Music of Dallapiccola, Delage and Guarnieri

This particular lp was released by EMI/Angel in the late 50's, I believe, as part of a small series of recordings issued under the auspices of UNESCO. I know that Naxos has made it available in mp3 format but here is my crack from a pretty decent lp. It's a program of "moderns" for sure but I think the results as a whole are satisfying, entertaining and informative.

The program as such:

Canti di Prigionia (Songs of Prison) of Luigi Dallapiccola - conducted by Igor Markevitch


Quatre Poèmes Hindous and Berceuse Phoque of Maurice Delage- conducted by Andre Cluytens

String quartet no. 2 of Comargo Guarnieri - Pascal Quartet

For whatever reason, I am drawn to the rather eastern harmonies of the Four Hindu Poems of Delage. The mysterious and exotic sounds held my attention firmly. The Quartet is very lovely and is probably the most "conventional" music on the record. Dallapiccola is well, fascinating if one gives it time, space and approaches with an open mind.
A rewarding record though when I bought it for all of "33 cents" I had my doubts.

DOWNLOAD

John Wummer in music by Frederick the Great and Quantz

A pleasant little Westminster album on display here. Flute legend John Wummer is paired with noted harpsichordist Fernando Valenti in sonatas by Frederick the Great and his Potsdam court musician, Johann Joachim Quantz.

This is uncomplicated, lyrical music easy on the ear and not excessively demanding for all parties involved. Frederick the Great, a great musical connoisseur, had very firm and definite ideas about music, the most important being that music's primary purpose is to entertain both the musician and the audience. Quantz provided scores of these short sonatas to his king and they are all characterized by flowing melodies and logical, easy harmonies. Frederick delighted in these works and used them as models for his own, quite accomplished, compositions.

Wummer was an excellent musician and his playing is beautifully pure and phrasing is elegant. This is aristocratic playing, clean proper. Valenti provides instinctive accompaniment, tasteful and properly deferential.

This record is just what the doctor ordered when you need beauty without the complications of life.


DOWNLOAD

Jorge Bolet and Gyorgy Sandor play Liszt and more

Couple lps offered up today by two fine pianists, both coincidentally noted as specialists in the music of Ferenc Liszt. Gyorgy Sandor plays an all Liszt program on a Columbia Special Products reissue (with judicious removel of the awful electronically stereo enhanced effect) and Jorge Bolet performs a recital program, featuring Liszt, on one of his first recordings, that being Boston Records B301. Appian has repackaged the Boston issues B300 and B301 but I thought it would be fun to have a go at it myself.


Gyorgy Sandor, piano

LISZT: Sonata in b; Funerailles; La Leggerezza; Liebestraum #3; Hungarian Rhapsody #15
Columbia Special Products P14138, reissue of ML4084

Jorge Bolet, piano
1 SAINT-SAËNS: Etude en form de valse Op 52 No 6 
2 MOSZKOWSKI: En Automne Op 36 No 4
3 MENDELSSOHN: Hunting Song (Song Without Words Op 19 No 3)
4 MENDELSSOHN: Rondo Capriccioso Op 14
5 LISZT: Funérailles (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses No 7)
6 BEETHOVEN : Andante Favori in F WoO 57
Boston Records LP B300 Recorded 1952

There is some fine playing here. Sandor, I think, was quite underrated and unappreciated while Bolet is remembered for his later records, which in places are quite mannered. Here, both play with an unfettered style which is clean, direct and quite appealing. The older I get, I really appreciate the Liszt gems for they are introspective in places, possessing a somberness at times which is both world weary but telling.

The Beethoven Andante Favori will melt your heart, it is absolutely brilliant!

DOWNLOAD COLUMBIA SPECIAL PRODUCTS P14138


DOWNLOAD BOSTON RECORDS B301

Howard Hanson leads the Eastman Rochester Orchestra in music by Porter, Donovan and Hively

Howard Hanson in more from Mercury's "American Composers" series. Here he conducts very tonal, enjoyable music - Quincy Porter's "Poem and Dance," Richard Donovan's "New England Chronicle" and Wells Hively's "Tres Himnos." With the exception of Porter, the other two composer-teachers are all but forgotten and its too bad.

Here's a little bit from the Saturday Review of August 27, 1955 regarding this lp.

"It is gratifying to see Richard Donovan receiving attention at last (Mercury MG-40013). "New England Chronicle" (Eastman-Rochester Symphony, Hanson conducting) seems to me more solid than Porter's Poem and Dance, filling out the side. But both works have more to offer than "Tres Himnos" of Wells Hively, on the reverse side. Donovan's rhythmic and contrapuntal devices suggest Hindemith, but he has a quality of his own, as well as a drive and expertness not to be found in many a more touted composer's works."

DOWNLOAD

A little bonus now. Several years ago, I transferred a Forum lp of Gershwin featuring Joyce Hatto (yes! a real JH record) playing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with George Bryd conducting the Rhapsody and An American in Paris. Here's a new and better transfer. Surprisingly, it was recorded rather idiomatically in Hamburg of all places. Conductor Byrd was, like the admired Dean Dixon, an African American music who found that he could practice his art more effectively in Europe rather than the United States. Byrd became known in Germany as an expert in Gershwin and he certainly has the measure of the music here. Recorded in 1960, this stereo record was touted as Joyce Hatto's debut recording. She acquits herself well.

 DOWNLOAD

Stig Westerberg conducts Sibelius

Here's the Westminster issue, XWN18529, of an original Swedish Discofil recording. Stig Westerberg leads the Swedish Radio Orchestra in works by Jean Sibelius namely, incidental music from The Tempest and the King Christian II suite. I think these recordings date from the early 60's and that Westerberg might have recorded the pieces again. I'm sure someone will be able to provide some further information.

Always interesting to hear the side of Sibelius not focused on dramatic and sometimes bleak symphonic masterpieces. An interesting listen though I would not consider this music memorable in a way like the second symphony or violin concerto. Those compositions are masterpieces and firmly, and rightly, established in the repertoire of the major soloists and orchestras of the world.


Stig Westerberg had a nearly 50 year career as a major, and highly regarded, conductor in Sweden and northern Europe. Nice record.

DOWNLOAD

The first recording of Mahler's First Symphony with the Blumine movement

This record is a historic edition if there is one. Billed as the first "complete" recording of Mahler's Symphony No 1, it incorporates the discarded 'Blumine' movement to create a five movement work. Though the Odyssey series of Columbia Masterworks was established as a reissue label, here ii offered a first run recording set down for distribution at a budget price. Frank Brieff leads the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in a spirited, if technically flawed performance.

I'm not going to debate the merits of the Blumine movement and what it possibly adds or subtracts from the symphony's structure and flow. As a performance as a whole, Brieff has the measure of the music but for a third tier ensemble like the New Haven SO, the demands of the music and concentration needed to pull off a totally compelling performance are stretched very precariously, like a rubber band about to snap. Brass are quite shaky in places and string intonation wavers, especially as the notes slide up the scale. The recording itself is no more then adequate as Columbia was not about to shell out big bucks for a 'budget' record by an "unknown" orchestra. Still, one has to admire the sense the musicians had of history and their great willingness to go all out for this recording first.

The conductor Frank Brieff had a long career as a conductor in Southwestern Connecticut before passing away in 2005. This record preserves, in spirit, the admiration that his musicians had for him and on that strength, I'm glad I found it.

DOWNLOAD PART 1

DOWNLOAD PART 2

Walter Klien performs Brahms' 2nd Piano Concerto and Hans Swarowsky leads the 1st Symphony



A whole lot of nice Brahms today...in stereophonic sound to boot! The first symphony is led by an old favorite, Hans Swarowsky with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and the second piano concerto is played by the excellent Walter Klien accompanied by the quite underrated conductor Milan Horvat with the Austrian Radio (ORF) Orchestra. The Swarowsky, I'm guessing is mid 60's while the Klien is early 70's.

These recordings are well done. On the Audio Fidelity label, Swarowsky leads an energetic, dramatic, yet sensitive reading played by musicians who  knew this music inside and out. As with most Swarowsky readings, there is no sentimentality or indulgence, just honest conducting filled with great respect for score. Most impressive is that Swarowsky brings out woodwind details that many conductors gloss over.

Walter Klien had a long career has a specialist in Mozart and Brahms and his authority shines through in this performance. He is ably partnered by Milan Horvat, a distinguished conductor, whose name, like Swarowsky's, has appeared over the years on countless budget records. This, I think, has been a great disservice to him since everything I've heard conducted by him, from Mozart to Hindemith, has been excellent. Horvat pretty much built the ORF orchestra after reorganizations at Austrian radio, and the orchestra under him is very, very fine. There is some good solo work in this second concerto by the orchestra as well as Klien's keen participation. This record came out on the Classical Excellence label as part of entire series, featuring generic covers and most performances led by Horvat or Carl Melles, a longtime resident conductor in Vienna.


DOWNLOAD SWAROWSKY PART 1

DOWNLOAD SWAROWSKY PART 2

DOWNLOAD KLIEN PART 1

DOWNLOAD KLIEN PART 2

Two Centuries of Austrian Piano Music with Joerg Demus

Here's my transfer of the monaural edition of the Music Guild lp above. An enterprising issue, I think, of music composed by great Austrian (consider that Austria was once an empire composing territories in Germany, Hungary, Bohemia etc.)  composers from Johann Friedrich Fux up through Alban Berg. All works are played marvelously by that quintessential Austrian pianist, Joerg Demus.

DOWNLOAD