Berlioz To Beethoven

By Murray White

Berlioz. Harold in Italy. Menuhin / Philharmonia Orchestra / Colin Davis (H.M.V.), MALP 1986.

To those enthusiasts for whom any new Berlioz record is a "buy" and for those persons who want the best introduction to the best of this composer, this new Harold in Italy is unreservedly recommended. A brilliant performance by Colin Davis and the Philharmonia, taut, fiery—a real wide screen production. Yehudi Menuhin too, excels in the viola obbligato; the sonority of his bowing and clean line of intonation is excellent. Recording (stereo yet to be released here) is on a par with the performance.

Lynn Gold. Songs and Ballads. (Warner) WB 1495.

Let's face it. This is not much chop. Recorded at a ridiculous level (notice in the number "Hound Dog," how the surface noise balances that coming out of the speaker) the voice seems fairly to transcend the confines of the list-enable audio spectrum. This, I understand, is known as distortion (due to a faulty cutting head?). Play this record well lubricated with plenty of treble cut. Mind you, these remarks hardly apply to those persons equipped with the "mechanical-shovel" type pick-up.

Beethoven. Quartets Nos. 3 in D, 6 in B flat. Drole Quartet. (Columbia 33mcx 1859)

A few years back there wasn't one satisfactory performance to be had of a Beethoven string quartet. Now the story is a little different. World Record Club have been plugging their (adequate) series (Hungarian Quartet) for some years and there is on the I open market a plethora of other performances. The Drolc Quartet tops the lot on this disc. The balance is most agreeable, with the first violin not actually leading the others in the spot-light manner I to which we are accustomed. Phrasing is incisive, intonation ditto and the tempo throughout both pieces, consistent and sensible. It is all so, shall we say, molto espressivo?