OFRA HARNOY COLLECTION VOL 6 -

VIVALDI: VIOLIN CONCERTOS FROM

"I had not expected quite such unabashed, rose-tinted lyricism from Anne Akiko Meyers. There’s more to her playing than plushy vibrato and mechanistic brilliance; not that exhilaration or panache are minimised here, in this glowingly Romantic performance. Her Franck, too, ably justifies a more reflective, even cerebral approach, further distinguished by the tonal opulence of the playing. Not a performance to induce surges of adrenalin perhaps, but eminently well conceived and lucid... this remains a splendid performance overall, thanks in no small part to pianist Rohan de Silva." -- Michael Jameson, BBC Music Magazine

These recordings—live, but with no disturbing side-effects—offer a valuable reminder that there has been more to Gunter Wand's musical world than Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner. It would indeed be fascinating to hear what Wand made of Bartok, Messiaen and Varese in those early post-war years in Cologne. Yet even though he may well have brought greater rhythmic definition to Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks in 1948 than he did in 1984, his engagement with twentieth-century music, as these far from neutral performances reveal, has remained acute.

The fleeting gestures of Webern's Op. 10 (the five pieces are not given separate tracks) are attentively characterized, with deliberation but also with open expressiveness. Wand's liking for warmly-shaped melody is clear from the very start of Frank Martin's Petite symphonie concertante. It would be idle to pretend that this account has the polish, or the careful balance of its problematic group of soloists (harp, harpsichord, piano), to be heard on the recent Suisse Romande version (Erato) but it is a skilfully integrated reading that makes the most of the music's carefully structured dramatic argument.

Wand's involvement with Wolfgang Fortner is historically significant, although the orchestral interlude from Fortner's Lorca opera Die Bluchochzeit (''Blood Wedding—1957) is too long for its own good. By comparison, Stravinsky's wit and economy (by no means precluding expressive depth) are the more impressive. Wand is alert to the elements of parody in the finale of Dumbarton Oaks, and maintains a lively rhythmic impetus. There is also a weightiness of texture creating an effect quite different from the razor-sharp, chamber orchestra versions we have grown used to, and of which Christopher Hogwood's Decca recording is probably the best recent example. But in this context Wand's interpretation gives a revealing glimpse of how a conductor whose normal concerns are so different responds to the glittering surfaces of a neo-classical gem.'

Arnold Whittall, The Gramophone

The Classical James Galway

It is such an incredible work. It has everything; the passion, the virtuosity. - Ofra Harnoy, [about the Dvorak Cello Concerto]

It is quite a feat to undertake a recording of Brahms One in one's seventies. At eighty the task is Herculean. Rubinstein was eighty-nine. It was his final concerto recording, in May 1976, and followed his discs of the same work with Leinsdorf in Boston in 1964 and his earlier and most famous recording of the concerto with Reiner in Chicago in 1954... This is a predominantly slow reading, still moving, but not really comparable with the earlier recordings - and especially that with Reiner – in either vigour or finesse. After a dramatic but broad opening tutti Rubinstein enters at a much slower tempo, with very slightly choppy rhythm. Not all his trills are clean and he has obvious problems – as noted above – in those dramatic octave passages. Yet there is something quietly and nourishingly compelling about the playing in the slow movement - for all that the balance characteristically favoured the soloist to an unnatural degree. The finale is slow but full of clarity and playfulness. As throughout there are numerous finger slips – some minor, some not – and listen at 7’01 for a particular example. But be sure as well to listen at 10’00 to the insouciance and sheer cheekiness of his playing, with his spicy treble fillips. Even at 89 he was incorrigible, especially in the light of the immediately succeeding passage – very, very scrappy.

An uneven disc then; it’s probably better to remember Rubinstein’s Brahms One from his 1954 sessions than to persist with the imperfections of old age in this moving but flawed last testament.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
reviewing this recording previously reissued as Eloquence 466724

This 1958 Brahms 2nd, the third of four Artur Rubinstein recorded in the studio, might well be considered a summation of his “romantic“ view of the work—a better integrated, more controlled account than those he produced with Albert Coates (the very first recording of the work, made in 1930) and Charles Munch in 1953. Rubinstein went on to record still another version, I believe in 1971, with Eugene Ormandy, which may well be his finest. Still, in its somewhat unstylish, at times even Chopinized way, this 1958 reading proves a refreshing alternative to other, better integrated approaches, and the digital remastering of the early stereo sound is astonishing, with splendid clarity and impact and virtually no audible hiss. The three solo piano pieces are also superbly remastered and a welcome bonus.

-- Mortimer H. Frank, FANFARE [9/1987]

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 19: Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 2

}Gramophone (1/97, p. 102) "A welcome extension of this fine singer's repertoire on record, the programme exploits much that is best in her voice and also affords her a range of characterization..."{

How very good to be reminded of the young Van Cliburn's legendary wrists, fingers and blazing inner fire.

We're told that it was with MacDowell's Second Piano Concerto in D minor that Van Cliburn made his first professional appearance with an orchestra at the age of 18, some six years before ''vaulting to fame'' as winner of Moscow's first Tchaikovsky Contest in 1958. This recording was made just two years after that when he was still only 26—albeit already two years older than the precociously gifted composer himself at the time of the concerto's composition. Yes, I agree with Roger Fiske (in his review of the catalogue's only other version from Donna Amato and the LPO on Olympia/Complete Record Co, 6/87) that the work lacks an immediately recognizable face of its own. But in its bold scoring and bravura writing for the soloist, it is scarcely less arresting than any of its big romantic rivals—or so it seems in this exhilarating performance. How very good to have it on CD at last and to be reminded of the young Van Cliburn's legendary wrists, fingers and blazing inner fire. For the familiar little ''To a Wild Rose'' he finds a touching simplicity.

The Schumann Concerto was recorded just six months before the MacDowell, with Reiner instead of Hendl as conductor. Here again it's Van Cliburn's exceptional youthful ardour and elan that immediately strike home. The first movement is brought to an unusually brilliant end. But neither here nor in the finale does virtuosity take precedence: always the music speaks. Only the Intermezzo seems to need tenderness of a slightly more intimately feminine kind. The orchestral contribution is splendid throughout, and full marks go to the RCA engineers for their digital remastering.'

-- Joan Chissell, Gramophone (10/1991)

Giuliani spent the better part of 13 years in Vienna, during which sojourn he devoted much time to pleasing the salon public both as a soloist and a chamber musician. The market demanded a continuous supply of novelty and Giuliani ensured that it was forthcoming; moreover, since amateur music-makers abounded, he kept them well supplied by seeing to it that his works were published—with plenty of didactic material to help the punters to play them. The products of his unsleeping muse included 22 works for guitar and violin or flute, some of which call for two players of comparable virtuosity; such are those in this recording. The Gran duetto concertante contains nothing that a flautist cannot play (it was published for violin or flute) but the Duo concertant does; the flute is not designated as an option. Swensen is more attentive than Galway to dynamic changes and Yamashita responds accordingly, also taking greater care to produce consistently good tone. In their BIS recording, Helasvuo and Savijoki choose brighter tempos in Op. 52 and are altogether more expressive, but Yamashita and Swensen bring warm sentiment to Op. 25, such as might have charmed the salonists of Giuliani's time. The Serenade is the shortest and perhaps the most durable of these three works, in which the opening Serenata and a delicious Scherzo give little hint of what lies in wait for the guitarist in the final Alla Polacca—virtuosic employment at last, and Yamashita revels in such challenges. It's all light-entertainment music, skilfully written for audiences that enjoyed being lightly entertained; if that appeals to you, I can recommend this well-recorded disc—with the sole reservation that the Gran duetto concertante might have been more sympathetically treated.

-- John Duarte, Gramophone [12/1992]

"Two cycles of Nielsen symphonies are currently underway in Sweden; one from Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (CBS) and the other from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chung (BIS/Conifer)...In later life Nielsen was a frequent guest conductor in Gothenburg and as a young man earned his living playing in the Royal Danish Orchestra, whose new cycle begins under Paavo Berglund...The First Symphony, which put Nielsen firmly on the map, must have caused some raised eyebrows in the 1890s since it begins in one key and ends in another! Its joins and seams are clearly visible, but the music is so fresh and so lyrical that one can see why Nielsen always retained a strong affection for it. Berglund's account is infinitely preferable to the Salonen, which is mannered; his finale is rushed at minim = 152 (rather than 120), while the opening is also much faster (120 instead of 104) than the suggested tempo. Conversely, the Andante is dragged (44 rather than 60) and although there are beautiful things here and there, it's difficult, as I said when reviewing the Salonen, ''to sense a deeply held point of view''. After that, the Berglund comes as something of a relief. He is much more straightforward and adheres fairly closely to the marked tempos, and although the very ending of the finale strikes me as a bit headlong he holds the architecture of the symphony together in a convincing way. Phrases are affectionately turned but never pulled out of shape.

The Fourth Symphony comes from a totally different world and reaches a level of violence and dissonance that is quite new in Nielsen's musical language. A glance above shows that there are already four rival accounts, and we can soon expect a fifth from Gothenburg. Again, Berglund scores over his gifted young countryman and the Swedish Radio orchestra in giving us a performance that is generally closer to Nielsen's score though some may find (as I did) that his first movement is fractionally breathless. He is as close to the markings as makes no difference but in his desire to convey the sense of drama and urgency, tends to be impatient to move things on. The second movement is beautifully done and there is much to admire in the third even if Ole Schmidt (Unicorn-Kanchana on CD part of a three-disc set) conveys more of the anguish in the soaring melodic lines. Schmidt reminds us more of Nielsen's own simile concerning the string lines (''like the eagle riding on the wind'') than does Berglund. Of course, the latter is better served by the engineers than was Schmidt in the mid 1970s. However, the finale here in this newcomer poses a major problem. It really does move, and at such speed that one feels rushed off one's feet, particularly in the dosing paragraphs. This alone would, I feel, prevent me from returning to this version very often."

-- Robert Layton, Gramophone [7/1988]

Track Listing

1. ACADEMY AWARD SELECTIONS (medley arranged by Henry Mancini):
Never On A Sunday
High Noon
Over The Rainbow (from The Wizard of Oz)
Buttons And Bows
Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
Three Coins In The Fountain
Moon River (from Breakfast at Tiffany's)

2. FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL (medley arranged by Henry Mancini):
Born Free
Where Is Your Heart? (from Moulin Rouge)
More (from Mondo Cane)
Samba De Orfeu (from Black Orpheus)
Theme From Zorba The Greek
I Will Wait For You (from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg)

3. MUSIC FROM HOLLYWOOD (medley arranged by Henry Mancini):
Exodus
The Man With The Golden Arm
Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo (from Lili)
Somewhere, My Love (Lara's Theme) (from Dr. Zhivago)
Conquest (from Captain from Castile) Laura

4. PETER GUNN MEETS MR. LUCKY (medley arranged by Henry Mancini):
Mr. Lucky
Lightly Latin
Dreamsville
Timothy
March Of The Cue Balls
Joanna
My Friend Andamo
Peter Gunn

5. THE MUSIC OF DAVID ROSE (medley arranged by Henry Mancini):
Holiday for Strings
One Love
American Hoe Down
Manhattan Square Dance
The Stripper
California Melodies
Dance Of The Spanish Onion
Our Waltz

Includes liner notes by Al Lutz.
Digitally remastered by Robert S. Warren.
Personnel: Henry Mancini (piano).
Liner Note Author: Al Lutz.
Photographer: Geoff Spear.
Arranger: Henry Mancini.

At one level it is a virtuoso display that has one breathless, but there are genuine revelations from having the timbre of the flute in this music.

The distinctiveness of the flute version with James Galway as soloist needs no underlining. Both at the Royal Festival Hall and on television with these same players he has amply demonstrated the genuinely artistic results he can achieve. He has been quoted as saying that he plays "much more like a string player than a woodwind player", and certainly he copes amazingly well with the most unlikely demisemiquaver passage work that requires feats of tonguing that would have been out of the question in the seventeenth century. In any case he makes no claims on authenticity; at one level it is a virtuoso display that has one breathless, but there are genuine revelations from having the timbre of the flute in this music. Arguably the bird imitations are the more naturalistic, and certainly I relish the clear forecast of Gluck's Elysian Fields that you get in the slow movement of the last concerto, when as here Vivaldi's lovely melody over pizzicato accompaniment is played on the flute.

-- Gramophone [2/1977, reviewing the original LP release]