GRAMOPHONE NOTES

BRUNO WALTER'S recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic of the Brihms First Symphony (H.M.V. DB3277-81, 3os.) and Mozart's Prague Symphony -(11.M.V. DB3112-4, 18s.) should

both have been delightful sets. Walter's renderings of Braila's' 3rd and 4th Symphonies are superb, and he has few betters as a conductor of Mozart. But both of these sets are spoiled—the Mozart rather more than the Brahms—by the reverberation in the hall in which they were recorded. The precise 'detail and brilliance that one expects today in orchestral recording is lacking in both sets ; and, particularly in the Mozart,. sprightly and pointed phrases which demand the most debonair treatment acquire a deadening heaviness in reproduction. Apart from this shortcoming both sets are good. The rendering of the Mozart is full and lively, neither too stiff nor too relaxed ; the Brahms is superbly spacious and expressive. As performances they were both no doubt entirely admirable, but this disastrous hall is an obstacle over which Walter's records will never be able to triumph.

It is difficult to enjoy Chopin on the gramophone—he requires a less impersonal setting—but one cannot for that

reason withhold praise from the two album-sets of the Noc- turnes (H.M.V. DB3186-91 and DB3192-6, 36s. and 3os . respectively) made by Arthur Rubinstein. All the nineteen

original Nocturnes are here, and since these records are issued in the ordinary lists any of them may be purchased separately. Rubinstein'a rhythm is sometimes a little weak and he is on occasions inclined to hurry, but his playing is consistently expressive and exquisite in tone : the recording is equally good, with an ahnost complete absence of surface noise. Personal

preference among the Nocturnes is probably so ingrained that

it may be a waste of time to recommend a particular record ; but for anyone retiring enough to allow someone else to

do his picking for him I suggest DB3 r9o, which contains the fine Nocturne in D Flat Major, and DB3195, with the lovely and not too familiar Nocturne in B Major, Op. 62, No. 1.

There are four excellent Beethoven sets. The Septet in E Flat Major, Op. ao was one of Beethoven's early experiments with

unusual chamber music combinations. It is pleasant, tuneful, uninspired stuff, admirable rather for successful ingenuity than for substance. This recording (H.M.V. DB3o26-3o, 3os.) by a group of. English artists led by Arthur Catterall is clear and workmanlike. Of more general interest is Gieseking's performance with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra under

Rosband of the Piano Concerto No. r (Col. LX631-4, 24s.). The Schnabel version of this concerto was, from the point of view of recording, the least successful of the five, and this recording is technically very much superior, In addition Gieseldng's inter- -

pretation seems to me very much better than Schnabel's—it has none of his rigidity. The Busch Quartet have recorded (H.M.V.

DB2810-4, 3os.) the Quartet in C Sharp Minor, Op. 131, of

which the Lener Quartet made a magnificent recording not long ago. Technically the Busch Quartet are not the equals of the others, and indeed in parts of this Quartet seem almost amateurs by comparison. But they play with great fire and insight, and of this superb Quartet one cannot have too many versions.

Lastly, we have yet another recording of the Sonata in A Major for Cello and Piano, Op. 69, this one by Feuermann and Myra

Hess (Col. LX641-3, 18s.). These are slightly superior in recording to .the recent Decca set by Grammer and Kempff, but I am not sure that as a performance it is quite its equal.

Anyone who has not got a recording of this sonata should com- pare this version carefully with the Decca, but I certainly advise those who already possess the Decca to let well alone.

Cesar Franck's Symphony in D Major I have disliked since childhood, but to those who like it let me recommend as undoubtedly the best available the new recording by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra' (H.M.V. DB3226-31, 33s.).. Stokowski drags, over-accentuates and over-dramatises, and the recording is not technically the equal, in parts not nearly the equal, of the best that are being produced in this

country. But as a whole it is certainly an improvement upon any existing version. As something to follow it and

restore life to palates cloyed by such sweetness I recommend an entirely delightful rendering of Glazounov's arrangement- of Schumann's Carnaval, made by Eugene Goossens and the Lon- don Philharmonic Orchestra (H.M.V. C2916-8, rzs.), or Pader- ewski's masterly performance (H.M.V. DB3133, 6s.) of Mozart's rather baliiirig Rondo in A Minor, KV r AUTOLYCUS.