musIc Stars & stripes

GILLIAN WIDDICOMBE

Considering how eagerly their solo musicians flock to Europe and flaunt the immaculate efficiency of their services, it is surprising how seldom the great American orchestras come to England. The New York Philhar- monic has been most often: in 1959. 1963 and 1968. The Cleveland came in 1965, the Los Angeles in 1967; but the Boston not since 1956. And the Philadelphia, who dropped in with two Festival Hall concerts at the Festival Hall last week, had not been since 1958. Whereas in recent years the English orchestras we have sent over there have overtaken that number. The LSO has been the most often. with 10 visits since 1964; then the RPO, who went for the fourth time in 1969; while the BBC Symphony went in 1965, the LPO went earlier this year, and the New Philharmonia goes next year.

The background reason is that touring an orchestra is phenomenally expensive. and it seems that American orchestras have less cash to play around with than they used to. There is no state subsidy for foreign tours in the us, whereas the British orchestras are currently enjoying a phase of comparative prosperity, with more public money at their disposal and more prestige. And another thing is even more ilelevant for the Americans: the record companies. who represent the largest and simplest form of promotion and publicity for any orchestra, but particularly for those resident over 3,000 miles away.

Rut and cos are the cornpanies most heavily involved. Their swapping of con- tracts is rather like conkers, but it is roughly

true to say that RCA has had the Boston, the Chicago and the old NBC, whereas CBS has done the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia and the Cleveland.

The crucial point is that until recently both companies were distributed through the agency system, whereby a British com- pany pressed, distributed and promoted them in exchange for the same service for their own records in American. listv had

the largest hand in this, for they dealt with CBS until 1956 and RCA until 1958. Cas

then tried Philips, but abandoned them

and set up their own London headquarters in 1965; RCA tried Decca and also went

independent last year, so that all these records are now processed and promoted here in their own right, and are bound to receive far more attention. As a result, we can expect the Americans to be more easily lured in the future; and the slightly sour taste that haunted their reputation here in the 1960s—basically resentment, I imagine, be- cause their playing was more efficient than ours—should soon be completely dispelled.

Of the six great Americans, the Philadelphia is the most voluptuous. It was born with the turn of the century, and has had Eugene Ormandy as its Music Director and Conductor since 1936. Which is an outstandingly long time. It is time for a con- ductor to shape the musical personality of his orchestra as well as the refinements of his individual players; time for a repertory to become the bread and butter which shapes the contour and colour of the whole ensemble.

Ormandy's heart is that of the romantic, and the sound evolved is a huge, romantic one, with a sheen and spread more luxurious than any other. The wind are beautifully matched and the strings are neither heavy, like the Germans. nor vital and polished like the Russians but accumulate this warmth from smooth ensemb!..t over a full and resonant bass. As the ads say, it is a fabulous sound.

And it was certainly confirmed by these two concerts—which considering the dry acoustic of the Festival Hall and the end of a tiring tour, was no mean achievement. So why were these concerts not quite the success we expected? The trouble is that the

Philadelphia is also the most vulgar of the great American orchestras. The CBS

record issued to celebrate the event shows

MI), immediately, for it begins with Orman- dy's arrangement of the Bach D minor Toc-

cata and Fugue, in which that glorious brass section blares fulsomely up every broken chord, and the fugue is lost in a mash of gorgeous string tone. Yes, it is the Stokowski style, and reminds us that he was Ormandy's predecessor at Philadelphia.

The concerts also confirmed that Ormandy needs exaggerated music to bring his performances to life. Of the six works brought to London, Schubert's Unfinished and Tchaikovsky's Pathetique were memorable more for the quality of their playing than for their actual performances. Whereas Ravel's 2nd Daphnis and Chloe Suite and Mahler's Symphony No I caught fire through the very strangeness of their writing. I doubt that we shall ever hear more of Ravel's notes than in this Daphnis: instead of the usual gurgling blurr the wood- wind gave a pointillist picture with every

pebble in place. And the Mahler, in reality more the virtuoso piece though in general result less showy, seemed to brood and boil more vividly than in a dozen more violent performances.