NEW LISTINGS, April, 2008

NEW LISTINGS APRIL, 2008

Wigglesworth: Symphony No. 1w/ "The Vienna Orchestra" [21:51]

Debussy: Iberia. w/ Concertgebouw of Amsterdam.

Debussy: Images, Complete. w/ Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. [I seldom think of Van Beinam as an Impressionist interpreter – he lacks the temperament to fondle and caress and slurp this kind of music (a la Stokowski); so this newly acquired & wonderfully recorded mono Epic LP was both a surprise and a joy. Van Beinam found the elusive trick of allowing these ripe scores to generate a ton of atmosphere and sensual colors, just by "playing it straight". OK, a lot of post-modern conductors made a fetish of doing just that, but Van Beinam somehow does it not by holding anything BACK, or being in the least bit "reserved" – he just trurns his fabulous orchestra loose to make every note, effect, and tone color SOUND with utter clarity, proportion, and fullness of tone. Both scores emerge sounding fresh, revelatory in their details, and lush as they can be; nothing sounds driven, nothing sounds fondled. A patina of gorgeous patrician elegance infuses every note, melodic curve, and tone-color, even when several of the latter are blended. Dubbing this last night (3/13/08), I experienced the same vivid sense of discovery as when I’d first been exposed to it. Mind you, Van Beinam was still under the intoxicating influence of Mengelberg (whose chief assistant conduct – after, say, about 1956, VB’s readings tended to be a bit TOO objective and faceless, in reaction to the sometime-excesses of the Golden Age romantics, and many of the records he made during that latter phase arouse in me little more than respectful admiration for how fabulous his orchestra sounded and how skillfully he followed an agenda with which I was not especially in sympathy! But these readings capture Van Beinam at mid-career and despite their age, they still sound positively voluptuous. Very special readings in several ways. And DO request a down-sized version of the original cover (when writing for your order) – It’s a sun-drenched panorama of the whole classic castle-in-space panorama, and its glorious lime-blue sky, dusky purple ridges, and dawn-gilded castle towers just evokes the performances within to perfection!]

Mahler: Symphony No. 1. w/ New York Philharmonic; live, 1988, [This was the last time Lenny conducted this work with the Philharmonic; predictably, it’s a scorching performance, all stops out, and achingly sad in the lyrical, more overtly "Jewish" passages.]

Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps. w/ New York Philharmonic, live, 1984. [Lenny never gave a dull or routine performance of this signature favorite, and this is special even in that context. His first recording, while it may not have been the first in stereo, was only the second or third in that format, but it WAS the first recording to bring the true savagery and power of this score into our living rooms, and so it was a revelation for many, myself included. This much later rendition, however, achieves something unique: of course it’s as hard-hitting as you could hope for, but Lenny somehow ALSO manages to summon tone-colors and accents that consistently evoke as well the PAGAN mystery of Old Russia Stravinsky sought to capture – it’s not just exciting, there’s something eerie, even spooky about it. In that sense, he sort of restores a measure of the original shock value that the work must have had when it was new and unfamiliar! A great and treasurable reading!]

Verdi: Requiem. Herva Nelli, soprano; Claramae ; Eugene Conley, tenor; Nicola Mascona, bass; w/ Boston Symphony Orchestra & New England Conservatory Chorus; live, 12/14/1954. [82:00] How tragic that Cantelli never lived to record, under ideal circumstances, his interpretation of this colossal work! The rapture, drama, exquisite Italianate lyricism…all here. The off-air sound is just a shade distant (the bass drum thwacks must have been near-apocalyptic in the hall, but are merely stunning here!)Fine soloists, fine choral work, and, of course, the Boston Symphony in its prime, before Ozawa turned it into just another damn orchestra, and for unfathomable reasons was ALLOWED TO by the audience and trustees. What a little dweeb!]

Verdi: Te Deum. w/ New York Philharmonmic; Westminster Choir. Live, 4/1/1956. [13:45] [Much better sound and downright feverish intensity. Goosebump time! Between this, Toscanini’s, and Giulini’s, there’s no need for any other conductor even to take a shot. Almost unbreabale intensity and fervor!]

Dvorak: Carnival Overture, Op. 92. w/ London Symphony Orch. [8:40]

" : Symphony No. 7, D Minor, Op. 70. w/ London Symphony Orchestra. [36:24]

Schubert: Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished". w/ Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet, Fantasy-Overture. w/ Chicago Symphony Orchestra [A VERY early Mercury "Living Presence" mono LP, a little bit ruffled on the surfaces, but still quite listenable. From the sound of it there was good chemistry between Dorati and the CSO, and Mercury had the rights to both, so why didn’t he make more records with them? Maybe I’m just imagining the chemistry thing… Well, whatever, this is a damn good R & J, assuming you need another one.]

Liszt: Mazeppa. Berlin Philharmonic; 1925 [Sonics compromised by the late-acoustic process, but still a scorching reading.]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique". w/ Royal Philharmonic; c. 1931 [ Not as potent as I expected it to be, frankly. A touch frenetic, but not as romantic and emotionl as one would expect from this conductor.]

Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D , BWV. 1068. w/ Berlin Philharmonic; live, October 24, 1948. 22:58] [No, it doesn’t seem "heavy" – unless you insist upon Ritalin-fueled tempos and zitty, mechanical inflections. I think it’s fair to describe certain moments as "lumbering", but they’re more ursine and intentionally shaggy than just stylistically inept. If you enjoy Bach on the "grand" scale, you’ll probably enjoy this version, but if you are a convinced Furtwanglerian, this is probably not the historical relic to start with. The sonics are more than a little bit gray and grainy. But F’s total engagement with the music does come through.]

Beethoven: Concerto. For Violin & Orchestra, in D, Op. 67. w/ Yehudi Menuhin, violin; Berlin Philharmonic, live; 9/30/ 1947 [One of MY favorite’s at least;

Brahms: Symphony No. 2. London Philharmonic; studio recording, 1951. [Notoriously contentious session with Furtwangler and producer Walter Legge at each other’s throats constantly. The tension spills over into a compelling but curiously brittle reading; some moments of wobbly pitch in original tape; sorry, but I can’t correct them. For Furtwangler completists, mainly.]

Hindemith: Harmonie der Welt Symphonie. w/ Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Salzburg Fest. Live, 8/30/ 1953. [33:29] [One of Furtwangler’s final concerts with the Vienna {hilharmonic. If this blazing, Brucknerian reading doesn’t convince you that this is one of the great 20^th Century symphonies, nothing will. An amazing document; very good sound.]

Schumann: Symphony No. 3, E flat Major, Op. 97, ("Rhenish"). w/ Philharmonia Orchestra (and using Mahler’s re-touched orchestration, which I think is terrific. See comments under "Composers"]

Schumann: "Manfred" Overture, Op. 115. w/ Philharmonia Orchestra.

Beethoven: Coriolanus Overture, Op. 62. w/ London Symphony Orchestra

Beethoven: Egmont Overture, Op. 84. w/ London Symphony Orchestra

" : Symphony No. 5, C Minor, Op. 67. [Sourced from an exceedingly rare "Perfect" LP (a budget branch-off from Epic Records that disappeared forever in the early Sixties). Goehr was scandalously under-represented in the big label catalogues, doing most of his work on small subscription labels such as MSS, with the Netherlands Philharmonic. His work was often first-rate, though, and these very obscure Beethoven recordings demonstrate: lots of sharpness in the attacks, punchy climaxes, excellent contrasts in dynamics and shadings of tone color. Not sublime, in the Furtwanglerian sense, but decidedly top-drawer Beethoven. The sonics and bright and clean; disc surfaces mostly very good except for one uncorrectable Skippy near the end of the Egg-hunt overture.]

Still: Symphony No. 4. w/ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. [20:15] [See fascinating background on this strong, strange work under "Composers"]

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Van Cliburn; Berlin Philharmonic; live, 8/28/1961

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde. Complete. w/ Munich Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; w/ Helena Braun as Isolde; Gunther Treptow as Tristan; Ferdinand Franz as King Mark, etc. Live performance, 7/20/ 1952. {For full cast information, see "Opera and Choral" listings]

Debussy: La Mer. w/ ORTF Philharmonic Orch. [22:15] [See "FRENCH COLLECTION, Vol. 7]

Brahms: Symphony No. 1, C Minor, Op. 68. w/ Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; live, 1940. My Source for this is a Japanese import pressing with ASTOUNDINGLY GOOD sound and virtually no surface noise. I don’t know where they got their air-checks from, but the sound really compares favorably with Concertgebouw LPs of the late Fifties: full-bodied, rich, balanced, and crunchy with impact. As for the Flying Dutchman’s reading, it is both broader and less romantically inflected than you might expect, and cumulatively very potent. I’ve never seen another incarnation of this rarity in North America and it’s probably scarce now even in Nippon, so scarf it up and be amazed.]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3, F Minor, Op. 36. w/ Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; 1931. [ ] [Legendary both for Mengelberg’s near-hysterical meldodrama and for the breathtaking realism of its recorded sound, this 1931 iteration captures the blazing glory of the Concertgebouw at its peak, the unique and rich ambience of the concert hall itself., AND The Flying Dutchman’s incomparable sense of High Theater, all in full blast. What makes this reissue (from the early 70s) so special? Toshiba pressed it on ultra quiet virgin vinyl, remastering it without any artificial techno-gimmicks, directly from the original Telefunken masters, allowing us to hear the full blow-torch thrust and edge of Mengelberg’s brasses, the sweeping razor-sharp inflections he commands from his strings, all with almost miraculous lack of surface noise or distortion. For its vintage, this recording boasts almost unbelievable dynamic range, ample headroom, and vast front-to-back depth. My understanding is that only a few hundred copies of this "auidiophile" pressing were exported to the U.S., and you may be certain that locating a pristine specimen was no easy task, but the result of many patient years’ searching. It was worth every minute and every dollar.]

Brahms: Symphony No. 4, E Minor, Op. 98. w/ New York Philharmonic; live, October 28, 1956 [37:43]

Krenek: Symphonic Elegy for Strings [I may already have listed this, but here’s a new copy with marginally better sound. One of the few atonal works that strikes me as a masterpiece – not only that, but a searing, flayed-alive, downright harrowing one. Even a second-rate composer has a few great works him, and hits, I feel, is Krenek’s undisputed masterpiece. Dimitri’s reading is like molten slag!]

Mennin: Symphony No. 3. w/ New York Philharmonic; 1953 studio recording [22:14]

Debussy: Prelude…Faun. w/ "National Orchestra",ORTF [9:40]

Debussy: Iberia. w/ ORTF Philharmonic [See "FRENCH COLLECTION", Vol. 4]

Schmitt: La Tragedie de Salome, Op. 50. w/ Detroit Symphony Orchestra. [NT]

Von Weber: Invitation to the Dance, Op. 65. w/ Detroit Symphony Orch. [NT] [These were both recorded only in mono, but the excellence of Mercury’s "Living Presence" technique was so good you’ll never miss the stereo. And Paray’s unique blend of crisp energy, lively rhythms, French transparency, and sheer gutty punching-power brings both works to life with well-neigh incomparable vitality. Well, there’s not much competition vis-à-vis the Schmitt piece, but if more people could hear Paray’s resplendent reading, not only this work, but the rest of Schmitt’s oeuvre as well, might enjoy the kind of audience popularity it’s always deserved but rarely achieved beyond the borders of his native France.]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, E fat, Op. 55 ("Eroica"). w/ Warsaw Philharmonic [53:17] [If Rowicki is now remembered at all by American record collectors, it’s because of his mecurial, passionate Dvorak cycle, which appeared here on the Philip’s mid-priced "World Series" label. This "Eroica" shares some of those qualities" it’s flexible of tempo. Brimming with vitality. Sharply accented yet weighty; the sound is so bright and present-in-the-room that it’

Previn: Principles. w/ St. Louis Symphony Orchestra [A mini-concerto for orchestra, with some of the same high-stepping flare as Bernstein’s Divertimento only a darker, but still lyrical central section that cuts deeper than Bernstein wanted or needed to gin that piece. Still, if you liked that one, you ought to like this; Previn’s no slouch as a composer and Slatkin’s people play the hell out of it. Really fine sonics, too.]

Mahler: Symphony No. 9. w/ Chicago Symphony Orchestra; live, 1984 [See comments under "Composers"]

Brahms: Symphony No. 4. w/ New Philharmonia Orchestra; live Proms concert, 1974. [This was either Stokie’s last live concert in London, or his next-to-last. He was 90 years old and could barely limp to the podium. Yet the white-hot, jet-propelled momentum, savage attacks, and ruthless purging of anything "sentimental" (though not of lyrical beauty; that is present in abundance) is surely his defiant message to the audience: I may look old and feeble, but just listen to THIS! In truth, this is not only the fastest 4th he ever conducted, on or off records, it’s one of the most electrifying Brahms’ symphonies you could imagine. Nothing "autumnal" here! Just incredible ardor and energy! Why the old buzzard didn’t collapse by the end of it, I can’t imagine. The Albert Hall audience, aware they had just seen Stokowski’s final public concert and quite flabbergasted by the youthful impetuosity and drive of the Brahms, just goes wild. Truth to tell, I think parts of this whirlwind interpretation are TOO fast, but while it’s playing you can’t help but get blasted away by it. His body may have been failing, and (according to Oliver Daniel) his mind had begun to wander quite a bit whenever he wasn’t conducting or rehearsing) but his heart was still powerful and his communicative powers as a conductor still incandescent. (Some of the apparent "feeble-mindedness" may also have been a put-on, for it enabled Stokie to tune out any person or subject he didn’t feel like bothering with and everybody would forgive him because of his apparent senility. That he was perfectly capable of doing this was proven one day when Oliver was driving Stokie to a rehearsal and as the car passed close to Big Ben, Stokowski waved a claw at the tower and inquired in wide-eyed innocence: "Oh, look! What is big clock?". He had, after all, been born and raised in London…after a few moments of savoring Oliver’s embarrassed silence, Stokie finally owned-up to his prank by emitting a quiet sly chuckle and nudging his friend on the arm.)]

Britten: Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Purcell. BBC Symphony; live, 1972 [See comments under "Vaughan-Williams’ 8th"]

Byrd: Pavane & Gigue (from The Steak of Salisbury’s Virginal Book). w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; recorded April 19, 1937 [7:03]

Handel: Overture in D Minor (from Chandos Anthem No. 2). w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; rec. December 16, 1935. [7:05]

Handel: Water Music Suite (Arr. Stokowski) w/ Philadelphia Orchestra. Recorded April 30, 1934 [19:30]

Frescobaldi: Gagliarda. w/ Philadelphia Orchestra. Rec. 10/22/ 1934 [3:50]

Lully: Suite: "Nocturne" from Le Triomphe de l’Amour; Prelude from "Alceste"; "Marche des Sacrificateurs" from "Thesee". w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; recorded April 30, 1930 [7:10]

Palestrina: Adoramus Te (from Motet for Four Voices). w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; rec. 11/12 1934 [4:02]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5. w/ American Symphony Orchestra, live, 1967. [If you listen carefully to this CD, just as the near-hysterical storm of applause detonates in Carnegie Hall, you’ll hear one early and very loud "Bravo!" fairly close to the microphone. That’s me. No, seriously, it is. I’d attended all the rehearsals and also bought tickets for the opening concert (which was broadcast the next weekend). I’d told my date for the evening that the Tchaikovsky was going to be very special and conceivably the most exciting performance of it she would ever hear; she was a bit skeptical, knowing how my language veered to hyperbole after I’d been spending time at Stokowski’s rehearsals, but she loved the piece and was certainly not going to turn down a third-row-center ticket. I’m happy to report that she was not disappointed. As the storm of applause grew, she suddenly turned and started beating me on the shoulder with her rolled-up program, chanting over and over: "It was a blow job! It was a blow job!" The rest of our evening, I can assure you, went very happily indeed.]

Vaughan-Williams: Symphony No. 8. Live, with BBC Symphony, 1972. [Read whacko rave comments under "V-W" below!]

Dvorak: Symphony No. 5, F Major, Op. 76. w/ Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. [Uniquely pungent and idiomatic performance that practically dances out of the speakers. Talich at his inimitable best!]

Boito: "Prologue to Mephistofele". w/ NBC Symphony; Robert Shaw Chorale; Nicola Moscana, bass; live, Carnegie Hall, live, 3/14/1954. [Overwhelming. Only better performance I ever heard was Stokowski’s in 1968 (and he had NEVER conducted this work before and took it up at the age of 85!)) – when he suddenly spun around, that corona of snow-white hair swirling like a cape, his fierce blue eyes like death rays and threw a lightning bolt-cue to the brass in the balcony, the audience, every damned one in the place, literally leaped off their seats from the dramatic power of the moment, and Carnegie Hall trembled to its foundations; the final crescendo, with orchestra, two brass choirs, chorus, and grand organ all playing ‘fffff" reached such colossal volume that the floor literally began to shake; it left me so limp and emotionally exalted it took me a full minute to start applauding. When WILL that performance be commercially released? Meanwhile, this is The One.]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9. w/ London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; Isobel Baillie, soprano; Kathleen Ferrier, alto; Heddle Nash, tenor; William Parsons, bass. Live, Albert Hall, Nov. 13, 1947 [If anyone had played this for me blindfolded, the LAST conductor in the world I would have guessed would have been Bruno Walter. The ferocious energy, massive climaxes, driving rhythms – just not what I would have expected from the mellow, almost avuncular maestro of the "Columbia Symphony" days! This is simply a tremendous Ninth, and one of my personal favorites.]

Mozart: Symphony No. 38, D Major, k. 504 ("Prague"). w/ Vienna Philharmonic; live, 6/ 11/ 1955. [24:15]

COMPOSERS (Alphabetically by last name)

"The Cocteau Influence". [You don’t read about "Les Six" these days – they’ve receded into history almost as far back, by now, as, oh, "The Mannheim School"; and let’s face it, without their once-naughty collective personality (the musical equivalent of Duchamps’ fur-lined tea cup!), they were mostly (with the occasional exception of Poulenc, whose music wears very well, and Milhaud, who wrote so damned much OF it that even the worst sourpuss in the world can find a FEW things in his oeuvre to like), they were colorful second-raters, even mountebanks. Who reads Jean Cocteau these days (I mean, for enjoyment, not to fulfill an academic requirement)? And Cocteau wasn’t even a practicing musician or music critic – although that didn’t stop him from pontificating as only a loose-lipped French intellectual can, about musical matters as though he were George Bernard Shaw – in his dreams! So why did such a varied gaggle of youthful, interesting, coffee-house "artistes" congregate around a mostly ephemeral, sometimes drug-addled, sexually ambivalent, verbose, opinionated "creative" character like Cocteau, who was much too busy holding court to go off in hard isolation and actually CREATE much of the time? Oh, for the same reason I hung out with my "group" in high school and college, I reckon; to draw strength from numbers in the face of a mostly…not "hostile", just indifferent bourgeois world, to polish one’s wit and conversational style, to hear the latest juicy gossip, to learn who was "in" and who was not; and, if you got really, really lucky some nights, to get laid. Of course, give out of Les Six were male, and the majority of them were either gay or bi-sexual (and the one female, Germaine Tallifierro, about who sexual preferences I know nothing and care less, wasn’t exactly a traffic-stopper, so they all spent much of their time not only drunk and/or stoned, but impoverished and horny as well.) Aside from Poulenc, who was only a part-time groupie, the most talented of the lot was probably Eric Satie, who rarely had two sous to rub together and who, for all his pathetic attempts to dress in eccentric elegance has always impressed me as being nearly as completely sex-less as any male can be without undergoing castration. It’s not surprising that after they all sort of "grew up" and drifted apart (wafted on the after-currents of their own legend), the ones like Poulenc and Milhaud actually started doing serious creative work (Auric had the good sense to learn the craft of film-composing and wrote some very fine music for the cinema, which gave him enough economic freedom to continue dabbling in his pleasant but generally ephemeral "serious" music and Satie just…sort of vanished into the Paris underworld that fertilized his brief flourish of fame, continuing to write a lot of very beautiful, charming, essentially "little" music that came alive in part thanks to his genius for weighing it down with preposterous and demented sub-titles. Tallifiere wrote some nice stuff as she continued her mostly failed efforts to find either a husband of a strong ego; and I haven’t the foggiest idea what happened to the lesser fry, virtual nonentities all. .

Cocteau eventually got so bored with his own posturing that he actually got down to some serious work in his post-Les-Six period, and continued in his spare time to hold court at whatever café he could find where slinky young men who all looked like either Spanish guerrillas or "Apache" dancers of the not-so-rough-trade variety, would buy him more absinthe and/or submit to his gaunt pawing attempts to be seductive (if I were gay, I would have found him about as sexually charged as Charles Laughton, but infinitely less amusing…)

And they all, collectively, left behind a body of music generally agreed to be of "historic" importance, although nobody can agree as to why, exactly, or point to any recognized masterpieces that owe their existence to the formative yeasty days of Les Six – Stravinsky, Ravel, Igor Markevich, and eventually Poulenc too, all went their own way, as men of genius (or even men possessed of nothing more serious than "mere" talent, inevitably must…except for the Chaplinesque good humor (beneath which, as there often is in Chaplain’s clowning-around, there’s a palpable undercurrent of pathos) and sparkling tunes that keep Satie’s piano music very much alive, almost everything else produced by and in various orbits around the Cocteau Mob, gets dusted off periodically for a "retrospective" or a festival symposium, or, as in this case, a "concept" album. These compilations are usually good fun to listen to, but no undiscovered masterpieces have been dragged out of their, um, closets to force an upward reevaluation of these witty, no doubt entertaining, but spiritually vapid people. I recommend this spirited anthology, if only to sate your curiosity. Like me, once sated, you’ll probably drag it out and play it once every year or two, just to see if your evaluations or tastes have changed during the interim. They haven’t; they won’t; but it’s worth doing that anyhow, I firmly believe. There’s a whole world of pleasure to be had from second-rate art, you know, just as there is from good, unabashed popular fiction! Man does not live by Tolstoy alone, nor does it improve your chances of getting into Heaven if you make a ritual out of listening to one late Beethoven string quartet every evening. In fact, making a fetish out of both those activities is a pretty dumb and stultifying way to go through life. So pour some more of that licorice-tasting green booze into your fur-lined cup, open up either this morning’s edition of Le Figaro or the last Grove Press edition of Cocteau’s Opium (the one with the faggy imitation-Picasso sketches decorating its angst-riddled, self-pitying pages!) and if you’ve scored again, stuff your old pipe with a sticky little nugget of same – "opium" just sounds SO much more, um, gorgeously decadent than "rolling a big fat Doobie stuffed with Appalachian Brown-Lung", although in my youthful – but extensive – experience really potent tarry opium has got to be genuine Yellow River Jade to give you a better high than the shit the local rednecks are now growing in-between their Christmas tree rows up in Ashe County, North Carolina, which USED to be the "Moonshine Capital of the South")) and take a day-trip into the Funny Side of Existentialism with the following musicians and Cocteau-groupies, both famous and utterly obscure, even by MY standards! -( >>>>>=>>>

Melodies: "Ecole de Guerre" [1:19]; "Reveil" [2:16]; "Hommage a Erik Satie" [2:16]; "Aglae" [2:24]; "Place des Invalides" [2:36]; "Maurie Laurencin" [1:16]; "Biplan di Matin" [3:13]; "Portrait d’Henri Rousseau" [2:45]. Elaine Manchet, soprano; Olivier Gardon, piano

Iberia. Van Beinam; Concertgebouw of Amsterdam

Image – Complete. Van Beinam; Concertgebouw of Amsterdam [Fabulous readings! See enthusiastic notes under "Conductors"]

Rhapsody for Saxophone & Orchestra [See FRENCH COLLECTION, Vol. 1]

Chaconne in Echo. [See French Collection Vol. 1]

Sonata for a Baptism. Florian Hollard; Ensemble of the ORTF (flute, saxophone, piano, percussion) [17:00]

Trois Chansons Basques: "La Priere"1:15]; "Polka" [0:30]; "Attilage" [1:24]. Elain

Concerto for Percussion & Chamber Orchestra [See FRENCH COLLECTION, Vol. 1]

Violin Concerto No. 2. Josef Suk, violin; Slatkin; Chicago Symphony, live; 1983 [A marvelous piece, bristling with Martinu’s combined energy and melodic strength. Suk’s performance is superb and Slatkin is right up there with him.

"Caramel Mou" Olivier Gardon, piano [5:44]

Trois Poemes: "Fumee" [0:46]; "Fete du Bourdeaux" [0: 47]; "Fete de Montmartre" [0:48]. Elaine Manchet, soprano; Olivier Gardon, piano

PARYS, Georges van (great moniker for a French composer, non?):

Melodies: "Iles" [2:13]; "Le Cheveaux Gris" [2:50]; "Danseuse" [1:13]; "Gabrielle au Village" [1:42]; "Fete du Montmartre" [1:22] Elaine Manchet, soprano; Olivier Gardon, piano

La Danse de Monte Carlo. Claire Gibault; Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice [6:58]

Song: "Toreador". Elaine Manchet, soprano; Olivier Gardon, piano [5:48]

"Elegie" from "King Gustav Adolf" Suite. John Hollingsworth; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Midsummer Vigil. Hollingsworth; Royal Opera House Orch., Covent Garden

Symphony No. 5. Herbert Haefner; Vienna Symphony. [From an ultra rare SPA album, early fifties; only recording. Very pert, even snotty, piece but still exuberant and lively. Antheil’s later, more populist works always have their beguiling moments, even if they’re also mostly facile and shallow. The old disc has a few scratches near outer rim, but the sound is basically quite forward and suitably brash Not a bad piece at all.]

Concerto for Viola & Chamber Orchestra, Op. 108. Composer conducting London Musica Ensemble; Rivka Golani, viola [22:09] [A late, very lightly scored, but wonderfully vital work, with surprising, moving, exciting ideas at every turn. Sir Malcolm didn’t have long to live at this point, but except for his new interest in smaller forms rather than big, splashy orchestral wallows, he shows no signs of slowing down – musical ideas tumble over one another like acrobats, but the writing is tight, economical, and very self-disciplined. A fine, autumnal, not-too-long viola concerto…so why aren’t more violists propagating it? Damned if I know; the ACTIVE viola concerto repertoire remains stiflingly narrow and there are only so many times you can play Harold in Italy and the Walton Concerto is a crashing bore (although not quite as coma-inducing as that Hindemithian swan-turning thing; the title is terrific, but it’s downhill all the way after the music begins). Violists! To arms! Here’s a luscious, colorful, moody work guaranteed to befriend the audience, challenging enough to make you feel virtuous for mastering it, and only 22-23 minutes long! Come on, get on the ball! Yes, I mean YOU!]

Melodies: "Ecole de Guerre" [1:19]; "Reveil" [2:16]; "Hommage a Erik Satie" [2:16]; "Aglae" [2:24]; "Place des Invalides" [2:36]; "Maurie Laurencin" [1:16]; "Biplan di Matin" [3:13]; "Portrait d’Henri Rousseau" [2:45]. Elaine Manchet, soprano; Olivier Gardon, piano

Motet: "Heth Sold Ein Meisken (16^th Century) ". Noah Greenberg; New York Pro Musica Ensemble.

Motet, (15^th Century) – "Si Pai Perdu Mon." Noah Greenberg; New York Pro Musica Ensemble.

Sonata No.3, F Major, Violin & Keyboard, BWV 1016. Adolf Busch, piano; Rudolf Serkim, Piano Recorded at Library of Congress, mid-Forties [17:15]

Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D , BWV. 1068. Furtwangler; Berlin Philharmonic; live, October 24, 1948. 22:58] [No, it doesn’t seem "heavy" – unless you insist upon Ritalin-fueled tempos and zitty, mechanical inflections. I think it’s fair to describe certain moments as "lumbering", but they’re more ursine and intentionally shaggy than just stylistically inept. If you enjoy Bach on the "grand" scale, you’ll probably enjoy this version, but if you are a convinced Furtwanglerian, this is probably not the historical relic to start with. The sonics are more than a little bit gray and grainy. But F’s total engagement with the ,usic does come through.]

Partita for Solo Flute. Ransom Wilson, flute

Concerto for Two Violins, D Minor, BWV 1043. Adolf Busch, violin; Rudolf Serkin, piano; w/ Busch Chamber Players [16:10] [From Library of Congress cycle]

Violin Concerto No, 1, D Minor, BWV 1041. Adolf Busch, violin; Rudolf Serkin, piano [15:30] [From their memorable series of concerts in Library of Congress, mid-Forties]

Violin Concerto No. 2, E Major, BWV 1042. Adolf Busch, violin; Rudolf Serkin, piano. [18:09] [Also from Library of Congress Concerts]

Gregorian Variations. Previn; Pittsburgh Symphony; premiere performance, 1983. [I’m eager to hear more by this young American composer! This elaborate, colorful, thoroughly engrossing work is exactly what its title would indicate, and Previn conducts the hell out of; and the audience roars its approval! The score is very clever (a jazz riff on the"Dies Irae"??).Prismatic moods, including the somber, the meditative, the uproariously parodistic, the dreamily poetic, and everything in between. The worst that can be said is "gimmicky" but in the best possible way – it’s accessible and delightful music, vividly orchestrated; deserves a host of performances!]

Concerto for Orchestra; Marriner; Minnesota Orchestra, live; 1984 [Not the first conductor who springs to mind in this repertoire, but here’s a very satisfying, fresh-sounding, imaginative, even risk-taking, interpretation. Way to go, Sir Neville!]

Concerto. For Violin & Orchestra, in D, Op. 67. w/ Yehudi Menuhin, violin; Wilhelm Furtwangler, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, 1947.

Overture to "Coriolanus", Op. 62. Walter Goehr; London Symphony Orch. [See comments under "Conductors"]

Overture to "Egmont", Op. 84. Walter Goehr; London Symphony Orchestra.

Sonata No. 1, D Major, Op. 12/ No. 1. Adolf Busch, violin; Rudolf Serkin, piano. [17:43]

Sonata No. 3, E-flat Major, Op. 12/ No. 3. w/ Vladimir Yampolsky, piano [NT]

Sonata No. 8, G Major, Op. 30/ No. 3. Adolf Busch, violin; Rudolf Serkin, piano. [15:45] [From the historic Busch-Serkin Library of Congress series, late Forties-early Fifties] [Well-neigh incomparable]

Sonata No. 9, A Major ("Kreutzer"), Op. 105. Adolf Busch, violin; Rudolf Serkin, piano. [27:57] [Library of Congress cycle – doesn’t get much better than this!]

Symphony No. 5, C Minor, Op. 67. Marriner; Minnesota Orchestra, live; 1984. [You sure don’t think of Marriner as "a Beethoven man", except maybe for the lighter-weight, more classically inflected symphonies, but here’s another surprise, like the Bartok mentioned above. It’s fairly brisk in tempo, yes – no surprise there – but the raw intensity of it jolted me. Sharp, cutting attacks and releases, intensely sprung rhythms, timpani like pistol-shots and right in your face! In short, a terrifically gutsy reading, very much out of Marriner’s stereotype – another reason why conductor-collecting is such a rich experience: for every reading that confirms our "accepted wisdom" about a maestro, you can eventually find one that confounds it!]

Symphony No. 5, C Minor, Op. 67. Walter Goehr; London Symphony Orchestra.

Symphony No. 9. Bruno Walter; London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; Isobel Baillie, soprano; Kathleen Ferrier, alto; Heddle Nash, tenor; William Parsons, bass; live, 11/13/ 1947. [See rave comments under "Conductors.]

"Beatrice and Benedict: Overture. Roger Albin; ORTF Chamber Orchestra [31:10]

Lelio, ou le retour a la Vie, Excerpts from: Fisherman’s Ballad After Goethe; Le Chant de bonheur; La harpe eolienne; Fantasia, second half. [SEE "FRENCH COLLECTION, Vol. 1]

Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9. Jacques Houtmann; ORTF National Orchestra. [8:17] [See "FRENCH COLLECTION,’ Vol. 6

"Jupiter and Europa", Chamber Cantata. [SEE "FRENCH COLLECTION", VOL. 2]

"Carmen", Act II – "Toreador’s Song". Lawrence Tibbett, tenor. Rec. 4/18/ 1929 [4:30]

Menuet for Solo Flute. Ransom Wilson, flute

Symphony No. 1, C Minor, Op. 63. Mengelberg; Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; live, 1940 [Stunning sound on this imported Japanese pressing! Very scarce today! See comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 2. Furtwangler; London Philharmonic; studio, 1951 [See comments under "Conductors""]

Symphony No. 4, E Minor, Op. 98. Mitropoulos; New York Philharmonic; live, October 28, 1956. [One of Dimitri’s final concerts in New York; lovable but very eccentric reading; he can’t decide whether to go for Bauhaus Modern or High Romantic, so it’s almost schizoid at times. [37:43]

Symphony No. 4. Stokowski; Philharmonia, live, 1974. [Very special; see comments under "Conductors"

Violin Sonata No. 3, D Major, Op. 108. David Oistrakh, violin; Vladimir Yampolsky, piano [NT]

Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Purcell. Stokowski; BBC Symphony; live Proms concert, 1972 [Simply stunning. See comments about Vaughan-William’s Eighth…]

Cantiones Sacrae, Complete Edition of 1575. Michael Howard; Cantores in Ecclesia. [See comments under "Tallis" below.]

Pavane & Gigue (from The Steak of Salisbury’s Virginal Book). Stokowski; w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; recorded April 19, 1937 [7:03]

"Par le Feu…" ("Through Fire") [See FRENCH COLLECTION, Vol. 2]

Iberia. Paul Paray; ORTF Philharmonic [See "FRENCH COLLECTION, Vol. 4]

La Ner. Martinon; ORTF National Orchestra [23:50] [See ‘FRENCH COLLECTION", Vol. 7]

Prelude…Faun. Munch; ORTF Philharmonic [See FRENCH COLLECTION VOL. 4]

Rhapsody for Saxophone & Orchestra. [SEE ‘FRENCH COLLECTION", Vol. 1]

Chaconne in Echo. [SEE ‘FRENCH COLLECTION", VOL. 1]

Grand Motet – "Therefore Did They Tremble…" Marcelo Couraud; ORTF Chamber Orchestra & chorus [24:47] [See "FRENCH COLLECTION, VOL. 5"]

Percussionata. Reiner Ruhmer, percussion. [Aggressively "modern" but performed with fantastic dexterity by a percussionist who sounds like three men in one]

Three Pictures After Paul Klee. Ensemble Moderne; live, 1984, "Moscow Today" Festival

Fanfare for King Louis XII. w/ Noah Greenberg; New York Pro Musica Ensemble.

Missa Pange Lingua. Noah Greenberg; New York Pro Musicza Ensemblke & Choir; Russell Oberlin, counter-tenor.

Motet: (After Virgel’s "Aenead") – "Fama Malum". Noah Greenberg; New York Pro Musica Ensemble & Choir; Russell Oberlin, counter=tenor

Motet: (After Virgel’s "Aenead") – "Dulces Exuviae." Noah Greenberg; New York Pro Musica Ensemble & Choir; Russell Oberlin,m counter-tenor

Motet: "La Bernadina". Noah Greenberg; New York Pro Musica Ensemble & Choir

Motet: "Tu Solus". Noah Greenberg; New York Pro Musica Ensemble & Choir; Russell Oberlin, counter-tenor. [Greenberg probably did more to make "Old Music" come alive for more people, than any other conductor except David Monroe, and both died much too young. Deep scholarship informs his bright, plangent readings of these exquisite works, but so too does deep emotion – he never conducted anything in a dry or pedantic manner! Des Prez was a fantastic composer, too. He had enormous range, absolute technical mastery, and he lived a life both long and colorful, numbering Popes and monarchs among his patrons and friends. Quite a guy – and a fantastic master of the motet and mass genres! His instrumental sowkrs are often very fine, too, although there are too damn few of them!]

Symphony on a French Mountain Air. (No pianist credited!) Louis Forestier; ORTF Symphony Orchestra [24:45]

Trois Chansons Basques: "La Priere"1:15]; "Polka" [0:30]; "Attilage" [1:24]. Elain

Carnival Overture, Op. 92. Dorati; London Symphony Orchestra [8:40]

Symphony No. 7, D Minor, Op. 70. Dorati; London Symphony Orchestra [36:24]

Concert-Piece for Violin & Orchestra. Devy Erlih, violin; Pierre Dervaux; ORTF "National" Symphony Orchestra [13:430] [ See "FRENCH COLLECTION, Volume 5]

"Faust", Act II – "Avant de quitter c’es lieux"… Lawrence Tibbett, tenor; rec. 4/20/ 1934 [NT]

Concerto Misterioso. Ensemble Moderne, Berlin, "Moscow Today" festival {NT}

GUBJADULINA, Sofia: [While I admire this woman’s fierce insistence on following her own muse, which meant – during the bad old days of Soviet orthodoxy – giving up all hope of ever hearing your music performed, much less recorded, I confess I have never been able to warm up to her dour, oddly instrumented, almost defiantly UN-attractive music. There’s a sourness and emotional rigidity to it that she seems unable to get beyond. Not any mystery, really given the forty years of persecution and exile she endured, but, Jeez, lady, it’s time to lighten up! Plus I find the nasal, crabby sound of the banyan accordion about as appealing as the sound of my neighbor’s un-spayed cat when she goes into heat (I had that beast in my sights one night, I swear I did, and a with a high-powered German pump-up air rifle that nobody would have heard but whose pellet had enough f.p.s. velocity that it would have ended her sexual frustration instantly if I could have been absolutely sure of a direct hit…I’m not proud of myself, but I did, finally, decide not to squeeze off the shot, and as if to reward me, the nasty little beast got pancaked by a fire truck four weeks later. Poor, poor puss!). A lot of western musicians profess to admire this woman’s music – God knows what they heard in it that I don’t; moral integrity may be a noble attribute, but it’s pretty hard to put into music)., so I list what I have and if you want a dub, more power to you. I have maybe seven works by her and not one of them have I ever listened to more than twice; and the second time was just to verify that I still hated the stuff as much as I did the first time I played it.)

Quasi Hoquertos. Ensemble Moderne, Berlin; live, 1984. [NT] [I have no idea what it means or what it’s supposed to express. It is superbly well played by a bunch of woodwinds, however, and at least has the virtue of being relatively short.]

GUTCHE, Eugene: [This American composer has carved out a very specialized and highly personal niche: he composes "musical biographies" of important or especially colorful historical figures. I heard Stokowski perform his "Ghengis Khan" with the American Symphony and found it surprisingly sophisticated, as well as entertaining and lavishly orchestrated. His choice of treatments varies from subject to subject. The latest opus, at least that I am familiar with, is "Akhenaton", the Egyptian Pharaoh. With an unusually effective, ceremonial-sounding choral part, it’s a fascinating and not-at-all formulaic work, one of considerable substance and merit. Slatkin’s world premiere performance makes a very convincing case for the work, and trhe audience response was enthusiastic and prolonged. Seems to me some record company’s missing a good bet by not assembling all of Gutche’s "biographies" into a boxed set, but maybe the cost would be prohibitive since hs composed rather a large number of them over the years. Anyhow, if you’re looking for a contemporary American piece that’s both highly individual and audience-friendly, here it is!]

"Ahkenaton", for Chorus & Orchestra. Slatkin; St. Louis Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, world premiere, 1984

Symphony No. 5, F Major, Op. 76. Talich; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

Gagliarda. Stokowski; w/ Philadelphia Orchestra. Rec. 10/22/ 1934 [3:50]

Symphony No. 2, D Minor ("Fate"). Karsten Andersen; Oslo Philharmonic Orch. [33:24]

Overture in D Minor (from Chandos Anthem No. 2). Stokowski; w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; rec. December 16, 1935. [7:05]

Handel: Water Music Suite (Arr. Stokowski) w/ Philadelphia Orchestra. Recorded April 30, 1934 [19:30]

Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 38. Furtwangler; Berlin Philharmonic; live; 6/ 20/ 1950 [12:51]

Sinfonie: "Harmony der Welt". Furtwangler; Vienna Philharmonic; Live; Salzburg Festival; 8/ 30/ 1953 [33:29] [Greatest performance of this unjustly neglected work I’ve ever heard; one of Furt’s last appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic; quite decent sound, too.]

Symphony No. 6. Sir Charles Groves; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra {NT} [Taut, tough-fibered, but well-worth-knowing major symphony by one of the leading Welsh composers of our time. Not that it ever SOUNDS "Welsh", but it’s still a good, muscular work-out.]

"Ednymion" Ballet Suite. Herbert Haefner; Vienna Symphony.

Chaconne in Echo. Marcel Couraud; ORTF Chamber Orchestra [2:05]

Rhapsody for Saxophone & Orchestra. Daniel Deffayet, saxophone; Eugene Bigot; ORTF Philharmonic Orchestra [9:38]

Concerto for Percussion & Chamber Orchestra. Vincent Geminiani, percussion; Pierre Dervaux; ORTF Chamber Orchestra. [14:15] [Surprisingly late-romantic in mood and quite entertaining!]

Lelio, ou le retour a la Vie, Excerpts from: Fisherman’s Ballad After Goethe; Le Chant de bonheur; La harpe eolienne; Fantasia, second half. Michel Senechal, tenor; Jacques Mars,

"Jupiter & Europa", Chamber Cantata for Soprano, Bass, 2 Violins, Viola da Gamba & Harpsichord. Maria Posa, soprano; Andre Vessieres, bass; Georges Tessier & Frederick Geyre, violins; Robert Cordier, viola da Gamba; Jenine Reiss, harpsichord. [29:30] [Sounds pretty much like what you’d expect a "chamber" cantata from its era to sound like, but although the pseudo-mythological formula was already a dead horse by 1710, Bernier engages us with his sweet, rather pastoral music, and the performers deliver it with a relaxed, confidence that makes it work, primarily, AS musical entertainment, too lightweight to even be silly, too skillfully composed to make fun of. It’s nice stuff, no more no less; sonic wallpaper fit for a king and provided by a composer who knew a lot about entertaining royalty. It’s an agreeable bit of fluff; too bad the lazy-ass engineers captured it in mono, and it sounds more l;ike it was recorded in 1947 instead of 1967!]

"Par le Feu" ("Through fires" -- A cycle of six Melodies based on Poems by Lou Bruder. Regine Crespin, soprano; Composer, conducting Strabourgh Radio Orchestra [39:32] [Constan has always been just a vague composer-name to me, sort-of, kind-of in the same post-war street gang as Boulez, Stockhausen and a lot of other nerdy guys you haven’t heard much about or from. I think this is the first BY him I’ve actually encountered; I like it. A lot. It’s dark and often tortured=sounding, but not fiercely atonal or hermetic. Think Alban Berg with a dash of Ravel. Or don’t think at all; just enjoy Regine Crespin’s stunning performance of what must be the most difficult-to-sing work she’s ever recorded; very ably supported by as orchestra almost nobody outside of that region has ever heard. Think: same lazy, semi-competent bunch of French radio engineers, for whom good stereo sound was still a high-tech mystery even in 1967! Terrific piece, really; if there’s ever been another recording, I’ve not heard it or seen it.]

"Beatrice and Benedict" Overture. Jean-Pasul Kreder; ORTF Philharmonic. [8:05]

Concertino for Saxophone & Orchestra. Daniel Deffayet, sax. ; Roger Albin; ORTF Chamber Orchestra [31:10] [What a delightful work! A textbook example of clean, transparent orchestration complimenting a seamless, lyric, sometimes-dark but mostly light and tuneful line from the solo instrument. Deffayet’s playing is gorgeous & the orchestra, under a conductor totally unknown to me, is also very fine. How come this work’s never played? Good saxophone concertos don’t exactly grow on lime trees, you know (although one of the finest is The Upward Stream, composed by my dear friend Russell Peck!)]

Symphonic Suite from "Les Noces de cendres" ("The Marriage of Ashes"). Pierre-Michel Le

"Bacchus & Arianne, Suite No. 2. Charles Bruck; ORTF Philharmonic. [16:02] ] [Neither the printed insert nor the spoken introductions in this set offers ANY information about ANY of the performers, and in this case that’s a pity. Maestro Bruck turns in a taut, propulsive reading and keeps the often sloppy ORTF ensemble on a tight leash, resulting in a sharp and exciting reading that’s in the same league as those by Ansermet or Cluytens, and the recorded sound is also better than it is on earlier volumes of this series – more focused and alive. The suite works up to a raucous, dramatic ending, with Roussel’s splashy colors all the more vivid because the orchestral playing is so sharp. One of the better items in this series.]

"Spring" from "The Four Seasons" Gerard Garry, violin; Andre Gerard; ORTF Chamber Orchestra [9:02]

Prelude…Faun. Charles Munch; ORTF "National Orchestra". [9:40] [Munch does his expected graceful and sensuous job with this miraculous score, but the orchestra’s indifferent, almost bored, rendering comes and goes without leaving any strong positive impression; you’d have thought these guys could get-it-up for such an important work.]

Rapsodie Espagnole. Paul Paray; ORTF "National Orchestra" [14:15]

Norwegian Rhapsody. Andre Girard; ORTF Symphony Orchestra. [10:25]

Concert Piece for Violin & Orchestra. David Erlih, violin; Pierre Dervaux; ORTF National Orchestra [13:40]

Grand Motet: "Therefore Did They Tremble…" (C’est pourquoi ils ont fremi…) Marcel Couraud; ORTF Chamber Orchestra & Choir [24:47]

Violin Concerto in C. Gerard Jarry, violin; Pierre Poulton; ORTF Chamber Orchestra [16:30] [A lovely, lyrical, flowing little concerto, in which you can hear Romanticism creeping into the Classical style on discreet little feet]

Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9. Jacques Houtmann; ORTF National Orchestra [8:18]

"L’espouse Injustment Soupconnee" ("The Unjustly Mistrusted Wife"), Excerpts from. Vocalists: Joseph Peyron; Jacques Mars; Michelline Grancher; Claudinee Collart; Louis De Froment, cond.; ORTF Chamber Orchestra [28:30] [Nice music; based on an "annamite" folk tale or some such; doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in excerpt form; might not make a whole lot more if you could hear the whole thing.]

"Namouna", Orchestral Suite No. 1. Pierre-Michel Le Conte; ORTF National Orchestra [23:50]

La Mer. Martinon; ORTF Philharmonic Orchestra [22:15]

Symphonic Elegy for Strings (in Memoriam Anton Webern).. Mitropoulos; New York Philharmonic Orch.

Norwegian Rhapsody. Andre Girard; ORTF Symphony Orchestra [10:25] [See "THE FRENCH COLLECTION, Volume 5]

"Namouna:, Suite No. 1. Pierre-Michel Le Conte; ORTF National Orchestra [23:50] [See ‘FRENCH COLLECTION, Vol. 7]

Violin Concerto in C. Gerard Jarry, violin; Pierre Poulton; ORTF Chamber Orchestra [16:30] [See "FRENCH COLLECTION", Vol.. 6]

LEONCAVALLO:

"Pagliacci" – "Prologue – Si puo!". Lawrence Tibbett, tenor; Rec. 6/7/ 1929 [7:10]

Mazeppa. Oskar Fried; Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, c. 1932. [One of the wonders of the phonograph.]

Piano Concerto No. 2. Toradze (SP?), piano; Bychkov; New York Philharmonic, live, 1984 [See comments under "Rachmaninoff"]

Concerto for Percussion & Orchestra. [SEE "FRENCH COLLECTION, Vol. 1]

Suite: "Nocturne" from Le Triomphe de l’Amour; Prelude from "Alceste"; "Marche des Sacrificateurs" from "Thesee". Stokowski; w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; recorded April 30, 1930 [7:10]

Symphony No. 1. Bernstein; New York Philharmonic; live, 1988. [His last performance of this trademark symphony; appropriately ferocious and achingly bittersweet.]

Symphony No. 9. Solti; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; live, 1984. [I think Sir Georg – who was a close personal friend of my uncle John Scott Trotter, by the way – was a terrific Mahlerite; I even liked his first Mahler release (a Fourth Symphony with the Concertgebouw), which most of the record critics in 1963 dismissed with sniffy little nit-picks that struck me as petty and mean-spirited even then, and in retrospect seem just stupid), and have four performances of the Ninth by him. Solti was one of those human dynamos who’s always ON, whether it’s in the concert hall or doing the umpteenth take of a problem passage in the recording studio; his energy level barely even flickered. Once he decided to be a composer’s advocate, he WAS that to the end, with consummate professionalism and vigor, even if not always with the best interpretive ideas. So I think all four recordings are excellent Ninths; but this live one, given in Orchestra Hall just after the CSO had toured Europe (and played the damn piece twenty-four times in twelve weeks!) is the deepest, richest-sounding, and most feverishly impassioned of the lot. The CSO’s playing is super-humanly fine; with ever-more-darkening force, the music grinds mercilessly from one shattering climax to the next like a juggernaut. Yes, he made the trombone into an anti-tank weapon! And in the right sort of repertoire (Mahler and Wagner jump instantly to the head of the list) that’s just what it should sound like. The climax of the last movement here has a molten, malarial heat and wrenching last-spark-of-Life desperation that really does sound like the arrival of Sonic Death; and fortunately, my pissy little FM receiver was working well on the night I captured this broadcast. Dynamite reading; just annihilating.]

Folies de Espagne. Ransom Wilson, flute [I don’t care how often I hear it – and this transcription for flute is incredibly juicy – this piece never fails to give a tingle; so stately, so melancholy, so tender! It6 does for me what the "Taco Bell" Canon did for the people who discovered baroque music through that piece, thirty or more years ago. As mentioned under "Solo Virtuosi", Wilson’s playing here is simply breath-taking and the sonics are gorgeous.]

Prelude for Piano & Orchestra. Andre Girard, cond; Chamber Ensemble of the ORTF [7:55]

Violin Concerto No. 2. Josef Suk, violin; Slatkin; Chicago Symphony; live, 1983 [A marvelous work, bristling with Martinu’s trademark combination of bristling energy and melodic strength; Suk’s performance is dazzling; Slatkin is with him all the way; the audience was electrified. A treat, a palpable treat!]

Symphony No. 1, Op. 36. Groves; Royal Philharmonic. [31:06] [Another fine Welsh composer, and he even sounds "Welsh", at least occasionally. Colorful and always interesting, many varied moods. Good podium work by the usually half-asleep Groves.]

"Windsbraut" (Bride of the Wind). Masur; New York Philharmonic; live, 1983 [A very effective and atmospheric tone poem, and much as I hate to say it, Masur gives a luminous reading.]

Piano Concerto. John Ogdon, piano; Igor Buketoff; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [25:48]

Symphony No. 3. Mitropoulos; New York Philharmonic; studio recording, 1953 [22:14]

Symphony No. 7 ("Variations Symphony") Martinon; Chicago Symphony Orchestra [26:31]

"Caramel Mou" Olivier Gardon, piano [5:44]

"Spring Concerto" from The Four Seasons. Gerard Garry, violin; Andre Gerard; ORTF Chamber Ensemble [9:02]

Trois Poemes: "Fumee" [0:46]; "Fete du Bourdeaux" [0: 47]; "Fete de Montmartre" [0:48]. Elaine Manchet, soprano; Olivier Gardon, piano

Symphony No. 31, "Paris", K. 297. Marriner; Minnesota Orchestra; live, 1984. [Very much as one might wish from Sir Neville – patrician elegance with lots of spunk underneath.]

Symphony No. 38, D Major, K. 504. Bruno Walter; Vienna Philharmonic; live 6/11/ 1955 24:15]

"Song of the Flea." Lawrence Tibbett, tenor. Rec. 12/8/ 1932 [3:40]

"Dance of the Cockerels" from "Maskarade".Hollingsworth; Royal Opera Orchestra, Covent Garden.

OSTRCIL, Otakar: [A figure of tremendous importance in the establishment of Prague’s cultural infrastructure, during the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries, he was a star pupil of Zdenek Fibich, but his music sounds nothing like Fibich’s…or Novak’s…or any other Czech you care to name; it emerges from the same Romantic and nationalistic afflatus, but there’s a decidedly "transitional" feeling to it, as the composer shaded more and more into Modernism (as it was understood in Prague in 1920!). His administrative duties kept him from composing as much as he wanted to, and sometimes that shows – but, come on, second-rate Czech music is better than most other nations’ first-rate music. There’s a lot to savor here: drama, robust melodies that never droop or swoon, some surprising harmonies, idiosyncratic orchestration – I wish he’s left us more than the two symphonies and a handful of shorter works that have made it to records. Anyway, this is the only recording ever wuz of this symphony, and it’s a splendid rendition with outstanding sound. Give it a shot, if you like Novacek, Fibich, or Suk!]

Symphony in A Major. Jiri Behlolavek; Prague Symphony Orchestra. [40:43][His finest work – the prefigurings of Mahler, especially in the scherzo, are astounding; the scoring is very rich; the performance exudes commitment; the sound has that wonderful "blooming" quality we know from every good recording made in the Prague Hall of Artists,]

Adoramus Te (from Motet for Four Voices). Stokowski; w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; rec. 11/12 1934 [4:02]

PARYS, Georges van (great moniker for a French composer, non?):

Melodies: "Iles" [2:13]; "Le Cheveaux Gris" [2:50]; "Danseuse" [1:13]; "Gabrielle au Village" [1:42]; "Fete du Montmartre" [1:22] . Elaine Manchet, soprano; Olivier Gardon, piano

Symphony No. 6. Okko Kamu; Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra [While I generally agree with most Pettersson fans, if that’s the word for a man whose life and work were suffused with agony and despair, the Ninth is his greatest work, I think this long, harrowing work (in one gigantic, ever evolving movement" runs it a close second. There is a weak, feeble, musical sunrise" at the end, but the morning’s light reveals only the desolation of a blasted ashen landscape; lonely solitary woodwind voices float slowly across this scabbed and lifeless valley. Are those sort-of melodic fragments intended to be sings of life, or merely to emphasize the craggy bleakness of what’s left? Well, I always said: Pettersson’s music is like Mahler’s…only without the laughs.]

"Tosca", Act I – "Te deum" Lawrence Tibbett, tenor; Rec. 4/10/ 1929 [3:59]

La Danse de Monte Carlo. Claire Gibault; Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice [6:58]

ong: "Toreador". Elaine Manchet, soprano; Olivier Gardon, piano [5:48]

Symphony No. 2. Simyon Bychkov; New York Philharmonic; live, 1984 [Bychkov’s career has certainly been a steadily ascendant one, but I’ve heard too few examples of his work to form any meaningful notion of his style, agenda, podium mannerisms, etc. Seven or eight years ago I heard a broadcast of him leading a Shostakovich Eleventh. I did not care for it – too tentative and lacking in blood-spurting savagery. But that work is so a-typical, in so many ways, that my disappointment hardly left a deep, abiding prejudice against a conductor who was then much younger and inexperienced, probably leading that shaggy bear of a work for the first time in his career…even if I had been "sampling" his work, as I try to do with every new conductorial "star" brightening the horizon, one mediocre reading of a tough-to-pull-off symphony that not even Shostakovich fans have quite made up their minds about, well it’s hardly a defining litmus test, right? Well, good luck to this big jowly Slav – who looks not unlike Aram Khachaturian, in fact, because on the night of THIS concert he was making his debut with the New York Philharmonic and he would need all the divine assistance he could get (Look the French horns squarely in the eye! Show no fear – the Philharmonic boys have a keener nose for blood than any tracking dog ever bio-engineered and if they doubt your command, you’re in trouble and it’s back to some provincial band that sounds as ghastly as the Greensboro Symphony did when I first heard them in 1972. Bychkow acquitted himself well, I think, in every phase of this 1984 program; the audience lapped up the purple-and-gold emotionality of the Rachy Second and went ape-shit over Alexandre Toradze’s slam-bang reading of the Liszt 2nd concerto – in no small part because Bychkov succeeded in making the orchestral part sound more substantive and sincere than many far more mature maestros I could name. Damn good concert, in fact. He’s not afraid to let the orchestral sonorities get "thick" here, but he also keeps the Big Line fairly taut (which is I think the key to making this sprawling anachronism "work" in today’s anti-romantic Zeitgeist!) If the first-and-third movement’s go slack, even briefly, the audiences’ ears instantly fill with rubber cement and they all start looking at their watches…]

Mosaics of the Orient. Composer; Ensemble of nai (Arabian flute), guitar, bouzouki, piano, double flute, kanoun, tabla, assorted drums, tambourine, electric organ and "Oriental rhythm section". [We DO like to bring you unusual stuff, and here’s the only recording I have from Beirut, vividly taped in 1969 on a Parlophone Voix de l’Orient release. The music: frothy, danceable, but surprisingly free of hootchy-cootchy clichés. Rahbani’s published more than 700 songs and 40 "light classical" pieces, making him, to my ears, a somewhat lighter-weight Levantine version of Mikis Theodoreakis. This suite may be basically a series of sprightly picture-poscards, but it IS very enjoyable. No timings; I estimate 36-38 minutes total, and the engineering – which was done in Beirut’s first 16-track recording studio in 1969 – is outstanding (one hopes the studio survived the brutality that was about to engulf that city). And where else could you order this from? Source LP is near-mint, and God only knows how it ended up in Greensboro!]

Rapsodie Espagnole. Paul Paray; ORTF "National Orchestra [14:15]

Festering Romans…er, Roman Festivals. Slatkin; Chicago Symphony, live, c. 1983. [When Slatkin is good, he’s outstanding. Best compliment I can pay this reading is that the pieces doesn’t go downhill after the blood-and-thunder opening – he whips it right along with lively tempos and gutsy playing. Very fine rendition.]

Concertino for Saxophone & Orchestra. Daniel Deffayet, sax. ; Roger Albin; ORTF Chamber Orchestra [31:10] [What a delightful work! A textbook example of clean, transparent orchestration complimenting a seamless, lyric, sometimes-dark but mostly light and tuneful line from the solo instrument. Deffayet’s playing is gorgeous & the orchestra, under a conductor totally unknown to me, is also very fine. How come this work’s never played? Good saxophone concertos don’t exactly grow on lime trees, you know (although one of the finest is The Upward Stream, composed by my dear friend Russell Peck!)]

"L’espouse Injustment Soupconnee" ("The Unjustly Mistrusted Wife"), Excerpts from. Vocalists: Joseph Peyron; Jacques Mars; Michelline Grancher; Claudinee Collart; Louis De Froment, cond.; ORTF Chamber Orchestra [28:30] [See comments under ‘FRENCH COLLECTION", Vol. 6]

Ricordenza – Soliloquy for Cello & Piano. Composer @ piano; Norman Fischer, cello. [13:11]

String Quartet No. 2, With Soprano. Janice Harsanyi, soprano; Philadelphia String Quartet [27:44]

Two Works for Lyric Chorus: "Tout Vient a point [eut attendre" ("Nothing Spoils by Waiting" ; and "Les fourriers d’este sont venus" ("Summer’s Gone Away"). [See "THE FRENCH COLLECTION, Volume 3"]

"Barber of Seville", Act I – "Largo al factotum". Lawrence Tibbett, tenor rec. 4/20/ 1934

"Bacchus & Ariane", Suite No. 2. Charles Bruck; ORTF Philharmonic [See FRENCH COLLECTION Vol. 4]

Cantiones Sacrae, the Complete Edition of 1575. Michael Howard; Cantores in Ecclesia Singers. [I’m not about to type-out the Latin titles of all 27 of these majestic and deeply spiritual motets, which here receive the most graceful and richly sensitive renditions you can imagine; from an old but still magnificent-sounding L’Oiseau-Lyre boxed set in near-mint condition.]

Symphonic Suite from "Les Noces de cendres" ("The Marriage of Ashes"). Pierre-Michel Le

"The Lyre and the Harp", an "Ode for Organ, Chorus, Soloists, and orchestra". Eugene Bigot; Orchestra, Soloists & Chorus of the ORTF. 23:08] [How long the whole piece is, they don’t tell us. But I for one would love to hear it, because what we DO get in this snippet is very beautiful and richly musical – good ol’ Saint-Saens, by God he was a great "milk cow" indeed – and is it possible that this at-least hour-long work has NEVER been recorded? Apparently so; if you’re curious, this is the only game in town. Like I said, it’s lovely music!]

Suomi (Finland) – Symphonic Poem in 8 Movements. w/ Juhani Aaltonen, flute & saxophones; Composer; Helsinki Philharmonic. [31:10] [Strange to relate, the Finns are very fond of jazz and many of their bands are very good at playing it. Sarmanto’s ambitious, patriotic valentine of the piece mixes jazz-flavored episodes with deeply felt symphonic passages, and it mostly works very well indeed. No small part of its effect is due to the superb virtuosity of flutist/saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen, who plays five or six instruments in extended solo passages that cover a wide range of evocative emotions. I’ve never been too fond of "fusion" works, which often come out sounding like mediocre jazz uncomfortably forced into a shotgun wedding with the symphonic afflatus, but this piece is exceptionally well-conceived and full of atmosphere. The 1983 Finnish recording offers splendid sound, too.]

La Tragedie de Salome, Op. 50. Paul Paray; Detroit Symphony Orch. [26:49] [See comments under "Conductors’]

Song: "Die Allmacht", Op. 79/ No. 2. Lawrence Tibbett, tenor. Rec. 1/4/ 1940 [4:53]

Song: "Die Wanderer", Op. 4/ No. 1. Lawrence Tibbett, tenor; Rec. 1/4/ 1940 [4:48]

Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished". Dorati; Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Sonata No. 1, A Minor, Op. 105. Adolf Busch, violin; Rudolf Serkin, piano [15:15] Adolf Busch, violin; Rudolf Serkin, piano. [15:15] [Library of Congress cycle; legendary!]

Sonata No. 2, D Minor, Op. 121. Adolf Busch, violin; Rudolf Serkin, piano [27:34] [Library of Congress Cycle; landmark performances]

"Manfred" Overture. Giulini; Philharmonia Orchestra [NT]

Symphony No. 3, E Flat Major, Op. 97 ("Rhenish"). Giulini; Philharmonia Orchestra [NT] [Aside from being a surging, passionate account, Giulini’s also employs Mahler’s famous "re-touches", which had as their avowed purpose to clarify and de-thicken, as it were, the composer’s sometimes awkward orchestration. I think the changes work, splendidly, and make the piece a grateful shade more exhilarating. Case in point, the very opening bars, where in the original score Schumann gives the violins the over-taxing job of carrying the main theme, launching the whole piece really; to the trumpets and horns he just gives the thankless chore of filling in the harmonies. Mahler asks them all to play the theme in unison, which makes the opening both more exciting AND clarifies at least the formal importance of this passage in the work’s overall scheme-of-things. The other changes are of a similar nature and nowhere do they strike me as sounding intrusive or like Mahler was showing off; of course he was a better orchestrator than Schumann. Hell, I’m a better orchestrator than Schumann most of the time! He was merely trying, in his role as an "interventionist" conductor, to help the symphony make as strong an impression as it could. Had Schumann been around to hear the results he would have been the first to thank Gustav. Giulini’s reading is broad, spacious, and noble, with ample drama and tempos that never drag or turn lugubrious ; Angel’s late-mono-era sound is exceedingly well-balanced and warm, showcasing how great an orchestra the Philharmonia was at this stage of its then-brief life. I liked Giulini’s later, Los Angeles recording of the Rhenish, too (and I don’t have it, so I can’t off-hand tell you whether or not he again uses the Mahler edition), but, really, the difference made by stereo isn’t so enormous as to put that version ahead of this one. Too bad Furtwangler never recorded this piece! My other favorites are Tennstedt’s (IF you can find an import pressing, not the vitiated domestic Capital mess) and Paul Paray’s wonderfully brisk and dynamic – and not at all "French" sounding – rendition on Mercury, which was always kind of hard to locate in its stereo format, for some reason. (Yes, of course it’s in the catalogues, or it eventually will be!). I also have a shameless sneaky love for Toscanini’s, despite RCA’s doing its level best to make the NBC Symphony sound as skuzzy and amateurish as it possibly could be made to sound by tone-deaf engineers, not to mention a conductor for whom this music might as well have been composed on Mars…]

Concerto No. 2, for Tenor, Violins, & Continuo: "Singet dem Herren ein neues Lied", Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor’ Helmut Rilling; Un-named Ensemble. [5:32]

Concerto No. 4, for Soprano, 2 Violins, Oboes & Continuo ("Meine Seele erhabt den Herren"). Helmuth Rilling; Un-named Ensemble [8:52]

Concertos No. 6 , for Soprano, 2 Violins & Continuo ("Ich werde nicht sterben". Elisabeth Speiser, soprano; Helmuth Rilling; Un-named Ensemble [5:24]

Concerto No. 7, for Soprano, Violins & Continuo ("Ich danke dir, Herr". Elisabeth Speiser, soprano; Helmuth Rilling; Un-named Ensemble [6:23]

Concerto No. 8, for Alto, Violins, Oboes & Continuo ("Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, I Herr") Maureen Lehane, contralto; Helmuth Rilling; Un-named Ensemble [5:19]

Concerto No. 10, for Tenor, 2 Instruments, & Continuo ("Lobet den Herrn in Seinem Heiligtum"). Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Helmith Rilling; Un-named Ensemble [5:30]

Concerto No. 19, for 2 Tenors, Violins, & Continuo ("Der Herr is mein Licht"). Kurt Huber & Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Helmuth Rilling; Un-named ensemble [6:35]

Concerto No. 27, for 2 Tenor, Bass, Violins & Continuo ("Freuet euch des Herrn, ihr Gerechten"). Hans Joachim Rotzsch & Kurt Huber, tenors; Helmiuth Rilling; Un-named Ensemble [7:22] [Despite the tiny ensembles called for, Scheutz conveys quite a broads range of expression; many moments of rarified, delicate beauty here!]

Piano Sonata in C Major, Op. Post. Beveridge Webster, piano [24:58]

Piano Sonata, E Flat Major, Op. 122. Beveridge Webster, piano. {31:14]

Sonata No. 1. Robert Helps, piano. [14:53]

Sonata No. 2. Robert Helps, piano [14:24]

Collected Songs – "The Starting Lake"; "The Fiddlers"; "The Gentle Lady"; The Lost Child"; "Sunday on the River"; "Golden Stockings"; In the Scented Bud of the Morning"; To a Trout"; "Morning Glory"; "The Charm"; Bacchus"; "Where Loveliness Keeps House". Marie Simmelink Kraft, mezzo-soprano; Marianne Mastics, piano [36:14]

Romance in C for Strings, Op. 42. Hollingsworth; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

The Seasons. Ensemble Moderne; live, 1984; Berlin’s "Moscow Today" Festival [NT]

Symphony No. 3. Myer Fredman; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [ 28:02]

Symphony No. 4. Sir Eugene Goosens; Royal Philharmonic [20:15] [And here’s what the Penguin Record Guide had to say about this release "…a gifted composer and a very considerable musician. His Third Symphony is an expertly written piece. The opening movement owes much to Prokofiev ands is undeniably attractive, but the slow movement lacks depth…the Fourth was inspired by a psychiatric case-history and reflects the composer’s specialized knowledge of that field. It is less accessible than the Third, but many will find it rewarding." Well, I find it rewarding, for one, in the sense that it may very well be the strangest "program music" ever composed. Here’s the story, as pieced together by a wee bit of research: Still became fascinated by an article he read in The International Journal of Psycho-analysis, by Dr. Charles Rycroft, concerning the case of a young man tormented by delusions of persecution. The case was so extreme that Rycroft became, himself, somewhat obsessed with helping this one patient, and his efforts verged on the heroic. Indeed, Still dedicated the symphony to him and explained he had tried to write, in a kind of anti-Richard-Straussian style, a musical equivalent of Dr. ZRycroft’s case notes!

Cantata on Anonymous 15^th & 16^th Century English Lyrics. Composer; New York Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble & Chorus; Jennie Tourel, mezzo; Hughes Cuenod, tenor.

Octet for Wind Instruments. Libor Pesek; Prague Chamber Ensemble. [A very perky, colorful reading of this rather tricky little work; outstanding playing & good sound]

Le Sacre du Printemps. Bernstein; New York Philharmonic; live, 1984 [Very special reading! See comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony in C. Composer; Cleveland Orchestra. [I’ve always preferred Stravinsky’s earlier mono performances of his own works to the much better-sounding and massively hyped "definitive" edition Goddard Lieberson produced in stereo for Columbia. While Stravinsky had by then matured greatly as a conductor (I have a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Second, of all things, with him guesting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the mid-Forties that is so hysterically, amateurishly bad, in both playing and conducting, that it’s actually rather endearing!), he’d also become a crabby, nasty old fraud who’d run out of inspiration and joined, briefly, the serialists, because "inspiration" was never a requirement for them (and the academic serialists were the ONLY people eager to hear those final dry, gnarly, constipated pieces – "ordinary" music lovers loathed them when they were new and still hate them today) and that sharpness and emotional brittleness can be heard in the brusque, almost unfeeling – but technically quite assured – final recordings he made of his early masterpieces. The mono LP versions have warmth, humanity, even a sense of humor that the stereo versions lack. This version of the Symphony in C, magnificently played by the Cleveland, almost makes it sound like lovable and warmly humane music! And aside from not being in stereo, the sound is perfectly fine. It took me 20 years to warm up to this work, but now, when I get in the mood for its rather tart pleasures, this is the version I prefer, because it sounds like a rather warm-hearted human being composed and is conducting it, not a nasty little gnome filled with spite.]

Carnival in Paris. Hollingsworth; Royal Opera Orchestra, Covent Garden

Piano Concerto No. 1, B flat Major, Op. 23. Van Cliburn, piano; Istvan Kertesz; Berlin Philharmonic; live, 8/28/1961 [This is well worth owning, but there are some problems with this semi-pirate disc (things on the "Grandi Concerti" label were not "authorized", but were often tolerated by the artists themselves, because the illicit documents captured something "special" in ways their studio recordings did not).The o45rchestral sound in the first 3-4 minutes is a trial (a deep regret for those of hus who still get-off on that bold, heraldic horn call!), very dim and distant and paltry in dynamics. But whoever was monitoring the tape evidently knew what he was doing because the sound grows imperceptibly more focuses and pleasant and detailed as the piece rolls by, Of cou8rse, this is THE piece audiences wanted to hear Cliburn play, and at this early date, he hadn’t become jaded and bored with it. His phrasing is very individual, sparkling and tender by turns. Kertesz and the Berlin Phil (this is the ONLY recording I ever saw of that combination!) don’t go for the jugular like Kondrashin does on his RCA mega-seller with Cliburn, but their slower, more granular" climaxes pack a heavy punch when they arrive. And Kertesz is more alert to flickers of inner poetry that Kondrashin brushed over. There seems to be utter harmony between soloist and conductor here, each presenting, very strongly, two facets of a piece that can easily be performed in a very monolithic, hectoring manner. I love this reading; always have; just wish it were in stereo and those initial horn calls were recorded with socko-boffo ferocity than is the case! A most unusual item, but a must for Van Cliburn collectors!]

Song: "None But the Lonely Heart", Op. 6/6. Lawrence Tibbett, tenor. Rec. 4/20/1934 [3:51]

Song: "Pilgrim’s Song", Op 47/5. Lawrence Tibbett, tenor. Rec. 12/8/ 1932 [4:14]

Symphony No. 4, F Minor, Op. 36. Mengelberg; Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam; 1931 [See ecstatic raves comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 5. Stokowski; American Symphony Orchestra; live, Carnegie Hall, 1967. [See raunchy personal comments under "Conductors". Buy the CD and actually hear me shout "Bravo!" one second before the rest of the audience!]

Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique. Oskar Fried; Royal Philharmonic, c. 1931.

Fantasie for Solo Flute. Ransom Wilson, flute [

Symphonic Suite from "Les Noces de cendres" ("The Marriage of Ashes"). [See "THE FRENCH COLLECTION, Vol. 3]Pierre-Michel Le

"La Maries de la Tour Eiffel" ("The Marriage of the Eiffel Tower"). [EVERYBODY pitched in to finish this goofy ballet, including Tailleferre and visiting-bar-fly Arthur Honegger (who contributed a weird little number entitled "Night of the Massacre", which of course doesn’t evoke anything LIKE a massacre and lasts all of three minutes. If you think I’m going to type out more French names thirteen times for a piece as silly and hodge-podgey as this crazy-quilt-caper, you’re nuts. Mme Gibault conducts a sparkling, effervescent reading, even if the Nice Orchestra isn’t a patch on Geoff Simon’s London Symphony, in the only other complete recording I know of, on Chandos. The entire zany ballet lasts about 16 minutes, and I would LOVE