Foge we
I HE MICHKjAN UA1LY
I hursday, September 11, 1969
Page rwo I ME MIGHI(~AN DAILY hursday, September 11, 1 969
_ records -__
A profusion of legerAndary performances
Bly It. A. PERRI'
In' last Friday's Daily, I dis-
('used sever'al of thle *"Great
Recordinigs of the Century' al-
bums that Ang~el has released
on their budget Seraphim line.
m~d I mientionedl that the seii-
;,ibilit y of the artists enshrined
on those albums could be de-
fined by .understatement an d
refineen t oftutter'ance as op -
posed to the aggres.Aive grand-
iloquence that marks so much
of present pertorininlg style.
Four three-record sets of
legendary performances which
Seraphim has also issued this
miontli bear out this judgment
ialmost eviery case, and the
ecpt ionsi are interesting.
Accustomedi as wve aie, since
(3='enn Gotilcis recording of the
Goldberg Variations, in the iii
tif.s to BachI delivered wit i
jr oputsi ye rihyt hms and three -
di mensionalit y to eaech part line.
wxe can only react with shock
amdc then awe to Edwin Fisch-
o- 's way with Bach. For h-re
fon Seraphim set IC-60451 v e
do not hear comuputerized ted -
dences and antiseptic fingering:,
but a Debussy wash of coo,-;
almost a struiluning of IIe
notes. Fischer's technique iti so
quicksilver that it astounds u.;
0only in retrospect: it never lit -
comes the focal issue. Rhytlh-
ujically, instead of riding oii 1he
bulls-eye torpedo of Gould's
logic. we find ourselves bobbing
quietly to lightly-lapping waves
of tempo gradients. Ini the
H anidel 'quite No. 3 in D ;Minor,
w~e also experience incredibly
subtle alterations in rhythm.
rather than the wider contrasts
to which we might well be ac-
customed.
Some listeners miay' say.
granting Fischer's artistry-
the fleetness of his fingers and
the retinem'ents of his approach,
that much of the tensile excite-
mnent and the larger architec-
tural issues are lost. In certain
xx avs. this is probably t rue, f or
Fischer sets out to create tia'
amibient, of taste rather thanii o
e':.plicate the form of the ?niai'.
Yet Fischer's kind of beautnitil
initerpretive senksibility can no'
longer be found except onl i oc-
ords such as t hese.
Simuila rly, Bach's Brinder n:r
Concertos as performed in tiie
oaiid- thirt ies by the Adolf L )ti,i
Chamber Orchestra eo kidri ot
be furt her ini style COi
p roposed by Nicola is 1 ruol -
c'ourt and his Cokic2!.i: I' AL'-
,iiu . ( 'tI i e hat ter' coli 'rn))j v
'2'u xp rXliess modern kfl 'k t
ol'ogical demands for lliP n ~iala
accuiary in employed scorn alcd
iiistruments. An advocate of
Paul Whitman andl his Orches-
tra of Rhapsody in Blue, this
recording of the Ravel concerto
makes all *"modern" perform-
ances sound r'idiculously bland
and overstuffed - like padding
a metal Bauhaus chair.
The Performance is very jaz-
zy, syncopated, and even rath-
er disjointed; its rhythms and
instrumental effects a r e lean
and biting, and the string en-
semble the furthest thing from
Ormandy's Philadelphia Strings
that you can imagine. The re-
corded sound (193 2) certainly
emphasizes the bittersweet as-
perity of the music.
The reference to Gershwin is
most appropriate. Rhapsody inI
Blue was introduced in P a u 1
Whiteman's jazz concert of Feb-
rtkary 12, 1924: Ravel's concerto.
on January 14, 1932. Gershwin
went to study with Ravel in
1928, and those who think Ger'-
shwvin a second - rate talent
should consider that, at least in
the case of the Concerto in G.
Ravel was the teacher who
learned fromn his student.
Because these Seraphim sets
(ontain such a rich amount of
material, it does little good to
list the, contents here; you can
easily assess the contents by
checking the jackets at the
:More.
Finally, one three-record Ser-
aphim set tIC-6051) has been
devoted to the vocal artistry of
Hans Hotter. The set includes
Schubert's Die Winterrelse, Sch-
Avanengesang, and one side of
songs by Schubert, Brahms, and
WolIf.
Categorized as a baritone.
Hot ter's voice is much darker
and deeper than Fischer-Dies-
katu's, for instance; after all,
Hotter made his operatic debtt
as Sarastro. The quality of his
voice has its assets and draw-
backs. On the credit side, one
cani attest to his inherent comn-
mnication of pathos and trag-
edy. and to a mellifluence al-
most somnnambulent and reas-
suring. Wedded to a high degree
of control, these qualities make
for a very powerful Die Winter-
reise, which indeed Hotter has
sung over 200 times.
wxhile Fischer-Dieskau makes
each stanza' a development in
the poem's drama, accentuating
the repeated last line of each
quatrain. (For a super-dramatic
interpretation, listen to Her'-
mann Prey's version on London
25797i. Hotter's "Abschied" is
positively bland compared to
Fischer -Dieskau's. Nevertheless,
the set can be Iecommended for
t h e excellent Die Winterreise
and for the poignant accom-
paniments immediately recog-
nizable as Gero.ld Moore's.
"Safety belts? Not if
I'm just going down to
the supermarket."
--Kathleen Farrell
(1943.1968)
"Safety belts?' lhev
lust make me nervous.
Besides, they wrinkle
ytour clothes.")
--Louis Clfo pool
"\Vhlo can ever
remember to use the
darned things:?"
-Gordon Fenton
(1921.1968)
NVhads your excuse?
I
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FEDRICO FELLINI'S
IfiGHTS 1 OF CABRIA
"FELLINI'S FINEST FILM."
Paul ine Kcael
SEPTEMBER 12-13
.* - ~_ - .
IIEIE ;.1P1P11E111E
L.
Han HotS i~ter
I
0/4 7ime C/a44ic
C'ne4 lejtivhd/
fIlarnoncourt could well iist en to
Busc'ls performance of t tie
Brandeuib rg Concerto No. S
available onl IC-6043. Sera-
phim's set devoted to concer'tos}
and wonder where the Bachi
went.
The music flows as : te~t li
and serenely and evenly .s (10
Fischer's fingers. Rat h er t i,, n
the crisp rihythmfs',)tkn(' l-t"d
by perfectly defined sow audMc
concertante parts,I hat vxt.i V;
v-alue for clarity andi kecniu
in Busch's perform& tilc x
c'over that ed ges ar' so1 ii led
oftf and tht soloi: ts do .o,(
strive for 'independene ?Ii in
the ripieno instrutments b'k a, e
more aur'ally mer'ged '-ithi thli x.
In this subdued capaci1y, flitt!,.
Marcel Moyse. xiolini°;t (!(;f
Butsch,. and pianist Rudolf Seri;.-
in playxxwithi complete gracious-
ness and ensemble cohesion As
outdiated as their approach may
sound today, its special beauty
warants repeated listeing.
The iwrfoiiir-e olSerkin it.
This 1935) reco dil g is especial;:;'
t 'Alin . Conidr-reel nowadcays :
smwaofabneat hkboarid. Serk in in the thir ni
had not yet lost tnaZ patinat irf
underst ate-renent 'and refine'nle'a
t hat lintr decados discoin 'd
Likewise in the Brahims H or'ii
Trio recorded in 1J~k33 with Akdo, t
Busch and Aubrey Brain {oii
Seraphim IC-6044, devoted to
chamber mtusic)l there is no
seem of0 thlit'clain o'tioou at a as
sivness, shared by My ro n
Boorm. that wrecked t he recenit
Columbia recording of the .o.
Aubrey Brain, father, of copmre,;,
of the illfated andi famed D 41i -
nis Brain, produces a frea,,i-
horn-1 tonle of exemplary puty
and control: Adolf Busch, xw 2 P
somle swxoopinig in to in o t e s,
phrases with an ear toward the
simple poetry of the music and
not toward the trgencythat
modern violinists attempt 1,0
promote. The only modlern rcc-
ordinig of thle Brallins IHui'1
TIrio to match this (oilt is, I
think, that by S~igeti, Hortiz-
oxwski, anti Barrowxs on Mercnis
90210.
Also especially notexworthy on
thle cham nber mnusic Seraphimn
sp( t are' performances of 'Xlen-
dc issahi's 1) minor Piano 'trio,
pl10lycd by Thibaud. Casals, and
Cor'tot . and the Faure Op. 45
Piano Ouartvttrendelredi by Thii-
baud, Vicux . Fourn ier', and Long.
Oine'perfo1'ian(~e xhich most
certauily does not stress under-
sta ementand refinement is
thiat of Ravel's('oncerto in G.
xwith Margtuerite Long at the
piano and Havel himself onl the
podium.- This is the kind of ''Ie-
geiicdary pjerformance- which is
snoitere xsting and valuable as
an historical document than as
a musical experience. Like Ger-
shwix'iis own perfor'manice xwith
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