7 JUNE 1940, Page 28

Beethoven : Sonata in A Major, Op. 47 (The Kreutzer).

Lili Kraus and Simon Goldberg. (Parlophone. 24s.) OF the two ways of playing the Kreutzer Sonata—as chamber music or as a work for the concert hall—the majority of per- formers choose the second. This is an example of the other method of approach, and an extremely good one. There is no display of fireworks in either the first or the last movements, in the latter of which the deliberate avoidance of brilliance is indeed perhaps carried too far. But the lyrical passages are given a remarkable depth of expression, and the whole performance has great subtlety and freshness of approach. The recording of both instruments is flawless.