GRAMOPHONE NOTES

OF recent months there seems to have been a hill in the production of gramophone records : it -is no doubt still one more thing. to - be ascribed to the political uncertainties of the summer and autumn. They have not come in in their usual abundance, -nor have those which have arrived been for the most part of a particularly exciting quality. This review. deals only with those records.—a smaller quantity than usual— which can.be wholeheartedly recommended. "

Of all the sets of records sent me the two which have most pleaied me have .both been off-Beethoven Symphonies—the First, done by Toscanini and the B.B.C. Orchestra (H.MN. DB3537-4o, 2 is.), and the Second, • by Weingartner and the London Symphony Orchestra (Col. LX725-8, 24..).- The First Symphony haS recently been receiving an unaccustomed amount of attention. Weingartner recorded it—after a long interval of neglect by conductors—earlier in the year; and Toscanini played the Minuet as a fill-up on his delightful set of Brahms' Tragic Overture. The Weingartner set was praised in these columns—it was an enormous improvement on the old sets by Henschel and Mengelberg—but it is impossible not to concede that the Toscanini set is preferable to it. Every- thing in this Performance is magically vital and in proportion ; and the recording maintains the standard set by the Minuet, of which it was said here at the time that it was the best recording that we had had from Toscanini. Weingartner's set of the Second Symphony seems a little desultory compared with Toscanini's performance of the First ; but it is a spacious performance with substantial merits, and though the recording is not quite up to standard in places can share the claim to be the best set of the Symphony available with the recording made by Sir Thomas Beecham about eighteen months ago. One other Beethoven Symphony has received a new recording that is worth consideringthe Seventh, done by Carl Schuricht, a conductor new, I think, to recording, and the Berlin Phil- harmonic Orchestra. This is a clear and well controlled per- formance which has received a very satisfactory recording (Decca X2o6-21o, 2os.). There are not so many good recordings of the Seventh Symphony that it can be ignored. Of the other orchestral records the moat notable is the performance of Mozart's- Piano Concerto in D Minor, K456, by Bruno Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

(H.M.V. DB3273-6, 24s.). Unless it is superbly performed,

this somewhat over-romantic work is inclined to cloy. Herr Walter is himself a highly romantic musician, but this perform-

ance is so admirably balanced that the sentimental qualities

of the work -do not obtrude themselves. In the recording the orchestra comes out rather better than the piano ; Herr Walter

achieves a warm piano tone, but does not always achieve

delicacy in the passages where delicacy is needed. A set as weleonie as this is that of Haydn's hitherto unrecorded Symphony No..93 in D major, done by Sir Thomas Beecham and the London Philharnionic Orchestra (Columbia, LX721-3, i8s,). The performance of this delightful work could not be bettered, end the recording is very good.

Of solo instrumental recordings much the most welcome is that of Lili Krauss playing Schubert's Piano Sonata in A minor, Op. 43 (Parlophone R20388-90, as.). Why Schubert's piano sonatas are not more frequently played and recorded is one of the mysteries of musical life. There is none of them that does-not-inspire delight, and the best belong to the same

_ iange . of greatie,ss as the piano sonatas of Beethoven. This sonata is an exquisite and dramatic work, beautifully concise and methodical in form. It receives a beautifully expressive performance : Miss Krauss produces a very sympathetic tone, and her playing is controlled by an exact observance of

her text. The recording is almost impeccable, and represents an astonishing improvement on any other Parlophone record; I have heard. One can only hope that the success of these - records will be sufficient to encourage the company to issue records of some of the still unrecorded sonatas.

No other piano records equal those of the Schubert sonata in interest ; but there are a few other sets which should not be ignored. Schumann's Carnaval has been recorded four or five times before now. But none of the previous sets was very recent, and Myra Hess's recording is therefore welcome—

particularly as it is so inexpensive. It is done on three H.M.V.

records (C3oo8-to) at 4s. each, on which the divisions have been so made that those who do not want the whole set may select. Miss Hess's performance is uneven—she fails rather in Eusebius and Florestan, but achieves minor triumphs in Chopin, Papillons and Promenade ; the recording •is good.

Edwin Fischer gives a beautifully phrased performance of Mozart's early and rather thin Sonata in C major, K 330, on two H.M.V. records (DB3424-5, 12s.) ; the fourth side is filled up with an enchanting Romance in A flat, which is new to me and has not, I think, been recorded before. Beethoven's Sonata in C major, Op. 111, receives its third performance within a fairly short space of time, this time by Backhaus (H.M.V. DB3218-2o, as.). This performance does not seem to me quite the equal of Petri's, but the piano tone comes out rather better in the recording and I am aware that many people may think Backhaus's interpretation more profound than Petri's. For less serious moments there is Liszt's Venezia e Napoli, played with triumphant virtuosity by Kentner (Col. DX864-5, 8s.), and Rachmaninov's Preludes in D flat major, Op. 32, No. 13, A flat major, Op. 23, No. 8, and A minor, Op. 32, No. 8 (the first two not much more than clever studies, the last of some musical interest), well performed by Eileen Joyce (Parlophone E11377, 4s.) and competently recorded.

Of chamber music recordings the most interesting have been those of Beethoven's Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2, by the Lener Quartet (Col. LX740-3, 24s.), of Mozart's Quintet in D major, K593, by the Pro Arte -Quartet and Alfred Hobday (H.M.V. DB3o9o-2, as.), and of Bruckner's Quartet in F major, played by the Prisca String Quartet and S. Meincke (Decca X220-5, 36s.). The Bruckner Quintet is a desperately uneven work, by turns dry and delightful, inventive and conventional a liking for which is very much a matter of taste. To those who want merely to sample it, I recommend as the most

rewarding part the slow movement, which is obtainable on

one record. The performance is good, if not inspired, and the recording, which is the only one available, very lair.

Neither the performance nor the recording of the Lener players- in the Beethoven Quartet is quite the equal of those by the . Budapest Quartet, which remain substantially the best version available, far from negligible though this on,.. is. The Mozart Quintet is superbly done, and may be bracketed With the Beethoven .First Symphony as the most attractive