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Music Reviews from Issue 39

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Beethoven & Mozart: Violin Sonatas
David Oistrakh, Lev Oborin & Vladimir Yampolsky
Testament SBT 1115 Reviewed by RP
Beethoven and Mozart are a part of the staple diet for a great violinist and in this performance of the Kreutzer with Lev Oborin we find Oistrakh to be at the very peak of his technical and interpretative powers. His wristy bowing, sonorous string tone, secure, powerful and expansive phrasing come across with considerable presence on a recording that dates from 1957. The empathic piano accompaniment making a significant contribution to a deeply satisfying rendition. For the lively Beethoven Sonata No.3 and a simply marvellous exploration of Mozart’s Violin Sonata No.32 (which was produced by Walter Legge) pianist Vladimir Yampolsky joins the maestro. While he may lack Oborin’s almost telepathic relationship with Oistrakh, he is still a wily and quite superb technician-one who understands that an acute sense of ensemble is critical to this recital. The mono recordings sound a little dated when compared to those precisely detailed textures reproduced by their modern day counterparts but because these old tapes really pull the instrumentalists much closer together than most will be familiar with that underlying feeling of coherence and unity is enhanced. They also deliver beautiful musical images full of integrity, warmth, richness and natural balance.

Vivaldi: Four Seasons
Quarta, Orbelian, Moscow Chamber Orchestra
Delos SACD 3280 Reviewed by RP
The Seasons come and go and a few special performances stand head and shoulders above the rest. I am of course thinking of Marriner’s Argo recording (analogue 1970), Hogwood on L’Oiseau-Lyre (digital 1984) and a rendition also played on original instruments directed by Agostino Orizio (analogue 180g double LP 1995) from the underrated Italian Fone label. Every decade or so another exceptional release will surface. With five years to go there’s plenty of time left. However, a Moscow Chamber/Massimo Quarta reading (pared back to the bare bones and shying away from those now familiar virtuoso indulgences) makes an interesting addition to the baroque music catalogue. Yes, the soloist does impose his personality but there is an indelible sense of honesty – one where an absence of imitation is a virtue that allows Vivaldi’s most popular of works to breathe. There is a bonus too. The fillers are those less well known and infrequently heard Storm At Sea and Pleasure Concertos. A skeletal Delos SACD recording shorn of enveloping warmth and those overly rich textures successfully validates a highly motivated and extremely individual and daring musical approach to the canon.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

Elgar & Vaughan Williams: Violin Concerto & Lark Ascending
Colin Davis, LSO
Hilary Hahn, Violin
Deutsche Grammophon 00289 474 8732 Reviewed by RP
Two quintessentially English works played here with sensitivity and no little panache by a soloist who achieves the deeply affecting melancholy and an attractive degree of sweetness for Elgar’s Concerto should be sufficient reason enough on its own to buy this disc. A sumptuous recording full of fine detail, instrumental clarity and the kind of warmth demanded by this music is another. So is this Sir Colin Davis / LSO reading. As a young firebrand he was a wilful conductor who did not always respect the accepted tempi. Forty years on and I think that in many respects Sir Colin has taken up the Sir Adrian Boult mantle. However, Hilary Hahn unquestionably remains the focal point and her successful interpretation and execution of the Elgar while it may not be an unblemished one does prove her credentials as an expressive performer, meditative when required and exciting in the bravura passages. Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending is a very appealing filler.
This pastoral romance for violin and orchestra beautifully mimics the flight of the Lark and requires great delicacy and careful handling to achieve the lyrical spaciousness of the skies above.
Davis and Hahn evocatively develop that sense of serene beauty and motion.

Tchaikovsky & Korngold: Violin Concertos
Andre Previn VPO & LSO
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violin
DGG 00289 474 8742 Reviewed by RP
Affectionate, understanding and attractively framed performances of these Concertos are in the case of the Tchaikovsky marred slightly by a less than satisfactory recording which surprisingly for this format I found to be a little murky. It left me asking myself whether the DGG engineers were striving for too much warmth in works where the romance is best left to the soloist and the scores?
That said it is hard to fault the Anne-Sophie Mutter interpretation of a Korngold Concerto that was of course popularised by the great Jascha Heifetz reading of the early 1950s. This remains an extremely challenging yet very beautiful piece of violin writing. Strong and endearing cinematic styled images must be carried with total conviction otherwise that dangerous descent into kitsch cannot be avoided. To their credit Mutter through her virtuosity and Previn, whose career began with film scores, give us a quite dashing and romantic account full of exciting and sweeping melodies. The balance between the London Symphony musicians and the violin soloist is nicely handled too, with the piquant colours and emotional range of Mutter being subtly reinforced by all their orchestral work in the trenches. A plump and rich sound here that has real presence made up for much of the disappoint felt when playing the Tchaikovsky.

Orff: Carmina Burana
Donald Runnicles, Atlanta Symphony & Chorus
Telarc SACD-60575 Reviewed by RP
This is a creditable performance of Carl Orff’s mysterious, sexually charged and ritualistic musicone which places a great store on reproducing as close as is possible the Thirteenth Century poetic diction that underpins this hedonistic choral cycle depicting those contrasting highs and lows thrown down by capricious fate. The drama, familiar surges of passion and that sense of theatre and pageantry are entertainingly and evocatively developed. The sap rises in Springtime. The debauchery of that Tavern scene is palpable, while the soprano singing of Hei-Kyung Hong in The Court Of Love touches and teases the ears until that final call to uninhibited and lusty pleasure greets us with open arms. Sonically, this is an epic display. Massed vocal ranks are clearly and distinctly reproduced. The outstanding instrumental textures-their individual timbres and tonal characteristics and dynamic shifts-are delivered with wonderful accuracy and precision right across and throughout the entire soundstage. And when the bass drum explodes in O Fortuna it does so with a tight and exceptionally deep (almost gut wrenching) detonation. The piano, which for example appears on Fortune plango vulnera, also plunges you into a realm where keyboard notes have a lifelike authority, weight and presence found missing from many recordings of Carmina.

Ives: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-4
Curt Thompson, Violin, Rodney Waters, Piano
Naxos 8.559119 Reviewed by RP
The quality of these Charles Ives sonatas written during the first two decades of the Twentieth Century was only recognised after the composer’s death in 1954. Typically these three movement pieces draw heavily upon American popular and folk music traditions while still adhering to a European classical music structure. Although it should be noted that for the second and third sonatas a fastslow-fast pattern to the movements has been reversed. Often their finales resonate to the borrowed tunes of New England Protestant hymns giving them a familiar and characteristically reflective sound. The images invoked are definitely pictorial in nature. Violin Sonata No.1 suggests rural gatherings and goes on to recall the camp fire tales of the Civil War. This thematic material with its emphasis on small communities coming together continues into the second sonata that alludes to square dances with its fiddle tunes, as well as church and revival meetings. Again hymns, revival tunes and refrains surface in the third and fourth sonatas the latter which is entitled ‘Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting’ culminates with the strong musical flavours of ‘Shall We Gather at the River’. The Curt Thompson/ Rod Waters partnership sensitively handles their fellow countryman’s music and the recording made at the Duncan Recital Hall, Rice University, Houston (which they also produced) creates a wonderfully natural violin and piano balance.

Marcel Dupré Organ Recital
Music by Widor and Dupré
Speakers Corner / Mercury SR90169 Reviewed by RSF
A lease buster of a record if ever there was one. I LOVE this album. Charles-Marie Widor’s Allegro (Symphony No. 6, Op42) goes down so low, and with such power, you can feel the glass in the windows of your home vibrate. Another fun portion of this album appears at the end of the Allegro just before the Salve Regina. You can easily hear across the rear wall of your listening venue, a truck, driving from left to right! About two-thirds of the way through his journey you hear him shifting gears!
Now, with all that nonsense aside, the music is fabulous. This is one of the finest organ records ever produced and I can’t recommend it strongly enough for those interested in the King of Instruments. Dupré’s own selection, Prelude and Fugue in G minor, Op. 7 at the beginning of Side 2 conveys a great sense of space, power and majesty.
Don’t kid yourself into believing this record doesn’t go down to the deepest recesses your system can produce. Believe me it does. The original has been on Mr. Pearson’s list forever and it most definitely belongs not just on his list... it belongs in your collection. A fabulous recording authored by a superb organist and composer. Not to be missed.

Ben Webster - Sophisticated Lady
Speakers Corner/Verve MG V-2026 Reviewed by DD
Sophisticated Lady is an album that finds Ben Webster in a deeply introspective mood. Ten languorous slow burning ballads including ‘My Funny Valentine’, ‘Prelude To A Kiss’, ‘You’re Mine’ and ‘All Too Soon’ affords him ample opportunities to explore and indulge that sensual side of his nature through an unmistakeably breathy and remarkably rich style of tenor saxophone playing which always radiates immense amounts of warmth. He’s so adept at floating a big note, holding it forever to capture the emotion and then milking the moment for all it’s worth that I defy anyone not to be overcome by these images.
Webster truly exerts his personality and, while this is no Soulville or Ben Webster At The Renaissance, there is still something profoundly satisfying within these lyrical accounts of top class Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Gershwin, Harold Arlen and Rodgers and Hart arrangements. Standout sidemen, especially the pianists Teddy Wilson and Billy Strayhorn, also have an affinity for this material. Superb musical cohesion and a bold, tightly framed and tactile acoustic with an excellent sense of surrounding space makes for a highly articulate and tactile recording session. All in all a quite lovely release beautifully pressed and presented by Speakers Corner.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

British Band Classics, Vol 2.
Jacob: Suite: William Byrd;
Holst: Hammersmith: Prelude And Scherzo;
Walton: Crown Imperial March.
Fennell, Eastman Wind Ensemble.
Speakers Corner/Mercury SR90197 Reviewed by RSF
I think RG must have gone to military school ‘cause he rolled his eyes when I brought my WLP copy of the original to the now infamous shootout at Heathrow last year. If not, perhaps he’s just had his fill of this music. Not me, especially when it’s done so well. I do like band music and enjoy the actual sound woven by woodwinds and brass as captured by Robert Fine in this Mercury Living Presence recording. While I enjoy Gordon Jacob’s Suite: William Byrd immensely, the stars of the production for me, are on side two. I’ve got the famous EMI recordings as well as Fennell’s Telarc recordings, but these two performances of Holst’s and Walton’s works are at the top of the “A” list.
There is no recording I know that can even come close to the Walton and as close as you’re going to get to the Holst might be that Telarc direct-todisk... but still, only close. If you’re at all interested in this type of music or are looking to hear stunning examples of these composers, you will not find better performances than Fennell has given us and you will certainly be hard pressed to find better sound than this Speakers Corner re-issue. Highest recommendation.

Aztec Two-Step - Days Of Horses
Red Engine Records RER003 Reviewed by RP
The folk/rock duo of Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman first met at a Boston club in the spring of 1971.
They have since that time struck major label record deals, collaborated on finely crafted albums, toured extensively and played their acoustic guitars with an unparalleled brilliance. Yet despite all of this exquisite musicianship, their lyrical song writing, the silky smooth harmonies and intoxicating performances are today still an extremely well kept secret. Only a relatively small but appreciative band of “Americana” fans, reviewers and an odd assortment of camp followers – those who are steeped in the movement’s farthest vestiges – loudly proclaim the musical importance and continuing relevance of Aztec Two-Step. Days Of Horses, their eleventh album and first studio recording in over ten years, is a wonderfully nostalgic, sensitive and beautifully textured series of vignettes. Eleven songs split almost evenly between the pens of Shulman and Fowler beguile us with their sweet and breezy melodies that are so reminiscent of that hip folk scene of the early 1970s. At the same time they invite us to take a little peek under the hood of their American experiences. Then their lyrics probe and prick at our consciences until an emotional void is filled either with the homely values of the past or those lessons in life that have been learnt along the way.
In the first three songs they reflect upon and celebrate a bygone age. We are cruising down Ventura Highway on the sun drenched title track which so evocatively recalls the images when “back in the days of horses, around one hundred years, before Corvettes or Porsches, Henry Ford shifted gears”. Then there are those half remembered childhood double features and radio hits found in ‘Dad Came Home’ and a reassuringly warm summer night of ‘Stargazers’ to caress the ears. But even here there are disquieting moments lurking in the background. Dad came home from a war. They mention a “tour” which is surely a tour of duty in Vietnam. And these images that lie just beneath the surface begin to pick at and then unravel this warm and cosy lyrical and melodic blanket which they’ve previously wrapped us up in. The fourth track, ‘Better These Days’, is a stark folk blues song that demystifies the alcoholic kick or drug taking highs. Its sentiments could equally apply to modern partygoers or generations of musicians down the ages. Recounting a sliding scale of less glamorous pharmaceutical concoctions injects both humour and a note of reality into this prophetic tale.
The album’s greatest strength though is the ability to reach into the hearts and minds of an audience with its powerful narratives and at the same time expand the smallest image or slightest memory into a poetic insight. Magical ensemble playing, supple and iridescent harmonies, honest sentiments not complicated by hidden agendas or an underlying sense of irony and of course that undying passion for acoustic music makes for entertainment of the highest calibre. There’s a depth and charm which gently extends into those poignant and genuine south to the border songs like ‘Tonight I Wish I Was In Texas’, ‘Down Home’ and the quite lovely ‘Fools Like Us’.
Paul Guzzone’s exceptionally sympathetic production captures the very essence of acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass playing. It memorably recreates the fluency, bite, energy, warmth and vibrant interaction of these closely woven musical colours that merge, separate and then eventually decay. Ray Staff’s Abbey Road cut for the 180g LP pressing made at Pallas in Germany has excellent transparency and like the CD it eloquently recreates the inner details and vocal nuances which tug so strongly at your motions.
Supplier: The Cherished Record Company - www.cherished-record-company.co.uk (44)(0)1579 363603

Beethoven: Symphony No.7 & Leonore Overture No.3.
Bach: “Air” from Suite No.3 & “Arioso” from Cantata No.156
Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra
Cisco/Scora Reviewed by RP
Entitled “Ormandy in Russia” these works, which were recorded live in the May of 1958, are the first set in a six disc series of Philadelphia performances made in the Soviet Union. While it may not quite have captured the imagination in the same way as those famous Mercury sessions did, they do nevertheless represent vivid, highly evocative and beautifully proportioned readings.
Of course the Seventh Symphony and Leonore Overture No.3 have those exceptionally stirring climaxes but their roots are nourished by very different rhythmic patterns. The Overture encapsulates the themes of a typical operatic drama while the Symphony possesses that controlled and sustained intensity found in a variety of dance forms. The audience is certainly appreciative of both although they are surprisingly ill disciplined and noisy at the opening of the Beethoven Seventh. It can be argued that these inner details give it a large dose of the “you are there” realism and immediacy to proceedings. The Bach-Ormandy transcriptions (quality encore pieces) are nicely handled and played in a fashion that rightly leaves you hungry for more. Steve Hoffman’s work on the master tapes is as always sympathetically executed with an emphasis upon nuance and subtle interpretative insights.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

Lou Reed - Transformer
Speakers Corner/RCA LSP-4807 Reviewed by PD
From time to time the compromises imposed by the music business become more obvious than usual.
In 1972 Lou Reed, one of the most compelling and influential American songwriters of his generation, was two years past walking away from his band, the Velvet Underground. He had released an underwhelming first solo album that sold squat. At the same time, English glam rock, heavily influenced by the Velvets, was emerging as the commercial vanguard. David Bowie, at a peak in his career, was its leading figure. Not content with the increasing success of his own work, Bowie sought to spread his influence through the revitalization of other deserving souls such as Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople and finally, Lou Reed.
Bowie signed on to produce Reed’s second solo album, together with Bowie’s guitarist and arranger, Mick Ronson. Transformer is an entirely appropriate title for the work that resulted. Reed had looked like a long-haired folkie when he performed at a reunion concert in Paris with the Velvets John Cale and Nico at the beginning of the year. He soon found himself wearing pancake makeup and eye shadow on stage (as reproduced on Transformer’s front cover). The indirect and artful references to homosexuality previously made in his work became blatant and sensational. And the arrangements on his new album were often dead ringers for tracks from Bowie and Ronson’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Hunky Dory.
It is testimony to Reed’s talent that Transformer transcends all of this. Reed brought strong songs to the table. If the Bowie and Ronson influence detracted from Reed’s identity, you still shouldn’t ignore that at the time they were at the top of their game. ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ and ‘Satellite of Love’ have commercial legs to this day.
‘Vicious’ rocks in the best Velvets fashion, and ‘Perfect Day’ is as sweet as when it was first written (if also overproduced). There are no bad tracks. If Transformer stands as a curious but durable presentation of Reed’s songwriting, it’s also a monument to its time. It successfully rekindled the career of Reed, and the iconic sleeve did photographer Mick Rock no harm either.
Speakers Corner has done as fine a job as can be expected with these early Seventies multi-track tapes. Gone is the fractured, spitty quality to the top-end, replaced with body, weight and power, especially on the piano. Voices, layered and overdubbed and so much a part of the arrangements, are far more individual and natural in character. This re-issue even flirts with audiophilia on ‘Walk On the Wild Side’: Herbie Flowers’ string bass and those infectious backup singers are never going to sound better than this. The pressing is excellent.

Chet Baker Sextet - Chet Is Back
Speakers Corner/RCA PML 10307 Reviewed by RSF
As soon as the Thelonius Monk composition, ‘Well You Needn’t’ begins, you know you’re in for a fast tempo ride with Baker and “his” sextet. Recorded in Rome in 1962, this is a nice addition to my not-solarge jazz collection. I’ve always liked Baker and while he is considered by many, one of the most tragic figures in jazz (read: heavy alcohol and drug abuser), the few albums I do own are excellent. With the exception of ‘Ballata In Forma Di Blues’ by Amedeo Tommassi, everything else here is a standard: Included are ‘These Foolish Things’, ‘Over The Rainbow’ and ‘Blues In The Closet’.
Not a particularly big mono sound presentation, there is however, a naturalness to the ebb and flow of the musical selections contained in these tracks. The record is extremely involving and even the casual listener knows that this ‘sextet’ is made up of tier-one European instrumentalists.
The sound quality is good, but it’s really the music that takes control. I’m sure not many collectors have the original of this Italian release in their collections so I’m sure they’ll be pleased to add this rather scarce item. I know I’ve enjoyed it very much and I hope you do as well. There is a nice insert included with several photos of Baker and some very interesting information on Baker and this group. Highly engaging.

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