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Gramophone Notes

J. Gray

Nixa's horizons have been brightening and widening of late, offering solace to the music lover who, while acknowledging the significance of the vast amount of “baroque” music appearing on this particular label, appreciates something different now and then. To at least one such, the issue of Mahler's “The Youth's Magic Horn”, settings from a collection of German folk poetry bearing that title, is an exciting event (Nixa VLP 412, four sides). This is in no sense a “work” and the songs may be played as your fancy pleases. They range from the simple and gay, such as “Up there on the Hill” (once magically recorded by Elisabeth Schumann) to the deeply tragic, such as the drummer boy about to be hanged for some undisclosed breach of discipline. The Vienna State Opera Orchestra under Felix Prohaska plays its part with a real Mahlerian tang—swirls from the woodwind and evocative flashes from trumpets and drums. The baritone Alfred Poell seems to live each song he sings. Lorna Sydney, an Australian contralto who has made her career in Germany and Austria, has a few moments of unsteadiness, but is the possessor of a rich, appealing voice. Do not neglect these discs. The record covers do not give us the customary scholarly essay. Instead, they provide something equally welcome and far more valuable—the complete words, in both English and German, of all the thirteen songs.

Tchaikovsky's music is so universally accepted that Nixa have been encouraged to make available many of his lesser-known works, such as the first three orchestral suites (CLP 1121, 1122, 1144) under the baton of the indefatigable Walter Goehr. These belong in the sphere of light music (though the “introduction and fugue”. of No. 1 seem to betray serious intentions) and as such have their honourable place. Those who enjoy the composer's ballets need not hesitate here; they will find fresh and charming music, well played and recorded by the Winterthur Symphony Orchestra. This is the place to mention that Mewton Wood, also with Goehr as conductor, has recorded the attractive second piano concerto (CLP 1125), the unknown third, and a “Concert Fantasy”, opus 56 (CLP 1126). The same performers have given us, on CLP 1153, a forthright account of Chopin's E minor concerto. For possibly the first time in its “recorded” history, the long orchestral introduction to this work is given uncut, which cannot but add to its stature.

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