GRAMOPHONE NOTES
ORCHESTRAL. Of three Haydn symphonies the London, played by the L.P.O., under Joseph Krips, is by far the best, though the slow movement is too fast for my taste (Decca). The Surprise by the Suisse Romande Orchestra, under Blech (Decca), and the Military, by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Hugo Rignold, (Col.) are no more than decent. Berlioz's Queen Mab, by the Con- servatoire Orchestra under Munch, is both brilliant and delicate, and the same orchestra under Kleiber makes Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony sound still urgent and fresh, while the middle movements are particularly fine in detail. Another old favourite, Mendelssohn's violin concerto, is excellent in balance and finish, with Beinum conducting the L.P.O. and Campoli as soloist. Malko conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in Ippolitov-Ivanov's Caucasian Sketches, pleasant " national " music of an older generation ; but not even Desormiere, conducting the National Symphony Orchestra, can extract a spark of interest from Bizet's overture Patrk. Clifford Curzon with the L.P.O., under Szell, gives a beautifully finished and deeply felt performance of the Emperor concerto, too nervous and too little leonine for perfection but very fine within its limits. (All these are issued by Decca.) Toscanini conducts the N.B.C. Symphony Orchestra in Schumann's Manfred overture, but here again the poor quality of the music is only emphasised by the dramatic brio of the performance.
CHAMBER MUSIC. The surface of Beethoven's D major cello sonata op. 102 no. 2 (Col.) is poor, though the playing of Schnabel
and Fournier has power and authority. The Amadeus Quartet have made a fine recording for Decca of Priaulx Rainer's first string quartet, a work that is always interesting and often something more.
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