All the music here, apart from the Gounod items,
was first issued in 1959 on the RCA label, though recorded by
Decca engineers. Some of the items have been included in other
CD compilations; others have never before appeared in this medium
and the programme is reassembled for the first time on silver
disc. Adding the Gounod pieces brings the selection up to a
reasonable length for a CD.
They don’t make ’em like this any longer, which
is a shame because such a compilation, if well performed and
recorded, can be very entertaining. In 1959 the recording was
regarded as demonstration-worthy, even in mono, and it still
sounds well, hardly showing its age.
Reviewers in the UK in 1959 were less taken with
the presentation; I can’t remember what the cover looked like
but it was described as ‘ludicrously corny’ and the presentation
criticised on a number of counts, most of which have now been
put right, except that Australian Decca still insist on calling
the Mussorgsky work Pictures at an Exhibition, recte
entitled Pictures from an Exhibition and Gnomus
has nothing to do with witches. I suppose that the new cover
could be called ‘corny’, but it’s tasteful corn, if such a thing
is possible.
When the programme reappeared in 1972 on Decca’s
World of … label at 99p, Ansermet’s performance of Dukas’s
Sorcerer’s Apprentice had been added – in many ways a
more appropriate coupling than the Gounod pieces which have
replaced it for the CD reissue.
Were the performances here worth resurrecting?
Apart from Gnomus, which seems out of place divorced
from the remainder of the Pictures, it’s all very enjoyable,
if somewhat hectic. In 1959 I don’t think there were too many
recordings of Tam o’Shanter; now there are at least nine,
not counting this reissue, so, though the Eloquence CD remains
worthwhile for this work alone, it has competitors. The most
notable of these are on all-Arnold collections: from Arnold
himself (Arnold conducts Arnold, a low-price EMI 2-CD
set, 3 82146 2, Bargain of the Month – see review),
on a 4-CD Decca set (Arnold Edition, Volume 3, 476 5348 – see
review)
and the BBC Philharmonic/Rumon Gamba (Chandos CHAN10293, another
Recording of the Month – see review).
The remaining items from the original RCA LP
come in entertaining and enthusiastic rather than subtle performances,
probably well enough suited to the kind of beginner in classical
music to whom the album is likely to appeal – I’d probably have
enjoyed this much more 50 years ago than I do now. Fifty years
ago, when the LP was issued, I couldn’t afford full-price at
around £40 in modern terms, and had to settle for Ace of Clubs
and Golden Guineas. I’d probably have enjoyed the disembodied
Gnomus and the witch’s ride from Hänsel und Gretel
– in fact, I don’t think I’d even heard the complete Humperdinck
opera 50 years ago – so I must be careful not to seem supercilious
about these chunks. I’d probably not have noticed the slightly
ragged edges of the playing, either, back then. It was, you
will recall, Grumpy who dismissed Snow White’s cooking as a
witches’ brew, and I don’t wish to emulate him.
The two Gounod pieces are played by the Covent
Garden Orchestra and sound much better than the preceding works;
they, too, first appeared on RCA, on their cheaper Victrola
label. The Faust ballet music may not be quite up to
Beecham’s standards (EMI GROC 5 67899 2), but very little is.
That Beecham recording, however, contains his delicious account
of Delibes’ Le roi s’amuse, which I wouldn’t want to
be without, so if you follow my recommendation and buy that
recording, you’ll already possess an excellent version of the
Faust ballet.
In any case, Eloquence already have a good version
of the Faust ballet music in their catalogue, directed
by Solti, coupled with Offenbach’s Gaité Parisienne,
etc., on 476 2724, which John Philips recommended very highly
– see review
– though Stephen Vasta was less impressed by the Offenbach –
see review.
If you can live without the Delibes and don’t
want the Offenbach, Gibson’s account of the Faust ballet
deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the other
ballet-music successes which this label has given us, including
Bonynge’s first recording of Adam’s Giselle (442 9028
– see review)
and John Lanchbery’s own version of his La fille mal gardée
(442 9048 – see review).
As usual with these Australian Eloquence reissues,
the booklet is informative and, earlier remarks about the cover
notwithstanding, the presentation is attractive.
This reissue is good in parts – its outer parts,
in fact. I really enjoyed Tam O’Shanter and I warmed
to the last 21 minutes of Gounod, which, added together, makes
almost half of the total time. The inner parts are lively enough.
Whether there is enough here to satisfy you, only you can decide.
The CD is offered cheaply enough for you to afford to experiment;
even that RCA Victrola CD and the Decca reissue cost 99p each,
the equivalent of around £15 in 2009 terms, so a third of the
price for more music seems more than reasonable.
Brian Wilson
LP cover
