Recordings in Review Encounter, Based Wholly on Economics
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HE IDEA of going to Naples to re Tcord Schubert may appear, at first Recordings in Review encounter, based wholly on economics. In the actuality of the sound itself, the artistic ends are more than justified bv A Double Dolhy As no one is likely to buy a record the means. They are, indeed, enhanced simply to enjoy what is not there, some by such qualities as the Italian clarinet RACUMAXINOFF: Sonata in C minor (Op. attention ought to be directed to what player puts forth on behalf of his solos 19). KoDALY: Sonata (Op. 4). Uartcij is present on these two discs. Of the in the Ro.mmunde music—liquid, more Shapiro, cello, with Earl Wild, piano. two, tlie Shapiro-Kodaly disc fulfills to melting than the generafity of Continen Nonesuch stereo, H-71155, $2.50; a larger degiee the challenge of what it tal, English, or American performers on mono, H-U55, $2.50. contains. This is no reflection, really, on that instiument—and by sweeter, more the quality of the Stokowski-Milhaud- flowing choral singing than is commonly Aumont-Singher efloit, which is good. encountered north of the Alps. STRAVINSKY: L'Uisloire du Soldat. Leo But having heard the L'stinov-Coctean- To be sure, none of these values pold Stokowski conducting a chand)er Markexitch version on Philips has, for would amount to much were they not en.send)k\ with Madeleine Milhaud, this lislener at least, spoiled the car loi- utilized by Vaughan on behalf of .sound narrator; Jean Fierre Aitmont, the just another average good recording. er Schubertian purpose than has been Soldier; and Martial Singher, the On the other hand, Shapiro is a su heard since such conductors of the pre Devil. Vanguard stereo, \'SD 71165, perb cellist who has never exploited his ceding generation as \Valter, Furtwiin- $5.79; mono, VRS 1165, $4.79 {Iwth abilities to the degree that some others gler, Beecham, Kleiber, et ak, died. Foi- with French text). Vanguard stereo, might ha\e, and Wild is completely in those to whom he is an unfamiliar name, VSD 61166, $5.79; mono. VRS command of the pianistic recjuiremenls Vaughan luay be identified as an Aus 61166, $4.79 (both with ΕηφΙι of the two works. That is of .special con tralian who became a bass pla\er in tlie text). Available together in special sequence in tlie Rachmaninofl, which Royal Philharmonic, toured extensively issue at price ot single cHsc. has a virtuoso piano part much on the with that Beecham-led orchestra, and order of the second concerto (also a eventually took charge of the Beecham Y CONTRAST WITH most record product of 1901). The Kodaly work of Choral Society. His Schubert is leisurely, B ings, what is of special importance 1910 is a much stronger example of cre unhurried, but not devitalized. There here is not what is heard, but what is ative initiative and admirably per have been brighter performances of the unheard. Both are products of the l^ol- formed. On both sides, the Dolby sys Overture to Die Zauberharfe (the C- by system of noise suppression known tem confers a special benefit in clarity major one which is invariably performed as tile S/N (Signal'Noise) Stretcher to the sound of the piano. in its .second identity as the Rosamunde described in "Mr. Dolby's Dilly" [SR, Overture), but everything else goes March 25] by Ivan 15erger. The intent swimmingly. Scliul)ert a la Vauglian of the procedure is to reduce "all sounds Least familiar, and thus most wel not a part of the microphoned signal a SCHUBEKT; Incidental music to Ro.'ia- come, are the additional items from Die full 10-to-15dB below their normal lev munde (Ballet Music I and II, En Zauberharfe. They are all infused with els" (the wording is from the Nonesuch tr'acte in Β flat, "Der Vollmond the Schubertian spirit, and the perform announcement). This relates to tape strahlt") and Die Zauhcrharfe (Over ances realize a remarkable share of it. hiss, channel cross talk, high-frequency ture, Larghetto, Chor der Genien, Those who have heard Miss Popp only flutter, and tape print-through. Overture to Act III, melodrama, An- in such specialities as the Queen of the Doubtless there will be learned anal dantino, and Final Scene). Denis Night will be charmed by the freshness ysis of the pros and cons of the Dolby Vatighan conducting, with Lucia of her sound and the beauty of her system. As with any innovation it is Popp, soprano, and the chorus and phrasing in the Rosamunde "Romanze." hardly possible that this one purchases orchestra of the Naples Opera, RCA The quality of recorded sound is just advantage at no cost in disadvantage. Victor stereo, LSC 2937, $5.79; mono, what the music should have. But, to the listening ear accustomed to LM 2937, $4.79. some "announcement" prior to the be Sonatas hy Busoiii ginning of the music, it is a new experi ence to hear the music arise, as from a BusoNi: Sormtas in Ε minor (Op. 29 and vacuum, with no introductory iiiss or Op. 36a). Hyman Bress, violin, with slightest extraneous sound at all. This Bengt ]ohnsson, piano. L'Oiseaa-Lyre phenomenon is common to both issues, stereo, SOL 296, $5.79; mono, ()L and, in the case of the Nonesuch, par 296, $5.79. ticularly, prevails through the full side. Opinion of the Vanguard must be tem IVEN SUEEICIENT encourage pered, for what is at hand is the demon G ment, Hyman Bress could, through stration or trial record, rather than the energy and application, eliminate from finished pressing. It, too, is excellent in the language the phrase "unknown vio the special direction affected by the lin music." It was a relatively simple Dolbv system. As everyone krjows, how start he made with the Baitok sonatas ever, the more extraneous noise sub for RCA some months ago. Recently he tracted from the finished record, the added the unaccompanied sonatas of more critical becomes the presence of Reger, all seven, on the Dover label; and stray particles of dirt or other sound- now he has identified himself with the creating matter on the record's surface. sonatas of Busoni whose mere existence There is some of this in the Vanguard —let alone their content—is known only pressing, though it may well have come to devotees of the composei'. from matter in the air after the disc was Some might make a case of tliis, pro shipped. Lucia Popp—"freshness of . sound." Busoni, contra the tribe of concert vio- 68 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG SR/April 29, 1967 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED linists endlessly addressing themselves (Hareton Earnshaw). Pye stereo, CSCL to the sonatas of the Bs, plus Cesar 30173, four records, total price £6 Franck. The urge to be passionate on 17s. 6d. (approximately $19.25). this point is somewhat deterred by the discovery, after proper attention to the NY NUMBER of contemporary op- content of these discs, that Busoni him A- eras have been produced on the self—while making a fourth B—was stage without attaining the permanency somewhat wrapt in the same sort of ob of a recording. Bernard Herrmann's session himself. The first and second setting of Wuthering Heights is the movements of No. 1 tend toward the rare instance of the contrary case: a precepts of Brahms, and the long, last work completed at least ten years ago, section of the second sonata frequently but yet to see the light of the stage, now recalls the canonic finale of Franck. available as a recording. I would as Busonians would doubtless argue that sume that the financial risk is not Pye's the climax of the second sonata, which alone, but, rather, a companionate enter is decidedly the more interesting of the prise in which the publisher (Novello) two, is the logical fulfillment of its own as well as the composer (and others) design. This derives from a motive based have participated. on Bach's "Wie wohl ist mir," which is The career of the New York-born also woven into part two of the single Herrmann is altogether an unusual one, uninterrupted movement. It is not until —/oAn Engstead. for his compositions have been heard by the finale, however, that the source Bernard Herrmann—"the depth millions (as composers for the sound comes clear, thereafter being made the and breadth of the subject." tracks of films from the award-winning subject of a considerable exercise of hasn't gotten around to Nielsen yet). Devil and Daniel Webster to the very Busoni's contrapuntal skill. But by weaving a bass, melodic line into current Fahrenheit 451) though knowl Not being a convinced Busonian, it a sequence of arpeggiated figures, Niel edge of his name in his own country strikes me as fuller of intellectual enter sen has given the illusion of two lines is limited largely to professionals. prise than of emotional appeal. This is moving simultaneously. Among these he is esteemed as a sure in no way a reflection on the quality of It is perhaps the most advanced tech hand with the orchestral score sheet, the performance. It is beautifully formu nical feat Goodman has challenged, and though his character as a composer of lated by both Bress and Johnsson, who he succeeds to a remarkable degree in other than film music is better known in plays the difficult piano part fluently. It bringing it off. Considering the road he England than it is here. is Bress, however, with his strong pur has traveled to achieve this objective— Along with the benefits that accrue suit of thematic essence and beautifully with all the detours, the equivalent of from a recording, there are the indis poised command of the instrument, who going from New York to Boston by way putable risks of having a work meant for gives both performances their distinctive of Tokyo—he is deserving of several the eye as well as the ear judged by its character.