Outstanding Recent Historical Reissues
Despite the woeful cries of the Gloomy Guses who pestiferate
in the musical press, the classical CD is by no means dead, nor has
it been "killed" by historic reissues. Vast areas of our precious
musical past have yet to be uncovered, and a fascinating crop of recent
reissues reminds us of a major benefit of listening to old records:
we are confronted with past personalities and approaches, far from what
is common coin in conservatories and concert halls today. The mysteries
of past excellences need to be studied by all who have passed the stage
of child prodigy, working on instinct alone.
Some artists are especially alert to the vital importance
of the past. Veteran violinist Ida Haendel has just released
a new CD recital, accompanied by Vladimir Ashkenazy, which
shows her in feisty form at age 76; yet she also had the courage to
append as a bonus CD some of her Decca recordings from the 1940s, when
she was in her late teens (Decca 455-488-2). Brisk, utterly self-confident,
high on temperament and panache, the spiffy speed of her performances
are all the more notable given her rather retiring group of accompanists,
including Adela Kotowska, Ivor Newton, and her sister
Alice Haendel. Of these, only Noel Mewton-Wood,
an Australian who killed himself at age 31, matches Haendel in her impish
drive, in a fleet Beethoven Sonata in G, Op. 30, No. 3. Perhaps best
of all is a sexy rendition of Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances,
capturing the mystery and grace of that hypnotic work.
Another woman fiddler well worth investigating is the
Vienna-born Erica Morini (1904–95), still remembered for
achingly lyrical recordings like the Glazounov Concerto conducted by
Ferenc Fricsay. On the first CD of what looks to be a lengthy series
(Erica Morini, Vol. 1, Doremi DHR 7762), Doremi offers
a particularly touching Mozart Sonata K. 454 from around 1931, accompanied
by Louis Kentner (1905–87). This ardent interpretation
offers an unusual emotional complicity from these two artists, who were
still in their 20s when it was made. Morini had perfect security, fire,
and refinement in her playing. In spite of what sounds like heavy-handed
transfers of some of the other works here, this is a treasurable CD,
also including the Wienawski Concerto No. 2, accompanied by the NBC
Symphony conducted by Eugene Ormandy.
The Naxos Historical series, in the capable hands of
transfer engineer Mark Obert-Thorn (and David Lennick) has arrived at
two essential new volumes, of Fritz Kreisler’s justly
renowned Beethoven and Mendelssohn Concertos conducted by Leo Blech
(Fritz Kreisler: Complete Concerto Recordings, Vol. 1, Naxos
Historical 8.110909), and Bronislaw Huberman’s Beethoven
Concerto conducted by George Szell and Tchaikovsky Concerto
led by William Steinberg—back in in his Berlin days, when
he was known as Wilhelm (Naxos Historical 8.110903). Although the previous
Biddulph reissues of the Kreisler performances were superb, these new
transfers are also worthy, seeming to underline the excellence of Blech’s
contribution to Kreisler’s great art. This mighty fiddler created cathedrals
of sound effortlessly, as in the Beethoven first-movement cadenza, but
Blech on the podium made these 1926 performances more intensely emotional
than their remakes a few years later, with John Barbirolli conducting.
As for Huberman, the wild man of his instrument, his pulling around
of the score may be shocking in the Beethoven (especially if one has
just heard Kreisler’s Apollonian reading), but he certainly tears down
the house in the Tchaikovsky. No violinist today, whatever his testosterone
level, would want to play in this scenery-chewing way, but for sheer
visceral oomph, Huberman is hard to beat.
From Dionysos back to Apollo again, BMG recently produced
fitting tributes to Jascha Heifetz and David Oistrakh.
Heifetz’ dominance of all the challenges of the Brahms and Tchaikovsky
concertos is cushioned by the warmth of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
led by Fritz Reiner in the 1950s, and the sound
quality is excellent (Jascha Heifetz the Supreme, BMG
74321-63470-2). Some may prefer Heifetz’ concerto recordings from the
1930s for their combination of archangel power and moving vibrato. Indeed,
a 1961 version here of Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy seems like an
abstract painting of a battle scene; in the final movement, marked "Allegro
Guerriero," the composer must have expected the soloist to fight
bravely and audibly against the orchestra, whereas Heifetz sweeps through,
magically unimpeded by anything like a technical challenge. Such a musician
really is supreme and justifies any hype. By contrast, the Oistrakh
release from BMG (David Oistrakh the Essential, BMG 74321
729142) offers one CD of first releases of Mozart and Brahms concertos,
played with a thick and heavy approach by both Oistrakh and conductor
Kirill Kondrashin. Far better are the two Shostakovich
concertos on the second CD, especially the first concerto, as performed
in 1956 with Yevgeny Mravinsky leading the Leningrad
Philharmonic. A Russian-born violinist who perfectly commanded
the classical idiom of Mozart is Nathan Milstein; in its
distinguished series of reissues of his 1950s recordings, EMI recently
reprinted sovereign readings of sonatas by Handel and Mozart, with the
always gratifying accompaniment of pianist Artur Balsam in
the Handel (EMI 7243-5-67316-22).
Sometimes musical legends leave behind tantalizing traces,
like the live recordings of Brahms performances from the 1947 Edinburgh
Festival by Joseph Szigeti, Pierre Fournier, and Artur
Schnabel (Arbiter 121). Released now by Arbiter for the first
time ever, these recordings were not done professionally and hence are
very flawed in sound quality, sometimes painfully so. Yet there permeates
a real sense of occasion here, especially in the spacious adagios of
the Brahms Piano Trio No. 1 and the Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 78. Szigeti’s
vigor blends well with Fournier’s elegance, and Schnabel is captured
in an unusually genial and expansive mood. This release also boasts
a charming and valuable essay by pianist Leon Fleischer about Schnabel,
his teacher.
Even artists who have left vast quantities of recordings,
such as Yehudi Menuhin, can surprise us when archives
are scoured for material. Biddulph recently released performances recorded
by Menuhin during an East Asian tour in 1951 (Menuhin: The Japanese
Victor Recordings, Biddulph LAB 162/63). The playing, particularly
of solo works including Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G Minor and his Partita
No. 3 in E, is a splendid combination of the young Menuhin’s seductive
lyricism and the older player’s sense of dance rhythms. Fortunately
free of Menuhin’s later technical glitches, these solo recordings are
among the late musician’s best.
Equal superlatives are due some newly issued French
radio recordings from the 1950s by cellist Maurice Gendron of
two Beethoven sonatas and a Brahms sonata accompanied by the pianist-composer
Jean Francaix (INA Memoire Vive IMV031). Gendron never
recorded these works commercially—probably because of the similar prejudices
of recording executives who refused to believe that conductor Pierre
Monteux could master anything but French repertoire. In the event, Gendron
is suave and urbane in these works, a sensuous delight, and Francaix,
still under a cloud at the time for his alleged collaborationist activities
during the wartime German occupation of Paris, is clearly a thinking
musician. From the same French INA series comes a welcome recital by
the viola-and-piano duo of Lory and Ernst Wallfisch,
mostly recorded in 1979 (IMV029). With rarities like a Koechlin Sonata,
Op. 53, and Milhaud’s Sonata No. 2, written for the couple, they are
most persuasive advocates. Even if Ernst Wallfisch’s tone is slightly
acerbic, Lory’s pliant and rhythmically sensitive accompaniment helps
create a fine artistic effect. Showing their range and versatility as
performers, the couple also play the Mondonville Sonate Concerto No.
6, with Ernst playing violin and Lory a rather 1950s-sounding harpsichord.
Also ineffably French is a Telefunken Legacy reissue
from Teldec of the Calvet Quartet from the 1930s playing
the Beethoven Quartets Op. 18, No. 1, and Op. 131 (Calvet Quartet
Plays Beethoven Quartets, Teldec Telefunken Legacy 3984-28413-2).
In surprisingly clear and direct sound, the group makes Beethoven as
dry as a biscuit or a flute of champagne. The Calvet included superb
virtuosos, like Daniel Guilevitch, who as Daniel Guilet
played for Toscanini’s NBC Symphony and later helped found the Beaux
Arts Trio. For a sinuously French view of "Louis de Beethoven,"
this recording captures a historical moment with rare vividness and
real musicality. The helpful CD booklet notes about the Calvets are
by a British academic, Donald Ellman.
Another, more recent recording that has dated less well
is Mstislav Rostropovich’s version of the two Haydn cello
concertos, now reissued in the EMI Great Recordings of the Century series
(EMI 7243-56726321). Rostro’s playing sounded showy and out of key with
the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields even when it was
first published in 1975. Now it appears frankly inferior to his earlier
version of the C-Major Haydn Concerto with Benjamin Britten leading
the English Chamber Orchestra. Britten was a far more interesting conductor
in this repertoire than Rostro himself, who takes on the chores in the
later performance. Another EMI reissue, more worthy of the category
of great recordings, is John Barbirolli leading the Sinfonia
of London in English works for strings including Elgar’s Introduction
and Allegro (with the Allegri String Quartet) and
Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (John
Barbirolli Conducts English Music for Strings, EMI 7243-56726420).
Barbirolli wears his heart on his sleeve—surely he is the British conductor
closest to Leonard Bernstein in this sense—and some may prefer the stiff-upper-lip–suppressed-volcano-of-passion
approach of Adrian Boult in these works. Still, these are among Barbirolli’s
best recordings, and his own past as a cellist surely added to his love
for these capital string works.
No lover of string works would want to be without these
exemplary performances, and archives contain many others worthy of note;
may producers of historical recordings continue their excellent work,
and bring us many more treasures in the future.
