GRAMOPHONE RECORDS
[REcoaos are listed, where possible, in alphabetical order of composers. Where several composers are represented on one record, it is listed under the name of; the composer of the most important or interest- ing work. Starring applies only to the recording. A star indicates excellent quality. Unstarred issues may be taken as acceptably recorded where there is no comment to the contrary in the review. Initials before cata- logue markings are: A, Argo; B,Brunsw.ck; D, Decca; T, Telefunken; V, Vox.] Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death! Rehfuss/Haeusslein/D.LW5037. Although Rehfuss sings in French and has a very light, attractive baritone voice, he convincingly communicates the Russian character of the songs, and his voice seems, particularly in Thepak and The Field Marshal, to take on the characteristics we associate with deep Russian voices. The record can be recom- mended both to those who want the Mussorgsky songs and to addicts of Russian singing. Much the same may be said of Raphael Aries performance, in Russian, of bass arias from fwr Russian operas (Sadko, A Life for the Tsar, Prince Igor, Eugene Onegin) on D.LW5061 (with orchestra).
Mention may be made here too of a group of Tchaikovsky songs (not operatic) on D.LM4556,fr beautifully sung in German by Max Lichtegg, admirably accompanied by Haeusslein. On the reverse side are six songs by Mendelssohn. A pretty and agree- able record. Prokofiev: Classical Symphony, with orchestral pieces by Glinka, Borodin and Mussorgsky/Paris Conservatoire Orch./ Ansermet/D.LXT2833; Violin Sonata No.2 Op. 94, with Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat Op. 18/Ricci and Bussotti/D.LXT2818; Piano Sonatas Nos. 3,4 and 8/Robert Cornman/ D.LXT2836. The nineteenth-century orches- tral pieces are brilliantly played and well recorded. The Russian and Ludmilla over- ture is particularly good. The Prokofiev Symphony on the other side is not so well recorded, and Ansermet's performance, though dashing, .lacks tenderness. It is rewarding to compare the Symphony with the Violin Sonata, which is in the same key, and in which Prokofiev a quarter of a century later tried something of the same sort again. Its style is deliberately neo- classical, though not so purely eighteenth century as the symphony, and it is poten- tially equally popular, though more serious in intent, and therefore rather more satis- .fying. The playing is good, and in the scherzo very good. The Strauss sonata on the reverse side is not a well chosen com- panion, except that it will pass, like the Prokofiev, for modern music without tears —because it is not modern, belonging to his first, Brahmsian period, before he became himself. It has little to say to most of us today, and least of all perhaps to the average Straussian, who will not even begin to recognise his hero of Rosenkavalier and Tod und Verklarung here. The three Proko- fiev piano sonatas give us the composer's more personal style, also early and late. Nos. 3 and 4, written at the same time as the Classical Symphony, but based on material noted down even earlier, are entirely differ- ent in style, basically romantic but without any formed musical personality, in spite of a few characteristic touches. There is not the same disparity between the Violin Sonata and 8th Piano Sonata, also roughly con- temporary, for Prokofiev 's. own style had by then become much more simple and classical. Although wholly serious and per- sonal, and truly distinguished in its material, this is simple and popular in style, and beautifully clear in musical thought and design. Like the 5th Symphony it sugg..:sts that the need to meet Soviet demands was, for Prokofiev at least, actually beneficial in providing the discipline he needed to solve his personal artistic problems. All three sonatas are admirably played, and this in particular most sympathetically. Ravel : L'Heure EspagnolelDanco, Rehfuss, Derenne, Vess1bres, Hamel/Suisse Roman& Orch./Ansermet/D.LXT2828.* Piano Con- certos in D major (left hand) and G Major! Blancard/Suisse Romande Orch./Ansermet/ D.LXT2816; Tzigane, with Chausson Fame Op. 25 and Honegger: Unacc. Violin Sonata/Ferras/Belgian Nat. Orch./Sebastian D.LXT2S27; Gaspard de la Nuit, with Debussy: Suite BergamasquelGuldalD.LXT 2817*. The five admirable singers in L'Heure Espagnole, all with very light and sweet voices, and no less the orchestra and con- ductor, give an admirable, if slightly sub- dued performance, admirably recorded. If only the music were more memorable ! By closely following the synopsis even listeners with no French can get a good deal of amusement out of the work, and with English dialogue they would get rather more. But one wonders if the music, even with its many charming effects, will wear well when the rest is familiar and it has to bear the burden of musical attention. There is more musical amusement in the two piano con- certos, which make an agreeable coupling. The G major is a delightful mixture of neo- classicism and jazz, the D major more like La Valse, with an extended section remini- scent of Bolero, which should commend it widely. This performance and recording unhappily do not do them full justice. The pianist is rather stolid and insensitive in the exquisite slow movement of the G major, and there are poor patches in the recording of both sides. Only the first movement of the G major approaches the ideal. The superbly authentic Tzigane fares better all round, but is oddly coupled. Few listeners, surely, are likely to like all three, or even any two, of the works. Gaspard can be recom- mended, and if this also rather odd coupling brings it to the attention of lovers of Clair de Lune, it will have been useful. Schubert: Mass in Efiat/Vienna Sym. and Akademie Kammerchor/Moralt/V.PL7840*; Die Win- terreise I Schmitt-Walter / Giimen /D.LXT 2799/2800; Piano Sonata in A minor, Op. 42 /Kempff/D.LXT2834. In the Mass Schu- bert makes a gesture of economy and auster- ity by a certain thematic connection of the movements, but his effusive lyricism will not be suppressed. It is a musically charming rather than a religiously moving work, but it is none the worse for that. Its occasional longueurs are easily borne for the general charm and the not infrequent flashes of genius, which include several harmonic passages that might come from Verdi. The performance is well-balanced and faithfully recorded. Winterreise is disappointing. The _ singer's voice is not outstanding, and his interpretations do not compensate for than, although some songs are touchingly and beautifully sung, and the last two sides are generally better than the first two. On these the accompaniment is often unsubtle and unsympathetic, and the balance between singer and pianist poor. the sonata, one of Schubert's loveliest, is completely satisfying. It is played with all the repeats, which in this sensitive performance are never unwelcome. Sibelius: Four Legends, Op. 22/Danish State Radio Sym./Jensen/D.LXT2831. The Swan of Tuonela, the second of these pieces, is the only familiar one. The others are pleasant enough, but rather much when all together, because, although successive episodes in a narrative, they have not the formal coher- ence of a symphonic poem. Strauss: Duets from ArabellalDella Casa, Gueden, Poell/ Vienna Phil./Moralt/D.LW5029; Four Last Songs/Della Casa/Vienna Phil./Biihm/D.LW 5056. (See also under Prokofiev.) Here Rosenkavalierians will find it all again, and as irresistible as ever. The Four Last Songs are the finer, if the pocket demands a choice. Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge and seven songs from The Pilgrim's Progress! Young, Cameron, Kells, Bartlett/Gordon Watson/Sebastian Quartet/A.RG20. Not a very successful issue. In parts of On Wenlock Edge the singer's voice, which manages to sound much heavier than Alexander Young's, is distant, as though behind the accompani- ment. The secdnd side begins with three very dull songs, all sung by the same singer, and may well deter anybody from ever per- sisting as far as the remaining four, which are shared among the singers, and bring the first hint of musical colour and delight in musical invention. One other record should be mentioned, made at the Aldeburgh Festival this year, and containing the set of variations on Sellenger's Round, for string orchestra, specially written by Berkeley, Britten, Oldham, Searle, Tippett and Walton, (D.LXT2798).
COLIN MASON
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