Gramophone Notes IT was rather curiously Wagner who, in writing
about Beethoven's last quartets, observed : " The aesthetic idea of the Sublime is alone applicable here ; for the effect of serenity passes at once far beyond the satisfaction to be derived from mere beauty." It is an observation which is quite admirable of, for example, the F major Quartet, Op. 135, but needs perhaps to be slightly modified before it can be made of the Quartet in C sharp minor, Op. 131. The aesthetic idea of the Sublime is certainly applicable, but one can hardly speak of the " serenity " of the fourth move- ment of this quartet, whose complexity of idiom and manner is so firmly, at times so brusquely presented. In illustration, it is a point worth noting that in those places where the Lener Quartet in their new recording of this quartet (Columbia, LX294-8, 30s.) enforce a smooth suavity of interpretation, the music is robbed of its effect. But except for that fault, and except for a violent dislocation of balance by the first violin in the 6th movement, their performance is an admirable one. The quartet is in seven movements, intricately related to one another to form a single artistic organism. It is a masterpiece of musical construction : every new hearing reminds one with what economy its thematic material is exploited. The Leiner Quartet's recording is doubly welcome, as up till now there have been no satisfactory records available.
Cortot's new recording, with Sir Landon Ronald and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (H.M.V. DB 2181-4, 24s.), of Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor is an excellent piece of work. I have listened to these records on three different gramophones (among them the E.M.G. Mark XB, to my mind unquestionably the best gramophone at present made in this country, and therefore, so far in advance are our three leading makers of those in other countries, the best in the world ; listening to it, one hardly remembers that reproduction on the gramophone is a substitute process), and on each occasion was impressed with the remarkable freshness that these records possess. Cortot's earlier recording of the concerto was a good one, but his tone on the new records has gained immensely in fullness. For those who still condescend to listen to Schumann, there is no more pleasant recording than this.
Ravel's Spanish Rhapsody consists of four sections, Prelude a la nuit, Malcigueiia, Habanero, and Feria. It is attractive music of a not very important kind ; only the Malagueila has much more than representational charm. It is well played (Decca-Polydor CA 8174-5, 8s.) by the large Lamoureux Orchestra, conducted by A. Wolff, and those in whom these secondary works of Ravel do not induce mournful reflections about tile music he might have written will be pleased with these records.
I have no space to do more than recommend two admirable sets of Bach records : the First and Second Brandenburg Concertos played by the Ecole Normale Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Cortot (H.M.V. DB 2033-6, 6s. each); and a beautifully restrained recording (H.M.V. 2003-5, 18s.) by Menuhin and L'Orchestre Symphonique de Paris of the
Previous page
