September round-up
Before recording a complete Mozart concerto cycle, directing the Berlin Philharmonic for EMI in the early 1970s, David Oistrakh had already proved his Mozartian credentials a decade earlier, recording two of Mozart’s Violin Concertos in Russia between
Rudolf Barshai (who also plays viola in the K364 Sinfonia Concertante) and Kirill Kondrashin. The latter obtains some delightfully crisp (if undeniably robust) playing from the Moscow Phil in 1959 (K207), whereas early ’60s Barshai with the Moscow Chamber (K216 and lovely French horn vibrato in the finale of K364) sounds more attuned to the music’s chamber-scale sensitivities. In these first-rate transfers, Oistrakh’s sparkling precision, tonal directness, and rhythmic buoyancy sound more alluring than ever.
(Alto ALC 1454) ★★★★
It took musical Europe a little longer to catch up with violinist Oscar Shumsky, whose major career was based almost exclusively in the United States. It was not until 1980 (when he was 63) that Shumsky emerged over here (as if by magic) as one of the greats. In 1985, EMI recorded him (and his son Eric) in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and G major Concerto K216 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Yan Pascal Tortelier – this is its first appearance on CD. Velvet-toned, elegantly poised, and radiantly supple, Shumsky is a Mozartian of rare distinction. (Biddulph 85104-2) ★★★★
Fans of British choral music should snap up a glorious disc by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Douglas Bostock, featuring no fewer than four world-premiere recordings: Elgar’s With Proud Thanksgiving, Howells’s Sine
Nomine, Dyson’s The Blacksmiths, and Elgar’s orchestration of Purcell’s Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei – also included are Bridge’s A Prayer and Brian’s Psalm XXIII. That such musical riches should have waited until 2002 to be recorded is truly baffling, but the performances prove fully worthy of the occasion, with soprano Elizabeth Donovan making an unforgettable contribution to Howells’s soaring, ecstatic musical lines. (Griffin GCCD 4086) ★★★★★
Released originally by Koch International in 2001 – just three years before the disbandment of the San Francisco-based Women’s Philharmonic, heard here under Taiwanese conductor Apo Hsu – a disc programming Florence Price’s tone poem The Oak, Mississippi River Suite and Third Symphony is a poignant reminder of the pioneering work done by this fine orchestra, well before the current resurgence of interest in Price’s music. The Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-séguin (DG) may have the edge in the Symphony, but the invaluable couplings remain the only versions currently available. (Alto ALC 1461) ★★★★
Rounding things off in style is a disc of Thalberg piano fantasies on operas by Verdi, Rossini and Bellini, originally released on Marco Polo and played in fine style by Francesco Nicolosi. For a while, the media-driven rivalry between Thalberg and Liszt was one of the most hotly debated issues among the virtuoso-adoring cognoscenti, although listening to these fingercrippling pianistic extravaganzas, most notably the Souvenir de Rigoletto, comparisons reveal that Liszt clearly had the edge as a composer. Nicolosi ensures that the more ref lective episodes are given their full due, while avoiding smash-and-grab recklessness when the notes start flying.
(Naxos 8.555503) ★★★