A good year on the recording scene

Press, 28 November 1983, Page 18

A good year on the recording scene

Classical records review

ALLAN FRANCIS

Many exciting new recordings have added lustre to the catalogue in 1983 while reissues from the past have kept the whole business in proportion. Many new faces have appeared on the music scene, some of the older ones have gone but the hardy annuals such as Herbert von Karajan are still turning in the usual mixture of varied performances. This conductor has entries in all categories this year as usual, the good, the bad and the indifferent, so readers are assured of a fair share of the cross-section in their musical diet.

Karajan is responsible for my pick for “The New Artist of 1983,” Anne-Sophie Mutter, whose awesome work in the Mozart Violin Concertos 2 and 4 on EMI ASDZ 4185 is quite staggering. Less enthusiastically, it must also be mentioned that the same conductor’s views of Mozart’s Flute Concertos with James Galway are best forgotten, while his “Magic of the Waltz” wins him the title of “The Coldest Classic of 1983.”

Moving on to the “Symphony,” the three in contention finally rested on the Schubert 9 by Karajan on WRC WI 4276, Mahler sth and 10th Adagio) by Simon Rattle on HMV SLS 5206 and Mahler 7th by Haitink on Philips 6700-036. Haitink won by a nose.

In the “Piano concerto” section, Gilels still turned up trumps with his Beethoven Ist on WRC WI 4707 and here the Cleveland Orchestra played a significant part of the performance. In the “Chamber Music” category, the Borodin Quartets 1 and 2 played by the Borodin String Quartet met with warm approval despite many claims of mushiness or superficiality. When are we ‘ going to hear “Camerata” on record?

Several entries by Kiri Te Kanawa finally set the seal of quality with her prizewinning effort on the Verdi/ Puccini CBS recording DBR 003. This one seemed to fit her like a glove. Jessye Norman swept aside all opposition for “Sacred Songs” with her dramatic versions of standard secular pieces on Philips 0514 151. This is also on Compact Disc and prospective purchasers

should hear both. The “most Public Spirited” effort must go to Kiwi Pacific’s “Road Show" on KML 5 while the limp lettuce leaf is awarded to William Dart’s “Songs to the Judges” on Kiwi’s SLD 69. That same company also carried off the “Children’s Record of 1983” with the engaging “Grampa’s Place" on SLC 176.

This year, it was decided to run another category, the “Bits and Pieces Award,” or Excerpts, and this was equally won easily by the oldsters, Hans Knappertsbusch and Karl Bohm, for their respective chunks of Wagner on Philips 6598 352, reminding us all just how Wagner should be played. The very important and highly competitive blue ribbon for solo piano was hard to pick. Either the wellworn Chopin set by Artur Rubinstein or Dimitri Alexeev’s Brahms pieces (not so well-known), would have been worthy winners but, after much thought, the latter succeeded for WRC on WI 4738 with due regard to Rubinstein’s seemingly ageless quality. On the subject of boxed sets, three lined up and it was impossible to split them at the post; a triple dead-heat between “The Perlman Box,” “Fenby Legacy” on WRC 5008-2, and the history of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. So vast were the subjects covered, the multiplicity of good things made any better decision completely out of the question. “Jazz, Old and New” brought a few oldtimers blinking into the limelight. RCA continued its excellent series, “The Legendary Jazzmen,” and Volume 3 won acclaim, especially for choosing Charlie Christian, Paul Desmond and the rare jazz piano of Nat Cole as prime subjects. “Woodrow (Woody) Herman’s Hits” on WRC WC still generated heat, but the King pin was Duke Ellington’s RCA VPL 17329 recording with the unimaginative title, “The Popular D.E.” After all, when was he ever unpopular? One jazzman who is both old and new is Miles Davis and his not-so-new release on CBS 62066, entitled “Kind of Blue.” stands as a per-

manent all-time high in this or any other’s career. With the late Bill Evans in the ranks, this album won convincingly the "Chamber Jazz” laurels.

Demerits are part of any game and a vital ingredient of this one for obvious reasons. First, there were too many Boleros for the common good of the emerging listening public. Most conductors were guilty but the results were the same in every case. Faure’s orchestral works are rapdidly becoming dated in this age. which is now intolerant of the fine elements in Faure’s character and music.

Riccardo Muti is becoming dangerously fast with his tempos and could risk

becoming another Karajan where speed is not the essence of the contract. I fail to see the reason for yet ... another encore of Sir Colin Davis’s "Last Night at the Proms (1969)." After all, it wasn't as good as all that. Pavarotti took a nosedive

with his first celluloid excursion, “Yes, Giorgio," and his singing, at times, was atrocious.

There were insensitive engineers at EMI who recorded Mark Walton’s "Homecoming” on WRC Wr 4977, but it was lola Shelley who suffered most. Elgar’s "Starlight Express” was an unnecessary visit into nostalgia. Such a frail work should not take up precious time and space. Everyone, or nearly everyone, loves a laugh. We might have been deprived of that luxury had Donald Swann not managed to replace his old friend, Michael Flanders, with Frank Topping. Rarely does it work the second time around, but -it did here.