Records: Youthful Works

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31081, 9 June 1966, Page 12

Records: Youthful Works

Probably the bestknown and most popular theatre music transferred to the concert hall is the incidental music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (by Mendelssohn) and Rosamunde” (by Schubert).

Both are presented by Paul Kletzki conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in recent H.M.V. releases. The Mendelssohn work is on mono XLPM 30025 (355) and the Schubert on mono XLPM 30041 (355). Of the two, the Schubert is the more satisfactory. Kletzki does not seem entirely at home with more dramatic passages and he encounters few of these in “Rosamunde.” There is far more lyricism in the Schubert work and this is his forte. He treats the more dramatic Mendelssohn with a rather heavy hand, even though the music is ponderous enough in itself at times. The overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was written by Mendelssohn when in his teens—he wrote the rest of the work much later—and it is interesting to compare this with three works of Mozart written from the age of 12 to 16.

They are Symphony in D, K. 84, Symphony in B flat, K. supp. 216, and Divertimento in F, K. 138, -ecorded on M.K. mono D. 012943 (42s 6d) by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under Rudolf Barshai. Only the divertimento is well-known, and though the

three lack maturity they are unmistakably Mozart and as such are well worth listening to.

So is the playing of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. It is a little-known group, but on this performance one of the finest chamber groups in existence.

One of the more interesting attempts to bring together classical music and jazz is recorded on Polydor mono 46431 (39s 6d) presenting eight preludes and fuges by J. S. Bach in a jazz setting. The Baroque Jass Ensemble, a sextet comprising

vibes, trumpet, tenor sax, guitar, bass and drums, achieves a remarkably pleasant fusion of the two forms.

The music is jazz but it still has Bach stamped all over it. The approach of the ensemble is very similar in feeling to that of the Modern Jazz Quartet, although the

composition of the group ensures a completely different sound. Annie Fischer, who plays Beethoven’s Sonatas No 32 in C minor and No 18 in E flat on World stereo STZ.27I (28s 6d), is a Hungarian with a mighty approach to a mighty

work. Her reading of No. 32 is a tremendously powerful projection, impressive in its strength and impassioned in its feeling. In the other her phrasing is most attractive—how many other pianists would play the opening notes the way William Mann describes them, a singing “beautiful?”—though sometimes the emotion affects the organisation. The piano is recorded a mite tinkly in the treble. The name of the Scottish soprano, Maggie Teyte, is particularly associated with French song and her admirers will probably find the French songs on Decca mono LSTM.6I62 (42s 6d) the most satisfying. Her voice, with its firm, well-projected clarity and a hint of delicacy, seems more suited to them than to the German and English songs included. There is one notable collector’s item, “Tu n’est pas beau ... Je t’adore, brigand” from “La Perichole,” sung with an endearing warmth and exquisiteness. The recording qualities vary, and one side comes from a 1937 broadcast. It is without texts.