FANTASTIC GUITAR

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 718, 17 April 1953, Page 18

FANTASTIC GUITAR

A Monthly Review by

OWEN

JENSEN

can never judge a sausage by its overcoat. Nor can you tell a record by its cover, although many of them are coming out_as alluring as a Norman Hartnell model. The brightly-coloured plate that prefaces Urania’s production of Humper-’ dinck’s opera shows a demure Hansel and Gretel being slyly welcomed by a grotesque and fearsome witch, while in the same series a swarthy swashbuckling Othello announces Verdi’s opera about that dubious hero. A peasant kitchen complete with hob, spit and spinning wheel is the cover setting for an LP of "olden ballads"-folksongs to yousung by Tom Glazer and Richard Dyer- | Bennett for Mercury. Characters from | Verdi’s Aida are portrayed on a fine reproduction of a bas-relief. The composer Edmund Rubbra is shown in profile framed by a Picasso-like design of bows and fiddle strings to woo you into listening to one of his string quartets on Decca. What is perhaps the most impressive record cover is the simplest in conception. This is no more than a facsimile of the sketch score of Bartok’s posthumous Viola Concerto announcing the music itself. | If this, sort of thing goes on-and -this seems only the beginning-the overcoats may: rival the discs as col_lectors items and record covers may | join stamps, cigarette cards and Japan- | ese jade as suitable objects for the | satisfaction of the acquisitive instinct. Meanwhile, in these desert islands, we may as well start collecting right away for although the covers may possibly be acquired, the discs are still, for the most part, only a legend in overseas catalogues. : eS ase At least, this is what seemed the situation until lately. As it is, it is fumoured that the new HMV longplaying discs are just round the corner and have even broken out like a rash On some display shelves, disappearing more quickly than most rashes by the end of the day. It is said, too, that the Mercury label may soon be seen about the place and most of the other, less familiar English makes may be had for the asking before long. All of which is to the good. Better \ my father used to say, you

ance of a modest-com-paratively so, anywaycover on which is inscribed: Alegrias Y Penas de Analucia (Joies Et Peines D’Andalousie) -Grand Prix Du Disque, 1952. The disc is a Selmer put out by Ducretet Thomson. The / music is felk music of | Andalusia performed by | Pepe Valencia (chant) and Luis: Maravilla | (guitar). Anything that can be said about this disc is likely to be in the nature of an understatement. Luis Maravilla’s guitar playing is so astonishing as to be fantastic. It seems incredible that a_ single guitar can _ produce music of such variety and vigour. "Chant" describes Pepe Valencia’s is the appear- )

vocalisations better than "singing." As Spanish music this is the real McKay. The recording is as perfect technically as one could hope for, and matches the performance. More Mozart Mozart’s stocks run high these days. Latest of his works to come our way on record are a bunch of concertosthree piano and one violin. The most interesting is Ralph Kirkpatrick’s playing of Concerto in G for Piano, K.453, with the Dumbarton Oaks Chamber Orchestra under Alexander Schneider (Nixa HLP 1040). What makes this disc interesting is that Kirkpatrick plays, as the cover notes explain, "a John Challis reproduction of the smal] late 18th Century piano which gives us an authentic idea of how this music sounded in the composer’s time." I am all for authenticity, but I wonder whether this is not carrying purism too far. With the orchestra also reduced to something approximating Mozart proportions, this becomes a Mozart concerto in the Mozart manner as Mozart might have heard it. But, in the use of the 18th Century piano, anyway, not necessarily as Mozart might have wished it! There is something to be said for using the harpsichord where it was originally intended, for the harpsichord is an entirely different instrument from even the most primitive piano; but it is odds that had there been better pianos in his time, Mozart would have beaten out a path to them. The use of the Mozart-type piano in this concerto is a historical curiosity, but I rather feel that Kirkpatrick’s fine playing would have come off better still on a modern instrument. The excellence of. the performance is spoilt by an unforgivable fault’ -unforgivable on an LP anyhowwhich is that the third movement is interrupted to be continued on the reverse side. What remains of side 2 is filled up (continued on page 19)

by Alexander Schneider and his orchestra giving us the Mozart Violin Concerto in D, K218, This is a workmanlike production, but not one to become rapturous about. Then there is the Piano Concerto in D, K451, one of two about which Mozart. wrote to his father that "they are bound to make the performer sweat." Arthur Balsam, who plays the con ° with the Winterthur Orchestra Victor Desargens (Nixa CLP 1405). seems to be cool enough despite all his brilliance. His piano sparkles with crystalline clarity, and the orchestra brings its background of over three hundred years playing in the little Swiss town of Winterthur to become a grand partner for the soloist. Another Piano Concertc in D is K537, the "Coronation," so called because it was played at the coronation of Leopold II in 1790, This is real festive music. Gina Bachauer as soloist with Alec Sherman and the New London Orchestra (HMV C 7892-95), does not, however, quite rise to the occasioh. This is Mozart right enough, but not inspired Mozart. To complete this chronicle of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus, mention must be made of two SP discs of his solo songs sung by Irma Seefried, with Gerald Moore as pianist (Columbia LX 1543 and 1549). These are superb both in the music and the _ performance. Mozart did not regard his non-operatic songs very seriously. Yet they contain music as delightful as any he ever wrote. ; Coda For something more than. superficial brilliance and polish, playing that is intelligent and understanding, look out for the work of Robert Goldsand. pianist. In fact, it’s fine and dandy. His performance of Brahms’s Variations on a T’heme of Paganini (Nixa CLP 1147) is given with consummate artistry. He never lets mere gymnastics obscure the real beauty of the music. With it goes a sensitive playing of that rarely played work® Schumann’s Sonata No. 3 in F Minor. Even more beautiful is a recording by Goldsand of thé complete Schubert Impromptus (Nixa CLP 1146). Almost as fine is a performance of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet by Alfred Gallodoro (Clarimet) and the Stuyvesant String Quartet (Nixa CLP. 1004). The recording technically is not altogether satisfactory, but there can be no question about the integrity of the playing If you,enjoy Brahms you will welcome this as an addition to your collection.