Gramophone Notes
WHAT is of particular note among the Jan uary- records is that, on the evidence, the Lener String Quartet have regained their musical sanity. Dvorak's " Nigger Quartet, which they play on three records (Columbia LX 183-5, 18s.) is in no sense great music. It is indeed marked with all the faults to which its composer was consistently liable. But after the debauch of cinema melodies in which the Lefler String Quartet (in company with a number of others) have lately indulged, we may 'be pardoned in receiving even Dvorak's melodious sentimentalities with expressions of relief. Recent grossness (Or rather, the convention in which that grossness flourishes) has, of course, left its trace ; in this case, especially on the secon 1 movement, in which the music is presented, like a sentimental Victorian etching, with a thought too exaggerated an ingenuousness. The recording is excellent ; the volume slightly less than usual.
13ach's Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins is delightfully played by Yehudi Menuhin and Georges Enesco on two records (H.M.V. DB 1718-9, 12s.). There are occasional inaccuracies, particularly in the observation of marks of expression, and the tones of the two violins are not quite sufficiently blended. The first movement has a touch of the mechanical about it, but there is little ground for complaint in the performance as a whole. Liszt's Piano Concerto in E Flat is played well, but with a slightly oppressive resonance, by Gieseking and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, con- dUcted by Sir Henry Wood (Columbia LX 181-2, 12s.). It is fortunately slightly late in the day to discuss the sub- stantial merits of Liszt's controversial essay in exuberance, but Sir Henry Wood perhaps takes the music a trifle too literally. Because some music happens to be shallow, it does not follow that its interpreters should always rest upon its surface. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor is very pleasantly recorded by the Orchestra of the State Opera House, Berlin, conducted by Josef Rosenstoek (Parlophone E 100906-9, 16s.). There is an occasional lack of subtlety, and the violins are sometimes a little ragged. But as a whole it is unquestionably successful.
We may also recommend an excellent recording of Elgar's In the South, by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Elgar (H.M.V. DB 1665-7, 18s.) ; William Kempff's recording of the Sonata Pathe'tique (Decca-Polydor DE 7016-8, 7s. 6d.) ; Bach's Partita in C Minor, played by Harold Samuel (Columbia DX 427-8, 8s.) ; the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra's recording, conducted by Beecham, of Strauss' Don Quixote (Columbia LX 186-90, 30s.) Moussorgslcy's Pictures at an Exhibition, played by the Berlin State Opera Orchestra, conducted by Melichar (Dccea-Polydor LY 6053-6, 14s.) ; and Lotte Lehmann's interpretation of Sehumann's Die Lotosblume (Parlophone RO 20207, 4a.).
Previous page
