July round-up
Thomas Beecham recorded little Richard Strauss, despite their long musical relationship, so it’s good to have his live 1955 performances of Till Eulenspiegel and Don Juan.
The RPO is on top form, although Beechamesque elegance is sometimes tempered by harddriven tempos: in the less-oftenheard Macbeth, a year later, his dramatic approach is better suited to the febrile character of the music. More familiar are the numbers from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, with outstanding solo work from Alan Civil and Philip Jones in the brass. And despite a few mishaps, the Dance of the Seven Veils reaches a tumultuous erotic climax. (SOMM ARIADNE 5021) HHHH
Viennese Night with the Hallé and John Barbirolli was a regular Proms feature in the 1950s and 1960s. There was usually a classical symphony before the lighter fare – in 1969 it was Haydn’s ‘Hen’ – after that, it’s mostly Johann Strauss
II, with the Fledermaus Overture and two other pieces in alternate versions from different seasons. Barbirolli gives the waltzes a real Wiener Schwung, even if his rubato sometimes catches his players out. The polkas add to the fun, with more serious fare in Richard Strauss’s Rosenkavalier Suite, all greeted rapturously by the Prommers. (Barbirollli Society SJB 1110-11) HHHH
During her lifetime, Jessye Norman’s fastidious standards led her to suppress some of her recordings, but The Unreleased Masters liberates three disc’sworth. Excerpts from Tristan und Isolde conducted by Masur come from sessions which were reportedly not entirely happy, and you can sometimes hear soloist and conductor pulling in different directions. The ‘Love Duet’ (with Thomas Moser) and the ‘Liebestod’ are surprisingly uninvolved; in the concert recordings of the Wesendonck Lieder and Strauss’s Four Last Songs under Levine there’s much greater intensity. And, live with Ozawa, Haydn’s Scena di Berenice, Berlioz’s Cléopâtre and Brittten’s Phaedra have a sense of drama and theatre. (Decca 485 2984) HHHH
In 2006 Alexandre Tharaud didn’t try to emulate the sound of the harpsichord in his selection of pieces by François Couperin, and used the capabilities of a modern Steinway to colour the texture with varied articulation, dynamics and accentuation. He’s not afraid of using rubato and pedal, especially in the slower pieces: Les Ombres errantes and Les Jumelles are especially fetching. Ornaments are effortlessly neat, and multitracking allows him to realise Le Carillon de Cythère (for five hands). The more playful numbers are incisive and witty, and the addition of a drum in Bruit de Guerre may not be authentic, but is very striking. (Harmonia Mundi HMM931956) HHHHH
If it’s authenticity you’re after, Sviatoslav Richter plays Prokofiev is right up there. From his many recordings of the three so-called ‘Wartime’ sonatas, here are versions from 1956-61. No. 6 comes from a public concert, with a few splashy moments before things settle, but the contrast between the strident, the wryly humorous and the sentimental is vividly painted. Richter gave the premiere of No. 7 and he absolutely owns the piece, from the anxiety of the first movement, through the glowing andante to the precipitous finale. The recording leaps into warmer stereo for No. 8, allowing the detail of Richter’s amazing pianism to emerge even more strongly.
(Alto ALC 1459) HHHH