Record Reviews
Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
Stravinsky: Concerto for Piano and Winds
Carl Seemann (in both works) and Edith Picht-Axerfeld, pianos; members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Scherman conducting in the Stravinsky; Decca DL-9963: 12”
The Stravinsky concerto is a brisk, no-nonsense piece which the composer wrote in 1924 for himself as virtuoso; a good companion to the masterpiece on the overside. Bartók’s 1937 sonata is one of the wonders of the modern musical world, a work of inspired imagination. It gallops, glides, capers; tinkles, thunders, whispers; captivates at first hearing and gains with every successive one. Here is, I think, its most successful recorded performance, in part because just the right degree of room resonance was captured by Decca’s German engineers.
Beethoven: Concerto No. 1; Concerto No. 2
Cor de Groot, piano; Willem van Otterloo conducting Vienna Symphony Orchestra; Epic LC-3434: 12”
Let us hope this commences a series, because it probably would be a very good one. The playing and recording here are quite as satisfactory as the accomplishments of Rubinstein, Krips, and RCA Victor in the same concertos. And here you also get both works on one disc instead of two. Highly recommended.
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Erica Morini, violin; Artur Rodzinski conducting Philharmonic Symphony of London; Westminster XWN-18600: 12” I have a theory that all conductors are in love with Erica Morini, so readily do they modulate their orchestral voices to her refined and subtle interpretations. If so, I applaud them (and especially Mr. Rodzinski), because here is my favorite among latter-day recordings of the Brahms concerto. Miss Morini offers virtuosity without vanity, and the orchestra is really Beecham’s Royal Philharmonic, beautifully led. What more do you want?
Herbert: Cello Concerto No. 2
Peter: Sinfonia in G
Howard Hanson conducting Eastman Rochester Symphony Orchestra; Georges Miquelle, cello; Mercury MG-50163: 12”
Victor Herbert’s Second Cello Concerto is said to have inspired Dvorak to his famous venture in the same form. It is worthy in itself as well, full of melody, rhapsodic in style, to me rather reminiscent of Elgar. Johann Friedrich Peter (1746-1813) was a Dutch-born Carolina Moravian who only once in his life broke out of hymnody, to write six secular string quintets of which this is one. It is performed as scored, but by a string orchestra, and in my house it has been mistaken for Boccherini and Christian Bach, which speaks very well for it. Hanson plays both works in exactly the proper spirit and, as always, the Mercury-Rochester sound is ravishing.
Lalande: Symphonies pour les Soupers du Roi
Mouret: Symphonies and Fanfares
Marais: Suite from Alcione
Jean-Franqois Paillard conducting heel air Instrumental Ensemble; Westminster XWN-18538: 12”
What was good enough for D’Artagnan is good enough for me. Wherein perhaps I commit an anachronism; these semimartial entertainments were written for the court of Louis XIV, but they are certainly fit for parading musketeers, full of trumpetdazzle and rat-a-tat-tat. I enjoyed them immensely, and I was aided no little by most excellent sound reproduction.
Ponchielli: La Gioconda
Gianandrea Gavazzeni conducting Anita Cerquetti, Giuletta Simionato, Mario del Monaco, Cesare Siepi; other singers; chorus and orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; London A-4331: three 12" La Gioconda is a lovely opera. Ponchielli and Boito, the librettist, melodramatized all seriousness out of Victor Hugo’s tale of Venetian skulduggery. There are thrills retained, of course, but when the going gets too grim or gory, a happy festive chorus breaks out in the background or we are given the Dance of the Hours (scrumptiously played here). There was an older LP Gioconda on Cetra, whose assets were one: Maria Callas. The London is all assets — the two leading ladies rating high among them — except for Mario del Monaco, who really ought either to mend his ways or take up residence between two slices of rye bread. His overacting can’t spoil this, though. It’s delightful.
Schönberg: Moses und Aron
Hans Rosbaud conducting Hans Herbert Fiedler, Helmut Krebs; other singers; dual chorus; Orchestra of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk; Columbia K3L-241: three 12”
In Arnold Schonberg’s twelve-tone opera, finished in 1932 and presented here by Columbia as a redletter event, Moses is the selfless seer who has the Word, the Truth, and Aaron is the glib operator who cannot understand but can sell. This is not exactly the way I recall the story from the Pentateuch, but it is a good basis for a grim, gripping, and agonized opera. Moses, the vessel of the inexpressible, has a terrible time, and this is unmistakably the same terrible time that Arnold Schonberg had, so the emotional content is genuine. The whole thing is monumental, sonically as otherwise. It cannot be recommended unconditionally: some people couldn’t endure it, others will love it.
Schumann-Byron: Manfred
Sir Thomas Beecham conducting actors, singers, BBC Chorus, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Columbia M2L-245: two 12”
Byron’s Manfred is a dramatic poem which is unstageable, unreasonable, and almost unreadable, but which is in part almost wrenchingly beautiful when recited and, further, admirably suited to musical setting and to presentation on records. Beecham (after Schumann, of course) saw this, and to him we owe this spellbinding largess, perhaps the most gorgeous combination of spoken word and musical accompaniment ever contrived. The reverie in the Colosseum, for instance, will have you breathless; you will want to hear it again and again. All I can say is, go get this album.