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RECORDING of SPECIAL MERIT for Oboe and Orchestra. Peter

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RECORDING of SPECIAL MERIT for Oboe and Orchestra. Peter line between sentimentality and expressivity onotherlabels,mostnotablyon Angel, work, with its choralecantos firmus,is one a little falteringly; the dynamics are perhaps where Sir John Barbirolli does them along of Handel's grandest creations, a profound, somewhat exaggerated, as,indeed, are the with Ralph Vaughan Williams' Tallis and deeply moving tribute consisting of an over- contrasts in tempo. Furthermore, the conduc- GreensleeresFantasias. The 195 Munch - ture, six choruses, and two quartets for solo tor seems rather more interestedin(ifI Boston Symphony reading of the Introduc- voices. Strangely enough, so far asIhave may coin the phrase) musical onomatopoeia tion and Allegro still remains a tautly dra- been able to determine, thisisitsfirstre- -creating adeliberate seascape by exag- matic one, not to be dismissed out -of -hand. cording, and as such it can be recommended gerating figurational details-than rendering The Sospiri and Elegy, together with three toallHandelians. Regardingtheperfor- the work in terms of its musical form and dance bits from an unfinished opera, are mance, Ihave serious reservations: the Old content. minor, if charming, Elgariana. Testament texts are sung in German, and Still,it'sbig, impressively dramatic, and Thus, a decision as to whether or not to none too clearly either (Handel himself se- altogether full of beans in this reading. De- acquire this particular disc boils down to (a) lected the English words); the chorus and bussy'sDancesare performed with delicacy the repertoire package, and (b) one's per- unnamed soloists are adequate but far from and sensitivity, and the Roussel stands up formance preference for the Introduction and distinguished;the conducting has stylistic well under the same general treatment that Allegro. For all-out Elgarians, the fact that deficiencies, notably the handling of both La Meris given. I don't know the year of the there are no other domestically available re- written and unwritten trills; the sonic repro- original Deutsche Grammophon release, but cordings of the three small works may prove duction is muddy and veiled, and hardly any therecorded sound andstereotreatment decisive. As for the readings of the Intro- of the organ continuo isto be heard at all. seem as up to date as today. I17.F. duction and Allegro. Barbirolli's is the more The album production, moreover,is poor. clearly dramatic and virtuosic(despite an There are no texts, no listing of the sections DESSAU: In Memoriam Bertolt Brecht; occasionalinprecision, as intheclosing other than by their tempo designations, and Bach Variations.Leipzig Gewandhaus Or- pizzicato chord), while Marriner's is more not even a mention of the opening chorus, chestra, Paul Dessau cond. Piiii.ii's ® PHS ''The ways of Zion do mourn,'' by which 900208 $5.98. the scoreisoftenidentified.Finally,the Performance: Okay work is incorrectly called ''Ode on the Death Recording: Not bad of Queen Caroline-throughout theliner Stereo Quality: Adequate notes, and even the date of the funeralis wrung. I. K. Paul Dessau, born in Hamburg in 189-1, a leading conductor in Germany between the RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT wars, fled the Nazis in 1933, met Brecht in the U.S.( ! ), returned to Berlin after the HAYDN (Attrib.):Concerto, in C Major, war and became, along with Hanns Eisler, for Oboe and Orchestra.Peter Pongracz Brecht's leading musical collaborator in East {oboe);Hungarian Radio and Television Germany. His best-known Brechtian work Symphony Orchestra, Janos Sandor cond. was an operatic version ofThe Trialof PURCELL:Three Fantasiasfor Three Lucullus,an effort that caused author and Parts.The Hungarian String Trio. DOVER composer no end of trouble. The work, re- ® HCR-ST 7283, ® HCR 5283* $2.00. cently made available here ina rewritten Performance: Congenial version, was controversial obviously for po- litical and not musical reasons-the score is Recording: Very good Stereo Quality: Fine aneasilyaccessible combinationofKurt Weill and Carl Orff. More recently, Dessau A curious coupling, this: the Oboe Concerto, has somewhat defiantly introduced new and an on -again,off -again Haydn attribution avant-garde ideas into his work, and there now definitely considered to be by someone is more than an intimation of thisin the else,plus three ofthethree -voicestring strong, hammerblowIn Memoriam Bertolt fantasias of Purcell in Peter Warlock's edi- Brecht.This very direct work centers on a SIR situ EIA: AB tion. The performances, however, areex- theme fromMother Courage-anotherBrecht Drawing by r illiam Rothenstein (19/9) tremely enjoyable. The solo oboist, though collaboration-surrounded by a Lament and he is not the most finished of technicians, is Epitaph, the whole constituting a powerful even-tempered and broadly laid out. There extraordinarily sensitive in the concerto. He and moving document. The Bach Variations," are decided differencesinrecorded sound and his equally sympathetic collaborators do based on a theme by C. P. E., throw in a too: Marriner is clearly using a modest -size wonders with the -affect" of the slow move- couple of tunes by J. S. for good measure- group in a largish hall, while Barbirolli has ment, and, in fact, the entire concerto comes not to mention motives based on the names afull symphonic string complement, with out sounding far better than one usually of Bach and Schoenberg, a supposed quota- microphone placement calculated to achieve hearsit on records. Equally well conceived tion ofBlue Moon,and two or three cen- the maximum effect of spatial contrast be- are the Purcell pieces, which fill out the sec- turies' worth of stylistic references. It is mon- tween the solo string quartet and the main ond side. The sonic reproductionisvery umentally inconsistent (which doesn't both- string body, as well as between the various good, but even at the bargain price the total er me) and clever, but rather heavy-handed sections of the main ensemble itself. I must playing time (just over thirty-six minutes) and Germanic -ponderous even inits humor say that for me, Barbirolli has the edge, es- leaves something to be desired; the oboe con- (which does bother me). Just fair perfor- pecially in view of the fine Tallis Fantasia certo usually fits easily on one side. I. K. mances by the present incarnation of the reading on the other side. D. H. Leipzig Gewandhaus, quite well recorded by HAYDN:Symphony No. 90, in C Major; East Germany's engineers. E. S. HANI)EL:Funeral Anthem (1737).Solo- Symphony No. 91, in E -fiat Major.Little ists,Choir, and Orchestra of the Dresden OrchestraofLondon,Leslie Jones cond. ELGAR:Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47; Cathedral, Kurt Bauer cond. and organist. NONESUCH ® H 71191 $2.50. Serenade, in E Minor, Op. 20; Sospiri, Op. EVEREST 3227 $4.98. 70; Elegy, Op. 58; Suite from "The Span- Performance: Fluent ish Lady"(ed. Percy Young). Academy of Performance: Not the last word Recording: Excellent Recording: Fair St.Martin -in -the -Fields,Neville Marriner Stereo Quality: Good Stereo Quality: All right cond. ARGO ® ZRG 573 $5.95, QQ RG 573* HAYDN:Symphony No. 90, in C Major; $5.95. In late 173', Handel, who had been suffer- Symphony No. 91. in E -fiat Major.Ester - hazy Orchestra, David Blum cond. VAN- Performance: Spirited ing from a "paraletick stroke," returned to London to work on a new opera, GUARD CARDINAL ® VCS 10044 $3.50. Recording: Richly resonant Faramondo. Stereo Quality: Good His good friend and benefactress, Queen Caroline, died on November 20, and the Performance: Expansive Both of the bigger works in this Elgar string - composer immediately began to write an an- Recording: Excellent music disc (the Introduction and Allegro them for the funeral, which was to take Stereo Quality: Refined and the E Minor Serenade) are represented place on December 17. The music for this (Continued onpage 90) 88 STEREO REVIEW.
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