GRAMOPHONE NOTES THE H.M.V. Company have made an experiment, which
one hopes they will find it worth while to repeat, in issuing at the unusually low price of 4s. a record two sets which one would not have expected to find outside the " Con- noisseur " section of their catalogue. In neither case has the standard of reproduction descended with the price, and in both the performances are excel- lent. One set in fact—of Dvorak's " From the New World " Symphony— must be recognised as quite the best that is available ; this Symphony has been recorded—by Stokowski, Harry and others—several times, but never with much success. This recording, by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Georg Szell (H.M.V: C 2949-53. 2os.) is entirely admirable—exact, lively and clear. The other set is of Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54, played by Myra Hess and Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Goehr (H.M.V. C 2942-5. i6s.). The clarity of the recording is equally remarkable, and the performance is a delight. There is at a higher price a set of this work that is equally good as a performance, as there is not of the Dvorak Symphony, but that does not make this any the less welcome.
Toscanini's recording with the B.B.C. Orchestra of Beethoven's Pastoral Sym- phony (H.M.V. DB3333-7, 3os.) Comes on the heels of the set made by Bruno Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic. As a recording it is in a different class from any previously made by Toscanini, though still not quite so good as the Walter set. As a performance it is in parts more brilliant, but as a whole considerably less coherent : both the last two movements are inflated and played with too much vehemence. The performance of the second movement is quite superb, and definitely superior to Walter's, but on the whole the consistency of the Walter set makes it preferable. Simultaneously comes a new recording of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, by Furtwangler and the Berlin Philharmonic (H.M.V. D B3328- 3332, 27s.). The performance is quite superb, and the recording, except in the last movement where the drums do not come out as they should and the effect of a passage for piccolos is minimised, is extremely good. Several excellent sets of this Symphony are available, but none is better than this.
The Busch Quartet's recording (H.M.V. DB3o37-4o . 24s.) of Schubert's Quartet No. 14 in D Minor (the " Death and the Maiden " Quartet) is, like all previous recordings of this work, only a partial success. The performance, particularly in the Scherzo and the Finale, is excellent and much more distinguished than any other that can be heard on records. But the recording is very patchy. The bass comes out very thinly, and the violin tone is sometimes disagreeably hard.
The solitary first recording on this list is of Beethoven's Triple Concerto in C Major for Piano, Cello, Violin and Orches- tra, played by A. Morales, S. Auber, R. Odnoposoff and the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Weingartner (Col. LX671- 675, 27s.). This relatively obscure work is an odd mixture of conventional writing and striking and beautiful music, and the subject of chronic disagreement among music critics. It is excellently performed- and recorded, and for many people will be the most exciting set of
Previous page
