RECENT RECORDS
THE most wholly successful records are those of Mozart's D major violin concerto played by Heifetz and conducted by Beecham (H.M.V.). The Concertgebouw Orchestra under van Beinum have made two good recordings—Bartok's concerto for orchestra and Mozart's C minor piano concerto, in which Kathleen Long is the soloist. Mendelssohn's G minor piano concerto played by Moura Lympany and the Philharmonia Orchestra (H.M.V.) suffers from tempi which are just too fast, converting an elegant and youthful brio into a scramble. Prokofiev's fifth symphony, played by the New York Philharmonic under Rodzinski (Col.), left me personally very cold, but both playing and recording are good.
The best chamber music recordings are the Schubert octet, played by members of the Vienna Philharmonic, and Brahms's A major violin sonata played by Georg Kulenkampff and Georg Solti (both Decca). Lily Kraus plays Mozart's piano sonata in B flat K.333 with distinction and charm (Col.), but I was rather disappointed by Michelangeli's Reflets sur Peau (H.M.V.), which has more virtuosity than poetry. Backhaus's playing of the Italian Concerto (H.M.V.) is marred by uncertain tempi in the first and last movements. The Griller Quartet's recording of Dvorak's Nigger Quartet (Decca) has both the vigour and the naiveté necessary for the music.
Of vocal records the most interesting to me is Eugenia Zareska's singing of the famous farewell aria from Tchaikovsky's Joan of Arc. She sings in Russian, and reveals a quality of voice and a dramatic power which never appear to anything like the same extent when she sings a non-Slavonic language—German, Italian or English. This bears out my passionate conviction that language does affect the actual voice, and not merely the interpretation, of a singer. Heinrich Schlusnus sings Die Post and Der Lindenbaum with beautifully finished art, but I was rather disappointed by Suzanne Danco's Amarilli. Raphael Arie's 11 lacerato spirito reveals a magnificent voice but very questionable control of it. All these are Decca record- ings. For Columbia James Johnston's Pagliacci recording has the vigour and freshness which this fine singer brings to everything
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