Recorded with an Extremely Close Micro- in General Are Top -Level
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nicely polished. In the "little" G minor of interest in the music. He drives with third movement, ten measures after the full attention is paid to the drama of the blithe unconcern through most of the first Andante sostenuto, he returns very fast movements and the poetry of the nuances of tempo and expression indi- abruptly to the Allegro speed, riding Andante. There is a passage in the open- cated by the composer. Paradoxically, roughshod over the accel. e poco a poco ing Allegro where in a dialogue between one of the few moments when he does tempo 1 marking. the two violin sections the seconds allow any relaxation, the a tempo ma un The Philadelphia Orchestra plays im- are meeker than the firsts, but every- poco sostenuto a few pages before the pressively, but it seems to have been where else the balances and the sound end of the first movement, is a place recorded with an extremely close micro- in general are top -level. where he should not be slowing down, phone pickup, and this, coupled with This recording of the A major, it but rather resuming a faster though high -level cutting, has resulted in a seems to me, belongs in the highest rank, slightly relaxed basic speed after the recorded sound that is excessively close along with the Karajan, Walter, and ritenuto three measures earlier -an ef- and unpleasantly glaring. Attempting to Klemperer versions. Similarly, the G fect Previn realizes beautifully. In the discern the real effect of the music minor is in a class with Klemperer's (on same theme (the second subject of the through it is like sitting in the insides Angel), and the G major with Böhm's movement) Ormandy blurs the rhythmic of an enormous watch and trying to tell and Maag's. N.B. distinction between the phrases with even the time. Previn by contrast has been eighth -notes and the one with a quarter given a comparatively withdrawn sound, followed by a crushed eighth; and in the but with the volume control set a little NIELSEN: Symphony No. 1, in G minor, op. 7; Saul and David: Prelude to Act II London Symphony Orchestra, André VICTOR © LM 2961, record Previn, cond. RCA $4.79; LSC 2961, $5.79. NIELSEN: Symphony No. 1, in G of minor, Op. 7; Helios Overture, Op. 17; Pan and Syrinx, Op. 49; Rhap- sodic Overture, A Fantasy -Journey the to the Faroe Islands Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, month cond. COLUMBIA QD ML 6404, $4.79; MS 7004, $5.79; QQ MQ 912, $7.95. For once I don't have to leap like some sort of Cato to the defense of ancient virtue. André Previn's performance of the Nielsen No. 1, though in a couple of passages it may yield in intensity to Jensen's old recording (mono only, and in any case unavailable in this country), is an attractive and thoroughly musical version of a splendid work (whose vir- tues I underlined in "A Short Guide to the Nielsen Symphonies," in these pages last April). Previn responds generously to the moods of the music without ever losing command of its formal unity, and the London Symphony is in excellent form. Previn generally favors fairly slow tem- pos. In only one case does the predilec- tion seem to me excessive -in the slow JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH movement, marked Andante, quarter - note 60. I feel that Nielsen's metronome Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080 marking is a shade fast, and Jensen's (THE ART OF FUGUE) pacing, roughly quarter -note 50, was ideal, but Previn, at about 40, loses THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF THE SAAR rather more in flow than he gains in KARL RISTENPART, conductor eloquence. Apart from this his direction One of the masterpieces of is unerring in its grasp of the forward the musical repertoire, movement and interaction of phrases. heard in a new orchestral version performed by the It is not only tempos that are respon- brilliant KARL RISTENPART and his remarkable sible for the startling difference in CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF THE SAAR. An important playing time between Previn's perfor- musical event that will be enjoyed, referred to, and mance (351 minutes) and Ormandy's commented on for years to come. (261/2 ). There important exposition are HB -3013 (Mono) HB -73013 (Stereo) 2- record set repeats in the first, third, and fourth $5.00 either mono or stereo movements. Even at the age of twenty - nine Nielsen had a mind of his own in nonesuch formal matters -he was not subscribing thoughtlessly to convention in marking these repeats -and Previn's performance ( like Jensen's) gains immeasurably by observing all three of them. Ormandy NONESUCH RECORDS ignores all three, and this seems some- how symptomatic of his apparent lack 1855 Broadway, New York 10023 CIRCLE 18 ON READER -SERVICE CARD JULY 1967 7 www.americanradiohistory.com.