Martin Cotton delves into a selection of recently released archive recordings
October Round-up
Julian Bream was a frequent visitor to the Aldeburgh Festival and, in 1958, he performed with Peter Pears in a well-paced set of Dowland songs and lute solos, which found both at the top of their game. Pears is too forward in the balance of this live recording at times, though, and this also affects Britten’s Songs from the Chinese
– its premiere – where some of the detail of Bream’s guitar is lost. In 1959, Bream was teamed with Aurèle Nicolet and George Malcolm in Telemann and had his own solo spot in Turina’s Guitar Sonata, an energetic performance, and in better sound. (Doremi DHR8060 ★★★★)
The recordings in A Night at the Ballet, in good mono sound from the early 1950s, are a reminder that orchestras once had individual colours – the wind and brass in Paris for Gounod’s Faust are completely different from those of the LSO in Swan Lake. But it’s the vibrant, dancing performances which showcase the talents of Anatole Fistoulari. He’d conducted for the Ballets Russes in the 1930s, and was a familiar name on LP, either in that repertoire or as a concerto accompanist. Especially idiomatic are Berlioz’s orchestration of Weber’s Invitation to the Dance, and Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours, which is deliciously teasing. (Guild GHCD3502 ★★★★)
There are several live versions of Toscanini conducting Elgar’s Enigma Variations, but in
Elgar from America his 1949 performance has the benefit of Lani Spahr’s expert sound restoration, making NBC’S Studio 8H sound half decent. It’s full of affectionate phrasing, although sometimes brisk, but individual timings are very similar to Elgar’s own, and ‘Nimrod’ doesn’t wallow. Piatigorsky conveys passion in the Cello Concerto and Barbirolli draws a good measure of certainty from the New York Phil in a work which wasn’t familiar to them. Definitely not as unfamiliar as Falstaff, somewhat dimly recorded but precisely played under Rodzinski. A pity that it’s heavily cut. (Somm Recordings ARIADNE5005 ★★★)
In Early Stereo Recordings
–2, all first stereo CD releases of 1950s Abbey Road recordings, the performances make this more than just worthy sonic archaeology. Beecham brings his customary elegance to Haydn’s 97th Symphony, even if the RPO boasts a larger string section than might be considered apt nowadays. As does the Philharmonia under Kempe in Mozart’s 34th, but it’s offset by the lightness of phrasing. This also characterises the smaller London Mozart Players under their founder Harry Blech in Schubert’s Third Symphony, where the first movement survives only in mono, but then leaps into stereo. Great wind playing from all the orchestras. (FHR FHR59 ★★★★)
Liner notes and recording details in the four-disc Vladimir Ashkenazy – The First Recordings are sparse, and sound is variable, with some distortion in more strenuous passages. But the first disc, from the 1955 International Chopin Competition, shows how the 18 year-old impressed the judges with his technique and imagination in a cross-section of pieces.
There’s greater sophistication and willingness to take time in the Etudes from 1959/60, and the Russian recording is more amenable and consistent. Youthful energy and chutzpah carry him through Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz, but there are glimpses of burgeoning maturity in Rachmaninov’s Corelli Variations, and in Beethoven’s Waldstein and Op. 111 sonatas. (Profil Hänssler PH19030 ★★★★)