Vox Populi

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 768, 9 April 1954, Page 18

Vox Populi

| A Monthly Review by |

OWEN

JENSEN

; Ld : T makes a piece of music popular? That's something most composers, _and all singers, players and concert promoters too, would like to know. You can take two parts or more of _thythm, flavour to taste with melody _ and harmony, mix with feeling and stir _in a little thinking. What comes out may have the appearance of success; yet it is probably no more than a fifty-fifty | chance that the mixture will have the | essence of popularity. For music may be good but not popular; but, let it be re- | membered, rarely popular if it isn’t |. good-of its kind. Then there is "popular" music, of | course, music of its kind that may be

either good or bad. | Take Dixie by | Daily (Capitol LC 6603), for instance, and The Benny Goodman Band

(Capitol LC 6601) and Premiered by | Ellington (Capitol LC 6616). If these _are a little out of your line, take them just the same. They are all good of their kind. Maybe the Dixie jazz of _Pete Daily and his Chicagoans, despite the belching depths of his pumping sousaphone and the rattle of the banjo, may not be as "classic" as when New Orleans was coffee-and-cake and not just a fashion come round again; but the rhythm is hot enough to set your feet tapping. And that’s’ something after all. Svelte and sophisticated is the polish on The Benny Goodman Band's chromium plating, with magnificent clarinet playing (by, of course, Benny himself), and a rich brass section, a touch of colour that maKRes the whole / world din. But for real originality and | more than a suspicion of that elusive, intangible quality called, for want of a better word,, "genius," go to Duke | Ellington. Brilliant trumpet playing, an _understanding saxophone and sympa- | thetic rhythm — but it’s not virtuosity

" run amok that puts the something into this music. The bloom on this performance comes |from Duke Ellington’s | creative piano playing, which is still one of the most lustrous gems of | jazz. As for Hazél Scott’s Late Show (Capitol 6607)-Hazel Scott, a congressman's wife and a young mother" as the record jacket informs us -this efficient "popular" pianism would be admirable with the hors d’oeuvre. Popular Though Good What makes a piece of music popular-when it’s not "popular"? If it is the Glasgow Orpheus Choir (HMV DLP 1019 and 1020), the music is its own answer. This simple music, simply and beautifully sung by a group that is now only a memory, is popular music in the fullest sense of the word. Sir Hugh Roberton, for 50 years

the choir’s . well-loved. conductor, puts the matter in a nutshell on the record jacket: "The Orpheus always sang from the heart as well as the mind. . . The Orpheus was a real choir of real people. . ." Something of the Same sort of thing goes, too, for the music of Dvorak, whose stocks are rising these days. Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70, by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Karel Sejni (Supraphon LPV 27) matches the Symphony No. 8 in G (Supraphon LPV 44) recently reviewed in these columns.. Fine tone, lively rhythm. and expert recording give this disc zest and vigour. Two, Dvorak piano trios are also to hand.™ in folksy mood does not stit mé_ a great deal, but the’ fame of the Dumky- Trio would suggest that this is not a reaction shared by many, and certainly not by Alexander Plocek, (violin), Milos Sadlo Ccello), and Josef Palenicek (piano)Supraphon LPM .64-who pilav the trio

lovingly. _ ’ Dvorak’s s Piano Trio in F Minor is’ a ‘much more meving: work. The same — players (Sinranhan. 1 PV

58) bring out this music’s character,’ but the recording is by no means as good, the string tone being pinched and _ thin. When it comes to Tchaikovski, Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, you do not need to ask about popularity; you can take it for granted. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nyazi, "famous Azerbaidjani composer and conductor" (Tagi-Zade Zulfugarovich Nyazi, for short) give a good account of themselves and. do little to tarnish Tchaikovski’s romantic. illusion Supraphon LPM 8 and 9). The work, however, takes up two ten-inch discs, with the Capriccio Italien as a fill-up, and, unless you are a whole-hearted Tchaikovskian, you might find this a somewhat extravagant outlay. For one listener at least-that’s me -Siegfried, Act 3, Scene 3 (that’s Wagner) would have. been dull and meaningless out of its context, except that the glorious singing of Kirsten Flagstad made Wagner sound not only (continued on néxt nase)

credible but: significant. Set Svanholm, as Siegfried, supports but does not measure up to Flagstad (HMV BLP 1035). La ~ Gioconda, Ponchielli’s opera of frustrated love (all operas are about frustrated love, but this one is more so) seems to lack the spark that sets going the bush fire of popularity. Even the smooth and polished performance by an impressive’ list of . soloists, and the orchestra’ and chorus of La Scala conducted by Armando la Rosa Parodi (Nixa VLP 9229: 1-4) may not rouse your enthusiasm unless a genuine passion for opera ftuns in your veins. This is not to infer that La Gioconda hasn’t its points. It has; and this performance makes the most of them. Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90, derives its measure of popularity from its integrity, emotional drive and meticulous craftsmanship, all of which come out well in the playing by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hermann Abendroth (Supraphon LPV 57). Bartok’s Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin is also music of integrity and craftsmanship, but it is unlikely ever to ring a bell on a hit parade. Even the composer himself, after the first performance of this, his last completed work, found it a little on the long side. The Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin was commissioned by Menuhin, who gave the work its first ‘performance. Wandy Tworek on this disc (Decca LM 4557) plays the work with assurance, but he seems unable to give the music the glamour and brilliance it needs, which would be no trouble to Menuhin. Being now up among the "B’s" again, brings out Bloch’s String Quartet No. 3, played by the Griller Quartet, for whom it was written (Decca LM 4558). This is a rich and exciting piece of contemporary music.. Although the Griller do not give as accomplished a performance of this work as we heard last year ‘during their New Zealand tour, the disc still makes very good listening. There is, too, ‘Beethoven’s Horn Sonata (Supraphon LPM 47), very pleasantly played by Miroslav Stefek (horn) and Alfred Holecek (piano), with a piano sonata on the reverse side by Jan Ladislav Dusik (remember Dussek?). Dr. Otakar Vondrovic’s. playing, which is sympathetic enough, only. goes to show, when Dusik

is placed alongside his contemporary | Beethoven, the gulf between genius and talent. The-same might be said about Symphonies Nc. 1 in D and No. 3 in C, by C. P. E. Bach, @with a Sinfonia Concertante by his young brother John Christian on the other side, all played by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dr. Felix Guenther (Nixa BLP 304). C.P.E. has what it takes, is obviously a son of his father, and still sounds alive; J.C.’s music is "restful but stimulating," as a friend of mine put it, and, although by no means dull, a little faded and definitely dated. The playing, however, is fine. If popularity, which we seem to have dwelt much on this month, has anything to do with perfection, then its essence should be found in Elizabethan Love Songs and Harpsichord Pieces, sung by: Hugues Cuenod (tenor) and Claude Jean Chiasson (harpsichord) (Nixa LLP 803). This may be loverin a cool climate before the Victorians inhibited it or Hollywood profaned it, but if your? ardour can be brought to the right: temperature, you will also certainly be’ enamoured of Cuenod’s beautiful phrasing and Chiasson’s.sensitive harpsichord playing.