Record Reviews

by JOHN M. CONLY

Beethoven: Six Overtures:Coriolan; king Stephen; Namensfeier; Creatures of Prometheus; Ruins of Athens; Consecration of the House (Hermann Seherchen conducting Vienna State Opera Orchestra; Westminster WL-5335: 12“). There are no performances of any of these in recordings nearly so splendid and lifelike, and of a couple there are no microgroove recordings at all.King Stephen and the Ruins are potboilers, but highly listenable (to me, anyway). ,

Berlioz:Les Nuits d’Eté; La Captive; Le Jeune Pâtr Breton; Za’ide (Eleanor Steber, soprano; Dimitri Mitropoulos and Jean Morel conducting Columbia Symphony Orchestra; Columbia ML-4940: 12“). Reviewers abhor and avoid the word “great” like the plague, but sometimes it must be used. Eleanor Steber’s performance of these Berlioz songs, I am sure, is great. So are the songs. There is in them a kind of glad and healthy yearning you will not find elsewhere, and a kind of appreciative comprehension in their treatment you will find seldom. The “Summer Nights” song-cycle is the main treasure. Hear it if you can, but not unless you mean to be spellbound. Recording: quite good enough.

Dvořák: Cello Concerto (two versions: Pierre Fournier, cello; Rafael Kubelik conducting Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; London LL1106: 12“; and André Navarra, cello; Rudolf Schwarz conducting New Symphony Orchestra of London; Capitol P-8301: 12”). Insoluble problem: the best recorded performance is, unassailably, the old Victor Casals-Szell reprint, terribly tinny to the ear. Of newer versions, the fresh Capitol issue competes well with the excellent Janigro performance for Westminster, but the Fournier for London seems to me to outclass both. Sometimes Fournier hacks at his strings, but there’s bite and swing and beat not offered by the competition.

Brahms: A German Requiem (Lore Wissmann, soprano; Theo Adam, baritone; Georg Solti conducting Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra and Chorus; Capitol PBR8300: two 12“ in album with text). The crepuscular glory of this majestic music requires in delivery an effortless balance and dynamic range I do not find here. However, the Shaw-Victor and karajan-Columbia versions are too old to compete. This is it, unless you’d rather wait.

Bruekner: Symphony No. 3, “Wagner” (Hans Knappertsbusch conducting Vienna. Philharmonic Orchestra; London LL-1044: 12”). To me, Bruckner always sounds as if he had been incurably obsessed by the first movement of the Beethoven Ninth. But there could be worse obsessions; and he certainly created some tremendous sonic architecture. Knappertsbusch, a masterful Wagnerian, gives his tonal extravagances full play here, and so do London’s technicians. If you like No. 3, proceed to No. 5, recently issued by Urania (Gerhard Pflüger and the Leipzig Philharmonic; URLP-239: two 12“) in an odd coupling with Weber’s early Symphony No. 1.

Haydn: Six Quartets, Op. 2 (The Schneider Quartet, assisted by Weldon and Kathleen Wilber, French horns; Haydn Society HSQB: three 12“ boxed or separate). The content should make these inconsequential, but genius got into the act, so they are delightful, and durable for at least two more centuries. Music to live with, in performance and recording of fitting excellence.

Hovhaness: Khaldis, Concerto for Piano, Trumpets and Percussion; Piano Pieces (William Masselos, piano; Izler Solomon conducting chamber ensemble; MGM E-3160: 12“). The young Armenian-American, Alan Hovhaness, uses the piano like a Near Eastern percussion instrument, without chords, emphasizing the beauty and drama of successive single notes. He has ideas to justify the technique, too. Very strong, haunting music, recorded with the requisite fidelity.

Mendelssohn: Elijah (Josef Krips conducting soloists, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Hampstead Boys’ Choir; London LLA-27: three 12“ with text). Mendelssohn’s last major work, and probably his greatest, has been strangely neglected by recording companies. This version isn’t ideal, but it is satisfactory. Of the soloists, only the contralto (Norma Procter) is outstanding, but Krips and the ensemble are fine, and Mendelssohn is terrific. I am so glad to hear “Baal, we cry to thee” in hi-fi that I’d buy this offhand, but maybe you’d better listen first.

Rachmaninoff: Concerto No. 2 in C Minor (Leonard Pennario, piano; Vladimir Golschmann conducting St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Capitol P-8302: 12“). The ancient Rachmaninoff Victor reprint is more communicative; the Rubinstein playing (Victor LM-1005) is pianistically superior. For beautifully balanced sonic-interpretive impact, buy this Capitol; everyone involved did his best to make it good, and it really is.

Rossini:L’Italiana in Algeri (Carlo Maria Giulini conducting Giuletta Simionato, Cesare Valetti, other soloists, chorus and orchestra of Teatro alla Scala; Angel 3529-B: two 12“ with libretto). Everyone knows the overture; here’s the opera that goes with it—corny, melodious, funny, immensely clever in a frankly lowbrow way. It’s not Figaro, by a long shot, nor even The Barber, but it is all-out entertainment, performed here in that spirit very expertly, and very hard to resist.

Tchaikovsky:Swan Lake (Antal Dorati conducting Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra; Mercury 01-3-102: three 12“ with illustrated bind-in in deluxe album). Tchaikovsky’s complete original score, never recorded and probably seldom played before, might have made an achingly long ballet, but it makes wonderful home listening. Its writing also fits admirably the kind of almost supernatural fidelity Mercury’s recording staff has contributed. Altogether, a fabulous production meriting praise from all quarters and possibly justifying issuance in a sky-blue wateredsilk album, which is how it comes.

Verdi:Rigoletto (Mario del Monaco, Hilde Gueden, Aldo Protti, Cesare Siepi, other soloists; Alberto Erede conducting Chorus and Orchestra of Academy of Saint Cecilia, Rome; London LLA-25: three 12" with libretto). If a challenge be issued among producers of Rigoletto on records, and all combatants put up their dukes, London will win. Mario del Monaco is the biggest Duke in the business. He makes Verdi’s villain a rakish brute, rather than a callous dandy, but that is OK by me; he comes no vocal croppers. Aldo Protti, however, is a somewhat impassive Rigoletto, and Hilde Gueden a cool and collected Gilda, so that all the characterization is just barely, but perceptibly, awry, weakening the plot. Still, all concerned do sound convincing when they’re singing, partly because of the highly realistic reproduction, and no other version has as many assets.

Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerto in A Minor; Flute Concerto in F; Oboe Concerto in D Minor; Concerto in G Minor “For the Dresden Orchestra” (André Jouve conducting New Paris Chamber Orchestra; Westminster WL-5341: 12“). There is no striving here for “authenticity,” which should be a liability but is not. Vivaldi is played unself-consciously, as if he were Mozart, and the music must survive the treatment, which it does very handsomely. It emerges clever, intimate, sophisticated, and various, as fit for today’s living rooms as for the ducal halls it first graced. The recording is rich and realistic.

The Art of the Organ (E. Power Biggs, organist, performing on twenty European organs; Columbia SL-219: two 12“). Mr. and Mrs. Biggs and an Ampex tape recorder toured Europe last year, capturing the sound of Old World pipe organs old and new (the Royal Festival Hall organ had its hour, as well as the 1619 Compenius organ in Frederiksborg, Denmark). The jacket notes try to establish the set as a sound-curiosity, but the fact is that Biggs was entranced by the voicing of some of the marvelous baroque instruments, and played with extraordinary feeling. Try the Sweelinck and Buxtehude sections, and feel the centuries melt.

The Art of Ruth Draper (Ruth Draper, monologist; RCA Victor LM1859: 12“). Explaining Ruth Draper to someone who never heard Ruth Draper in “The Italian Lesson,” for instance, probably is fruitless. Her imitative accents often are faulty, her sketches exaggerated to the teasing point. All I can say is that she sometimes reaches deeper into people than anyone else in her craft, and that this makes her craft an art.

Brubeck Time (The Dave Brubeck Quartet; Columbia CL-622: 12“). This is by all odds the best Brubeck record yet produced, perhaps the only one that does anything like justice to the brainy Brubeck crew. I recommend it most fervently to classics lovers who have been wondering if they couldn’t make sense of highbrow jazz if they tried. Incidentally, it’s a hi-fi studio recording.