Gramophone Notes
Tit REE months' records have now accumulated for review, among them
so many excellent recordings that it will be necessary to be much more summary than one would wish in
discussing them. For many people the most interesting set will be the one which happens to be the latest to arrive- Kreisler's recording, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under John Barbirolli, of the Brahms Violin Con- certo in D Major (H.M.V. DB2915-9., 27s.). It is some time since this con- certo was recorded, a longer time since Krcisler recorded anything so well worth his gifts. It is all the more a pity that this recording should not show him at his best. In parts, as is the least one could expect, it is very good indeed— the slow movement is beautifully played —but elsewhere his intonation is often at fault and the phrasing is sometimes sadly ragged. The orchestral playing too seems. laboured at times, and to complete the chapter of misfortunes the recording itself is below the highest standards. By way of contrast, the recording and performance of the only other Brahms work in this list is as good as one could wish. It is a long time since Sir Thomas Beecham gave us anything so satisfying as this set which he has made with the London Phil- harmonic Orchestra of the Symphony No. 2 ' in D Major (Col. LX515-9, 30s.). It is a really excellent recording, scrupulously exact, polished, and in- finitely suggestiVe. The other set of Beecham records in this list, also with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, is of Haydn's Symphony in E Flat, No. 99 (Col. LX505-7, 18s.). This is also an excellent set. Sir Thomas Beecham has played this symphony several times in London and elsewhere during the last few years, and there should be a large public, already acquainted with his masterly interpretation of it, ready to welccime these records: From Kousse- vitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra comes a recording of Tchai- kowsky's Symphony No. 4 in F Minor (II.M.V. DB2899-2903, 30s.), which many. people will undoubtedly like and others will equally certainly detest. It is all on the heroic scale, hilt the climaxes have been exaggerated and subtlety has, been sacrificed to theatrical effect. Appended to the last record is a waltz from the String Serenade, which illustrates still more clearly the vulgaris- ing effects of over-amplification.
The latest recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major comes from Vienna—by Huberman and the Vienna _Philharmonic Orchestra under Georg Szell (Col, LX509-13, 30s.). It is very good indeed. Technically Iluberman's playing is of course unsur- passed, :but some people may find in his interpretation a sentiment that verges on. lusciousness. • But the orches- tral . playing is excellent, and the recording. is particularly good. Mar- f-,ruerite Long, with the Orchestrc Sym- phonique de Paris conducted by M. Gaubert, hai made a very pleasant set of MOzart's Piano Concerto in A Major, ..(Col. LX527-9, 18s.). Mlle. Long's playing is very workmanlike, neat and clear, _though at times it suffers from a certain lack of colour. The orchestral playing is good, though one notices a slight hardness in - the strings. -But this is not so hack- neyed-. a mods that..onc: can afford to neglect so good a recording as this.
Of chamber music records, much the most interesting set is of Mozart's Divertimento for Violin, Viola and Violoncello in E Flat Major, K. 563, performed by. the Pasquier Trio (Col. DX742-6, 20s.). This lovely and com- paratively little known work (inci- dentally it is not, as the accompanying leaflet says it is, Mozart's only string trio) may seem a little unrewarding to those who come to it for the first time, as its form makes few concessions to a summary appreciation, but they will certainly find patience well repaid. Mozart's Quartet in E Flat Major, K. 428 is, on the other hand, one of his most obvious works. Everything is in the shop window (that is why this quartet is so often employed for academic purposes), but they are taste- ful and delicate goods, and in this new recording (H.M.V. DB2820-2, 18s.) they are expertly and sensitively arranged by the Pro Arte Quartet.
There have been three sets of instru- mental records of outstanding merit. The first is Rubinstein's set of eight Chopin Polonaises (H.M.V. DB2493- 2500, 48s.). Nothing can ever make the Grand Polonaise in E Flat Major, Op. 22 anything but a set of musical platitudes pretentiously expressed. Not even Rubinstein can make it worth listening to, but many of these other pieces, almost equally hackneyed, he invests with a new interest, and in the Polonaise in F Sharp Minor, Op. 44, indisputably the best of the Polonaises, he almost persuades us that the music is as good as the performance. The other two sets arc both of Beethoven Sonatas, one of William Kempff playing the Harnmerklavier Sonata in B Flat, Op. 106 (Decca CA8254-8, 20s.), the other of Egon Petri playing the Sonata in C Minor, Op. 111 (Col. LX491-3, 18s.). A recording of the Hammerklavier Sonata is an event, and Professor Kempffs performance is admirable in many ways. His playing of the Fugue is striking, but his version of the Adagio lacks authority and he seems somehow not to have a unified vision of the work as a whole. Of Egon Petri's records, on the other hand, there can be nothing but praise. This is a supremely good per- formance, and the recording is not unworthy of it. This set must be joined with that of the Brahms Sym- phony as the best recording in this list.
Apart from these twelve recordings of major works, a few other less important records remain to be recommended. Toscanini (from whom it is apparently hopeless to expect anything more sub- stantial) gives us some remarkable Wagnerian snippets, played by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra—Sieg- fried's Rhine Journey from Die Goiter- dammerung and the Prelude to Act 3 of Lohengrin (H.M.V. DB2860-1, 12s.) and the Prelude to Act 1- of Lohengrin (H.M.V. DB2904, 6s.) ; Busch and the London Philharmonic Orchestra have produced an excellent version of Strauss' tone poem Don Juan (H.M.V. DB2897- 8, 12s.) ; Bruno Walter, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, a very fine recording of Beethoven's Leonore Over- ture No. 3, appended to which is a recording of the Ruins of Athens Over- ture (H.M.V. DB2885-6, 12s.) ; and Herr Kleiber with the Berlin Philhar- monic Orchestra two entirely delightful records of -Mozart's Eine kleine Nacht- musik (Telefunkert E1669-70, 12s.), which aredistributed in-this country by the_Fal.G. company. AUTOLYCUS.
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