Here’s a useful Mendelssohnian triptych for you. Take Hamilton
Harty’s 1931 recording of the Fourth Symphony, add as a concerto
centre-piece a sparkling traversal of the G minor Concerto recorded
in 1938 and finish with a very personable and structurally acute
Parisian Fifth Symphony and you have a finely constructed programme.
It’s as well to point out to those many unfortunate souls who
suffer from pre-digital ear fatigue, that the most modern of the
recordings dates from 1947; Charles Munch’s recording of the Reformation.
The rest of us can
make the acquaintance of Harty’s Fourth because in an ideal world
everything that this perceptive conductor recorded should be available
commercially. This recording was made in Central Hall, Westminster,
a pretty useful though obviously not purpose-built venue. It’s
a lithe, typically propulsive and aerated performance, full of
characteristic Harty rubati, subtly deployed. He brings a profound
sense of line nevertheless to the slow movement, unravelling its
lyric curvature with well-balanced string choirs and the typical
Hallé complement of portamento. The strings are especially lissom
in the scherzo, something of a high point in the reading. But
in any case this is a life enhancing, vibrant and highly effective
recording. If you acquired the Hallé’s own restoration on Hallé
Tradition CD HLT8002 - where it was coupled with Sammons’ recording
of the Bruch G minor - you’ll know what a total dog of a transfer
you have on your shelves. The Sammons is awful as well and not
properly pitched either. No contest between that and this Dutton
though as ever some will welcome the treble cut more than I do.
Odessa-born Ania Dorfmann is probably best
known on disc for her recording with Toscanini of the First
Beethoven concerto though she did in fact record quite a few
sides in London for Columbia. Pearl has scooped up those 1931-38
discs, including this Mendelssohn Concerto, which is much noisier
than this Dutton though has a bit more presence. She recorded
a lot of rather fancy repertoire – Tausig, von Sauer, and Grünfeld
as well as Debussy and Chopin. She brings a sense of stylish
, stylistically apt lightness to the Mendelssohn. She’s not
too heavy but neither is she cavalier rhythmically. She finds
due repose in the Andante and a simplicity, a straightforwardness
that marks this as a most accomplished reading. She has something
of Moura Lympany’s sense of dash as well.
Charles Munch can be relied upon to deliver
a strong Reformation. That he certainly does in its opening
movement and he finds a Gallic spruceness and suppleness in
the scherzo. The slow movement is strongly textured and anything
but indifferent. Whereas the finale is confident with striding,
tangy French winds to the fore, an approach that succeeds in
mitigating any structural weaknesses that might otherwise be
revealed.
So - enjoyable historical reclamations. None
is new to the restorer’s art obviously but these generally sympathetic
transfers will do nicely. There are no notes.
Jonathan Woolf
Ania Dorfmann
(piano)
