I can imagine the objections
to this 1951 Chopin E minor performance.
How can one live with the constricted
sound, why are the fiddles so stringy,
why is the piano so splintery, where
do its ornaments disappear to, how can
one live with the lack of clarity and
definition between sections and orchestral
choirs, or the uniformity of recording
levels…and so on. Well, yes, it’s all
true and I felt the same thing. But
given the intractable engineering problems
we might as well listen to the aristocratic
Neuhaus, abetted by Gauk, to whom someone,
perhaps in my lifetime, will devote
an edition or two.
So let’s admit the
limitations and then admire the playing.
Delicate filigree, dynamics we will
for the most part have to take on trust,
beautiful elegance, a vocalised intimacy
of projection; these are the things
that make one listen through and beyond
surface limitations. In the second movement
we can add to the list pliancy and pellucid
phrasing and in the finale wit: that
and Neuhaus’s control over elasticity
of phrase lengths - all splendid. So,
yes, the wind counter-themes in the
finale are only just about audible and
the fruitful exchanges between soloist
and orchestra are perforce muted. But
it’s for Neuhaus we have come and it’s
for Neuhaus we will stay.
Which means of course
the equally problematic, albeit famed
Scriabin Concerto recording with Golovanov.
This has already appeared on Archipel
with Golovanov’s other Scriabin performances,
and reviewed on this site. Russian Disc
has also issued it. It sounds to me
as if Archipel had access only to a
sometimes bumpy LP pressing and in the
first couple of pages there are some
clicks on their transfer. On Classical
Record’s transfer I can hear the same
LP click, though it’s been concealed
rather better. One can draw one’s own
conclusions about this kind of thing
but the fact remains that this new transfer
is slightly more tidy, though not dramatically
improved. The performance is really
splendid. Yes, the orchestra is wobbly,
the piano once more clangy and the solo
violinist absurdly forward in the sound
spectrum (as is the flute in the finale).
But the proto-Rachmaninovian flux and
passion are all there, or would be were
the recording better. The warm string
veil of the slow movement is all Golovanov’s
doing, the nobility and authority of
the finale a testament to Neuhaus and
Golovanov’s affiliation with the work.
I imagine Sofronitsky would have been
more intense and dynamic but Neuhaus
cuts a splendid dash nevertheless. Even
given the limitations of the original
recording I have to echo myself in my
previous review of this performance
– we still await an authoritative transfer.
And as with previous releases in this
series Neuhaus’s name has been presented
incomprehensibly.
Jonathan Woolf
Heinrich Neuhaus (piano) 
