Volume 26 Issue 6 - March and April 2021

Making full use of unattached cymbals and gongs, tonal springiness
adds an energetic dimension to Lovens’ drumming. At the same time
he counters harsh string frails with shirring ratchets and occasionally,
as on the third section, turns from his evolving pulse to challenge
Stoffner’s emphasized fingering with a solid bass drum plop. Circling
one another with emphasized tones during these improvisations, the
two finally settle on a climax of affiliated rumbles and bumps from
Lovens and folksy frails and picking from Stoffner.
A novel challenge faced by an improvising
guitarist is when the pulsations
and resonations are generated electronically,
which is what transpires on Pavilion
(Unsounds 65U CD unsounds.com). Created
in a studio/pavilion that was part of the
Venice Art Biennale, British guitarist Andy
Moor and his longtime musical associate,
Cypriot composer Yannis Kyriakides, using
computers and a collection of synthesizers, incorporate spatial dimensions
and (luckily silent) input from the crowds moving in and out of
the pavilion as they play. Self-contained during six selections, the two
concentrate on contrapuntal motifs suggested by synthesizer hisses,
pseudo-percussion whacks and bell-ringing timbres to colour the
duet as Moor’s solid frails and jiggling plinks sound out straight-ahead
expositions. On Camera, the first track, the exposition threatens to
become Secret Agent Man at any moment. While there are hints of
rock-like flanges and accompanying strums from the guitarist elsewhere,
the collective patterns and rebounds follow synthesized refractions,
whistling and shaking for sequencing, but not songs. Challenges
set up when electronically processed snorting flatulence and stretched
guitar twangs are heard on a track like Dedalo are resolved when both
sounds are subsumed by signal-processed gonging. A similar confrontation
on Concha – when multiple keyboard clanks and crackles
underlie darkened descending string strums – is resolved as widely
spaced whooshes take over the sound field.
It would appear that as long as guitars are manufactured and come
into the hands of inventive musicians, the possibilities for innovation
can be endless.
There are times when I am of the mind that
Tchaikovsky is the greatest, especially when
listening to the ballets, the six numbered
symphonies, Manfred and the concertos. I
am listening, for the umpteenth time, to the
last three symphonies, this time in a budget
reissue Kubelik conducts Tchaikovsky – The
Last Symphonies with the Vienna
Philharmonic (Urania WS 121.391 naxosdirect.com/search/ws121391).
The enthusiastic performances by the
orchestra are polished and dynamic. These thrilling recordings from
1960 are thoroughly recommendable. Possibly EMI originals. There is
a bonus… a passionate Romeo and Juliet Overture from 1955. A firstclass
bargain. I should mention that these Urania CDs are made in
Italy and are the finest quality.
Fans of Herbert von Karajan will be
surprised and delighted at the works in a
new budget-priced 2CD set titled Karajan
Rare Documents. Compiled by Urania
(WS 121-389 naxosdirect.com/search/
ws121389), it presents the late maestro in,
not his usual staples, but performances of
works new to his enormous recorded repertoire.
Heinrich Sutermeister (1910-1956)
was a Swiss composer best known for his opera Romeo und Julia. We
hear his Missa da Requiem as performed in Rome on November 21,
1953. The soloists are Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and bass Giorgio Tadeo
with the RAI Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. The work is cast in
the usual sequence of Introitus, Dies Irae, Offertorium, Sanctus and
Agnus Dei. The performance is intense, with the large, full-throated
chorus in perfect ensemble and what amounts to duets between the
soloists in the final movement. The mono sound is impressive with
a you-are-there perspective. Next up on this most unusual collection
is the William Walton Symphony No.1 with the same orchestra
on December 5, 1953, followed by Giorgio Federico Ghedini’s Musica
da Concerto per Viola e Orchestra with soloist Bruno Giuranna from
the same date. Finally, from Berlin in 1963, the Berlin Philharmonic in
Hans Werner Henze’s Antifone. Unfortunately there are no liner notes
enclosed; not a word beyond the performance dates.
Josef Lhévinne was a Russian-American pianist who was one of, or
as his contemporaries openly avowed, the finest of his generation.
Born in Oriol (near Moscow) in 1874, he was the ninth of 11 children
of Arkady Levin, a trumpet player. Josef was already playing the piano
at the age of three. At a gathering when aged 11 he played Beethoven’s
Moonlight Sonata and the Liszt transcription of the Pilgrims’
March from Tannhäuser. Present at the soiree was the Grand Duke
Constantine who asked the young pianist if he wanted to study at the
Moscow Conservatory. Upon an enthusiastic reply, the Duke influenced
a wealthy munificent banker to make it so and Josef became
a pupil of Vasily Safonov. He received daily lessons that dramatically
transformed his whole approach to piano playing. Josef graduated
from the conservatory – where his colleagues and fellow students
included Rachmaninoff and Scriabin – in 1892 with the gold medal.
He made his American debut on January 27, 1906 playing with the
Russian Symphony Orchestra. When he began playing in Europe, his
manager altered the spelling of his name to Lhévinne, to sound a lot
less Jewish. Josef insisted though, that it was to be pronounced
Lay-VEEN. There is a wealth of biographic material in the liner notes…
too many events to cover here including internment during WWI and
the events that led him to teach at Juilliard in NYC.
Marston Records has meticulously restored
all the known recordings of this legendary
figure, including all the published discs
and private recordings, in the best possible
sound on The Complete Josef Lhévinne
(53023-2 marstonrecords.com). The
earliest performance we have is from
December 1920 – recorded by American
Pathé in New York – of the Trepak from
Tchaikovsky’s Op.72. Acoustic and non-electric, we can quite clearly
hear every note, albeit bathed in the expected 78 rpm shellac sound.
After three more tracks from Pathé recorded in successive years comes
his first from marvellous Victor electrical recordings. On May 1, 1929
he recorded the Arabesques on Themes from the Beautiful Blue
Danube followed by pieces by Schumann and Chopin. On this first
disc his wife Rosina joins him in the first of four duets in Debussy-
Ravel Fêtes and two versions of Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos
K448 in two sets of masters recorded on the same day. Included on
the second disc is the piano concerto K242 arranged for two pianos
with John Barbirolli conducting the New York Philharmonic in 1939.
In total there are 39 tracks of Mozart, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin,
Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff on these three discs, a must-have for
collectors.
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