Records ahead of anything earlier

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 14

Records ahead of anything earlier

Records Sz discs

ALLAN FRANCIS

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: “Scheherazade”-Sym-phonic Poem Op. 35 played by the LSO under Loris Tjeknavorian. VARESE SARANBAND CD VCD47208. DDD. Also by the Scottish NO conducted by Neeme Jarvi. WORLD RECORD CLUB WR10686 from CHANDOS.

Not only colour but orchestral finesse and recording brilliance marks the issue on CD from the little-known conductor with the LSO and the equally impressive digital version from Neeme Jarvi.

Both recordings are well ahead of anything earlier. Both have generous fillers, and neither has the blotches which marked Kondrashin’s 1980 recording or Muti’s overpowered 1983 account. Several more versions have come to light since then, but these tend to confuse the issue rather than make comparisons easier.

Between the two listed for review, though, one has a veritable feast of colour initiated by the respective conductors. It is more than enough to satisfy the most ardent follower of Russian music. A mild word of warning: Tjeknavorian simulates a good deal of his excitement from technical sources, while Jarvi extracts his from the music alone (plus superb reproduction). There may have been reservations in the beginning over digital techniques, but nowhere has the problem been resolved so convincingly as here. Of this pair alone, I would have to choose the Jarvi on LP, but the difference is marginal. The only coarseness, so prevalent in the Muti verison especially, is that' injected by the composer himself in the filler, “Stenka Razin.” The filler on CD is “Russian and Ludmilla Overture.”

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony 2 “Little Russian” played by the Oslo PO, conducted by Mariss Jansons, also Capriccio Italien Op. 45. CHANDOS CD 8460 released by EML DDD. It must be more than coincidence that all the issues of this symphony in the last few years have been second or third attempts by older conductors. Also significant is the fact that /the “brushing

up” is no different from their first versions.

Arriving new into the field is Mariss Jansons, who produced such committed versions of the Fifth and Fourth symphonies like a breath of fresh air. The results are unmistakably crisp and vital.

No exaggerated tempos or artificial devices here, which are often part of Tchaikovsky interpreters. Jansons moves from subject to subject effortlessly but convincingly. ROYAL CHRISTCHURCH MUSICAL SOCIETY: “With Joyful Voice” — Festival of favourite Hymns, Wallace Woodley, organ. KIWI PACIFIC TRL-066.

Rightly, the Choir makes no pretence beyond a conventional hymn programme, sung as if in church, correctly but terribly predictably. This is, of course, what they set out to do, so it must appeal to that section of listeners devoted to the Sunday morning oldfashioned hymns on the National Programme. One might wish in vain for the harmonic variations of the Glasgow Orpheuus Choir in hymns such as “The Lord Will Come” or "The Lord My Shepherd,” but there are no traces whatever of Sir Hugh Robertson here. It is really better enjoyed for what it is rather than be judged as what-might-have-beens. VILLA-LOBOS: Bachianas Brasilelras Nos 1, 5 and 7 sung by Barbara Hendricks, soprano with the RPO Cello Ensemble conducted by Enrique Batiz. WORLD RECORD CLUB issue from HMV 27 0444 4.

It is a case of many trying, few succeeding, and this one may be the closest to success since Marni Nixon’s 1959 reOverseas critics seem too hard to please in the many versions that do exist, so even Kiri Te Kanawa’s 1984 account fails to get right to the heart of the pieces. No-one, though, could deny Miss Hendricks’ lovely tone. Despite some obvious orchestral blemishes by the conductor, this version must rank as the best of the moderns.

The troubles are really small ones; the merits far outweigh the demerits. I feel I can live quite happily with this version until something obviously better comes along. LES MISERABLES: Original Cfist recording by the Alain Boublil Productions. Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. FIRST NIGHT RECORDINGS released by FESTIVAL RECORDS L70255/6. A long story, a big cast, and a production that relies heavily on the French idiom adds up to quite a taxing form of entertainment for show buffs conditioned to the Andrew Lloyd Webber hits of the last few years.

These are the total of the debits; the rest is all magnetic, with excellently formed melodies and lyrics that at times border on the savage, other moments are chock full of tenderness and compassion.

As with “Oliver,” the poor provide an irresistible base for any plot of this nature. They bring their own brand of colour, their constant plight providing the story as well as the subject of wry humour. All this, plus a singer who looks like A. K. Grant Briefly, the story concerns a released convict who finds that he is condemned forever to be an outcast. Only., the Bishop Digne treats him kindly, but, the convict, steals from him in return. The Bishop denies all knowledge of the theft and the captured convict is released.

From this point, the life of the rehabilitated convict is muddy and uncertain. He lives in Paris with a young girl as his daughter, but the story line then turns to political drama.

It is hardly a first rate plot. The music by Claude-Michel Schonberg is sometimes used as the vehicle for dialogue, and this is included in the recording. There is apparently very little in the way of exotic sets or choreography. One is left here with words, muic and the need to use imagination. "Nothing can be more disgusting than oratorio. How absurd to see 500 people fiddling like madmen about the Israelites in the Red Sea!” —Sydney Smith letters, 1823.