The complete HMV stereo recordings of the London Mozart
Players
CD 1
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Symphony No. 41 in C major “Jupiter” K551 [26:36]; Concerto for Two Pianos
and Orchestra in Eb major K365 [25:47]; Four Minuets K601 [8:45]; Three German
Dances K605 [6:51];
CD 2
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Symphony No. 28 in C major K200 [17:55]; Concerto for Two Pianos in F major
K242 [23:13]; Serenade No. 9 in D major “Posthorn” K320 [40:14];
CD 3
Juan Crisóstomo de ARRIAGA (1806-1826) Symphony in D major [22:57]
Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809) Symphony No. 103 in E flat major “Drum
Roll” [27:07]
Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin (piano)
London Mozart Players/Harry Blech
rec. 1955-1957, Abbey Road Studio No. 1.
FIRST HAND REMASTERS FHR05 [3 CDs: 67:58 + 64:05 + 67:21]
The London Mozart Players were founded by Harry Blech in 1949. At that time
he was best known as leader of the string quartet bearing his name. Their
first concert in the Wigmore Hall was an immense success and in 1951 they
began a series in the Royal Festival Hall that drew a loyal and devoted audience.
Harry Blech continued to conduct the orchestra until 1984 but the present
recordings all date from the period of the orchestra’s early years, when it
seemed to offer a fresher and more lively way of playing Mozart and Haydn
than did the larger London orchestras.
The London Mozart Players were recorded by HMV from 1952. These LPs were issued
in mono but from 1956 recordings were also made in stereo, although the very
helpful notes with these discs explain that the producer for these sessions
worked essentially on the mono version, leaving the stereo to a separate balance
engineer. They were all issued initially in mono only, with a stereo version
following later if there was felt to be sufficient demand. In the event stereo
versions of many of the recordings here remained unissued and even unedited,
and are presented here for the first time. I note in passing that the Haydn
Symphony was recorded only in mono, and is offered here by way of an Appendix,
and that the stereo tapes of the final movement of the Serenade could not
be found so that this too is only in mono. The stereo recordings themselves
have only limited directional character, so that neither the two pianos in
the concertos nor even the normal left-right placing of first and second violins
that Blech insisted on are very apparent to the listener. What is apparent,
however, is a more generalised opening up of the texture than in their mono
discs, so that all the glorious detail of these works is much more obvious.
Dutton have issued some of their earlier mono recordings which make an interesting
comparison.
What is even more apparent, however, is how very characterful the performances
are. Admittedly they might not pass muster now in terms of current views on
historically informed performance, but the players always seem to show immense
enjoyment in the music, and are never content either to introduce effects
for their own sake or merely to coast along - the listener is captivated from
first to last. Admittedly not everything is perfect. The concertos show what
a good team Vronsky and Babin were, sounding for much of the time like a single
pianist, but, perhaps perversely, I think it better if there is some aural
differentiation between the two players so that the concertos sound more conversational
and less virtuosic. Nonetheless on their own terms both performances meet
the demands of the works. Incidentally, K242 was originally for three pianos
but is played in the composer’s version for two pianos.
The various symphonies all go well, as do the shorter works, but my clear
favourite here is the “Posthorn” Serenade. This can seem overlong but here
every movement is given such character that an immediate encore was required.
The set would be worth having for it alone, especially as it is available
at a very low price, but with all the rest included it becomes an irresistible
bargain and a worthy memorial to Harry Blech the 100th anniversary
of whose birth was celebrated in 2009.
John Sheppard