THE GOOD LISTENER

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 761, 19 February 1954, Page 20

THE GOOD LISTENER

= wow A Monthly Review by

OWEN

JENSEN

USIC needs the listener, if he is’ a good listener; and good listening is an art in itself, the final contribution, in fact, to the process of making music, Leaving out the physical production of the sounds, there is as much perception and skill required for listening as for performance, but achievement is much more difficult to assess. It is easy enough to pick the bad performer, but many a listener -bluffs his way through. The gramophone has given the listener much more opportunity for practice-and developed more bad listeners to good music than would have seemed possible. The static quality of the gramophone record — it always plays back exactly the same-may tend to inhibit anything in the way of creative listening, and the very ubiquity of the machine may easily take the edge off the ear and atrophy the aural sense All this has been said before, but it comes up again as new recordings of old works continue to appear to questicn the listener’s faith in his stock performance. There is, for instance, another recording of Bach’s Suite No. 6 in D Major for Unaccompanied ’Cello, a work that may leave many a listener cold but which is the genuine essence of music to the Bach lover or the enthusiast for ’cello playing. The new playing is by Amadeo Baldovina (Supraphon LPM 63). One cannot resist harking back to the classic performance of Casals with a sidelong remembering of Nixa’s recent Janos Starker recording. The Supraphon record packet rather gives the show away and prepares one for rather less than the best when it says: "Bach suites for violoncello:.are very: difficult to perform. Only the greatest liying ‘cellist, Pablo Casals, successfully overcame this difficulty." That being so, Amadeo Baldovina will hardly mind if we agree. After all these years there is still a living quality and a breathless perfection about the Bach Society Casals recording. Nevertheless, I am not sure that it is altogether a good thing to live continually with this perfectioneven if you can come by the record at all these days. If Baldovina’s technique does not always measure up to Bach’s Everest, there is musicianship in his striving, and enjoyment in going with him. So it comes to this: Casals, if you can acquire him, for perfection of interpretations; Starker (on Nixa) for straightout technique; and Baldovina

ire oleknigis for an intelligent and sincere approach to Bach. Comparing performances, one can hardly speak so enthusiastically about the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra’s Harold | : in Italy (Berlioz) with | taaeay Cerny as solo viola (Supraphon LPM 830). There is little joy in L. Cerny’s striving, even though the orchestra carries him along nobly. This disc — or rather two ten-inch discs -is not a patch on Columbia’s William Primgyre

rose-Royal ' Philharmonic Orchestta-Sir Thomas Beecham version (Listener Review,. July, 1953). The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (conductor, Jean Meylan) comes out better in a performance of Manuei de Falla’s ballet music El Amor Brujo (Love the Sorcerer) (Supra_phon LPM 20). The Czech players infuse the music with drive and warmth, more so than is’ found in the performance by Ataulfo Argenta and_ the Orchestra de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire (Columbia 33C1004). But what you lose on the roundabout is picked up.on the swing, for the Columbia is a more complete version with some really beautiful singing by AnaMaria Iriarte. The Czech dise has a sensitive playing of Debussy’s Fetes as a fill-up. The Moussorgsky Mystery The Ducretet-Thomson-Selmer catalogue lists Moussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death, sung by Vladimir Resnik, with, on the reverse side, Nassja Berowska singing the same composer’s Nursery Songs (LPG 8677). This is what the label says, but not quite what the music reports. In fact, it is' a trap for the careless reviewer -or for any listener not on his toes. Even now I am not sure whether I have the matter straightened out. This is how it goes. No. 1 of Songs and Dances of Death should be Trepak. It isn’t. This is Ballade, by Moussorgsky. Then follows Trepak, Death’s Lullaby should be next. It isn’t. The third track turns out to be Field-Marshal Death, the last of the set. The Lullaby is the last song on side 1. Death’s- Serenade, which should be the third song, is sung on the other side by Nassja Berowska before she warms up on the Nursery Songs. This is all a little confusing, and seems an extraordinarily bad bit of pressing. However, once you have sorted out death’s various manifestations-and realised, too, that you have an extra unlisted song for the money-you will find the music magnificent, and the singing quite moving. Vladimir Resnik, a bass, has the voice for the music, and, if he does occasionally slide round a note instead of hitting it clear in the middle, his interpretation brings out the strength of the songs. Nassja Berowska sings the Serenade and the Nursery Songs beautifully. The Songs and Dances of Death have also been recorded recently by Decca (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) with Heinz Rerfuss as soloist (Decca LW 5037). They fit nicely on a mediumplaying disc. The music is true to label. Rerfuss sounds a more polished singer than Resnik, but I feel that his lighter voice and his singing in French’ make the music less red-blooded. More Dvorak Dvorak’s stocks seem to be rising rapidly and, as the Czech Philharmonic play him, he appears a_ sturdier, less sentimental fellow than some of his other admirers make him. Symphony in G Major, Op. 88--sometimes called No. 4, and sometimes, as on this disc, No. 8-played by the Czech Philharmonic conducted by Vaclav Talich (Supraphon LPV 44) is an exciting work. The Czech players give the music dash, good humour, and warmth, and the recording deals sympathetically with the playing. ‘Other new symphonic music includes a further recording of Symphony No. 1 7 C Minor (Brahms), played by the eipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hermann Abendroth (Supraphon LPV 69). Maybe Hermann Abendroth’s approach is a little too pedantic to get you by the short hairs, but the rhythms are strong and the phrasing clear, and the fine climax in the last movement is not missed. This is a performance worth looking into. And so, too, is the Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra’s Sibelius Symphony No. 5 in E Flat, conducted by Erik Tuxon (Decca LXT 2744). Without extravagance or resort to virtuosity, Erik Tuxon gives Sibelius his characteristic tang and shows off the Danish Orchestra being right in the front rank. They make the Karelia Suite, which fills up the second side, sound better than it is. Mozart enthusiasts should find interest in the reconstructed torso of Mozart’s

unfinished opera Zaide, recorded _by Mattiwilda Dobbs, Hughes Cuenod, Bernard Demigny, Joseph Peyron, John Riley and the Orchestra Philharmonique de Paris (Nixa QLP 4901-1 and 2). The various arias are linked together by spoken dialogue which seems superfluous when the opera is incomplete and the sequence of songs more or less arbitrary. The singing however, is unquestionably good Mozart. Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque is played by Frank Glazier (pianist) with Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit (Nixa QLP 4005). Although this lacks something of the impressionist glow, the Ravel comes off well and the Debussy is clear workmanlike playing. A bunch of Bartok’s 44 duos for two violins under the title Chansons et Danses Hongroises, played by Gabrielle Lengyl and Anne-Marie Grunder (Ducretet Thomson Selmer LAP 1008-medium playing), makes very pleasant listening. Bartok’s writing is amazing in the variety of such ‘simplicity. Incidental Information:, RCA Victor Records, so it is said, are to release.soon a set of discs with the title Classical Music for the People who Hate Classical Music!