sherrill Milnes (baritone), Escamillo; Ileana Cotrubas (soprano), Micaela; Yvonne Kenny (soprano), Frasquita; Alica Nafe (mezzo-soprano); Mercedes; Robert Lloyd (bass), Zuniga; Stuart Harling (bari tone), Morales; Gordon Sandison (baritone), Dancairo; Geoffrey Pogson (tenor), Remen dado; others. Ambrosian Singers; London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado cond. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2709 083 three discs $26.94, 3371 040 $26.94.
Performance: Very good
Recording: Excellent
BIZET: Carmen. Giulietta Simionato (mezzo soprano), Carmen; Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor), Don Jose: Michel Roux (baritone), Escamillo; Rosanna Carteri (soprano), Micaela; Giuseppe Modesti (bass), Zuniga; Enzo Sor dello (baritone), Morales; Graziella Sciutti (soprano), Frasquita; Luisa Ribacchi (mezzo soprano), Mercedes; others. Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Milan, Herbert von Karajan cond. TURNABOUT/VOX THS 65160/2 three discs $14.94.
Performance: Good
Recording: Variable
Individual preconceptions of what a "perfect" Carmen should be vary more than they do with any other opera. We can all easily discern a "bad" Carmen, but there are many ways to achieve a "good" one. These two recordings-sharply contrasted in matters of text, interpretive approach, and sound quality-are both "good" Carmens.
The Deutsche Grammophon set, in fact, is outstandingly good. It was recorded shortly after the 1977 Edinburgh Festival performances, with the festival cast almost intact: time was not allowed to blunt involvement and dramatic interaction. What we have here is a marvelous combination of theatrical atmosphere and interpretive refinement, with a positively glowing orchestral account under Claudio Abbado's fastidious direction. Dynamic nuances are rendered with admirable fidelity to the score, and the delicate orchestral details exposed in the Seguidilla and the Card Scene will be revelatory to many listeners. There are a few instances where fastidiousness borders on fussiness, particularly in the final act, but on every account I must rate Abbado's conducting superb.
Teresa Berganza has developed her own view of the controversial Carmen character (the album booklet contains her thoughtful essay on the subject), and she gives us a Car men who is very seductive in an insinuating, kittenish manner, downright irresistible in such perfectly turned phrases as the reiterated "L'amour" in Act II and "Bel officier" in Act III. Her performance is flawlessly vocalized and peerlessly musical, but it lacks the fierceness I find essential to the character.
Placido Domingo's Jose is familiar from the Solti set ( London 13115). His is an admirable interpretation without being a truly individual one, and, as on London, the recording fails to capture the thrilling quality of his voice as heard in the theater. Sherrill Milnes is a forceful, manly Escamillo, but he is no more comfortable with the role's unreasonable tessitura than are most of his colleagues-except Jose van Dam ( London), who seems to revel in it.
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Helmut Walcha: Valedictory
A PERSONAL statement by Helmut Walcha included in his handsome new Archiv set of early German organ music advises the listener that it is the final volume in the long series of recordings that has been the organist's life work. Having recorded the complete works of J. S. Bach twice (once in mono and once in stereo), Walcha felt that he should "glance back into the past" and record a volume of Bach's predecessors. The result is this splendid anthology, which dramatically reveals the rich tradition of organ music that Bach brought to a culmination. The music is simply magnificent, and one is struck over and over again by the rhapsodic imagination of the preludes and the architectural grandeur of the fugues. The choral preludes are full of ingenuity, and the austerely structured chaconnes bring us very close to Bach's own concepts.
Perhaps influenced by Albert Schweitzer, Walcha favors a strict and austere style, which he at first advocated in order to get away from the romantic excesses perpetrated by an earlier generation of organists. Al though there are moments in some of the preludes where a freer style would be welcome, most of the music, especially the fugues, profits from this approach. The subjects are clearly etched and maintain their integrity as they weave through a maze of countermelodies and pile up on each other in massive strettos. The chorale melodies are never lost, the chaconnes drive to the end, and the harmonic progressions remain lucid throughout the readings despite any amount of figural busy work shot through them. In short, Walcha understands every note of this music and his command of the instrument transmits that understanding to the listener.
The recording was made on the Arp Schnitger organ in Cappel, an instrument (it dates back to 1680) that has undergone much restoration. Although the tuning is in equal temperament, the instrument is still one of the finest Baroque organs in Germany, and Walcha makes full use of its varied timbres in a thrilling underlining of the music's structure.
Besides being one of the most comprehensive collections of early German organ music now available, this album should be treasured as a monument to the art of Helmut Walcha.
-Stoddard Lincoln
HELMUT WALCHA: The Early German Organ School. Bohm: Prelude and Fugue in C Major.
Bruhns: Prelude and Fugue in G Major; Prelude and Fugue in E Minor. Buxtehude: Prelude, Fugue, and Chaconne in C Major (BuxWV 137); Prelude and Fugue in D Major (BuxWV 139); Prelude and Fugue in D Mi nor (BuxWV 140); Prelude and Fugue in E Major (BuxWV 141); Prelude and Fugue in E Minor (BuxWV 142); Prelude and Fugue in F Major (BuxWV 145); Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Minor (BuxWV 146); Prelude and Fugue in G Minor (BuxWV 149); Chaconne in C Minor (BuxWV 159); Chaconne in E Minor (BuxWV 160); Passacaglia in D Minor (BuxWV 161). Lubeck: Prelude and Fugue in E Major; Prelude and Fugue in G Minor; Prelude and Figue in D Minor. Pachelbel: Chorale Prelude "O Lamm Gottes, Unschuldig"; Chaconne in F Minor. Scheidt: Warum Betriilyst Du Dich, Mein Herz; Jesus Christus, Unser Heiland. Sweelinck: Fantasia Chromatica. Tunder: Chorale Prelude "Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott." Helmut Walcha (organ). DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON ARCHIV 2712 004 four discs $35.92.
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Ileana Cotrubas contributes a fragile, touch ing, but not really exceptional Micaela, and Robert Lloyd a very good Zuniga (with excel lent French diction, a quality not otherwise noticeably present in this performance). The Frasquita and Mercedes are fine, the two smugglers competent but not assertive enough. That Stuart Harling's Morales is weak is rather unfortunate since his voice is the first one heard in the opera.
In general, Abbado uses the Oeser edition of Carmen, retaining a great deal of the spoken dialogue, though he wisely follows Solti's example in turning to the Choudens edition whenever the latter provides the more satisfying alternative. I wish he had retained even a bit more of the spoken passages, which are significant in character delineation.
The Turnabout album preserves an actual performance at Milan's La Scala in December 1955. This is the traditional version of Car men, with the nowadays unjustly maligned Guiraud recitatives. The recording captures the raw vitality of an actual performance, with marching and other stage sounds, foot stomping, applause, and all the rest. Karajan's conducting is not without some eccentric touches, and it seems quite imprecise compared with Abbado's (or with Karajan's own studio work on RCA LSC-6199, for that matter), but it is wisely theatrical. The overall sound ranges from listenable to dismal; this is a set to be avoided by all except connoisseurs who are willing to overlook tonal excellence for the experience of hearing Giulietta Simionato and Giuseppe di Stefano in their prime.
They will not be disappointed. Simionato flats on occasion, but she is a torrid and vital Car men, bursting with fierce pride. Di Stefano, passing instances of self-indulgence aside, is absolutely splendid, possibly the most exciting Don Jose on records. Michel Roux is a dashing and idiomatic-sounding torero, and Enzo Sordello, then on the brink of turning into a leading baritone, is a first-class Morales. The supporting singers are competent.
Do not look for nuances here; the set must be approached with auditory caution, but it is a fascinating souvenir. -G.J.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
A. BONONCINI: Stabat Mater.
LOTTI: Crucifixus. CALDARA: Crucifixus. Felicity Palmer (soprano); Paul Esswood (alto); Philip Langridge (tenor); Christopher Keyte (bass); Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge; Philomusica of London, George Guest cond. ARGO ZRG 850 $8.98.
Performance: Ravishing
Recording: Ravishing
Often confused with his older brother Giovanni, who is known primarily as one of Handel's operatic competitors in London, Antonio Bononcini is almost entirely neglect ed today. Now, for the first time on records, we have a complete, large-scale work of his, for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, and it is quite impressive. The Stabat Mater, is, of course, a serious, rather sombre work, but it shows Bononcini as a master of melody, a skilled choral writer, and, surprisingly, a deft contrapuntist. The work sustains interest from beginning to end despite the lugubrious ness demanded by its text. The two settings of the Crucifixus by Antonio Lotti and Antonio Caldara are also wonderfully effective music.
The performances here are exquisite. The pacing is dignified but never dull, the choral sound is sumptuous, and the instrumentalists play with an expressiveness that blends beautifully with the voices. The soloists are excel lent, never once succumbing to the bogus "religious" style that so frequently emasculates performances of this kind of music. Paul Esswood is particularly outstanding; Bononcini's long, legato lines are perfect for his serious style of singing. Although the High Baroque in Italy produced mostly operatic music, the church music of the period is gradually being rediscovered also. This album is a major contribution to that recorded repertoire. - S.L.
BRAHMS: Songs (see Collections-Marian Anderson) CAGE: Music of Changes, Parts III and IV (see PARTCH) CALDARA: Crucifixus (see A. BONONCINI) DONIZETTI: Don Pasquale. Beverly Sills (soprano), Norina; Donald Gramm (bass), Don Pasquale; Alan Titus (baritone), Dr. Malatesta; Alfredo Kraus (tenor), Ernesto; Henry Newman (tenor), Notary. Ambrosian Opera Chorus; London Symphony Orchestra, Sarah Caldwell cond. ANGEL SBLX-3871 two discs $16.96, 4X2X-3871 $16.95.
Performance: Not idiomatic enough
Recording: Good
Italian opera buffa has a style all its own. It is infectiously humorous, witty, and high-spirit ed, and, above all, it is Italian, heir to centuries of tradition. Now, I know that "tradition" is suspect nowadays, and I have no doubt that a great deal of sound musical thinking went into the making of Angel's new Don Pasquale. But I think it is instructive to com pare the new recording with the first complete recording of this comic masterpiece, made in 1932 and recently reissued on Seraphim IC-6084. Whereas that old set is simply brimming over with idiomatic exuberance, the new version reveals hardly any of the essential buffo spirit at all.
The difference is not in the singing. Except for Tito Schipa, the singers in the Seraphim set are not exceptional vocalists, certainly not superior to their modern counterparts. But in the new recording only Alfredo Kraus meas ures up to his part's requirements. His Ernes to is technically accomplished, dramatically convincing, and sung with immaculate ele gance. Beverly Sills brings her familiar comic verve to the role of Norina/Sofronia-at times overpowering it with interpolations, at times playing it for laughs when smiles would be sufficient-but she is at her best vocally only in the third-act duet "Tornami a dir." Donald Gramm is a very musical singer with a smooth technique, but his Don Pasquale is too tame, and Alan Titus is a pleasant but color less Malatesta. The comedy in conversational passages, the subtle emphases and sly innuen dos-these elude both interpreters. Further more, both artists, Titus especially, are care less with their double Italian consonants.
A Giulini or a Gardelli might have fused these unpromising ingredients into a persuasive totality, but I am afraid Sarah Caldwell was not the right choice for the task. Already in the overture I missed that elusive buffo spirit: the Norina melody is hurriedly stated, and much of the rest sounds charmless. Many of the succeeding episodes that should be spreading mirth even after countless hearings-Pasquale's exuberant waltz "Un fuoco insolito," the Norina/Malatesta Instruction Scene, the mock wedding, the irresistible "Cheti, cheti" duet-go by uneventfully here.
As I said before, the fault is not in the singing. This is a decent, musicianly Don Pasquale, but it's a show that wouldn't "play" in the composer's native Bergamo. - G.J.
GRAINGER: Short Orchestral Works (see Best of the Month, page 84)
GRIEG: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16 (see Best of the Month, page 84)
HANDEL: Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne; Anthem for the Foundling Hospital. Ju dith Nelson, Emma Kirkby (sopranos); Shirley Minty (contralto); James Bowman (countertenor); Martyn Hill (tenor); David Thomas (bass); Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Ox ford; Academy of Ancient Music, Simon Preston cond. L'OISEAU-LYRE DSLO 541 $8.98, KDSLC 541 $8.98.
Performance: Enthusiastic
Recording: Unbalanced
These two splendid choral works exemplify Handel's music during his early English days (the ode, 1712) and after he was established in England as a composer of opera and oratorios (the anthem, 1749). In the Ode for the Birth day of Queen Anne, he followed in the English ode tradition of Purcell, Eccles, and Clarke, as is heard in the eloquent opening arioso, in the many airs that terminate in choruses rather than using the da capo formula, and in a rousing ground-bass number for soloists and chorus, the true hallmark of an English ode.
By the time he composed the Anthem for the Foundling Hospital, Handel's enthusiasm had mellowed somewhat, and this work is in a ma ture idiom in which the English choral tradition is judiciously combined with an Italianate operatic style. There is no lack of brilliance, however, and the work ends with the "Hallelujah" chorus from the Messiah.
The most striking feature of this album is the sound of the Christ Church Cathedral choir, which uses boy sopranos, and the sizable orchestra of authentic period instruments. The oboes are particularly mellow, and the sonority produced by countertenor, natural trumpet, and chamber organ is unique. The strings play in a natural rather than exaggerated Baroque style and surround everything with a silvery shimmer. The full blast of these forces in the "Hallelujah" chorus is very impressive.
There are some balance problems, how ever. In the ode the instruments are rather too loud and the soloists seem to be off in the distance somewhere. In the bass and tenor duet, the tenor is barely heard and seems to shadow the bass. (These problems are not as apparent in the anthem.) Although all the soloists are excellent musicians, not one of them has the operatic projection required by Handel's out going style. They sing with more care than conviction and lack the grand gesture of ceremonial music. While the chorus sounds fine, many of its entrances are ragged and much of the clarity of line is obscured by the cathedral's echoey acoustics. But the Academy of Ancient Music has solved many of the problems that vex authentic-style performances of large-scale choral works, and Handel's message of victory and strength comes through in full force. - S. L.
LISZT: Piano Concerto No. 1, in E-Hat Major; Piano Concerto No. 2, in A Major. France Clidat (piano); Residentie Orchestra of the Hague, Roger Norrington cond. PETERS IN TERNATIONAL PLE 082 $7.98.
Performance: Exciting pianism
Recording: Tubby
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
LISZT: Piano Concerto No. 1, in E-fiat Major; Piano Concerto No. 2, in A Major. Tamas Vasary (piano); Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Felix Prohaska cond. Legend No. 2; Paganini Etude No. 2. Tamas Vasary (piano). PRIV ILEGE 2535 131 $6.98, 3335 131 $6.98.
Performance: Stunning
Recording: Good
France Clidat has been recording all of Liszt's piano music for French Decca, but this disc of the two concertos would appear to be her first American release. She shows a splendid sense of identification with the material as well as the physical resources needed to put it across: her playing is filled with tension, excitement, and no little depth. I found, however, that what I enjoyed most were the long passages in the Second Concerto in which the orchestra is silent; there is little give-and-take in the concerted portions, but rather a feeling of a soloist proceeding on her own, unmindful of occasional interjections from the orchestra. The orchestral contribution, in any event, is not on Clidat's level; it ranges from perfunctory to coarse. (This is the same orchestra that used to be called the Hague Philharmonic in its recordings under the late Willem van Otterloo and its U.S. tour under Jean Martinon.) Roger Norrington has been known on discs heretofore as a choral conductor; this (apparently) first orchestral recording is not one that gives the conductor much of the show, though others have made more of the opportunity.
Moreover, the piano at times sounds clangy, the recording in general is a little tubby, and my review copy was afflicted with a conspicuous thump at each revolution. So, despite the obvious flair exhibited by France Clidat, I would pass this disc by and wait for some of her solo recordings.
There is a world of difference in the Vasary/ Prohaska album, and it is good to have it back in the catalog. It was one of Vasary's earliest recordings, first issued nearly twenty years ago, but the sound could easily pass for much more recent than that, and the refinement in the true collaboration between soloist and conductor is of an exceptional order. Here, as in the more recent Berman/Giulini on Deutsche Grammophon's full-price label (2530 770), there is not only sweep and excitement but poetry. If you have thought of Prohaska only in connection with all those Bach recordings of his for Vanguard, you may be in for quite a surprise here. The opening phrase of the E-flat Concerto gives all the assurance one needs to settle back and enjoy, and one's pleasure is compounded almost measure by measure, especially in the chamber-music dialogues between piano and cello, piano and vi olin, etc. This is simply a stunning production, and the inclusion of the two encore pieces, both extremely sensitively played, make it even more of a value at the Privilege price. Regardless of price, though, it is one of the most attractive recordings of the Liszt concertos now available. - R.F.
LOTTI: Crucifixus (see A. BONONCINI)
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
MESSIAEN: Harawi, Chant d'Amour et de Mort. Dorothy Dorow (soprano); Carl-Axel Dominique (piano). BB LP-86 $8.98 (from Qualiton Records, Ltd., 39-28 Crescent Street, Long Island City, N.Y. 11101).
Performance: Strong
Recording: Okay
Harawi, a song cycle of 1945, is based words and music--on Peruvian folklore. The text apparently concerns a pair of lovers who, like Tristan and Iseult, can be united only in death. I say apparently because there are no texts with this record-a serious omission in a production like this one. Messiaen's highly original style is fully in evidence here and in a very appealing form. There seem to be Peruvian folk songs, color and rhythm modes, ecstatic cries, bird songs, and even a little jazz woven into this hour-long cycle, which builds constantly in intensity and excitement. The performance seems excellent, but the recording is a mixed bag, with the piano sometimes dominating the voice. I really missed having a crack at the texts, but even without them I found this clearly one of Messiaen's strongest and most expressive works, and it is very well performed here. E.S.
MILHAUD: Protee, Suite Symphonique No. 2; Les Songes (see Best of the Month, page 85)
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Dorati: the Splendor of Haydn’s Seasons
OF the two great oratorios of Haydn's maturity, The Creation has always been given more attention and respect than The Seasons, his last grand-scale work, which has tended to be somewhat more lightly regarded.
The Biblical orientation of The Creation surely has more than a little to do with this, and it may explain in large part, too, why that work has been performed and recorded more frequently than The Seasons. But, whatever the reason, the splendor of The Seasons still comes as a huge surprise, if not a shock, to listeners who know The Creation and expect its later companion to be a lesser work; a new recording of The Seasons conducted by Antal Dorati for London may go just a bit farther than all of its predecessors toward correcting that attitude.
In the last several years Dorati has, of course, become our pre-eminent Haydn conductor as a result of his unprecedentedly numerous contributions to the composer's discography. After recording all the symphonies for London, he embarked on surveys of all the operas for Philips and all the concertos for Vox/Turnabout, and he is recording all the oratorios for London (II Ritorno di Tobia, I understand, is to follow The Creation, re leased earlier in set OSA-12108, and the new Seasons). At his elbow, figuratively speaking, has been our pre-eminent Haydn scholar, H. C. Robbins Landon, ensuring that the latest and most comprehensive benefits of his productive research are incorporated in these recordings. Dorati's Seasons, as Landon ad vises in his annotation, contains four specific instances of restorations of the original score recorded for the first time: the heretofore missing music for the contrabassoon, the scoring of the introduction to the work's second section ("Summer") for an orchestra without violins, and the uncut introductions to "Autumn" and "Winter"-the first time sons I they have been so played (it would appear) since the premiere in 1801. While these are, admittedly, small points and perhaps of little interest to listeners who are not themselves scholars (though Landon points out that the portion cut from the "Winter" introduction "includes some of the most daring music, harmonically, that Haydn ever wrote"), the performance itself is the most consistently beautiful and involving (one might say "embracing") account of this marvelous work yet committed to records.
To be sure, there has not been an unsatisfying version of The Seasons in stereo. The old est such recording, conducted by Walter Goehr on Nonesuch HC-73009, is not only a fine value but is perhaps still incomparable in one particular section, the closing portions of "Autumn," in which the Hamburg singers and players exude an earthy and convincing exuberance that goes just a bit beyond any other presentation of this ingratiatingly extroverted music. The recently deleted Philips recording under Colin Davis was notable for its excellent soloists (Heather Harper, Ryland Davies, John Shirley-Quirk) and for being the only stereo version sung in English. The strongest rival of the new Dorati recording is the 1967 Deutsche Grammophon set with Karl Bohm conducting (2709 026), and it is formidable competition indeed. In it, Bohm shows not merely the solid authority and craftsman ship that make him so reliable an interpreter of the Viennese classics, but also an unexpected dynamism, wit, and sense of drama quite in keeping with the theatrical touches in the work.
In general, Dorati's own inspiration serves him (and Haydn) every bit as well. There are interpretive differences here and there-a faster tempo in the "Autumn" introduction that some may find nervous, a broadening at the very end of the work, a less emphatic out burst of drums to begin the penultimate chorus in "Summer" ("Ach! das Ungewitter naht")-but all the charming instrumental by play and imitations of nature-sounds are just as effective in the one set as in the other. If Bohm is at times more emphatic or dramatic, Dorati is more expansive and open-hearted.
Where the newer set most decisively scores over the older one, apart from the matter of its richer, wide-open sound, is in its superior soloists. The two tenors are about evenly matched (though Bohm's Peter Schreier was less advantageously recorded than Dorati's Werner Krenn, the bloom on whose voice is beautifully captured by the English engineers), but in the other two roles Dorati's team wins hands down. Gundula Janowitz merely makes beautiful sounds for Bohm (as she did later for Karajan in Angel SB-3792), whereas Ileana Cotrubas--whose incredibly active life in the recording studio (I think I did receive one or two choral or operatic releases last month in which she does not participate) has yet to take its toll of her resources for pro ducing sheer vocal radiance-is always aware of the words she is singing and unfailingly communicates their sense and spirit. Finally, though Bohm's Martti Talvela, admirable singer that he is, just sounds weighted down and uncomfortable with much of his assign ment, Dorati's Hans Sotin, mellower and more flexible, revels in his opportunities to personify the warm humanity that illumines The Seasons in its various tableaux and contrasting moods. Roger Vignoles' harpsichord, too, is always in the picture when needed and only as much as needed.
DORATI has given us nothing finer in his extraordinary survey of Haydn's works, but the real triumph, as he would be the first to ac knowledge, is surely Haydn's own.
-Richard Freed
HAYDN: The Seasons (Die Jahreszeiten). Ileana Cotrubas (soprano), Hanne; Werner Krenn (tenor), Lukas; Hans Sotin (bass), Simon; Brighton Festival Chorus; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Antal Dorati cond. LONDON OSA-13128 three discs $26.94, OSA5 13128 $26.94.
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NESTERENKO
A Basso in the Great Tradition
EVGENY NESTERENKO is a worthy heir to the great tradition of Russian bassos, and on a new Columbia/Melodiya release of Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death he gives this great and original masterpiece its full due. Nesterenko has a gorgeous, rich voice, but that's only the half of it; without sacrificing power and beauty, he is able to cover a tremendous range of emotional and dramatic expression. Each of the four songs in the cycle is presented as a powerful music-drama in miniature. Texts are included, and they should be followed to appreciate the subtle strength of these interpretations.
The Songs and Dances of Death are alone quite enough to recommend this record, but the other Moussorgsky songs on side two are hardly without interest. There is an amusing and sonorous performance of the Song of the Flea, plus the earlier, mostly lesser Sunless cycle and the very early song King Saul.
There is some variation in the quality of the recorded sound on side two, and in general the voice is a little too strongly favored over the piano parts-which, of course, contain a large share of Moussorgskian harmonic originality. Even so, it would be hard not to give these deeply moving performances the highest recommendation.
-Eric Salzman
MOUSSORGSKY: Songs and Dances of Death; Sunless; King Saul; Song of the Flea. Yevgeny Nesterenko (bass); Yevgeny Shenderovich, Vladimir Krainev (piano). COLUMBIA/MELODIYA M 35141 $7.98.
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MOZART: Exsultate, Jubilate (K. 165); Vorrei Spiegarvi, Oh Dio! (K. 418); Non Temer, Ama to Bene (K. 490). 11 Re Pastore (K. 208): L'Ainero, sari) costante. Judith Blegen (so prano); Mostly Mozart Orchestra, Pinchas Zukerman cond. COLUMBIA M 35142 $7.98, MT 35142 $7.98.
Performance: Mostly fine
Recording: Mostly good
By the standards Judith Blegen has set for herself in the many recordings she has made in the last few years, her Exsultate, Jubilate here is a bit of a disappointment: the beauty of the voice fails to offset the impression of undue heaviness, and in the final section of the famous "Alleluia" that high C is conspicuously strained. What one wants in this piece is the security and the sense of real exultation exhibited by Elly Ameling on Philips 6500 006, as well as the somewhat lighter touch of conductor Raymond Leppard. It is, by the way, strange to find this work taking up a whole side on the new Columbia disc. Side two is more generously filled and altogether more satisfying, with Miss Blegen in fine fettle and with more enlivening accompaniment too. Leonard Amer is the eloquent oboist in K. 418; Pinchas Zukerman supplies the violin obbligato in both the other arias. The sound seems a little compressed in that very un crowded K. 165, but it is quite good in the three arias. R.F.
MOZART: Oboe Concerto in C Major (K. 314); Oboe Concerto in E-flat Major (attrib. Mozart, K. Anh. 2946). Han de Vries (oboe); Prague Chamber Orchestra, Anton Kersjes cond. ANGEL D S-37534 $7.98.
Performance: Good, but ...
Recording: Good
Han de Vries, the current standard-bearer in the long line of fine Dutch oboists, plays both of these concertos with an abundance of skill and style, but I think he might have chosen happier material for what seems to be his de but disc. I certainly have to question his apparent enthusiasm for the "attrib. Mozart" Concerto in E-fiat. The liner note, to which he contributed, more or less acknowledges that the work is no Mozart's. Kochel was sure that it wasn't, and no one at all familiar with Mozart's music could imagine for a moment that he could have had anything to do with this piece, which sounds at best like poor imitation Cherubini produced long after even that composer's demise. I found myself wondering if I would have been more receptive if Mozart hadn't been brought into the picture, but I don't think so. It is really an uninteresting work and no particular credit to whoever may have concocted it (possibly Ernst Nau mann, who edited the score for publication in 1894; this recording uses the later Jensen/ Maedel edition). Stylish as De Vries is in the real Mozart Oboe Concerto, his tone-more pungent than sweet-and his reluctance (or failure) to bring out any individual character in the work make his technically alert performance a good deal less persuasive than Heinz Holliger's on Philips 6500 174, which seems to me just about the ultimate in terms of both technique and expressiveness. The Angel/ Supraphon recording itself is good, if a little hard sounding. R.F.
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 25, in C Major (K. 503); Piano Concerto No. 27, in B-flat Major (K. 595). Alicia de Larrocha (piano); London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti cond. LONDON CS 7109 $8.98.
Performance: Restrained
Recording: First-rate
The two works on this disc are probably Mozart's greatest concertos, the soloist and conductor are among the most admired musicians of our time, the orchestra is perhaps one of the best between Philadelphia and Berlin, and the sound is first-rate. And yet, the whole somehow seems considerably less than the sum of these formidable parts. There is a great deal of refinement-gorgeous playing from the orchestra's winds as well as by Larrocha herself-and the mesh between soloist and orchestra is well-nigh perfect. But the performance of K. 595 in particular is so under-animated as to suggest that both principals made a conscious effort to restrain their natural vivacity and simply overdid it. The work's "valedictory" nature is exaggerated by an approach that is not expansive but merely sleepy; there is no sparkle in the "spring song" finale, which slows down into a rather grim sentimentality. Although K. 503 fares better in terms of vitality, it has a rather cold blooded frame, with the exuberance of the outer movements suppressed. For a more convincing coupling of these two concertos I would recommend the economical one by Michele Boegner with Karl Ristenpart conducting (Musical Heritage Society MHS 744). For the most satisfying recordings of the two works individually, I pick Bernstein's very grand version of K. 503 on Columbia M 34574, with his own remarkable cadenza (Larrocha plays the one by Robert Casadesus), and for K. 595 Emil Gilels with Karl Bohm on Deutsche Grammophon 2530 456.
R.F.
MOZART: Symphonies: No. 32, in G Major (K. 318); No. 35, in D Major (K. 385, "Haffner"); No. 36, in C Major (K. 425, "Linz"); No. 38, in D Major (K. 504, "Prague"); No. 39, in E-flat Major (K. 543); No. 40, in G Mi nor (K. 550); No. 41, in C Major (K. 551, "Jupiter"). Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan cond. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2709 080 three discs $26.94, 3371 042 $26.94.
Performance: Shallow
Recording: Routine
Somehow the combination of Karajan, the Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsche Grammophon, and a slew of late Mozart symphonies only adds up to a Mozartian glut. I don't know how many times Karajan has recorded the last few symphonies, but I'm not convinced about the advantages of having another bunch recorded and put out in apparent haste in a big box.
The last of these three discs-with Sym phonies Nos. 40 and 41-is easily the best of the lot. These are obviously works Karajan and his musicians know pretty well, and they show a few signs of accumulated wisdom.
Even so, there is no special depth or brilliance. And the further back we go in this set, the more routine the performances.
There are some aspects of this production that are truly inexplicable, especially coming from Germany and DG. There are actually four bars missing from the exposition of the " Linz" Symphony, and many repeat marks are not observed, including at least one non-optional minuet trio. Is Karajan recording too much-classics taped and mastered without the kind of thought and care that any naive buyer would take for granted with such music from such a source? I think the answer is yes; let the buyer beware. E.S.
PARTCH: The Rose; The Wind; The Water fall; The Intruder; I Am a Peach Tree; A Mid night Farewell; Before the Cask of Wine; The Street; The Dreamer That Remains. Harry Partch (voice, various instruments); Ben Johnston (marimbas); vocal and instrumental ensemble, Jack Logan cond. CAGE: Music of Changes, Parts III and IV. David Tudor (piano). NEW WORLD NW 214 $8.98.
Performance. Historic
Recording: Variable
Harry Partch and John Cage are two of the great American eccentrics. Everyone (well, almost everyone) has heard of Cage, but Partch's fame has been restricted mostly to his fan(atic)s. Indeed, there are good reasons for both his restricted fame and his devoted following. Partch is the ultimate individualist.
He actually spent a number of years on the road as what used to be called a hobo. Not satisfied with creating a music totally unlike anyone else's, he invented and built the on struments to play it on: these sonic (and visual) fantasies he called Gourd Tree, New Harmonic Canon, Quadrangularis Reversum, Eucal Blossom, Mbira Bass Dyad, Cloud-Chamber Bowls, Chromelodeon, Boo,, etc. These instruments-mostly one of a kind-have per haps more in common with African or Asian instruments than with any of those from the Western tradition. On them Partch developed a tuning system that turned its back on Western equal temperament in favor of a more "natural" tuning that includes microtones again relating to Eastern usage. Finally, he developed a chanting or "intoning" vocal style that is neither speaking nor singing yet seems strangely close to the typical cadences of American speech.
No one could demonstrate how this goes better than Partch himself, and the heart of this record is the group of songs (the first eight listed above) with Partch "intoning" and playing accompanied only by the composer Ben Johnston (himself a microtonalist of a younger generation) on marimbas or by another vocalist, William Wendlandt. These recordings, made in 1947 and 1950, capture the nasal twang, the plainness, and the mystery in both Partch's voice and the music_ By 1973, the year The Dreamer That Remains was recorded (and one year before his death), Partch had gathered together a group of young people who mastered his instruments and his music-almost a tribal conglomeration formed around the magnetic personality of this unique man. The music they made is such a combination of passion, humor, fantasy, contrary aesthetics, originality, amateurism, plain speaking, poetry, and naiveté that it is impossible to know where one leaves off and the other begins. I can assure you off one thing only: it sounds like nothing else.
I wish the same could be said for Cage's Music of Changes. We have here a landmark performance (David Tudor, avant-garde pianist extraordinaire, recorded it in 1953) of a landmark piece-two major sections of it, anyway. This was one of the first works in which Cage eschewed conscious control and substituted chance, in this case the oracle sys tem of the I Ching. Chance governs every thing here, even the tempos and the dynamics. The result? A routine piece of modern music. Today, the Music of Changes sounds like a good deal of other music from the Fifties and early Sixties; in fact, it sounds very much like the totally organized serialism that was long considered its polar opposite. Tudor is, as always, impressive, but I much prefer the Cage of the prepared pianos, of the happenings and the silences and the fragments of real life. -E. S.
RACHMANINOFF: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45. U.S.S.R. Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov cond. TCHAIKOVSKY: Suite No. 4, Op. 61 ("Mozartiana"). Moscow Radio Large Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedo seyev cond. ABC AY-67032 $6.98.
Performance: Good Tchaikovsky, distressing Rachmaninoff
Recording: Tchaikovsky better
Rachmaninoff's last work is one I have be come increasingly fond of over the years, and with a new recording I am always curious to see what kind of balance the conductor strikes between its rhythmic-dramatic aspects and its intense lyricism. So far, the late Eugene Goossens' version on Everest has yet to be surpassed.
This reading by Yevgeny Svetlanov promises much at the very beginning, for the conductor has a splendidly firm grip on the rhythm. But the moment the lyrical material comes in, the performance becomes an exercise in exaggerated rubato. Moreover, the orchestral playing-especially by the saxophone soloist (first movement) and the horn section-is unrefined, to say the least, and things are not helped by the rather limited-range recording or the side break midway in the fourth movement.
The set of Tchaikovsky's Mozart arrangements published as his Suite No. 4 for Orchestra is quite a different matter. The recording is warmer and more spacious, and Fedoseyev and his players perform with great spirit and charm. The flute, violin, and clarinet soloists in the variations movement thoroughly deserve the credits they receive on the record jacket. D.H.
RESPIGHI: The Fountains of Rome; The Pines of Rome. Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan cond. DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2531 055 $8.98, 3301 055 $8.98.
Performance: Close to perfection
Recording: Excellent
The Schwann catalog abounds in listings of Ottorino Respighi's tone poems The Pines of Rome and The Fountains of Rome-along with that rather loud-voiced companion of theirs, Roman Festivals-and no wonder.
Respighi did no experimenting with new vocabularies of musical expression. What he sought to do was to use the orchestral techniques he had learned from Rimsky-Korsakov in Moscow to speak to Italian listeners in a musical language they could readily under stand. As it turned out, what he had to say ap pealed to a world-wide audience: Pines was once a staple for the orchestra at Radio City Music Hall to play between the movie and the stage show. Actually, these pieces are sound tracks that don't need a movie-or a stage show-to go with them. Such music may be superficial and obvious, but it is also hard to resist when conducted and played with the kind of stirring conviction brought to them by Toscanini, whose recordings of these works still set the standard. Karajan, in the same tra dition, comes as near as anybody has to meeting that mark, and the recorded sound here is as fine as this music has ever received. P.K.
SCHUBERT: Songs (See Collections-Marian Anderson) SCHUBERT: Songs (see Collections-Her mann Prey) SCHUBERT: String Quartet No. 15, in G Major, Op. 161 (D. 887). Guarneri Quartet. RCA ARLI-3003 $7.98.
Performance: Dry
Recording: Clear
This performance has so much going for it sensible tempos, unforced phrasing, utter unanimity on the part of the four players, impeccable playing-and yet the impressive parts do not seem to coalesce into a credible whole. There is much to admire, yet little that is in any way moving. Over the years I have wondered about the dry, "blanched-out" sound of the Guarneri Quartet's recordings.
Since they have been made with more than one producer and for a company whose capacity for sumptuous sonics is abundantly demonstrated in its other releases, I have had to conclude that this is the way the group prefers to sound. To my ear, this sound projected here with clinical clarity-emphasizes their antiseptic, uninvolved approach, which suggests an exercise competently and objectively executed rather than a realization based on deep conviction and insight of a great and supremely poignant work. This is, admittedly, a highly personal response (or failure to respond), but the G Major Quartet is the sort of work about which one is likely to have very deep and unavoidably subjective feelings.
Listeners who find the Quartetto Italiano's recent Philips recording (9500 409) too voluptuous, too intense, or generally larger than life may find the Guarneri version more attractive than I do. I can only say that, for me, the Italians have come closest to saying the last word on this remarkable work. Theirs is not an "objective" performance, but it grips our attention and belief, exhibiting the sort of momentum that makes the repeat of the exposition in the first movement no tire some gesture, but essential to the proportions of the work. The Philips sound, too, is near-
perfect in its rich realism, with a fine bloom on the strings which never threatens to smudge, while RCA's matches the Guarneri approach: sharp, clear, and rather two dimensional. R. F.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Suite No. 4, Op. 61 (see RACHMANINOFF)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4, in F Mi nor, Op. 36. Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Kurt Sanderling cond. DENoN/PCM OX-7137-ND $14 (from the Discwasher Group, 1407 N. Providence Road, Columbia, Mo. 65201).
Performance: Passionate
Recording: Disappointing
This performance has much of the warmth, if not quite the fierceness, of Kurt Sanderling's earlier recording, with the Leningrad Philharmonic, released here by Decca in the Fifties.
The Berlin Symphony, however, is not the equal of the Leningrad, nor of the half-dozen other top orchestras that have contributed superior performances of Tchaikovsky's Fourth to the catalog. Moreover, my impression is that the German/Japanese production team, in order to control the reverberant acoustics of the church where this was recorded, used a multiple-microphone setup that was too close-in to capture the violin sonority so important n Tchaikovsky. To my ears the violins sound slightly out of focus, and there is an overbalance in favor of the entire low end of the orchestral sound spectrum. This is particularly disappointing considering the great sound potential of Denon's digital-mastering process and flawless pressing technology. There is, though, one part of this recording that does show all that digital mastering can do: the celebrated pizzicato ostinato scherzo. There is less ambiant noise than one would hear at any live performance, and for me it is simply a breathtaking experience that all by itself would be worth the considerable price of the disc. -D.H.
COLLECTIONS RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
ELLY AMELING: Souvenirs. Rossini: La Danza. Canteloube: Brezairola. Rodrigo: De las Alamos. Vuillermoz: Jardin d'Amour. Rachmaninoff: Spring Waters. Hahn: La Derniere Valse. Ives: Memories. Schoenberg: Gigerlette. Nakada: Oyasumi Nai Sai. Purcell: Music for a While. Weldon: The Wakeful Nightingale. Britten: O Waly, Waly. Martin: Unter den Linden. Liszt: O Lieb. Sibelius: Spring Is Flying. Trad. Dutch: Moeke. Hullebroeck: Afrikaans Wiegeliedjie. Elly Ameling (soprano); Dalton Baldwin (piano). COLUMBIA M 35119 $7.98.
Performance: Marvelous
Recording: Good sound, noisy surfaces
This is a collection of encore pieces encompassing a wide variety of styles and, by my count, ten different modern languages plus medieval German and the Auvergne dialect.
All these songs seem to be favorites of Elly Ameling, and she sings them, so far as I can judge, idiomatically, charmingly, and with great skill. Her art is the kind that conceals artfulness: everything seems to flow naturally, including the florid runs in The Wakeful Nightingale and the word torrents of La Danza, despite a boldly breakneck tempo. Among the many unconventional selections are a delicious Reynaldo Hahn song in his usual salon style and one not too far from it in spirit by, of all people, Arnold Schoenberg. Haunting Ives, stately Sibelius, modal Britten-all are done impeccably.
Dalton Baldwin's collaboration is, as al ways, outstanding. The record surfaces ought to be more silent, but the disc is otherwise an unalloyed delight. G.J.
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Chopinists: a pair
Chopin recitals, one recorded direct-to-disc by RCA Japan and the other digitally mastered by Telarc, are the first high technology piano recordings to come my way since John O'Conor's remarkable digital disc of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words from enon last year (reviewed here in October 978). If I may judge from the photo enclosed with the Denon album, O'Conor used a mere einway B, whereas Malcolm Frager played an enormous (9-foot, 6-inch, ninety-seven-key) Bosendorfer Imperial for the Telarc disc d Edward Auer (a pupil of Rhosina Lhevinne) used a German Steinway D concert and for his RCA Japan record. Yet, in pure-sonic terms, aside from both the musical content and the characteristics of the individual instruments, to my ears the Mendelssohn disc-flawlessly balanced throughout e piano's frequency range-is the best of e three, which is another way of saying that ere is much more to recording the piano an just advanced technology.
In musical terms, Frager is at his best on his sc in such splendidly virile pieces as the A-flat Polonaise and in meeting the virtuosic demands of the Op. 12 variations and the A-flat Tarantella. He does not match Horowitz's legato in the Andante Spianato (nor does any ne else, for that matter), let alone Arthur Rubenstein's way with the mazurkas. As for the second Scherzo and Third Sonata played by Auer (six years Frager's junior), one can only asp in astonishment at his almost faultless execution of two eighteen-minute direct-to-sc sides of some of the most technically ex ting music in the keyboard repertoire; he must have not only fingers but nerves of steel!
A few notes land between the keys, but it is ill a real tour de force. Interpretively, Auer's performances highlight the music's brilliance and dramatic force more than the tonal oetry one hears when it is played by, say, Vlladimir Ashkenazy.
The brilliance of the RCA Japan production underscored by what appears to be a close microphone placement in a hall that is fairly neutral sonically. Despite the apparent use of supplementary microphones to provide a measure of room ambiance (I depend here in art on diagrams and photographs on the record jacket), very little such ambiance comes through in playback, and the piano's mid range is decidedly emphasized over its low end. As one who has himself produced a good any piano recordings, I know well how critical-within inches-microphone placement can be in determining a just balance of the tonal range of any given instrument. There is also the crucial matter of the instrument's voicing. Pianos voiced for use in 3,000-seat concert halls are a sore trial for any producer, which may help explain why so many European-made piano tapings are superior, since the average European chamber-music or solo-recital hall seldom accommodates more than a thousand listeners, and the pianos are adjust ed for that.
I would like to have known where the Frager disc was recorded (there were no clues on the record jacket that I could find), for with the simpler three-microphone setup used by Telarc the hall coloration is clearly but not obtrusively audible throughout, lending the overall sound a pleasing tonal warmth. The sheer size of the Bosendorfer's sound is a bit overwhelming at some points, especially in the polonaise, and there (as elsewhere on the disc) I sense a microphone placement that tends to play up the instrument's splendidly rich bass at the expense of the midrange and higher frequencies.
THESE two releases have not altered my existing opinion of the superiority of digital over direct-to-disc recording techniques from the perspective of the performer and the producer, simply because the tape-editing option is retained (the latest digital technology apparently even allows for in-session electronic editing). But from the point of view of the listener, these are both distinguished releases, and, together with the Denon Mendelssohn disc, they are fascinating and instructive benchmarks in the art and science of piano recording.-David Hall CHOPIN: Polonaise in A-flat Major, Op. 53 ("Heroic"); Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise in E-flat Major, Op. 22; Variations Brillantes on a Theme from Halevy, Op. 12; Mazurkas, Op. 6; Contredanse in G-Hat Major; Tarantella in A-flat Major, Op. 43. Malcolm Frager (piano). TELARC C DG-10040 $14.95 (from Audio-Technica, 33 Shiawassee Avenue, Fairlawn, Ohio 44313).
CHOPIN: Scherzo No. 2, in B-flat Major, Op. 31; Piano Sonata No. 3, in B Minor, Op. 58. Edward Auer (piano). RCA JAPAN (I) RDCE-7 $15.95 (from Audio-Technica, 33 Shiawassee Avenue, Fairlawn, Ohio 44313).
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The Pizzicato Polka and the Digital Waltz
--------- The Vienna Philharmonic: unique authority and persuasiveness.
Up lip until now, digital recordings have been recorded largely as an audio novelty issued on unfamiliar labels, sold for the most part in audio shops instead of record stores, and confined to a separate "Specialty Records" section of the Schwann catalog. They have also been frightfully expensive, with Nippon Columbia's superb Denon series priced at $14 per disc, Telarc and other U.S. labels even higher. All this seems about to change, and it could be the record industry's most genuine advance since the sensible, unified introduction of the stereo disc in the late Fifties. The heartening harbinger of this change is the appearance, without advance announcement, of London's new LDR (London Digital Recording) label, the initial release of which is a two-disc New Year's con cert by the Vienna Philharmonic under Willi Boskovsky.
Instead of studio-recorded pieces collected over several years to fill a single LP, what we have here is an entire concert recorded live, with the latter portion of Auf der Jagd giddily encored and Boskovsky announcing the evidently un-programmed pieces at the end.
There is applause between selections, which I could do without (and which could have been edited out), but the audience is remarkably well behaved; except for some un-disturbing laughter following the rifle shot in the afore mentioned polka, the only vocal contribution I noticed during the actual playing of the mu sic was what seems to be Boskovsky's own humming during portions of the waltz Bei Uns z'Haus. Of course, the applause and the audi ence's rhythmic clapping during the concluding Radetzky March do contribute to the sense of liveness, but the recorded sound itself makes the greatest such contribution.
It is hardly surprising that London/Decca should be the first major record company in the West to release digital recordings. ( Columbia has issued material mastered with the Sony PCM digital system but not any actually recorded with digital equipment-except for one five-year-old completely unheralded Odyssey/Denon record of Telemann fantasias by Rampal, Y 33200.) It was London's "ffrr" series that brought the 78-rpm format to its peak shortly after World War II; the same company was the most conspicuous pioneer in stereo discs among the majors, and, to its further credit, it abstained from the quadra phonaticism that proved to be one of the less admirable flashes in the audio pan. Not much information is given about the particular process used for this recording, except that it is London's own; while technical details would be of interest to engineers and others who can understand them, what is of interest to the music-oriented collector is that it works. The difference it makes is demonstrated not by shattering bass-drum thwacks or contrived gimmickry but by comfortable naturalness and utter freedom from distortion, through an extended dynamic range, in the kind of sounds that usually show a bit of strain in even the best conventional recordings-any thing involving the piccolo, for example, or violins in the upper extremities of the range, or, to be sure, the bass drum and other low-end instruments. In other words, the listener does not find himself auditing a "demo disc" but simply enjoying a musical experience with less awareness of the electronic medium than usual. The sound is marvelously clean and open, as well as impeccably balanced in its orchestral focus. (The release is also available on cassettes, apparently the first such to be produced from a digital master; I assume they have the same characteristics, but I have not yet been able to hear them.) As to the performances, no one need comment at this late date on the unique authority and persuasiveness of the Vienna Philharmonic in this music. Over the last two decades Willi Boskovsky, always a superb violinist and a magnificent chamber-music player, has polished his conducting appreciably, and several of the pieces recorded here go with a smoother flow than in his earlier recordings of them. Sphiirenkleinge, in particular, is more full-blooded now, and with no loss of poetry. The one disappointment is Wein, Weib and Gesang--not because the English title given is inaccurate (one of several lapses in labeling), but because this great waltz is shorn of its introduction, one of the most elaborate and truly symphonic the Waltz King ever penned. I cannot imagine why the introduction was omitted here, but there is an audible tape join at the commencement of the piece, which suggests the omission might have been the tape editor's rather than the conductor's. Otherwise, no complaints: everything else is simply delicious.
Nor the least exciting thing about this re lease is its price. At $9.98, each LDR disc lists for only a dollar more than many conventionally recorded imports; if London maintains this price, it will put digital recordings in reach of discophiles who could not consider them before, and those who have invested in the sort of equipment that can display the full advantages of these discs can only be happy about that. May LDR thrive, and may the other Western giants now follow suit!
-Richard Freed
NEW YEAR'S IN VIENNA!--The Blue Danube and Other Favorites. Johann Strauss I: Loreley-Rheinkliinge, Op. 154; Radetzky March, Op. 228. Johann Strauss II: Bitte Scholl!, Op. 372; Wein, Weib and Gesang, Op. 333; Bei Uns z'Haus, Op. 361; Tik-tak, Op. 365; Auf der Jagd, Op. 373; Leichtes Blut, Op. 319; An der Schonen, Blauen Donau, Op. 314. Josef Strauss: Die Emanzipierte, Op. 282;
Moulinet, Op. 57; Rudolfsheimer, Op. 152; Sphiirenkliinge, Op. 235. Johann Strauss II/ Josef Strauss: Pizzicato Polka. Eduard Strauss: Ohne Bremse, Op. 238. Ziehrer: Her einspaziert, Op. 518. Suppe: Die Schone Ga lathee, Overture. Vienna Philharmonic Or chestra, Willi Boskovsky cond. LONDON LDR 10001/2 two discs $19.96, LDR5 10001/2 $19.96.
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MARIAN ANDERSON: Schubert and Brahms Lieder. Schubert: Liebesbotschaft; Ungeduld; Der Tod und das Madchen; Die Forelle; An die Musik; Suleika I; Gretchen am Spinnrade; Wiegenlied; Erlkonig; Heidenroslein. Brahms: Von Ewiger Liebe; Botschaft; Vergebliches Standchen; Der Schmied; Dein Blaues Auge. Marian Anderson (contralto); Franz Rupp (pi ano). RCA ARL1-3022 $7.98.
Performance: Rather special
Recording: Good
Marian Anderson recorded this material thirteen years ago, but it has not been released until now. Considering her age at the time
-she was sixty-four-she displays a remark able amount of vocal agility here, and her art of capturing a song's essence seems unimpaired. She skillfully evokes the three distinct characters in Erlkonig, brings lightness and charm to Vergebliches Standchen, and commands the low D for the ending of Der Tod und das Miidchen. But by 1966 the sumptuous Anderson tone of old was only a memory and the intonation was undependable. It is a mystery to me why this great artist is not represented in the current RCA catalog by the recordings made in her prime. -G.J.
JAMES GALWAY: Annie's Song. Marais: Le Basque. Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5: Aria. Kreisler: Liebesfreud. Faure: Dolly: Berceuse. Mozart: Piano Sonata in C Major (K. 545): Allegro. Denver: Annie's Song. Hasse: Tambourin. Debussy: La Plus Que Lente. Trad.: Brian Boru's March; Belfast Hornpipe; Spanish Love Song. Bizet/ Borne: Carmen Fantasy. James Galway (flute); National Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Gerhardt cond. RCA ARLI-3061 $7.98, ARSI-3061 $7.98, ARKI-3061 $7.98.
Performance: Piquant
Recording: Very good
Flute records continue to accumulate at a dizzying pace, and this latest one from James Galway is as pleasant to hear as any. Galway and conductor Charles Gerhardt occasionally get carried away by the emotional demands of the material, as in their shamelessly sentimental, exaggerated treatments of the Kreisler Liebesfreud, the Berceuse from Faure's Dolly, and Debussy's Le Plus Que Lente, and the flute is no adequate substitute for a first-rate soprano in the Villa-Lobos. But just as you get to feeling you've had it for the day with the flute, up these gentlemen come with a live ly hornpipe or add half a dozen harps to make an event out of Brian Boru's March, and they have you at their mercy. The album is named after a gentle, folksy little tune by John Denver, which benefits here from a bit of harpsichord accompaniment. In all, a featherweight but thoroughly diverting concert. -P.K.
ERVIN NYIREGYHAZI: Piano Solos. Grieg: Sie Tanzt, Op. 57, No. 5; Der Hirtenknabe, Op. 54, No. 1; Waltz in A Minor, Op. 12, No. 2; Heim warts, Op. 62, No. 6. Tchaikovsky: Waltz in A-flat Major; Romance in F Minor, Op. 5. Tchaikovsky (arr. Nyiregyhizi): Wa rum?, Op. 6, No. 5. Blanche: Au Jardin du Vieux Serail. Bortkiewicz: Travel Pictures. Eryin Nyiregyhazi (piano). COLUMBIA M 35125 $7.98, MT 35125 $7.98.
Performance: Individual
Recording: Good
Any pianist with a style as individual as Ervin Nyiregyhazi's is bound to have moments when what he does-musically, technically, or both-simply does not work. There are such moments on this record (from the same sessions that produced his Liszt set issued on Columbia last fall). Again we have to listen through wrong notes on some selections, and this time the sheer abundance of them all but destroys some interpretations. It is not the wrong notes alone, though, but the combination of them with exaggerated dynamics, in consistent tempos, and added bass notes, all applied to composers whose names are not Franz Liszt, that makes for the unsuccessful results. One finds such here in Nyiregyhazi's own transcription of Tchaikovsky's Warum? and in the Grieg Sie Tanzt (the dynamic contrast is so overdone it is vulgar) and Heim warts (which has an estimable folky rhythmic swing but suffers from the pile-on).
The odd piece by the obscure Swiss composer Blanchet comes across better; it is a wonderful conglomeration of sounds in any event.
But what really saves the record are such things as the deceptively simple Tchaikovsky Waltz in A-flat. The middle section drags a bit, but the opening and closing sections are absolutely exquisite: great-and greatly musical-piano playing. The famous F Minor Romance also works wonderfully as a performance (even with wrong notes and extra bass octaves), and the bounce of the little accompaniment figuration that begins the middle section is a marvel of touch. Even Grieg's Shepherd Boy, though its time span has been made virtually Wagnerian, is effective in its way, a way that admittedly has little to do with Grieg as we have come to know him. Finally, the Bortkiewicz Travel Pictures exhibit the sort of rhythmic freedom and sustenance of line that we can easily associate with great piano playing of a lost day.
I could have wished the programming of this record had been more selective (the opening selection is enough to throw anyone off), but there is much to be said, as Aldous Hux ley pointed out regarding literature, for the presentation of the "whole truth" rather than just the selected elements that make for high art and tragedy. James Goodfriend
HERMANN PREY: Orchestrated Schubert Songs. Schubert/Liszt: Erlkonig. Schubert/ Brahms: An Schwager Kronos; Memnon; Geheimes. Schubert/Offenbach: Standchen.
Schubert/Reger: Im Abendrot; Gesange des Harfners; Gruppe aus dem Tartarus. Schu bert/Berlioz: Erlkonig. Hermann Prey ( bari tone); Munich Philharmonic, Gary Bertini cond. RCA ARL1-3002 $7.98.
Performance: Good
Recording: Good
The orchestral song was created by Hector Berlioz and cultivated with great success by such orchestral masters as Liszt, Richard Strauss, Mahler, and Elgar. Berlioz and Liszt appear among the orchestrators in this interesting collection of orchestrated Schubert songs, along with Max Reger and Johannes Brahms. The result is an artistic and highly listenable sequence that nonetheless fails to alter my conviction that Schubert's songs are best as he conceived them. Unquestionably, these orchestrations by distinguished hands are worth hearing. There are two different set tings of Erlkonig, both colorful and imaginative, but the subtler one by Liszt seems more appropriate than the more powerful one by Berlioz. The Brahms orchestrations for the two "Greek" songs to Schiller texts are very effective, but the intimate Geheimes comes off less happily without the characteristic "walking" effect in the piano accompaniment. The subtle, halo-like setting for strings and flute that Reger provided for the transporting Im Abendrot seems ideal, but his treatment of the three Goethe Songs of the Harp Player is much too operatic in feeling. As for Standchen, since everybody else has already arranged it, why shouldn't Offenbach? His version is quite ornate, but the song is apparently indestructible.
The issue, however, is not approval or disapproval of the settings. The producers are to be commended for searching out these orchestrations and combining them into this fascinating sequence. Hermann Prey performs with his usual skill, the orchestral playing is first-class, and so is the recorded sound. - G.J.
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
FREDERICA VON STADE: Song Recital. Dowland: Come Again, Sweet Love Doth Now Invite; Sorrow, Stay. Purcell: The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation. Liszt: Die Drei Zigeuner; Einst; Oh! Quand Je Dors. Debussy: Chan sons de Bilitis. Canteloube: Four Chants de France. Hall: Jenny Rebecca. Frederica von Stade (mezzo-soprano); Martin Katz (piano). COLUMBIA M 35127 $7.98,MT 35127 $7.98.
Performance: Exquisite
Recording: Very good
Frederica von Stade's artistry inspires joy and wonder. Her unfailing taste, secure technique and musicianship, and exquisitely pure tone-beguilingly warm and youthfully fresh at the same time-may all be counted among the blessings of our musical life.
Outstanding among the songs here are Oh! Quand Je Dors and Debussy's Bilitis songs (written in the Pellgas style of understated sensuality). The flavorful Canteloube settings are charming, and the artist brings out more than I thought possible from the long Purcell song. This program should appeal to almost everyone, for Von Stade's charm, style, and elegance are irresistible. -G.J.
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Ravel: Chamber Music
NONESUCH has assembled an unusually imaginative program of Maurice Ravel's chamber music on one of the few discs that may be described as really composer-rather than performer-oriented, and it happens to be exemplary in terms of musicianship as well as programming. The one familiar component is the set of Chansons Madecasses, sung by Jan DeGaetani with flutist Paul Dunkel, cellist Donald Anderson, and pianist Gilbert Kalish.
The few other current recordings of this work are all so persuasive that it would be rather pointless to attempt to determine a "best" among them, but, even aside from considerations of the respective couplings (which are quite intriguing also on Dame Janet Baker's L'Oiseau-Lyre SOL-298 and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's HNH 4045), DeGaetani and her associates offer a particularly fetching amalgam of artistry, earthiness, and all-round identification with the material, investing it with freshness and vitality, which are always especially welcome in presentations of well known music.
On side two, a work that is not well known but which certainly ought to be, the Sonata for Violin and Cello, is set forth with similar eloquence and conviction by Isidore Cohen and Timothy Eddy. Much as I have enjoyed the Jaime Laredo/Leslie Parnas version on Columbia M 33529 (with the Ravel Piano Trio over-side), I felt a more immediate and deeper response to this new one, which seems to breathe more naturally-in which, one might say, the instruments seem to become the mu sic rather than merely play it. For all I know, neither Cohen nor Eddy ever saw the piece before they got together in the recording studio to tape it, but their performance suggests a long and loving acquaintance with the work.
The side considering the Chansons Madecasses filledout by relatively unfamiliar music for two pianos: the very early Sites Auriculaires (1897); whose sections are the original versions of the Habenera subsequently orchestrated 'for the ,Rapsodie Espagnole and the shorter Entre Cloches, and the tiny Frontispice of 1918. Paul Jacobs and Gilbert Kalish are the excellent pianists, and the fifth hand called for in the Frontispice is pro vided by Teresa Sterne, who is, of course, the guiding light of Nonesuch Records. She has not recorded as a performer before, but she played a concerto or two with the New York Philharmonic at Lewisohn Stadium when she was a teenager; her small but essential part in these proceedings finds her in the company of several of the outstanding musicians she has brought to her label in the last fourteen years or so. The engineering/producing team of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz has long been associated with Robert Ludwig, who did the mastering, and all their names are by now as assuring of technical excellence as the others mentioned here are of musical satisfaction. In short, this is a fine album, superbly executed in every respect, and a "must" item regardless of any duplications it may create in existing collections.-Richard Freed RAVEL: Chansons Madecasses. Jan DeGaetani (mezzo-soprano); Paul Dunkel (flute); Donald Anderson (cello); Gilbert Kalish (piano). Sites Auriculaires. Paul Jacobs, Gilbert Kalish (piano). Frontispice. Paul Jacobs, Gilbert Kalish, Teresa Sterne (piano). Sonata for Violin and Cello. Isidore Cohen (violin); Timothy Eddy (cello). NONESUCH H-71355 $4.96.
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Also see:
The Shorter Guide to Cartridge Shopping (July 1981)
Source: Stereo Review (USA magazine)