RECORDS Guitar & Harpsichord Pioneers

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30535, 2 September 1964, Page 8

RECORDS Guitar & Harpsichord Pioneers

• Music Fur Thu Guitar. Andres Segovia (guitar). Prelude (Weiss-Ponce) (with Rafael (Puyana, harpsichord); Pieces Characteristlques (Torroba); Antano (Espla); Allegro In A Major (Ponce). The Old Castle (Pictures At An Exhibition) (Musaorksgy-Sego-vla); Segovia (Roussel); Study (Segovia); Three Pieces For Guitar (Tansman); Tonadllla (Granados-Llobet). Festival (mono FL 30885. 121 n L.P., 42s 6d. Maestro Segovia. Andres Segovia (guitar). Pavane No. 8; Pavane No. 5 (Milan); Passacaille (de Visee); Giga Melancholia (anon.); Largo Assai; Menuet (Haydn): Zambra Granadian (Albenls). Gallardas; Espanoletta (Sans); Sonata, Longo 79 (Scarlatti); Andante Largo; Rondo (Sor); Song Without Words, Op. 30, No. 3 (Mendelssohn); Romance de los Pintos (Torroba). Festival (mono) FL 30682. 12in L.P., 42s 6d.

The Segovia LPs are two of five that are being issued to coincide with his visit to New Zealand. It is a while since his recordings were readily available in this country, and the appearance of so many at once is a feast sufficient for the most gluttonous guitar lover. Segovia is, of course, the world’s greatest guitarist. A few others (Julian Bream, for example) have equivalent technical abilities, but none has Segovia’s sympathy with the aesthetic of music.

■Except for two transcriptions—by Manuel Ponce from an eighteenth-century German composer, and by Segovia from "Pictures at an Exhibition”—“Music for the Guitar” is by composers of this century. It is one of Segovia’s best recordings. The programme includes, besides the work of such stand-bys as Ponce, Torroba and Granados, a composition written for Segovia by Roussel and a sonorous piece (“Study”) by the guitarist himself. “The Old Castle," transcribed from the piano score of “Pictures at an Exhibition,” is a superb performance in which twitching chords in the lower register suggest the breedings of an anonymous minstrel.

Rafaed Puyana (harpsichord) joins Segovia on the Ponce transcription of S. L. Weiss’s Prelude. “Maestro Segovia” is not quite as good. Segovia’s playing approaches perfection, but the music—in spite of the illustrious names on the sleeve—is just a wee bit soporific.

MUSSORGSKY (orch. Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition. DEBUSSY: Prelude a I’apressmldl d’un faune. Lorin Maazel conducting 'the Phllharmonla Orchestra. Columbia stereo SAXM 2484 (12ln, 42s 6d). Mono also available. At 33, the American, Lorin Maazel, has established himself as one of the most brilliant conductors of his generation. When he signed up with the Deutsche Oper in January it was hailed as the most significant development in Berlin’s musical life since Karajan joined the Philharmonic.

With a very willing orchestra in the Philharmonic, Maazel gives an imaginative and vividly coloured reading of Ravel’s famous score. His Gnomus is not quite the nasty fellow of Hartman’s picture but is finely detailed. The Tuileries and the Chicks* Ballet are lively and Bydlo remarkably dignified. The Jews and the Frenchwomen have a fine haggle and Baba-Yaga’s Hut goes by splendidly. The Great Gate is not taken as quickly as usual and is not as fullbodied, but sounds impressive just the same. Debussy’s short symphonic poem is an attractive summery fill-up. BACH: Italian Concerto, Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, .Partita In B flat major, Toccata and Fugue In D major. Wanda Landowska (harpsichord). World Record Club Connoisseur mono C 0.408 (12in, 32s 6d).

From the turn of the century Wanda Landowska was a pioneer in both the playing of domestic keyboard music written before Mozart and in the playing of the harpsichord,

and her advocacy helped restore both to their place in the musical world.

In a long sleeve note, she describes arriving in Paris with a reputation as a pianist to study the epoch of Bach. The idea of playing the works for the instrument for which they had been composed took complete possession of her and she started campaigning. One of her first victories was to have a harpsichord built in 1912 to her suggestions by Pleyel, the French piano maker. This richtcoloured instrument is used in this recital, originally recorded in 1935-36. Landowska wrote a belligerent book (her description), “Musique Ancienne?” and toured Europe, the Americas and Africa giving concerts. In 1925 she established a school near Paris which attracted pupils from all parts of the world. She settled in the United States in 1940 and continued with recitals and recordings until her death aged 79 in 1959. “My love for the harpsichord never, at any time, obliterated my love for the piano,” she wrote. “On the contrary, I played with more love, at the piano, Mozart’s solo works as well as his concertos with orchestra. What interested me was to cultivate the two instruments side by side, to compare them without ever giving the preference to one or the other.” In this notable recital of Bach some aspects of Landowska’s style may seem too romantic—the rubato, the rallentandos, and some of the registration and tempi—but that is because we have also heard a later generation. The Italian Concerto exploits the two manuals of the harpsichord—one represents the orchestra and the other the soloist—and Landowska does it so well that there seem to be several soloists. In the

Chromatic Fantasia she gives a grandiose display of virtuosity from which toe fugue emerges beautifully controlled. The Toccata in D is played with strength, vitality and humour, with a weighted slow fugue between the infectious swinging rhythms of toe outer sections. The transfer is silent, though the pitch is occasionally unsteady. There is a lot of information on the sleeve but the French “Great Recordings of toe Century” edition had Landowska's notes on the music ss well. The W.R.C. should consider a printed insert for future issues in this series where more information is available. Still, this is a fine issue.

LISZT: Hungarian Rhapiodlaa—Na. 1 In F minor, No. 4 In D minor. No. 4 In D, No. 5 In E minor. Antal Dorati conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. Mercury stereo SR 90371 (12ln, 42s 6d). Mono also available. Liszt’s Rhapsodies are dismissed by some as old warhorses but with Hungarianborn Antal Dorati keeping a tight rein on toe rhythm, with immaculately groomed playing from the L. 5.0., and with one of the best recent recordings from the Mercury stable, toe familiar course sounds very exciting. Home disc jockeys should enjoy the ride.