GRAMOPHONE NOTES
THE most interesting of my last batch of records are two unusual combinations. Mozart's Divertimento K.361 (H.M.V.), is for wind
ensemble, and is played by members of the Vienna Philharmonic who have the right qualifications, complete mastery of the technique of their instruments as soloists and a sense of this purely eighteenth- century style. The strings of the same orchestra (or twenty-three
of them) have recorded R. Strauss's Metamorphosen, a florid work within its limits, showing the composer more deeply thoughtful
than he has appeared for many years and still, of course, a magnifi- cent craftsman. Decca have issued two works which also fall between the orchestral and chamber music categories—Brahms's
Alto Rhapsody (Kathleen Ferrier) and Lennox Berkeley's delightful Divertimento (London Chamber Orchestra under Anthony Bernard). The rhapsody suits Miss Ferrier's broad, undramatic style excel- lently, and her voice soars magnificently over the treacly chorus of male voices.
The L.P.O. under Furtwangler have recorded Brahms's No. 2 (Decca); it has peculiarities of tempo in the slow movement but is
otherwise good. The Concertgebouw under van Beinum have made a
quite exceptionally good recording of Haydn's Symphony No. 95 in D major (Decca), and the Liverpool Philharmonic's Surprise
Symphony (Col.), conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, is workman-
like if rather uninspired. In two modern works for large orchestra —Bax's Garden of Fand (R.P.O. under Sir Thomas Beecham ; H.M.V) and Ravel's concerto for the left hand (Casadesus and the Philadelphia S.0.; Col.)—the playing is masterly, but the big climaxes seem to be more than even the modern gramophone can really manage. This is partly true of Ravel's La Valse (Conservatoire Orchestra under Ansermet ; Decca), but it only mars a comparatively small part of the music. On the other hand, Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony (Halle under Barbirolli ; H.M.V.) and Bizet's jeux d'Enfants (N.S.O. under Desormieres ; Decca) are quite excellent and the surface consistently smooth and unbroken.
The only chamber music I have had is Alan Bush's Dialectic. It is an impressive work, excellently conceived for its medium and well played by the Aeolian String Quartet (Decca). Among vocal records Gabriella Gatti's singing of the opening scene of Act IV of Otello (H.M.V.) stands far above anything else for pure beauty of tone and dramatic power, though Hilde Gueden's Non so piu (Decca) is excellent in its very different way.
M. C.
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