D.J.H. reviews recent releases

Decca'S Ace Of Clubs label has been a boon to collectors for many years now. its main advantage being the low price of the discs—22/6. Unfortunately, in most cases the recordings (in mono only) are very poor and the potential buyer has been offered a much better selection of records of a higher standard at approximately the same price through the clubs. With Decca's introduction of their Ace of Diamonds series this month the company is right back in the competitive field of low-price discs. The series consists of only stereo recordings, considerably more recent than those on Ace of Clubs, and the records retail at 29/-. They are splendidly packaged with prints of old masters on the covers and most informative sleeve-notes.

Releases this month are:

SDD 103 and 106: Beethoven's Symphonies No. 3, the "Eroica." and No. 6, the "Pastoral." by Ernest Ansermet conducting L'Orchestra de la Suisse Romande.

SDD 124: Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 and No. 2. by Julius Katchen with the London Svmphony under Argenta.

SDD 116: Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27 (K.595) and Sonata No. 11 (K.331) with Backhaus and the Vienna Philharmonic under Bohm.

SDD 121: Mendelssohn "Italian" Symehony and Schubert Symphony No. 5 by the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Solti.

SDD 112: Tchaikovsky 1812 overture, Capriccio Italien, and Marche Slave with the London Symphony and the band of the Grenadier Guards conducted by Kenneth Alwyn.

All the recordings were first issued between 1958-1959. They are surprisingly Rood—one only has to listen to the clarity in the Tchaikovsky to discover this.

When the series began in England, Decca issued the complete Ansermet Beethoven symphonies and I hope the same will occur here. Both the Eroica and Pastoral receive reasonable readings—rather an intellectual approach, solid and dependable without a host of affected mannerisms. I was disappointed with the pedantic "Marcia funebra" in 3rd. The 6th is more successful overall, the nicely controlled brisk rhythm in the 3rd movement is extremely pleasing. Unfortunately, the Suisse Romande is not in the same class as the Berlin Philharmonic or the Columbia Symphony—there is a certain amount of out of tune wind playing and some of the brass work is noticeably sluggish. However the beautifully clear recording compensates and at this price these two discs are competitive with others on the market.

The Backhaus recording of Mozart is an extremely good version. The soloist's performance is exciting—a very individualistic approach to the score. There is an excellent rapport between soloist and orchestra, the music is never allowed to lag. The tone of the VPO is beautiful. Highly recommended.

Katchen's performance of the Liszt concertos is very successful. He achieves the amount of dynamism necessary to allow the music to sparkle. SDD 121 is interesting because of the brisk reading of Schubert's 5th, written when the composer was nineteen. The Tchaikovsky is splendidly played and recorded—orchestra, brass band, church bells, canons, etc. Enough said!

Two Excellent Discs have been issued by the Record Society recently: "Four Concertl for Trumpet, Woodwinds and Strings" (RZ 6153) and J. S. Bach Cantata No. 21 "Ich Hatte Viel Bekummernis" (RZ 6152).

The concerti recording is interesting—two Locatelli (1693-1764) concerti for violin and strings and two caprices for solo violin: Vivaldi's concerto in G minor for solo violin, two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons and strings; and the Torelli (1658-1709) concerto in D major for trumpet and strings.

Maurice André, soloist in the Torelli, must surely be the best studio trumpet soloist in the world. His recording of the Haydn concerto is the best available, and the recordings he made with the Gabriel Masson trombone quartet are outstanding. The performance on this disc is right up to standard, his tone is very good, especially in the high register. The Vivaldi is typical of the composer at his best.

Locatelli does not have the same appeal as Torelli and Vivaldi: one is left with the impression that technical difficulties have been created primarily for their own sake (this is not really surprising as Locatelli was a virtuoso violinist), however the difficulties do not worry Huguette Fernandez, who tosses them off with gay abandon. Unfortunately, the surface noise on the disc is very prominent.

The cantata is a real treat for Bach lovers. The performance is by Edith Selig, George Jelden, Erik Wenk, the Heinrich Schutz Choir of Heilbronn and the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra conducted by Fritz Werner. The performance matches the beauty of the music, all soloists sine well—I was very impressed with Edith Selig's rendition of the beautiful aria "Seufzer Tranen." Choir and orchestra are very good. The stereo recording is reasonable. All in all a highly recommended record.

Princess IDA is one of the least recorded of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. In many ways the music is considerably superior to any of the others (with the exception of Yeomen Of The Guard.

A new recording of this (Decca SKLM 4708/9) combines the best features of previous rival sets of Gilbert and Sullivan works, namely, for the first time Sir Malcolm Sargent has recorded with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

The principals all perform creditably. Elizabetn Harwood's performance as Princess Ida is excellent. The chorus unfortunately mar their performance by failing to overcome the considerable problem of clarity in diction in the livelier choruses—a good example is the finale of Act I, "The Fascinated Rattle of a Complicated Battle." Sir Malcolm's direction of the orchestra is as impeccable as his clothes. To top this the stereo recording is extremely good, except for a large amount of pre-echo.