The Romanian pianist Clara Haskil died in Brussels in 1960.
The studio recordings made in the last fifteen or so years of
her life are justly revered, and fortunately have been available
in a variety of forms and formats since then, but the present
set is entirely of live recordings, all but one of music by
Mozart, and in the case of two of the Concertos in alternative
versions. As many of these pieces were amongst her commercial
recordings, which in general are far superior in recorded sound
and balance, clearly what we have here is something more likely
to appeal to the specialist collector than to anyone simply
wanting recordings of these Mozart Concertos. That is perhaps
a pity, as what we have here is an object lesson in one very
successful way of approaching those works. They demonstrate
that perfection of ensemble, and realism and clarity of recorded
sound are certainly desirable qualities but are by no means
the most important things to seek in a recorded performance.
In K595 in B flat (No. 27), for instance, two performances are
included. Inevitably the soloist's overall approach is similar,
but what is obvious is that each occasion - each combination
of orchestra, conductor and hall - produces individual results.
The performance conducted by Klemperer is the more obviously
dramatic of the two, with the less legato from the orchestra,
and with contrasts in mood and phrasing pointed more obviously,
but both are worth hearing despite the poor recording quality,
especially in the Klemperer version. They demonstrate not only
the spontaneity of Haskil's live performances but how the
work itself gains from such an approach. Although the sheer
perfection of the music does necessitate careful preparation
and consideration of every bar and every note, the result should
never be such as to strike the listener as precious or contrived.
I am sure that the preliminary work put in by Clara Haskil was
considerable, and of course by the time of these recordings
she had been playing this music for many years, but none of
this is apparent to the listener. On the contrary it is the
freshness and the joy of the performer in the music that is
what we hear again and again. This applies throughout these
discs. Even the weaker performances are worth hearing. The first
movement of K488 in A major (No. 23) for instance starts with
a somewhat routine performance of the opening tutti,
but things soon improve with real interaction occurring between
soloist and orchestra, and in the last two movements the orchestra
have clearly been galvanized into much better playing - although
the bassoonist can barely hang on in the last movement at the
fast tempo adopted initially. Again the recording is
poor but I found I had no difficulty in adjusting to it very
quickly. The one doubtful inclusion is that of two separate
performances of K459 in F major (No. 19), both conducted by
Ferenc Fricsay with poorly recorded and sometimes out of tune
orchestras. Even here, however, there is much to enjoy, especially
in the cadenzas. Unusually they are indeed a highlight throughout
the set.
In some ways the most exhilarating performance is that of K365
in E flat (No. 10), where Clara Haskil is joined by Geza Anda
as the second soloist - although no indication is given of who
plays which part. The sense of fun and of justifiable showing
off is palpable, and the set would probably be worth having
for it alone. The Sonatas with Arthur Grumiaux are similarly
worth hearing for their delightful sense of partnership.
Andromeda have perhaps not made the set as compelling for the
listener as it might have been. There are no notes on the music,
the performers or the occasions at which these performances
were recorded. All we get is a bare list of works, performers
and movements. Two of the Concertos are split between two discs,
although this does enable the last disc to be filled with the
Sonatas, which are no mere filler. Nonetheless, despite their
obvious limitations, I had immense pleasure from listening to
these performances. There is too much wrong with the recording
and with much of the orchestral playing for them to be the sole
representations of this music in any collection of the Mozart
Concertos. They do however deserve a place as an important supplement
to Haskil's or others' studio performances. They serve
as a reminder of the way in which a very great interpreter of
these works can bring a freshness to every new performance,
and to the way in which, as a result, the works show themselves
in a new light.
John Sheppard
Performance details
K271: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart/Carl
Schuricht, Stuttgart, 23 January 1952
K365: Camerata Accademica/Bernhard Paumgartner, Mozarteum,
Salzburg, 4 August 1957
K459: RIAS-Symphonie
Orchester/Ferenc
Fricsay, Berlin, 24 February 1952 & Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester/Ferenc
Fricsay, Köln, 26 May 1952
K466: RIAS-Symphonie
Orchester/Ferenc
Fricsay, Berlin, 11 January 1954
K488: Orchestra della Radio-Svizzera Italiana/Otmar
Nussio, Lugano, 25
June 1953
K491: Orchestre National Paris/André Cluytens, Paris, 8 December 1955
K595 Bayerisches
Staatsorchester/Ferenc Fricsay, München, 1957 & Gürzenich-Orchester
Köln/Otto Klemperer, Pavilion des Sports, Montreux, 9 September
1956; Besançon,
18 September 1957
Clara
Haskil (piano) (all)
