Records: Recital By Ogdon

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30540, 8 September 1964, Page 8

Records: Recital By Ogdon

A RECITAL BY JOHN I OGDON (piano). BACH: Prelude and fugue No. 5 in . D major. BEETHOVEN: Andante favori in F major. * CHOPIN: Scherzo No. 3 in C sharp minor, Mazurka No. 17 in B flat minor. DE- ■ BUSSY: Clair de iune. La danse de Puck. La fllie aux cheveux de line. LISZT (art. Busoni): La Campanella. MOZART: Fantasia in D minor (K. 397 SCHUMANN: Nachtstueck in F major, Op. 23 No. 4. H.M.V. mono MALP.I99S (12in. 42s 6d).

Anyone wanting a record of John Ogdon’s playing and not wanting his Busoni/Liszt recital issued earlier in the year should consider this one which has been drawn from a wider repertory. His playing is, as in the previous recital, assured and interesting. The beautifully shaped Beethoven. Andante turns out to be Beethoven’s original slow movement for the Waldstein Sonata; the composer changed his mind and substituted a shorter movement. In the Debussy, Ogdon is sensitive and imaginative. As his reputation includes his ability to make fireworks sparkle it is appropriate that the disc should also contain the well-handed-down (Paganini to Liszt to Busoni) La Campanella;. On this occasion. H.M.V. has caught the D.G.G. habit of printing brief multi-lingual sleeve notes. BERLIOZ: Symphonic Fantastique. Le Corsair Overture. Chasse Royale et Orage. Paul Paray conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Mercury stereo 5R90375 <l2in, 42s 6d). Mono MG50375 also available. Paray’s very fast tempi underline the restlessness and the nervousness of the first two movements. The heavily accented opening of the Ball, almost a dance within a dance, seeths with anxiety. It was a relief to find the pastoral interlude relaxed and lyrical and a pleasure to find it without a side-break. Then back to the nightmare for a frenzied March to the Gallows that ends in a blaze of brass and for a galloping Witches’ Sabbath that somehow, in a reading that makes the most of the hectic side of Berlioz, does not seem quite demonic enough. The Corsair Overture is a rollicking affair and is played with brio. The magnificent Royal Hunt and Storm sounds very seductive, though its rich landscape could have been evoked with greater warmth. The recording is spacious and impressive, but in the Symphonic, obviously recorded on a separate occasion, the harsh acoustic robs the superb playing of the Detroit S.O. of some of its beauty. This seems to be the only version of the Symphonic offering

any extras and the full hour of exciting music makes it attractive. BACH: Triple Concerto In A minor, for Harpsichord, Violin, Violin, Flute and Strings (8WV.1044). Triple Concerto in F major for Harpsichord, Two Recorders and Strings (BVW.IOS7). Anne-Marie Beckenstelncr (harpsichord). Huguette Fer. nandez (violin), Christian Larde (flute), Mario Duchesnes and Dvora Goldberg (recorders), with JeanFrancois Palilard conducting the Palliard Chamber Orchestra. World Record Club stereo STZ.23I (12in, 26s 6d). Mono also available. Schweitzer once said of the A minor Triple Concerto that no-one could help being carried away by it, even at a first hearing. Like much of Bach’s concerto music it is a reworked version of earlier compositions. Bach borrowed rather heavily from himself during his seven years at Leipzig where he had to provide fresh music for the weekly concerts. But Bach was no slouch—his arrangements were more transformations than transcriptions be-

cause he always found points .which could be improved, ieven in splendid works. The F major Trip’** Concerto is ■the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto in a fascinating disguise. This is the W.R.C.’s first disc from the complete set of Bach’s harpsichord concertos which Palliard recorded for the French Erato label. The performances are polished and lively, and the soloists satisfactory. The harpsichord is not as prominent as it could be in the A minor and its balance is only slightly better in the F major. Otherwise the recording is ■excellent

PAGANINI: Violin Concerto No. 1 In D major. WIEHIAWSKI: Violin Concerto No. 2 in o minor. Michael Rabin (violin) with Sir Eugene Goossens conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. World Record Club stereo 5TZ.232 (12in. 26s 6d). Mono also available. There is a feast of violin pyrotechnics in this coupling. The slight prominence given to the soloist in the recording gives the impression of a precarious balance above the orchestra. But, like the man on the tightrope, Rabin knows what he is doing. He passes the formidable course of virtuoso obstacles devised by Paganini with apparent ease. The Wieniawski concerto is solider romantic fare and a much more satisfying work. The tricks are saved for the exotic finale —a la Zingara—which Rabin plays with panache. Goossens and the Philharmonia provide excellent support. "MORE JUNK” from “Steptoe and Son.” Pye mono NPLIBO9O (12ln, 39s 6d). Our television critic writes: To get the maximum enjoyment from this record one would need to have seen “Steptoe and Son” on TV. The art of Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell is visual and some of their humour is lost in a reeord-

ing. However. Albert and Harold are gloriously funny and it does not take a great deal of imagination to picture them. Harold—large, powerful and ambitious—is tied to the junk yard by a wry affection for his father. Dad—small and seedy, like a sly little spider—is just as determined that Harold shall never leave him to fend for himself in his old age. Their life is one hilarious battle of wits, with father usually winning. In "The Stepfather,” Harold, for once, wins the battle. Determined not to be turned out of his home, he resorts to threats and cajolery to thwart his father's wish to be married again. "The Musical Evening” is a struggle between Steptoe and son. two diametrically opposed music lovers, to play the classics and old favourites. The result is intellectual despair on Harold’s side and a typical underhand and sneaky revenge for Albert. This recording is good fun and will delight all fans of "Steptoe and Son.”

BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 In C minor. Guido Cantelli conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. World Record Club Connoisseur < mono C 0.407 (121 n 32s 6d). In an age when octogenarian conductors have left rich recorded legacies there is only a handful of records by which to recall the brialli’ant Italian conductor, Gudio Cantelli, who was killed at the age of 36 in 1956. His reading of Brahms's C minor Symphony still compares well with later recordings by the octogenarians, Walter and Klemperer. The recording has not the wide range or the stereo of their versions but the performance is wellformed, in phrasing and architecture, and engrossing, and can be recommended as either an only version of this symphony or as a second version.