Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mordor.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!hao!seismo!ut-sally!mordor!sjc From: sjc@mordor.UUCP Newsgroups: net.audio Subject: CD reviews (long) Message-ID: <3132@mordor.UUCP> Date: Wed, 9-May-84 14:49:39 EDT Article-I.D.: mordor.3132 Posted: Wed May 9 14:49:39 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 12-May-84 12:05:38 EDT Organization: S-1 Project, LLNL Lines: 120 Steve Dyer asked for CD reviews, so I hesitantly offer the following ones even though it seems grossly egotistical to do so (it must be grossly egotistical; it's so much fun):--Steve Telarc Ozawa/BSO, Beethoven Symphony 5 and Egmont Overture Telarc Serkin/Ozawa/BSO, Beethoven Concerto 3 for piano Sound is realistic but a bit distant and undetailed (which, for all I know, is accurate for the hall). Ozawa's performances are wrinkled, balding kid at the keyboard. Decca Haitink/LSO, Shostakovich Symphony 5 The performance is good, not great. The sound is impeccable but close-miked. The recording engineers didn't succumb in the least to the temptation to make this bright, harsh orchestration sound anything less than bright and harsh. Delos American brass quintet, Baroque and Elizabethan music Very pretty, but like most such collections, it doesn't wear particularly well, and eventually one finds oneself treating it as classy elevator music. Nice sound. Warner Ry Cooder, Bop til you drop A lot of fun to listen to. Philips 400 020 Dvorak: Serenades, Marriner Philips Brendel/Mozart concerti 15 and 21 for piano I find the string sound on both of these a bit gritty, but others may like it. Decca Chailly/NPO, seven overtures by Rossini The performers take a joyful romp with this music, especially the "Italian Girl in Algiers". The sound is bright, clean, and multi-miked: I gleefully note somebody's chair squeaking occasionally, which just adds to the fun. Delos Schwartz/Y Chamber Symphony, Haydn/Hummel Trumpet concerti A good performance, with plenty of virtuosity and a little less attention to phrasing than one might hope for. Good but not spectacular sound. Delos Rosenberger/Beethoven sonatas op 57 and 111 I finally gave up looking for the grand piano that had somehow been smuggled into my tiny California apartment. After one tires of playing this to impress people with the quality of one's audio system, one can enjoy the quality musicianship as well. Philips Gardiner/English Baroque Ensemble/Handel Messiah If you haven't heard "Messiah" performed in the authentic and buy this. It's glorious, and so is the sound (though purists will shudder at a photo showing the performers sitting in a forest of microphones). The liner notes are particularly intelligent, noting that the libretto is a literary achievement in itself, and it's clear from the interpretation that the performers regarded the words as more than just syllables to keep their mouths busy as their vocal chords worked. Decca Solti/Vienna, Wagner Ring excerpts Given the stunning virtuosity of the Vienna Philharmonic (they played in San Francisco recently, displaying a stunningly unanimous bowing and phrasing, along with an incredible hold-your-breath pianissimo), I don't understand why both DG and Decca insist on recording some high school orchestra and passing it off on a gullible public as the VPO. On this recording, as on Bernstein's Beethoven symphony recordings of a couple of years back, it sounds like there are a few strong players performing the music, with a bunch of others in the background, failing to blend together. Besides, the strings almost do sound "metallic". Solti's recording is a mixed bag, sometimes (presumably inadventently) emphasizing the crudities of the music: at the beginning of the Forest Murmers, for example, it sounds like the low strings are doing fingering exercises. And just before the final entrance of the redemption theme at the end of the recording, there's a glaring pause that was meant to be dramatic but instead sounds like everybody simultaneously stopped to turn the page. Finally, the liner notes consist of a big picture of Solti and not much else. The other CD version of this music, by Tennstedt and Berlin, is well recorded, but the interpretation substitutes embalming fluid for the waters of the Rhine. I prefer Szell's ancient vinyl recording of this music, despite pre-Dolby hiss; or Dorati's, despite occasional stumbling on the part of the National symphony. Telarc Slatkin/St. Louis, Bizet Carmen Suites Good sound, pleasant performance. Telarc Ormandy/Philadelphia, Saint-Saens Symphony 3 For once, first-rate musicianship and first-rate sound coincide. This is my favorite CD. (There are some growly organ pedal notes which convinced one listener that somebody had turned on a vacuum cleaner upstairs.) L'Oiseau-Lyre Hogwood/Academy, Mozart Symphonies 38 and 39 Denon C38 7051 Suitner/NHK, Mozart Symphonies 36 and 38 An interesting contrast: Hogwood offers the tasty sonorities of period instruments, Suitner the polish and mass of a modern orchestra. The sound on both recordings is good.