Round the World by LP

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 822, 29 April 1955, Page 26

Round the World by LP

Review by

OWEN

JENSEN

HERE shall we start? As good as anywhere would be down in Southern Europe with the Hungarian Zoltan Kodaly-his Psalmus Hungaricus for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra. Psalmus Hungaricus is a setting of a paraphrase of the 55th Psalm by the 16th Century Hungarian poet Michael Veg, and was written in 1923 for the 50th anniversary of the union of Buda and Pesth. It is sung in English in this performance. Kodaly, much more conservative in his style than his friend and compatriot, Bela Bartok, is a convenient gateway to 20th Century music. His writing in Psalmus Hungaricus makes exciting listening. The performance by William McAlpine (tenor), the London Philharmonic Choir and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Georg Solti (Decca LXT 2878) is fine. The choral singing doesn’t come over with quite the clarity we have come to expect from some recent LPs, but apart from this the recording gives an effective representation of the music. The reverse side of the disc carries a performance of Kodaly’s Variations On a Hungarian Folksong — "The Peacock," played by the same orchestra and conductor. As I say, if you are wishing to make a sortie on contemporary music this would be a comfortable region in which to start; and if you’re already an enthusiast for the 20th Century, it might very well be added to your enthusiasms. Thirty years before Kodaly wrote his Psalmus Hungaricus-it seems much longer-another composer left his home in Southern Europe to sojourn m America. Out of Dvorak’s trip came one of his most popular works: the "New World" Symphony. The performance by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted ‘by Alceo Galliera (Columbia 33SX 1025) gives a very good account of the music. The tone of the Philharmonia is opulent. To this, Galliera has added a thythmic drive that sends Dvorak’s music spinning along with unflagging verve. While we are over in America, we should call on that other exile, Igor Stravinsky. The New York Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer himself, has recorded a suite from Petrouchka and Scénes de Ballet- (Columbia 33C 1015), and recorded the music well. Taken together, these two suites make very interesting listening. Petrouchka, written in 1911 for Diaghilef’s glamorous Russian ballet; Scénes de Ballet, a contribution 34 years later for Billy Rose’s Seven Lively Arts, with Markova and Dolin as solo dancers. In those thirty-odd years, Stravinsky’s style changed considerably. The comparison we can make on the two sides of the disc only serves to strengthen the belief that, whatever you may say about Stravinsky, of all contemporary composers no one has surpassed him in the invention and production of fascinating orchestral sonorities. Talking about sonorities and adventures in contemporary music, let me recommend you to have a look at Carl Orff’s Catulli Carmina for soprano, tenor choir, four pianos and percussion (Vox PL8640). Carl Orff, born in 1895 in .Munich, where he still lives, has recently become almost a vogue, chiefly through his choral trilogy, Carmina Burana

(1936), Carmina Catulli (1943), and The Triumph of Aphrodite (1953). Disdaining modern harmonies, 12-tone scales or any of the sophistication of contemporary music, Orff’s criginality lies in his vigorous rhythms and a return to an elemental primitivism. His music is not everybody’s kettle of fish, and those who find it not to their taste may be equally divided between the musical’ conservatives and the modernists, for Orff stands outside the main stream of music. But

if you can take his unorthodox approach, you may find Catulli Carmina a work of tremendous vitality. The performance by Elizabeth Roon (soprano), Hans Loeffler (tenor), the Wiener Kammerchor, with four pianists and percussion conducted by Heinrich Hollreiser, makes the most of the music and is in every way superb. Before we leave America, where we were before we went over to Orff, let’s cross the border for a little more primitivism in Music of Mexico, played by the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico conducted by Carlos Chavez (Brunswick AXTL 1055). Chavez, Mexico’s most distinguished contemporary musician, is quite a considerable figure and a great enthusiast in the use of native Mexican musical idioms. Sinfonia India and Corrido de Sol (for choir and orchestra, but the choir is not specified on the record) give a good idea of Chavez’s direct, forthright style. Included also on the disc is Huapango, by José Pablo Moncavo, and Republican Overture, by Chavez. The latter, described by the composer as "National Music, the Mexican music, from the 19th Century,’ is somewhat reminiscent, more than somewhat, in fact, of the marches of the famous Sousa. The Symphony Orchestra of Mexico sounds a most efficient ensemble. The recording, however, tends to be tonally on the raw side. Hopping across the Atlantic to Music of Africa: Tanganyika Territory (Decca LP 1084), we come face to face, cheek by jowl with the real McKay in the way of primitive music; and it is by no means unpleasant listening. The drumming, singing and horn playing is not so simple as it may sound, and the sounds, if you are prepared to listen carefully,

have quite a lot to say for themselves. Made on the natives’ own campus, the music is femarkably faithfully recorded. It is very well worth looking into, if you're interested in this sort of thing, as well you might be. . = ' Mention of ‘thé’ real McKay brings up another aspect of the primitive. No, ‘perhaps I’d better withdraw that. Well, anyhow, it’s Kilts on Parade, (Nixa SLP 147-a Cook Sounds of Our Times recotding). St. Columcille’s United Gaelic Pipe Band under Sean McGonigal make the music, which speaks for itself. Another Backward Glance Musically, the 15th and 16th Centuries must have been very pleasant times. That’s how it seems, anyhow, on a recording of French Renaissance Vocal Music (Brunswick AXTL 1048). The performance is by a vocal and instrumental ensemble under the direction. of Nadia Boulanger. It is as beautiful as the music itself. The recording does the performance justice. There are 15 songs altogether. Hélas, mon Dieu, by Claude de Jeune (1523-1600) would be a masterpiece at any time and in any place. Coming nearer our time, but much less "modern" in feeling, is Rameau’s Diane et Actéon and his L’Impatience, both sung by the tenor Hugues Cuenod (Nixa LLP 8044). The beauty of this cool, dispassionate music seems a long way from the 20th Century. It is, in fact, only about 200 years or so away. Everything about the recording-singing, playing (violin, viol da gamba and _ harpsichord) and the technical aspect-is admirably accomplished. Hummel’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A Minor, Op. 85 is a find. This prodigious contemporary and friend, of Beethoven, pupil of Mozart and Haydn, makes a very welcome reappearance, True, the virtuosity and tendency towards a_ superficial chromium-plate

polish which, as it became tarnished, cast Hummel into the limbo of forgotten composers, is still the dominant feature of the music. But the polish shines again. The music sounds brilliant and exciting. Artur Balsam (piano) and the Winterthur Symphony Orchestra conducted by Otto Ackermann (Nixa CLP 1311) give a superlative performance. Artur Balsam playing on the reverse side Sonata, Op. 40, No. 2, by Clementi, is no less fine. The recording equals the music and the playing. A delving into the past in a different direction digs up Johnny Dodds, Volume 2 (London AL 3513). Johnny Dodds was one of the classic clarinets of jazz. His tedubbing on LP sounds like the looks of an early Chaplin film. But if your interest in the historical heroes of jazz equals the average film fan’s affection for Chaplin, you won’t mind this. It’s Johnny Dodds, anyhow, in characteristic jazz from the 1920s,