MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Buy through MusicWeb for £13.99(UK)/ 15.50 (ROW) postage paid World-wide.
You may prefer to pay by Sterling cheque or Euro notes to avoid PayPal. Contact for details

Purchase button

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto No.14 in E flat major K449 (1784) [22:03]
Piano Concerto No.15 in B flat major K450  (1784) [25:23]
Piano Concerto No.17 in G major K453 (1784) [30:18]
Piano Concerto No. 18 in B flat major K456 (1784) [30:07]
Rondo in A minor K511 (1787) [10:36]
Sonata in C major K330 (1779) [13:22]
Artur Balsam (piano)
The Haydn Orchestra/Harry Newstone
rec. BBC broadcasts June 1956 (Concertos); Concert Hall LP c1951-54 (Sonata) and live at the Manhattan School of Music, February 1980 (Rondo)
BRIDGE 9217 [67:00 + 66:30]



Artur Balsam gave a series of broadcast performances of Mozart Concertos with Harry Newstone and The Haydn Orchestra in London in June 1956. Here we have four of them in preserved off-air tapes. I was delighted to read in Bridge’s booklet notes that Newstone left behind over four hundred such tapes, many with this orchestra that he directed for so many years. Amongst them were performances of over fifty Haydn symphonies – and since Newstone was such a perceptive conductor of the composer whose name he took for his orchestra we can but hope that Bridge will give us some fruits from this vast archive.
 
Firstly though we have the collaboration between Balsam – better known as an elite accompanist – and Newstone. The sound is somewhat muffly and that does affect dynamic range – though fortunately not so much in Balsam’s case. As with the last concerto release documenting Balsam on Bridge 9196  (Mozart, Beethoven, Hummel, C.P.E. Bach - see review) – we find the pianist to be a soloist of discretion, sensitivity, dynamism and refinement.
 
He is quoted as having said that his Mozart sees no “pronounced, startling contrast between a full piano and a relaxed, full but singing forte.” Indeed what his performances demonstrate is the validity and truthfulness of his belief. He plays with rhythmic buoyancy and immediately established a sensitive rapport with Newstone. Balsam’s credentials as a chamber partner are surely also very much to the fore – how he voices in response to wind statements for example, or his control of dynamics when picking up on orchestral paragraphs. The B flat major has a warmly moulded slow movement and excellent animation in the outer ones but better still is the G major. There’s command and elegance from Balsam and some terrifically clear passagework in the Allegro. The seriousness of the slow movement is never inert and Balsam’s precision over articulation is laudable. So too is the light-heartedness of the finale which has a proper infusion of vitality from all the forces.
 
The second disc houses the E flat major concerto, a performance broadcast on the same occasion as the B flat major, 14 June 1956. Despite Balsam being rather over-recorded in relation to the orchestra this is still another fine example of interplay and exchange between soloist and conductor. As so often the slow movement proves the centre of gravity with Newstone’s elegant but never manicured tapestry adding considerably to the success of the collaboration. Not unsurprisingly he was admired by such other players as Lili Kraus and Charles Rosen. Admirable too is the projection of the stormy contours of the slow movement of the B flat major.
 
There are two solo performances. There’s an undated Concert Hall LP of the C major sonata K330, an unobtrusively enjoyable and excellent performance – witty, playful, and paying due account to the depth of the slow movement. And finally there’s a powerful and much later 1980 performance of the Rondo in A minor, which was given at the Manhattan School of Music in 1980 and which is making its first appearance here. 
 
This is excellent retrieval work from Bridge, whose commitment to Balsam has been of long standing and great worth.
 
Jonathan Woolf
 

 

 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.