RECORDS Beethoven Quartets In Realistic Stereo

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30398, 24 March 1964, Page 8

RECORDS Beethoven Quartets In Realistic Stereo

BEETHOVEN: String Quartets—Ho. 3 in D, Op. U, N«. 3; No. 0 in B-flat, Op. lE, No. 0. The Drolc Quartet.. Columbia stereo SAXM.2SO4. (12in, 42s 6d). In no field has the development of stereo recording techniques brought greater .advances than in chamber music. With the volume set at the right level, this record sets the quartet right out in front of the listener complete realism and none of that hard, concrete-walled sort of acoustic ambience that surrqunded so many chamber music groups bn records a few years ago. The four members of the Drolc Quartet all play in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and they have been playing as a quartet since 1950. On the evidence of this record they must be one of Germany’s foremost chamber ensembles. They play these early Beethoven quartets in a deeply-engaged, vital way that is all too rare. They use a full range of dynamics and their phrasing as a result is- unusually shapely, while their rhythmic vitality and tonal refinement arg exceptional. In the B-flat quartet a sense of humour informs their playing of the syncopated Scherzo and the slow introduction to the finale is played, as Beethoven directed, with the greatest subtlety. Anyone who is beginning to explore chamber music will find this record a first-class introduction to Beethoven’s quarters. BARTOK: String Quartets —No. 1 In A minor. Op. 7; No. 2 in A minor, Op. 17. The Vegh Quartet. Record Society mono RZ.6086 (121 n 30s). When the Vegh Quartet’s Bartok series first appeared in 1956 there was much argument and discussion on whether the Hungarian players did a better job than the competing Juilliard Quartet. Memory does not recall what conclusions, if any, were reached, but both groups were very good and, with the Juilliard set no longer obtainable

here, the wise Bartokian will snap up the Vegh set as the three discs appear. Bartok’s six string quartets occupy” a central position in his life’s work and they are the greatest series of string quartets Since Beethoven’s 17. The recording here is not as airy and intimate as Utter recordings, but, the balance and Instrumental tone are good.

HANDEL: Maulah (arch. Gooiiam) —Every valley; And the Glory of the Lord; . For unto us; Ho shall feed His flock; Come unto Him; Behold the Lamb of Cod; He was despised; I know that my Redeemer llveth; ' The trumpet, shall sound; Hallelujah. Jennifer Vyvyan (soprano), Monica Sinclair (contralto), Jon Vickers (tenor), Giorgio Tozzi (bass), with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra tfnd Chorus. RCA stereo LD5.2447 (Win, 42s «d). Mono also available. The sleeve carries Beecham's not explaining why he used Sir Eugene GoOssens’ orchestration of “Messiah” for the complete recording from which these excerpts come— Beecham believed the public would not listen to the lean, sparse sounds Handel intended.” However, one suspects that impression was formed a long time ago, for if Beecham really wanted 20th-century orchestration he should have got Stravinsky to do the job; Goossens has produced “Messiah” accompaniments as Richard Strauss might have written them, and that sort of orchestration has passed into history just as much as the oboe and bassoondominated sound of the Handelian orchestra. The result: some masterpiece of baroque architecture decked out in tinsel and coloured lights for the Christmas shopping season. Beecham’s conducting, however, is- some compensation, for it is full of vigour and spirit and attuned to Handel’s pathos and grandeur, apart from a deplorable speed-up at the end of the “Hallelujah” chorus. The fairly small chorus sings splendidly and. the words are extraordinarily clear. Neither of the female soloists has a particularly opulent voice, but they are both very assured and musical and sing in an agreeably unportentious way. Vickers’ divisions are not very clear, but his dramatic force is welcome in “Every Valley.” Tozzi’s solid, fluent singing of his aria is a great pleasure. The recording is very fine, though th.e copy reviewed had excessively noisy surfaces. Check for this. SULLIVAN: Pineapple Poll (arr. Mackerrai). Charles itackerras conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. World Record Club stereo STZ.2I3 (12in, 26s 6d>. Mono also available. Although it was hailed by the diehards when it first appeared in 1951 as the first step bn the road to ruination of Sullivan’s music, “Pineapple Poll,”. Mackerras’s im-aginatively-coloured, almost seamless “patchwork quilt of tunes from most of the Savoy operas” has had few if any sequels. It still sounds fresh and delightful and the great verve of the arranger’s own performance should make this a very popular record. The recording is excellent. TCHAIKOVSKY: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture. WAGNER: Siegfried Idyll. Guido Cantelli conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. World Record Club mono CP.403 (12in, 32s 6d). Cantelli’s death in a plane crash at the age of 36, robbed the world of a remarkable conductor—probably the outstanding conductor of his generation in fact. These two performances make it clear why he was held in such high regard. The Tchaikovsky is magnificent, full of dramatic fire and tension. In the Siegfried Idyll a larger body of strings than Wagner intended is, used, as usual, but Cantelli is so attentive to tone and balance that the woodwind detail is not obscured, while the phrasing is wonderfully tender. Therecording, first issued in 1954, shows its age a little —chiefly in a lack of presence and rather narrow dynamic range.

VERDI: Nabucco—Overture; Aida—Prelud. to Act 1; Giovanna d’Arco—Overture. Tullio Serafin conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. Vosprl Slclllanl— Overture; La Traviata—Preludes to Acts 1 and 3; Forsa del Destine—Overture. Serafin conducting -the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Columbia stereo 5AXM.2324 <l2in, 42s- 6d). Mono also available. The octogenarian Serafin’s performances are more notable for spaciousness than vitality, but in this enjoyable collection of largely unfamiliar Verdi overtures there is very little of that rhythmic sluggishness that has marred some of his recent work. Both orchestras play magnificently, and this can be better appreciated in the stereo edition. In it there is more spaciousness and a greater sheen on the strings than in the mono edition, which was issued some time ago.