Full title: Fascinating Rhythm: The Broadway Gershwin 1919-1933.
Includes liner notes by Dwight Blocker Bowers.

Sacred Brass

Recorded in April 1971, but evidently not released until 1978, these performances sound as fresh and spontaneous as ever. If the pianist plays Mozart in a somewhat Chopinesque fashion and the string players sound Dvo?áksy if not downright Brahmsische, the effect is nevertheless charming. First and foremost these performances are spirited, poised, elegant, and ideally musical. I enjoyed the RCA LP for years, and now, surface noise departed and dynamics solidifed, I enjoy the CD even more.

My first recording of these Mozartean masterpieces was a monophonie London LP featuring Clifford Curzon and members of the Amadeus Quartet, which is now available on a music-packed mid-priced London CD. Among recent, “all-digital“ CD releases I have especially enjoyed the Denon recording with Jacques Rouvier and the Mozart String Trio, and the Beaux Arts Trio with violisi Bruno Giuranna on Philips. There are “authentic-instruments“ performances on Deutsche Grammophon, Saydisc, and Smithsonian Collections; they may all be outstanding, but I can only recommend the DG, with Malcolm Bilson and colleagues, from personal knowledge.

But excellent as many other recordings certainly are, the Rubinstein-Guarneri collaboration is excellent in a very special way, and therefore most enthusiastically recommended, especially to fans of the performers.

-- Robert McColley, FANFARE [5/1991]
reviewing the quartets, previously reissued as RCA 60406

Not only are Maazel and the orchestra on peak form, relaxed and glowing throughout, but the program includes an exceptionally strong crop of novelties, never heard at these concerts before, and the recorded sound caught by the RCA engineers is among the finest captured at the Musikvereinsaal.

With the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year concert appearing for the first time on the RCA label, it is good to welcome one of the most enjoyable in the annual series. Not only are Maazel and the orchestra on peak form, relaxed and glowing throughout, but the programme includes an exceptionally strong crop of novelties, never heard at these concerts before, and the recorded sound caught by the RCA engineers is among the finest I have heard from the Musikvereinsaal, giving cleaner focus than usual and a firmer sense of presence. When in this country far fewer people than usual heard the New Year's Day concert this year, limited as it was to BBC Radio 3 with no television relay, the disc is even more welcome.

As the years go by, so this event seems to exact a profound change on Maazel's character. Who would have expected 20 years ago that he would become not only the most regular conductor of the event, but would completely shed his old image of a very sober, often scowling maestro. This time he is pictured on the cover, violin in hand, grinning with delight, and the performances consistently reflect that ease, his deep affection and understanding for the idiom. Where last year his big violin solo came in a favourite number, Tales from the Vienna Woods, this time it is in a rarity, the overture Die Göttin der Vernunft ("The Goddess of Reason"), Johann Strauss Il's last operetta, characteristically with waltz and polka themes alternating. Among the other half-dozen or so works never heard before at a New Year concert I particularly enjoyed the waltz, Phönix-Schwingen ("Wings of the Phoenix"), exhilaratingly done, with one idea like "Chopsticks" in waltz-time. There are many other items to cherish, new and old, such as the jaunty Blumenfest polka and the aptly named Furioso-Polka. The whole concert is so long that the encores have spilt over on to a second, much briefer CD, included free in the same jewel-case. A happy issue to set the seal on Maazel's new association with RCA.

-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [5/1996]

NIELSEN: SYMPHONIES NOS 2 & 5

ORIGINAL DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND -

Track Listing
1. Minor Drag, The
2. Harlem Fuss
3. Lookin' Good But Feelin' Bad
4. I Need Someone Like You
5. Lookin' for Another Sweetie
6. Ridin' But Walkin'
7. Won't You Get Off It, Please?
8. When I'm Alone
9. Willow Tree
10. 'Sippi - (Take 1)
11. 'Sippi - (Take 2)
12. Thou Swell - (Take 2)
13. Thou Swell - (Take 3)
14. Persian Rug
15. Fats Waller Stomp
16. Savannah Blues
17. Won't You Take Me Home?
18. He's Gone Away
19. Red Hot Dan
20. Geechee
21. Please Take Me Out of Jail

Personnel: Fats Waller (piano, organ), Henry "Red" Allen (trumpet), Jabbo Smith, Tom Morris (cornet), Jack Teagarden (trombone), James P. Johnson (piano), Bobbie Leecan (guitar), Gene Krupa (drums).

Personnel: Fats Waller (piano); Four Wanderers (vocals); Bobby Leecan (guitar); Eddie Condon, Will Johnson (banjo); Garvin Bushell (clarinet, bassoon, alto saxophone); Charlie Holmes (clarinet, alto saxophone); Arville Harris (reeds); Albert Nicholas, Otto Hardwick (alto saxophone); Larry Binyon (tenor saxophone); Leonard Davis, Charlie Gains, Henry "Red" Allen (trumpet); Jabbo Smith, Thomas Morris (cornet); Jack Teagarden (trombone, vibraphone); J.C. Higginbotham, Jimmy Archey, Charlie Irvis (trombone); James P. Johnson (piano); Eddie King , Gene Krupa, Joseph "Kaiser" Marshall (drums).

Liner Note Author: Richard Hadlock.

Recording information: Camden, NJ (05/20/1927-12/18/1929); New York, NY (05/20/1927-12/18/1929).

This CD has most of Fats Waller's best band recordings of the '20s, including eight selections by his "Buddies" (highlighted by "The Minor Drag" and "Harlem Fuss"), six (counting two alternate takes) from the Louisiana Sugar Babes (an odd quartet featuring Waller's organ and James P. Johnson's piano), and seven selections on which Waller sits in with cornetist Thomas Morris' Hot Babies in 1927. Surprisingly, other than his scat vocal on "Red Hot Dan," Fats Waller is heard strictly as a pianist but his talents were so giant as an instrumentalist that one never minds. With trombonists Charlie Irvis and Jack Teagarden and trumpeters Red Allen and Jabbo Smith among the strong supporting cast, the one word for this superior CD is hot.

STRIKE UP THE BAND - THE CANAD

Personnel: Paul Desmond (alto saxophone); Jim Hall (guitar); Eugene Cherico, Eugene Wright, Percy Heath (bass); Connie Kay (drums).

Producer: George Avakian.

Reissue producer: John Snyder.

Recorded in New York, New York between 1963 and 1965. Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler.

Digitally remastered by Joe Lopes and Jay Newland (1991, BMG Recording Studios, New York, New York).

VIVALDI: 6 CONCERTOS GALWAY,

FEELINGS ROGER WHITTAKER

LISZT: SONATA, ZWEITE ELEGIE

Galway is certainly engagingly whimsical in the bright, rhythmic outer movements of the Op. 25 Serenade, and if his strong instrumental personality dominates, he doesn't hog the limelight: his colleagues are well in the picture, although the recording is just a shade too resonant for an absolutely perfect focus. Galway's warm yet silvery melodic line is at its most appealing in the Minuet, given a classical elegance, with the following Allegro molto generating lots of extrovert energy to make a striking contrast. The Andante con variazioni is very agreeable too. It is certainly a positive performance, but has not quite the simplicity and unostentatious charm that makes the Israeli account on CDI/Pickwick so memorable.

As his main coupling Galway chooses the companion Serenade, Op. 8, but, surprisingly he uses an arrangement for flute and piano instead of adapting the violin part of the original string trio. The result has much less textural interest, for the piano part tends to act rather as an accompaniment. Philip Moll, however, makes the most of it and becomes a genuine partner. Again the poised Minuet is a highlight and Galway is at his most sparkling in the Allegretto alla Polacca, which he turns into a real lollipop.

The Sonata seems unlikely to be by Beethoven at all; its central Largo has a flowing Italianate theme rather like an opera aria and Galway makes the most of it, then carols his way gaily through the closing Allegro molto. Galway admirers will not want to miss this collection, but others may wish to look for the main work with other couplings.

-- Ivan March, Gramophone [7/1990]

This disc received 1996 Grammy nominations for "Best Instrumental Soloist
Performance (Without Orchestra)" and "Classical Producer Of The Year."