RELAX AND LISTEN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 781, 9 July 1954, Page 18

RELAX AND LISTEN

A monthlv review bv

OWEN

JENSEN

| OMETIMES, I think, we | take our music too seriously, | ears and mind _ sergeantmajored to attention as we take the salute in a parade of "classical "masterpieces." We are losing the ability to sit back, and sometimes let the music wash over and around us in delicious waves of sensuous sound, listening just for the heck of it. It’s a pastime worth trying. If you're so moved, there could be little better to start with than Mendelssohn’s Octet in E Flat, Op. 20, recently recorded by the Vienna Octet | (Decca LXT 2870). This is one of Mendelssohn’s finest works; but this is not so much to be noted as the fact that it was written in the composer’s seventeenth year and was probably inspired by the Sunday morning music parties his father arranged at their home in Berlin. At these gatherings the, four | Mendelssohn children learnt their music the best way possible, meeting the city’s | hearing them play, playing with them and even hearing Felix’s compositions tried out. Mendelssohn’s silver spoon was not bought with his father’s money only but fashioned in an enlightened, happy domestic atmosphere. In this spirit the Octet was born and in this way it can be enjoyed. The Vienna Octet play it like this, not following too zealously Mendelssohn’s over-enthusiastic injunction that it "be played by all instruments in symphonic orchestral style." Treated suavely and intimately as the Viennese players make it, the Octet and the famous Scherzo particularly, comes out as the friendly music it is. Having achieved a relaxed mood with Mendelssobn, we can turn to two quintets for piano. and strings by Luigi Boccherini, better known for his celebrated minuet. These, too, were conceived as musical entertainment, not, however, for the family circle, but for the courts of the King of Spain, to which Boccherini was attached. In these surroundings and for this audience, Boccherini wrote most of his vast quantity of chamber music. Someone once dubbed SBoccherini "Haydn’s_ wife," which will tell you something about his

DEF FFF FELL LLLP music. Add to this, not only that as a virtuoso ‘cellist he writes well for that instrument, but also that he had discovered the knack of fitting piano and strings together, and you can well believe that these two quintets make enjoyable listening. As played by the Quintetto Chigiano (Decca LXT 2841) in this ensemble’s usual polished style, even the King of Spain could not have wished better from his court musician. Beethoven may not be so easy to take in the armchair, surrounded as he is by so much sturm und drang and the importunings of Fate. None of this, however, appears in the Serenade for Flute, Violin and Viola, Op. 25, which as its name indicates is for listening as quiet as Mendelssohn or Boccherini may be. The Serenade reminds us again that Beethoven could write goodhumoured music as agreeably as he was convincingly dramatic or philosophical. The recording by Julius Baker (flute), Joseph Fuchs (violin), Lillian Fuchs (viola) (Brunswick AXTL 1033) rather over-emphasises the flute, and, in places, the string tone seems a little raw; but this is no fault of the players, who have obviously given themselves over to the charm of the music. The reverse side carries the quite splendid Trio in C Minor, Op. 9, No. 3, for violin, viola and ‘cello played by Juoseph, Lillian and Harry Fuchs. For those who prefer singers. to strings when taking their listening as a pastime rather than an art, Olga Coelho singing to her own guitar accompaniment may very well be the answer. Many listeners may remember the recitals of this Latin American who toured New Zealand for the Broadcasting Service some years ago, a personality as charming as her singing was accomplished. In this recording (Esquire 15-006) she sings traditional songs with artless artistry, and an aria by Alessandro Scarlatti, too! If none of this music should seem sufficiently relaxing, there’s still Ethel ("Call Me Madam") Merman (Brunswick LA 8636), who would go with the (continued on next -page)

(continued from previous page) brandy and cigars-but not for overrefined palates, although even Gabriel in good humour might enjoy her exhortation to "Blow, Gabriel, Blow." Serious, But Not Too Solemn Mozart’s Mass in F Minor, K.192, is serious music as its occasion demands, but simplicity, serenity and the lively elation of the "Credo" take it far from sombre solemnity. The Mozarteum Orchestra and Chorus of Saltzburg, with soloists, conducted by Hermann Schneider (Nixa LLP 8018), give a good account of Mozart’s. music, although the reproduction is not as faithful as it might be. Something of the same serenity, and a geniality which rather puts it in the class of relaxed listening, is the quality of Schubert’s Sonata in A ‘Minor ("Arpeggione") for ‘cello and piano. Roger Albin (‘cello) and Claude Helffer (piano) obviously delight in Schubert’s singing music and measure up as cheerfully to the more technically difficult Mendelssohn Sonata No. 2 in D Major on the reverse side. Telefunken, who. put out the disc in association with Decca (Telefunken LGX 66015), are as meticulous in their recording as one remembers them in the pre-war standards. Now for something a little off the beaten track, Symphony No. 3 by the Dutch composer Willem Pijper (18941947). The work is contemporary in spirit without being either aggressively or abstrusely "modern." Pijper uses a large orchestra, including three harps, piano for four hands, mandolin and an impressive array of percussion-all of this, however, not to make devastating noises, but to produce a kaleidoscopic variety of delicate orchestral colours and musie of originality. Pijper’s Symphony No. 3 is, in fact, a work of most unusual interest. And so, too, is Alphons Diepenbrok’s» Marsyas-Prelude and Entr’acte on side two of the disc. Diepenbrok, who spent his life in Amsterdam and died there in 1921, gave up being a professor of philology to devote himself entirely to the composition of music. Marsyas is incidental music to a mystical play, and is romantic and impres-

sionistic in character. As to the playing, it is enough, I think, to say that both works are performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Eduard van Beinum (Decca LXT 2873). For sheer liveliness in the music, its performance and recording, look to Symphony in A Minor, by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, contemporary’ of Haydn, Mozart and of Beethoven, too, so successful as to be seriously incommoded by gout, highly thought of by his rivals, and finally broken and defeated by intrigue. Nothing appears in this music, however, but good humour, which seems to leave us where we came in. The reverse side will give you something for your Curiosity Corner in the shape of a Rondo for Piano and Orchestra, by Prince Louis Ferdinand of Hohenzollern (1772-1806). Prince Louis Ferdinand composed prolifically, somewhat in the style of Hummel, travelled much, played the piano brilliantly and often, and had enough of the spirit of Drake in him to give himself a recital before going out to be fatally pierced by a Frenchman’s lance at the Battle of Saalfield. The Frankenland State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Erich Kloss, with Otto A. Graef playing the piano in the Rondo (Louis Ferdinand not being available), make an exciting job of both works (Nixa LLP 8026).