The Week's Music...

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 938, 2 August 1957, Page 30

The Week's Music...

by

SEBASTIAN

OW that we have ga _ harpsichord, there is more early music to review, for those who espouse the gospel of authenticity no longer need to wrestle with their consciences before they plunge into piano recitals of baroque pieces. A case in point concerns Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, played previously and now presented, en masse as it were, in two concerts (YC link), featuring Valda Aveling as the harpsichorcist. There is at least no complaint about programme arranging here, the whole set being homogeneous in style if not actually in texture. In the first concerto the slow movement was particularly lovely for balance and clarity of tone, and the faster sections built up well to their climaxes, marred only by some rough edges from the horns, which are .here forced almost above their playing register. The second, with its flying trumpet, can scarcely fail to appeal, and was well up to expectations. The third, for strings only, was rather pedestrian, and I was disappointed at the deficiency of an improvisatory passage between’ the movements. The last concerto, for the dark-coloured lower strings, somehow contrived to b@ jaunty and immensely vivacious, without the blurred contours that one so often hears and endures in this piece. Even the Mantovani-like canon effect in the opening movement

oe, was convincing, while the finale positively bounced along to its resoundingly finite conclusion. The remaining concerti were impaired by anomalies of balance; in the fourth, the flutes were soft and the violin far too loud, while in number five the harpsichord was barely audible in some of its important passages, possibly owing to the microphone’s limitations. Valda Aveling also appeared as soloist in a suite for harpsichord, in which she exploited the instrument in all its tonal range, from the soft damped tones to the ringing brassy octaves, with impeccable interpretations of Bach’s intentions. In the Italian Concerto she was less assured, as evidenced by fiurrying tempi and consequent inaccuracies; and her practice of changing tone colour in the middle of a phrase I found deplorable. In the orchestral works, on the other hand) she judged nicely the tone required, always supporting without obtruding. James MRobertson’s readings were fairly conventional but satisfying; yet though this was all a commendably ambitious venture, I felt the difference between the good and the faulty so marked as to magnify the latter, which was a pity; perhaps a judicious selection of concerti in one concert would have provided a higher overall standard.