GRAMOPHONE NOTES
Paderewski : Plano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 17. J. Sanroma and the Boston Promenade Orchestra, conducted by Arthur Fiedler. (H.M.V. Os.)
THIS is a very sensible piece of rescue-work. This concerto was an early composition of Paderewski's, now little known; though it seems to have been written strongly under the influence of Dvorak, it has considerable originality in some of its elements, and is certainly as well worth listening to as, say, much of Edgar. The second movement, marked Romanza, is much the most satisfactory; it is a genuinely accomplished piece of romantic writing, well-planned, imaginative and poetic. The first move- ment is more conventional, but for the most part pleasant; the third is a regrettable anti-climax of brassy sound. The pianist, whose name was unknown to me, is a musician of considerable skill, though unfortunately not at his best in the slow movement. The orchestral playing is very adequate. Though the recording is not of the first class, it should be a point of honour among collectors to buy this set, so much more welcome than an entirely satisfactory reissue of a work of which half a dozen good recordings are already available.
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