Still Galloping

And here. I am welcoming a new issue of the latter's overtures Fidelio, Leonore No. 3. Coriolan. Prometheus and Egmont (World Record PZ 517) by Rudolf Kempe and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Bashed they may be but who cares? Kemp gives brilliant readings, vital and (in Fidelio and Leonore) electric. The orchestral tone is solid, the brass adding perfect colouration to the warmth of the Berlin strings. The wind in Leonore is a little distant, elsewhere satisfactory. Surfaces were especially noisy on the review copy, and pre-echo is everywhere apparent. Also, there is a tendency to boom in some bass passages.

One recommended record is that of Leon Goossens playing four short pieces, two from Bach and two from Handel. (HMV 7ERM 5205). These oboe solos ravish the ear, such is the clarity of tone and pureness of vibrato Goossens manages to produce. He is accompanied by the Temple Church Choir (Jesu joy of man's desiring), an organ, two flutes and a harp (Where'er you walk. Largo and Sheep may safely graze). The definition of the woodwind against organ is good and the recording full and vibrant. Surfaces are good. One grouch: The clipped sound at the end of each item, thus cutting off the natural reverberation.

Also from World Record (TZ 705) comes a disc of Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 played by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan. A sparkling performance, with deft string phrasing and a solid punch in the timpani, this is an unusually dynamic reading—akin more say to Toscanini's than Beecham's. Again, pre-echo is a disturbing factor, otherwise surfaces are clean. The Coriolan overture acts as fill-up: A well-played but somewhat damped down version.

Last year the Record Society issued an album of Blues played by Bud Shank, Chico Hamilton, Gerry Mulligan and others. Now we have a similar item on Argo (LAGM 6011) by the Firehouse Five Plus Two. The numbers—including Royal Garden Blues, Muskrat Ramble and Canal Street Blues—are well known, but unfortunately not well interpreted, being too relaxed in tempo and generally poorly orchestrated. Some instruments are practically inaudible—the sax in particular, whilst the taut rhythm in Bud Shank's rendition of Royal Garden Blues (Record Society) is nowhere in sight in the corresponding number here, or for that matter, in any other. This is apt music for feet-swingers. The recording is peculiarly ebullient.—M.J.W.