GRAMOPHONE NOTES
THOUGH the B.B.C. in the first few weeks of the war must have done much to make the very mention of a gramophone record distasteful, the paucity of entertainments to attract even those prepared to brave the black-out (together with the con- tinuing bleakness of the broadcast programmes) has probably by now reversed the position. It is certainly to be hoped that it has, for the gramophone companies have been since the beginning of the war as courageous in their policy as the publishers of books. New records have not been quite as abundant as they were in the days of peace, but in each of the lists so far issued there have betn recordings that were welcome.
In the lists of orchestral music four recordings stand out. Two of them are of Beethoven Symphonies done by Toscanini, the Fourth (H.M.V. DB 3896-9, 24s.) with the B.B.C. Orchestra, the Fifth (H.M.V. 3822-5, 24s.) with the N.B.C. Symphony Orchestra. The English one seems to me superior to the American both in performance and reproduction. The American performance is of the super-efficient kind, producing in the listener a kind of dazed numbness, in which apprecia- tion of the music is submerged by stupefaction at the technical accomplishment of the orchestra. The volume of sound pro- duced in this recording is terrific: a fibre needle cannot stand up to it properly, and while the effect with steel is on the whole better, the noise produced by, for example, the drums becomes extremely oppressive. The recording of the Fourth seems to me preferable in every way, apart from the accidental merit that it is of a work of which fewer versions are avail- able. It is as a whole a quite excellent performance, entirely free from the distortion which appears in the rendering of the other symphony, and accurately recorded ; a slight indistinct- ness in the wood-wind in the first movement is its only fault. As well as these two symphonies, Toscanini has made two single records—one, with the B.B.C, Orchestra, of Beethoven's Leonora Overture No. z (H.M.V. DB 3846, 6s.), the other, with the N.B.C. Symphony Orchestra, of a Paganini Moto Perpetuo and the Scherzo from Beethoven's Quartet in F, Op. 135 (H.M.V. DB 3858, 6s.). The former is a charming record which I warmly recommend to anyone with 6s. to spare, the latter seems to me entirely worthless. The Scherzo loses all its proper qualities and gains nothing in the transcrip- tion, while the Paganini is merely a blare of unsubtle sound.
The two other orchestral recordings of importance are of Haydn's "London" Symphony (No. 104, in D) by Sir Thomas Beecham and the London Philharmonic (Columbia LX 856-8, as.), and of Mozart's Haffner Symphony by the same con- ductor and orchestra (Columbia LX 851-3, 15s.). Both of these, beautifully played and finely recorded, I put among the most pleasant sets produced in the last six months. On practical grounds, the Haffner is the more welcome, being hitherto without a good modern recording, while the Haydn was excellently done by the Edwin Fischer Chamber Orchestra not so long ago.
By comparison with orchestral, instrumental music has been rather less generously treated. There is only one recording of a Concerto—Beethoven's Fourth by Gieseking and the Saxon State Orchestra under Bolun (Columbia_ LX 847-50, 24s.)— which, though good in many ways, is on the volatile side. The Andante is exquisitely played, but the performance of the first movement is often superficial. The orchestral work is ade- quate but unexciting. On the whole, though, largely owing to the superior quality of its reproduction, this set stands up to comparison with that made some years ago by Sclmabel. There have been no records of chamber music of consequence —I hope that chamber music is not to be a permanent war- time casualty—and other instrumental music has chiefly been of snippets. Not all of these, however, 'have been quite inconsiderable. Egon Petri has produced a spirited record- ing of a Liszt Ricordanza (Columbia LX 846, 6s.), and while the music is not much more than a tuneful exercise, it is impossible not to admire the brilliance of Petri's playing. Gieseking has made a recording, which though harsh in places is on the whole quite agreeable, of Chopin's Barcarolle in F Sharp Major, Op. 6o (Columbia LX 859, 6s.). And, primarily because it is so cheap, I recommend a recording by Mr. John Davies (H.M.V. BD 738, 2s.) of Chopin's Etude in A Flat Major, Op. 25, No. I, and Liszes Gnomenreigen. The performance of the Chopin is undistinguishable, but the Liszt is played with convincing sparkle. It is possible that Mr. Davies, whose first record this is, may develop into a
Previous page
