Guarneri Quartet. RCA Silver Seal 60909-2 [with Ravel: Quartet in F; Debussy: Suite bergamasque (Alexis Weissenberg, piano)].

The Guarneri Quartet’s 1973 recording, sounding a little wooly but nonetheless quite lovely on CD, conveys the music with endearing sweetness and warmth. No group has ever gotten closer to the spirit of Debussy’s slow movement, or more beautifully captured its fragrant atmosphere and attenuated, almost heartbreaking sentiment. First violinist Arnold Steinhardt is exquisite here, and the group’s playing overall is remarkably polished. – Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection.

There are pages here to rival even Bernstein. Come the finale, Slatkin well and truly throws down the gauntlet: his "Fanfare" is impressive, and within bounds—the right side of credibility— but it's the contrapuntal jubilance, the dance of life at the heart of the movement that really begins to set the adrenalin flowing. And nowhere more so than at the moment when we see this raunchy music for what it really is: counterpoint in search of its theme—namely, the "Fanfare" itself. Slatkin forges a toughly syncopated climax in its wake, driving home the halting dissonance which by now seems somehow inevitable—a moment of truth. The most moving pages of all then ensue, and Slatkin is still unassailable weaving Copland's piccolo-led tracery (woodwind, harps, piano, celeste) towards a tremendous peroration. Ihe anvil and xylophone hammer through terrifically at the close, heavy brass, bass drum and tam-tam ensuring a formidable pay-off.

So where are the drawbacks? Are there any? One or two: I am not entirely happy with the sound. Warmth, perspective and weight (handsome bass extension) are not a problem, but there is what can only be described as a curiously 'covered', unfocused quality which makes for a degree of opaqueness, particularly in the more densely scored tuttis. You need plenty of volume for the best effect. Not that Bernstein's live recording (DG, coupled with Quiet City) was ideal. Best for sound so far has been the 1987 EMI Mata/ Dallas Symphony Orchestra disc (nla). Sound apart, though, I don't think Slatkin quite catches the sheer audacity of the scherzo. Bernstein is second-to-none here: the raucous trumpet cackles and side-drum rim-shots—their effect in the Slatkin is somewhat muted, though he does pull off a swaggering climax as the trio tune reappears unexpectedly in canon. Again, though, I should like to hear it in more sharply focused sound.

Slatkin's first and third movements seem to me ideal. He certainly honours Copland's instruction "with simple expression" as the New England/ Quaker hymnody unfolds at the outset (Bernstein is inclined to burden these bars with 'significance'). The Saint Louis orchestra play very sweetly indeed as the words dolce, sonore and intensivo begin to appear on the page. The archlike superstructure is surely drawn, its two climactic edifices like great pillars of support. In the slow movement, Bernstein achieves a greater sense of dream-like remoteness in the opening bars though Slatkin is by far the subtler of the two as solo flute spirits us into nostalgic reverie. The texture is gorgeously light and airy, even as the dancing grows more boisterous (Bernstein does rather rush his fences here), and Slatkin's control of the long, slow wind-down (the dream fading gradually into the deepest recesses of the mind) is masterly. I only wish he had held the pause on the final diminuendo in the strings just a shade longer (lunga, Copland marks) so as to heighten the moment at which the flutes so magically announce both "Fanfare" and finale. This is a performance of real distinction, though. Bernstein's burning conviction, his unique electricity, set him apart, but there's always room for more than one view.

Slatkin's coupling might sway some collectors. Copland's own 1966 CBS recording of Music for a Great City, his reworking (for the LSO's sixtiethbirthday season) of the score for Jack Garfine's 1961 film Something Wild, has not yet resurfaced on CD. But Slatkin's reading is a winner: gritty and urgent in Copland's suitably frantic evocation of the New York City "Skyline" with its jazz and latino explosions, not least the movement "Subway Jam"—a kind of angry Rumba, fractured brass and percussion to the fore. "Night Thoughts" is Edward Hopper/Quiet City territory: now languid, now anxious, now wistful—a telling reminder of just how well Copland understood the soul of both rural and urban America.

-- Gramophone [2/1991]

This CD offers some of Bernard Herrmann most imaginative music beginning with the rousing Death Hunt" from On Dangerous Ground in which the National Philharmonic's brass does the near-impossible. The suite from Citizen Kane is well-chosen, with a young Kiri Te Kanawa singing the aria from the opera Salammbo. In the movie this was poorly sung by Kane's wife in an opera production mounted specially for her. Gerhardt decided that Hermann's glorious music should be presented in a first-class performance, the way Kane heard it in his own mind. This is the only time in the entire CFS series when music was not presented basically as it was in the film. You'll also hear the resplendent sounds of 9 shimmering harps in Beneath the 12-Mile Reef and a suite from White Witch Doctor with exotic percussion and a strange instrument called the serpent." -- Robert Benson, Classical CD Review

CINEMA ITALIANO - MUSIC OF ENN

Tracks:
1. OISTRAKH/MUNCH/BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - (1-3) SYMPHONIE EN SI BEMOL MAJEUR/ B FLAT MAJOR / B-DUR, OP.20
2. OISTRAKH/MUNCH/BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - (4) POEME
3. OISTRAKH/MUNCH/BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - (5-7) INTRODUCTION ET RONDO CAPRICCIOSO

Produced by George Korngold

Recording Engineer: K.E. Wilkinson Recorded on September 6 & 7, 1973 Remastered in BMG Studio D on August 18, 1989

"One of the most popular recordings of the series, this opens with an extended suite -- with big orchestra treatment -- of Max Steiner's music from Casablanca including of course "As Time Goes By" Equally memorable are the excerpts from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Two Mrs.Carrolls." - Robert Benson, Classical CD Review

The 1955 Studio Cast of Carousel was the first comprehensive recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s great score. Metropolitan Opera stars Patrice Munsel and Robert Merrill bring their sumptuous voices to the roles of Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow plus a cast that includes the future “Mrs. Brady,” Florence Henderson, Tony-winner George S. Irving, Gloria Lane and Herbert Banke. Legendary Broadway maestro Lehman Engel conducts this recording, of which Richard Rodgers wrote, “It is my hope that you will enjoy the splendid artists who have made this album as much as I enjoy them.”

Personnel: Cleo Laine (vocals); Chris Spedding, Laurence Juber, Brian Daly (guitar); Paul Hart (violin, keyboards); Fred Parrington, Ted Bryett, John Willison, Derek Solomons, Michael Rennie, Celia Mitchell, Harold Parfitt, Guy Daines, Gerry Richards, James Archer, Homi Kanga, Sidney Sax (violin); Norris Bosworth, George Turnland, David Bellman (viola); Dennis Southard (cello); John Dankworth (clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Ray Swinfield (alto saxophone); Victor Ash (tenor saxophone); Mike Page (baritone saxophone); Derek Watkins (trumpet); Dave Horler (trombone); George Martin, Max Middleton (keyboards); Graham Morgan, Richard Bailey , Roy Jones (drums).

Recording information: AIR Studios (06/1975-10/1975); CBS Studios (06/1975-10/1975); Essex Music Studios, London, England (06/1975-10/1975).

Director: John Dankworth.

Producer: George Martin, Rocky Thomas (track 6).

Arrangers: John Dankworth; Darryl Runswick.

BOCCHERINI: QUINTETS NOS 4 AND

This selection is available for a limited time as a special import.

Beethoven: The Late String Quartets

The accounts of the Razumovsky quartets from the Guarneri foursome, recorded in 1991-92, are bold, dramatic, and sharply profiled. There is a refreshing sense of immediacy to the group’s playing, particularly in their dynamic, emotionally charged reading of the F major quartet. First violinist Arnold Steinhardt’s intense yet sweet-toned lyricism is irresistible, as is the momentum the Guarneri players impart to the finales of all three quartets. – Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection

"The Amsterdam Guitar Trio recorded its brilliant arrangements of four of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos in 1985, and though that may seem a long time ago, these virtuoso performances still sound remarkably fresh and vital. The playing of guitarists Helenus de Rijke, Johan Dorrestein, and Olga Franssen, with harpsichordist Tini Mathot as guest soloist in the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, is always transparent in line and meticulous in detail, so all of the counterpoint can clearly be heard and the ensemble is full and balanced. There are also fine distinctions made between the concertino and ripieno passages, which the three guitarists ingeniously simulate through adjustments in dynamics, timbres, and textures, and there is a genuine feeling of give and take that is essential in these classics of the concerto grosso form. RCA's sound is close-up and vibrant, with enough resonance and space to give the musicians breathing room."

-- Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

The famous pastoral music in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and in Handel’s Messiah are central parts of a development which spans two hundred years, from about the second half of the seventeenth century until well into the nineteenth. Connoisseurs and experts still disagree on whether the stimulus came from the secular pastoral music of the Renaissance, or whether the Shepherds In Adoration provided the initial inspiration for the composers.

Arcangelo Corelli’s (1653—1713) Christmas Concerto is the oldest of the works. His concerto op. VI No. 8 fatto per la notte di Natale appeared in 1714 a year after the master’s death, in Amsterdam. It undoubtedly belongs to the last period of Corelli’s work and is among his most famous — not only by virtue of its festive Christmas spirit, but more specifically because it constitutes one of the most impressive and accomplished examples of the Concerto grosso. The balanced beauty of the many movements of the ecclesiastical work is in happy concordance, as can be felt in the depth of the sentiment, the vigour of expression, the enchanting sounds of the strings, the supreme virtuosity of the arrangement of the solo parts, and the classical harmony. The Pastorale exhibits in its unique perfection the combined stylistic features of pastoral music: the swaying Sicilian rhythm, the tender, peaceful interval of the thirds and the imitation of the bagpipe’s drone. As J. N. Forkel understands it, Corelli in composing this work had a vision of the Angel on High over Bethlehem. Whatever the case may be, one readily agrees with Einstein who called this Pastorale "the musical companion-piece to Sandro Boticelli’s Nativity".

Johann Christoph Pez (1664—1716) was a contemporary of Corelli. Despite his studies in Rome, his whole professional life was spent in South and West Germany, in Munich, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf. Pez underlines the festive and pastoral character of his Concerto through the treble parts which are intended for the two flutes. He acquires a delightful textural contrast by his masterly juxtaposition of violin with two viols or violas.

Two of the movements are designated as Pastorale; the others (with the exception of the Chaconne) are called Aria by the composer, who thus freely concedes a secular and in parts popular character. Francesco Manfredini‘s (ca. 1680—1748) opus III appeared in Bologna in 1718, where the composer had finished his apprenticeship under Torelli. Manfredini too designated his three-movement Concerto fatto per la notte di Natale,that is, for performance at the Christmas Mass. The transition from the Concerto grosso to the purely instrumental concerto can be traced in this work. In some sections the two solo violins have to master tasks which can be attributed to a solo violin in a violin concerto. In style too, this late Baroque composition foreshadows a possible future gallantry and sensitivity of expression, without meanwhile sacrificing the gravity and elevation of an authentic sonata da chiesa to the sweetness and pleasance of the sound.

Giuseppe Tartini’s life (1692 1770) reads rather like a novel. Throughout his life he was very closely connected with the Franciscans; his teacher was the famous Bohemian master, Cernohorsky, a Franciscan monk from Prague who lived a long time in Assisi. It seems almost inconceivable that the same master who envisaged “the devil’s trill” in a hell-like vision, could also have composed simple Franciscan church music. In this three-movement symphony for strings, the transition from Rococo to true Classicism can already be noted.

Carl de Nys

Originally released 20 years ago, and now available again through ArkivMusic, this immensely popular recording reimagines some of the popular songs of Christmas as if they had been written by Mozart or Beethoven or Debussy.