Classical Music

There has been no shortage of good versions of the Concierto de Aranjuez, a tribute to its unique charms in this virtually impossible concerto genre. John Williams himself has already made one of the finest, yet if possible even more conclusively this new one must be counted a winner, irresistible from first to last. The differences in interpretation are relatively minor but add up significantly. Broadly speaking Williams allows himself mole rhythmic freedom this time, more expressive rubato in the slow movement (taken a fraction slower), more infectious pointing in the outer movements. Quite simply it may be a question of Williams nowadays enjoying himself more in the recording studio, tensing-up a fraction less. The first movement is more carefree than before, and there the comparison with Bream is interesting. Bream has his lilting manner all right, but he is fiercer, less relaxed than the latter-day Williams. Williams before showed himself the most formidable technician, rigorously precise: now he shows himself as that and more, giving Rodrigo's haunting but trivial ideas extra flair and imagination.

The recording this time still puts the solo instrument well to the fore (how else can you balance a guitar concerto?) but there is more light and shade. Compare for example the passage in the first movement where the solo cello enters. The Philadelphia playing under Ormandy is marvellously well drilled, but the EGO under Barenboim matches the delicacy of Williams more subtly, helped by the recording.

Maybe it is my imagination but the balance in the Villa-Lobos Concerto on the reverse seems to balance the soloist closer still. In the first movement the closeness gives extra emphasis. The more natural balance given to Bream on his RCA version exposes the flimsiness of the argument—not difficult, I fear, in this work. In the last movement it is rather the other way about with Bream finding far more charm and fantasy, where Williams's fine playing is not helped by the closeness, the relative absence of light and shade. In any case comparisons are largely academic, when the couplings are so different. Anyone wanting the most delightful of guitar concertos—I refer to the Rodrigo— coupled with a different concerto from last time will be well satisfied with the new disc. Williams has rarely projected his musical personality more positively on record. Quite apart from balances, the recording is sweeter and clearer than last time.

– Gramophone [1/1975], reviewing the original LP

Classical Music

MOZART: SYMPHONIES 35 & 39 SZ

MOZART: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO 2,

In Boulez's hands, this music sounds as it should: immensely expressive, enormously concentrated, totally unyielding, and utterly uncompromising.

As they used to say back in the fin de siècle, for every generation, it's art. How could one argue? Every generation has its own life and its own world and its own history and every generation has the right to its own artistic prophet. But should every generation's art appeal to the next generation, or the generation after that, or the generation after that? In his generation, Schoenberg was anathema to almost everyone not accepted into his elect band of disciples who revered him as the prophet of modern music. After his death, Schoenberg was still anathema to almost everybody except the next generation of disciples, and that generation gave the world performances of the prophet's music that made it sound as austere and forbidding as possible. But, finally, after three generations, the disciples were able to relax a bit and give the world performances of the prophet's music that made it sound as close to appealing as the music has ever gotten. In these recordings of Schoenberg's choral music by Pierre Boulez and the BBC Singers and BBC Chorus, the prophet's music still sounds like the prophet's music: immensely expressive, enormously concentrated, totally unyielding, and utterly uncompromising. But at least the music is accurately directed and accurately performed so for once it is clearly and lucidly presented, which is more than one can say for earlier recordings. And if the prophet's music still sounds forbidding to most listeners, well, there is only so much performers can do and remain faithful to the spirit of the music and of the prophet. For true believers, however, these discs will provide proof positive of the greatness of the man and the music.

-- James Leonard, AllMusic.com

HANDEL: RINALDO MALGOIRE, COT

It was inevitable that sooner or later the renaissance of interest in French opera should alight on Thomas's once immensely popular Mignon. Less than 30 years after its creation in 1866 it had reached its 1,000th performance in Paris (witnessed then by its elderly composer) and its fame was comfirmed in every major opera house. In more than one sense, a work like Mignon held the place of the musical today, an entertainment for a very wide public comprising speech, good tunes (cleverly exploited), invigorating choruses and dances, star roles for certain singers. Like the musical it was often altered and adapted as it moved from one centre to another, either to satisfy the modes of performance in a particular city or else the whims of a famous singer. In the case of Mignon, recitatives were composed and an Italian translation made for London where also Volpini, the Philine, demanded (and got) an extra aria. For Germany, presumably not to offend Goethe-lovers' sensibilities, an alternative, tragic ending was devised.

That German finale is the only omission from this admirably comprehensive recording. Not only are Philine's extra air and the original, and longer (also happy), end added as appendices but we are also vouchsafed the fuller versions of every other number. Thus none of the optional cuts in my old score is made, while the extended versions of Lothario's "Fugitive et tremblant" in Act I and of Mignon's "Styrienne" (both done for the Drury Lane performances in 1870) are offered. It is perhaps a pity that we have the recitatives rather than the dialogue (because that does not allow the passages of melodrarne to stand out so effectively) but as the former are by the composer, there can be little to complain of on that account either. What of the quality of the music? Well, the famous numbers, so often recorded in the days of 78 rpm discs, remain by far the most telling parts of the score. The rest is out of a rather anonymous mid-nineteenth-century French stock-pot, but as those numbers form a substantial part of the work, there is naturally much to admire. Thomas's melodic gift was hardly second to Gounod's and his ability to write sensuously and with much feeling for his heroine cannot be denied; her music is the most subtly orchestrated. What Thomas lacked was his successor Massenet's tauter, more deeply characterized and more flexible construction.

Mignon is here affectingly sung by Marilyn Horne. She easily sustains the very slow speed adopted for "Connais tu le pays?", so it would be perhaps churlish to add that she does not quite capture the piece's "pathetic, dream-like nostalgia", mentioned in the old Record Guide, which is to be found in versions of the past by Cernay and Supervia, among others. Horne, not unexpectedly, fulfils all the coloratura possibilities of the extended version of the "Styrienne" (sung correctly in E flat, not D), but she really comes into her own in the impassioned scene later in Act 2, "Elle est la" where Mignon almost commits suicide in her despair at Wilhelm's infatuation for the flighty Philine. This is also Thomas at his best, relating his music surely to the needs of the text.

Von Stade's delightfully fresh and liquid sound as Frederic (a part originally assigned to a buffo tenor but adapted by the composer for the mezzo Trebelli at Drury Lane) leaves one guessing what she might have made of the title part. The Gavotte inserted for Trebelli is done breezily and cleanly by von Stade, whose Frederic thoroughly deserves to win the hand (eventually) of Ruth Welting's enchanting Philine. Welting brings just the right coquettish charm to the part and sings with the light insouciance of a French soprano of an earlier generation. The Polonaise, very difficult in its uncut version, has bright and natural coloratura and excellent trills. The Forlane, in the appendix (its main theme appears in the Overture), is no less expertly and winningly sung—to a flute and harpsichord accompaniment (Thomas didn't orchestrate it). Alain Vanzo follows his recent Nadir in HMV's Pecheurs de Perles with an even more accomplished performance, elegant yet involved, as Wilhelm Meister. His timbre, very similar to that of Alfredo Kraus, is ideally suited to the part, and his versions of "Adieu, Mignon" and "Elle ne croyait pas", while not effacing those of all his most famous predecessors, deserve to be spoken of in the same breath as theirs. Old Lothario is a gift of a part for a warm bass. The veteran Zaccaria, calling to mind at times Vanni Marcoux, at others late Pinza, makes the most of it. The tone spreads at the top of his register but is at all times greatly sympathetic, even in a rather too emphatic account of the Berceuse. Battedou is a lively Laerte. Almeida obviously loves the piece, but as I have implied, he doesn't always choose his speeds as carefully as he might. He secures idiomatic playing from his orchestra.

-- Gramophone [10/1978] reviewing the original LP release

RACHMANINOV: PIANO CONCERTO NO

CONCERT A LA CARTE VIENNA WIN

It may surprise some, but this particular coupling is actually quite rare. The two pieces make interesting partners, the bite and drama of the Symphony contrasting well with the mellow warmth of the Serenade. There are literally dozens of versions of both pieces in the catalogue, many of them in modern digital sound. This Sony disc sounds its age in places, particularly the New World, which has a rather hard edge and glare in the upper registers (showing its CBS origins), but it is always worth hearing great conductors in familiar music.

Ormandy certainly coaxes playing of great character and spontaneity out of the 60s vintage LSO. The strings throughout have marvellous bite and cohesion. Sample the soaring violins at 3.32 in the first movement, or the rich cellos and basses later in the same movement. Ormandy seems fairly content to play things ‘straight’, which suits me to a degree, though some conductors, most notably Kubelik (DG) and Kondrashin (Decca), are willing to take a few more risks to bring out the life and drama beneath the notes. Nevertheless, Ormandy makes sure that precision and adherence to the score is paramount, and this brings many rewards. The great Largo is never sentimentalised, and the Scherzo has real flair and panache, with the LSO wind particularly fine. The Finale has a sense of grandeur and breadth that is very satisfying, and while there may be more individual accounts in the catalogue, this performance has a lot going for it.

Kempe’s unforced, eloquent reading of the wonderful Serenade also has its own special magic. He takes a relaxed view of the opening, shaping the lyrical first theme in a slow, affectionate way that then contrasts with the slightly sharper rhythmic point for the second subject. There is real concentration in every bar, and though the Munich strings may not be world class, they respond enthusiastically to their great conductor. The Valse movement has a lovely lilt, as well as dramatic impulse, and the engaging Scherzo is matched by the warmth of the Larghetto. I’ve heard the Finale played with a touch more Slavonic bite and precision, but Kempe keeps a firm grip on proceedings and achieves a genuinely exciting climax. The recording is also warmer and slightly more focused than the older Ormandy.

This disc enters a very crowded field but has its rewards. I found myself hearing details in both performances that marked them out, and anyone who is more interested in genuine music-making rather than state-of–the-art sound will not be disappointed.

-- Tony Haywood, MusicWeb International

Track Listing
1. Overture
2. Ladies Who Lunch, The
3. He Tossed a Coin
4. Two by Two
5. I Want to Be Happy
6. Coffee in a Cardboard Cup
7. Lucky to Be Me
8. Send in the Clowns
9. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
10. Over Here!
11. What I Did For Love
12. Mack the Knife
13. Tomorrow
14. Fifty Per Cent
15. Come Follow the Band
16. Folies Bergere

TCHAIKOVSKY: ARIAS GHENA DIMI

MARLBORO FEST 40TH ANNIVERSARY

This album also feartures arrangements of Gershwin songs played by the New York Philharmonic.