March he composed in 1901. In any mith himself attempted to remedy this PHILIPS © 420 174-4, © 420 174-2 (52 event, it is good to have the two concer- situation in 1948 by preparing a revised min). tos together, and they could not have version, as he did with others of his Performance: Poetic had more effective advocacy than they works, in light of his later theories. In Recording: First-rate receivehere;everything aboutthis fact, however, the earlier versions are- handsome release suggests a real labor to our ears today-nearly always fresh- Surprisingly, this seems to be the first of love. er and more exciting. That is certainly compact disc of the complete Third Lytin Harrell meets the cellovir- the case with Cardillac, and Wergo for- Year of Liszt's pianistic pilgrimages, the tuoso -composer on his own ground, as tunately decided to go with the original one centered on Rome. We may expect it were, and not only revels in the mate- version for this recording. Brendel, Bolet, Wild, and perhaps Ar- rial Herbert wrote for himself but shows In line with the expressionist taste of rau to be heard from in due course, but real affection for it. Neville Marriner, the time, Hindemith chose to adapt a we may not expect any of those well - for his part, provides a most sympathet- rather lurid story by E. T. A. Hoffman established Lisztians to surpass Zoltan ic accompaniment, and London's engi- about a goldsmith who is so obsessed Kocsis's achievement. This final vol- neering team has put everything in the with his work that he kills his customers ume of the Annees followed its two pre- most appealing sonic frame. The Pensee in order to get his jewelry back. It was decessors by some twenty to thirty amoureuse, which Herbert composed clearly the theme, and not necessarily years; the seven pieces in it, composed for cello and piano in 1892, and four of the specifics, that attracted the compos- when Liszt was in his late fifties and six- his little piano pieces, all transcribed for er. Not much happens in Cardillac; it is ties,are among the works we now cello and strings by Sam Dennison, not the place to look for complex char- regard as "prophetic." Kocsis is very make lovely fillers. R.F. acter development. Rather, it is a series much attuned to this characteristic of of scenes or tableaux on which Hinde- the music. He neither exaggerates nor HINDEMITH: Cardillac.Siegmund mith has hung a rich, vigorous, intense, suppresses the occasional intimation of Nimsgern (), Cardillac; Verena dark, hard -driving score-one of his Debussy but lets it all happen with a Schweizer (soprano),HisDaughter; finest. As an on the subject of art naturalness that makes the listener a Robert Schunk (tenor), Officer; Josef and artists, itis only a sketch for the sort of companion and co -discoverer. Protschka(tenor),Cavalier;Harold much greater Mathis der Maier, but as a His exquisite, poetic approach suits this Stamm (bass), Gold Merchant; others. piece of music it is surprisingly moving exquisite, poetic music splendidly. No- RIAS Chamber Chorus; Berlin Radio and emotional. where is he content to stay on the sur- Symphony Orchestra, Gerd Albrecht Hindemith, like Stravinsky, has al- face, and nowhere does he allow a ges- cond. WERGO/HARMONIA MUNDI ways had the reputation (which he fos- ture to be overdrawn. Noble simplicity U.S.A. WER 60148/49-50 two cD's tered) of being a craftsman of an almost is the keynote here, making Kocsis's (89 min). medieval, or Baroque, objectivity. But identification with the music complete, there is a breathless level of inspiration his projection of it revelatory in the Performance: Solid and emotional intensity in his earlier truest sense. The sound is first-rate, the Recording: Excellent work that reaches a peak in Cardillac. documentation comprehensive. R.F. Berg, Stravinsky, and Weill are more The recorded performance here, under potent names in the annals of modern Gerd Albrecht's direction,is a solid, MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in opera and European music theater, but intense one, with a good cast, and the E Minor (see BRUCH) no composer of the Twenties made a recording itself is excellent. Unfortu- bigger contribution in this area than nately, the opera's libretto, by Ferdi- MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante in E - . After a series of much - nand Lion, is given only in German, fiat Major (K. 364); Concertone in C noted chamber , Hindemith em- and there is no synopsis in English- Major (K. 190). Jaap Schroder (violin); barked on Cardillac, his first full-scale only a translation of a rather Germanic MarilynMcDonald(violin,viola); opera, which had its premiere in 1926. essay on the music. E.S. Stephen Hammer (oboe); Kenneth Slo- Itis one of those works sometimes wik (cello); Smithsonian Chamber Or- described as legendary-that is, more LISZT: Annees de Pelerinage.Troi- chestra, Jaap SchrOder cond. EMI/ talked about than performed. Hinde- sieme annee. Zoltan Kocsis (piano). ANGEL CDC -49006 (58 min). Zoltan Kocsis: Liszt projected with noble simplicity Performance: Pristine Recording: Excellent MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante in E- lba Major (K. 364); Violin Concerto No. 3, in G Major (K. 216); Rondo for Violin and Orchestra in C Major (K. 373). AugustinDumay(violin);Gerard Causse (viola); Sinfonia Varsovia, Em- manuel Krivine cond. EMI/ANGEL CDC -49160 (62 min). Performance: Expansive Recording: Excellent These two recordings of Mozart's Sin- fonia Concertante dramatically demon- strate the difference between the con- temporary performance style and the so-called authentic or historical style. Jaap Schr6der and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra turn in an elegant performance in the historical style, one ".) in which precision and clarity are the hallmarks. Every instrument of the or- chestra is clearly articulated, and the music sparkles like crystal. Emmanuel Krivine's modern -style reading with the 118STEREOREVIEWJUNE1989