HI-FI AND ALL THAT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 790, 10 September 1954, Page 24

HI-FI AND ALL THAT

A Monthly Review by

OWEN

JENSEN

F the gramophone’s your instrument, you'll want a good one. That is, at the worst, you will expect the sounds that emerge from it to be reasonably pleasant and, if you are a virtuoso of your instrument, you'll look for something more-the music, as near as maybe to what the composer intended; in fact, high fidelity. But all the pick-ups, tubes, chokes, speakers or what-have-you can’t make a good record out of a bad one. High fidelity starts, not at home, but in the record factory and, first of all, with the technician. Whether our standards of gramophone playing and listening have become higher, I do not know, but it seems to me that LP discs vary much more considerably in their quality than the old 78’s. Maybe our ears are shocked when the LP falls from grace. Or is it that we are still pleasurably surprised that the best are so good? If it is the latter, then you can give yourself more pleasure by looking into the Nixa NLPs which are now available. The "N" before the "LP" indicates that the disc is Nixa’s own handiwork, recorded by them, and not a re-dubbing by arrangement’ with any other company. Something of the standard aimed at in NLPs is already evident in the recordings of Belshazzar’s Feast, The Messiah and Holst’s Planets Suite, which were reviewed in June New Recordings. This same fidelity gives life like realism to Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique (NLP 908), and a _ programme of Tchaikovski comprising the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, Marche Slay and the 1812 Overture (NLP 909). Both these performances are conducted by Hermann Scherchen, who was responsible for Messiah. His. conducting is very fine and the London Symphony Orchestra seems positively inspired. Comparing the Symphonie Fantastique with the performance by Van Beinum and the Concertgebouw Orchestra, it seems that the Dutch conductor

underlines the romantic aspect of the music whereas Scherchen emphasises the dramatic atmosphere. The Concertgebouw are a more polished and _. precise band of players; but what the London Symphony Orchestra may lack in this direction is more than made up in the rhythmic vigour and rich tone colour, particularly in the brass. Tchaikovski’s Romeo and Juliet is in every way a brilliant performance. In both these recordings there is exceptional clarity of detail as well as full resonant/ tonal reproduction. Not quite’ as_ vivid, but a bright piece of work all the same, is Saint-Saens’s Carnival of Animals, This zoo is tun by L’Orchestre de l’Association des Concerts Colonne, with George Sebastian as director, and pianists Annie d’Arco and Roger Boutry (Nixa NLP

9099). The piano playing is as scintillating and joyous as Saint-Saens’s music asks. The reverse side of the disc carries an interesting performance of César Franck’s Les Djinns, with Annie d’Arco again playing the important piano part. Before we leave the matter of high fidelity, mention must be made of some organ sonatas and a prelude and fugue by Mendelssohn. They are played by John Eggington (L’Oiseau Lyre OL 50013). The organ seems to be a tricky instrument to record, a satisfactory result depending to a large extent, I imagine, on the player’s choice of registration. John Eggington handles his tone masses carefully, bringing out a _ large part of the detail and, as well, uses sufficient variety of colour to give life to Mendelssohn’s music. The recording technicians have co-operated well. New Light from Old Lamps L’Oiseau. Lyre LP discs are now available in New Zealand. The first to come to hand represent some exploration in lost or forgotten bypaths of music. Among the more attractive discs is one containing two concerti grossi by Francesco Barsanti, a contemporary of Scarlatti. Op. 3 No. 4 is for two horns, drums and strings, and Op. 3 No. 10 has oboes, trumpets and drums. with the strings. There is nothing very subtle about this music, but its uninhibited boldness — uninhibited for the 18th Century, anyhow-makes for very stimulating listening. The reverse side has a Concerto in G Major, by Cimarosa, for two flutes and orchestra, The flautists are Jean-Pierre Rampal and Robert Hériché, and the orchestra for both performances is L’Orchestre de Chambre des Concerts Lamoureux conducted by Pierre Colombo (L’Oiseau Lyre OL 50008). Sometimes in listening to "rediscovered classics" I have a feeling that the recording people have been scraping thie bottom of the bucket; but this certajaly does hot apply to Barsanti and Cimarosa, whose naive

freshness is delightful. Soloists and orchestra make it that way, too. Something of the same carefree cheerfulness shines from the music of J. B. Loeillet (1680-1730). Loeillet is remembered among other things as having introduced the side-blown flute to London where he finally settled. These trios for violin, ’cello and harpsichord are attractively played by Georges Ales, Pierre Coddee and Ruggero Gerlin (L’Oiseau Lyre OL50018). I am not so sure, however, of the Fifth Concertante Symphony for wind instruments by Ignaz Pleyel, nor of Von Dittersdorf’s Three Partitas for Wind Quintet on the other side of the disc (L’Oiseau Lyre OL 50014). Both of these composers seem here to have made a fine art of naivety, almost distilling innocence into innocuousness. Wind players, however, would probably not agree, as the members of ‘the French Wind Quintet and Ensemble Instrumental de Paris conducted by Louis de Froment make the most of. this windblown gaiety. The same charge of emptiness can hardly be made against the simplicity of Haydn’s Missa St. Joannis de Deo and the Missa Brevis in F Major. Maybe I am prejudiced about this, believing that Haydn is among those composers who can be depended upon, almost always, to deliver the goods. These two masses are not the mature Haydn, but the youthful spontaneity is most ingratiating. The Akademie Kammerchor and the Chamber Orchestra of the Vienna Symphony and _ soloists Hedda Heusser and Anni Berger (sopranos), with Anton Heiller (organ) and Hans Gillesberger (conductor), give a polished performance (Nixa LLP 8030).

Contemporary Corner The most exciting contemporary music to come our way this month is in words-selections of the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca translated from the Spanish and read by Alan Wheatley (Argo RG 19). This is a notable addition to the Argo Anthology of Spoken Poetry which includes Margaret Rawlings reading Keats and Hopkins, Margaretta Scott doing Shelley and Robert Speaight the Four Quartets and other poetry of T. S. Eliot. The senseless execution of Federico Garcia Lorca in the early days of the Spanish Civil War was regarded as a national tragedy, for already Lorca had been acknowledged as the 20th Century heir of Lope de Vega. His poetry, reflecting the essential spirit of Spain, poetry of "beauty, terror and love" was, and for that matter still is, one of the strongest forces in the renaissance of the Spanish artistic conscience. Alan Wheatley gives a moving interpretation of Lorca’s poems. For an introduction to contemporary music there is Milhaud’s Suite Francaise

played by the New York Philharmonic Symphony conducted by the composer (Decca 33C 1027). This suite of five French folksongs was originally written for military band. In recasting it for orchestra, Milhaud has kept to his first intention of making the music straightforward enough for performance by high school or university ensembles; and, in addition to the cheerful sunniness of the music which makes it good listening anyway, there is interest in discovering how music put together so simply can sound so effective. On the other side of the disc is a pleasant suite, Escales, by the contemporary French composer Jacques Ibert, of "Little White Donkey" fame. For this, the New York Philharmonic is conducted by Artur Rodzinski. oda Just as these notes were going off, a new recording of Schubert’s Der Winterreise came to hand. Nothing more need be said about this than that Karl Schmitt-Walter (baritone) and Hubert Giesen (piano) make the music as great, and more profoundly beautiful than even Schubert may have imagined it (Decca LXT 2799/2800).