A Concert of English Music
George Frederick HANDEL Water Music Suite (arr. Harty) [11:45]
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Concerto for Oboe and Strings in A minor [20:44]
Edward ELGAR Falstaff, Op. 68 [32:40]
Announcements [7:41]
Mitchell "Mitch" Miller (oboe)
The Columbia Broadcasting Symphony/Bernard Herrmann
rec. CBS live radio broadcast, 9 September 1945, introduced by Sidney Berry,
from the archive of Edward Johnson. mono
Transfers and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, November 2009
PRISTINE AUDIO PASC202 [75:50]
A Concert of American Music
Charles IVES Symphony No. 2 (1897-1901) [37:50]
rec. BBC studio broadcast, 25 April 1956. UK première
Robert RUSSELL BENNETT Violin Concerto in A (in the Popular
Style) (1941) [22:33]
Louis Kaufman (violin)
London Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Herrmann
rec. BBC studio recording, 20 May 1956. UK broadcast première
Bernard HERRMANN Welles Raises Kane (Orchestral suite
from his music for 'Citizen Kane' & 'The Magnificent Ambersons') (1943)
[14:23]
Columbia Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Herrmann
rec. CBS radio broadcast, 3 July 1949
Transfers by Andrew Rose from Edward Johnson's private collection. XR remastering
by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, June 2010
PRISTINE AUDIO PASC 232 [76:44]
Bernard Herrmann was a renowned Anglophile but also had held a far from unexpected
torch for the music of his own country. These two discs - separately available
- reflect these twin sympathies. The recordings are all mono.
The Concert of American Music launches with two BBC studio broadcasts made
with the LSO during the conductor's visit to London in 1956; between film
scores as it were. The Ives Second Symphony here receives its UK premiere.
Herrmann is flexible and responsive to the surging and stormy Brahmsian aspects
of the work as well as its many tender moments. It's a very fine reading which
will hold irresistible appeal for Brahms and Ives specialists. The sound is
however too treble-raw to command attention beyond specialists. The music
fairly flies along in the finale which also glances affectionately towards
Dvořák. You need to brace yourself for some disorientating bombast
as well but it's magnificent stuff with flavour added by a tangy 1950s announcer.
The Robert Russell Bennett Violin Concerto - here also receiving its
UK premiere - has been recorded before under Herrmann (see
review). This recording is in much better heart than the Ives. It has
a tumultuous power and only the slightest hint of overload. Kaufman powers
this exacting and exciting tonal work forward. It's alive with the virtuoso's
vade mecum of sensational yet musical tricks, hooks and turns. All
very entertaining - casual, tuneful, jazzy; a touch of Broadway here, a slice
of Walton there. There are some fleeting tape flaws in the sweetly haunting
Andante moderato but things romp along like populist greased lightning
in the oh so short Vivace. Blink and it's gone. The final Allegro
reeks of the Russian delights of the 1940s: well the Khachaturian anyway.
Sparks and smithereens fly everywhere. It's a splendid piece even if it does
owe a bit to other voices - the then recently deceased Gershwin included.
Lots of fun! As a recording it is far easier to enjoy than the Ives. Kaufman
also deserves Hall of Fame elbow-room as does Rosand for his VAI disc of Norwegian
Radio concerts.
Welles Raises Kane: "A divertissement of the 1890s" - is a five
part suite magpied from his two classic film scores: Citizen Kane and
The Magnificent Ambersons. The music majors on the flouncy over-wheening
confidence of the pre-Great War era. Those whooping horns suggest Arnold but
much else hints at Copland. It’s another lost world of conspicuous consumption:
grand hotels, potted palms, feathered hats, spats and brushed velvet top hats.
There's an affinity with the world of Barber's Souvenirs. Even in a
piece such as Ragtime the music is laden with lavish affluence. The
Meditation presents the touchingly romantic Herrmann with a violin
silvering that tests the recording to the edge and beyond. The finale flashes
and erupts in a mass of swirling petticoats - Offenbach meets Prokofiev's
Classical on steroids. The recording is from a CBS broadcast -
older than the other two items but generally pretty good though not quite
up to the standard on the English music collection.
Speaking of which that CD (each is separately available) features all CBS
network 1940s recordings; nothing from London this time.
Even the East Coast announcer accents are nostalgic. The delivery for the
introduction to the Handel is in measured tones. The gruff marcato
of the suite barks with precise rhythmic discipline and works up a joyous
bounce.
The Vaughan Williams Concerto comes armed with the dignified and forthright
tone of Mitch Miller's oboe. It's all very closely miked as is typical of
these recordings. That said the strings do preserve a certain silkiness. Miller's
clarity and perky muscularity is a delight but it is at the expense of a little
feeling being leached out. The soloist enjoys a high prominence in the audio
picture throughout - not quite a Heifetz balance but leaning that way. Even
so the care-free insouciance of the finale strikes the mot juste.
The Herrmann I expected least from on this disc actually delivered the most.
I have always had a soft spot for Elgar's Falstaff -
ever since I had the EMI LP that included the Barbirolli version with Enigma.
Then again my attention has tended to drift off in the middle even with the
Barbirolli. Be warned: my tastes in Elgar may be suspect. I have little if
any time for the big choral works, less still for the 1970s Boult in the symphonies
and a preference for the passionate Solti and Sinopoli. With that as the backdrop
this Falstaff is excellent. Moods, episodes and interludes are vividly
painted and character leaps out at the listener. It's consistently most enjoyable
down to the young King's betrayal, the tender reminiscences in the orchard
and the final Froissart-style chivalric surge with lances at high port.
Elgarians must hear this. The announcer reads through the superscriptions
for each segment of the work before it begins. Falstaff plays as it
should - without interruption.
Herrmann was very active and extremely enterprising in his choice of repertoire
for CBS so it would be welcome indeed if there were further Pristine issues
from that source. He gave US premieres of works by Finzi, Rubbra and RVW and
there's plenty more, I am sure. Whether other recordings survive is another
matter altogether.
These two discs of archive mono Herrmann recordings open up a world thought
lost. The English collection is to be preferred. The sound of the American
one can be testing though the rapturously showy Bennett concerto will have
you forgiving everything else.
Rob Barnett
Mono Herrmann recordings open up a lost world. The English collection is to
be preferred. The sound of the American one can be testing though the Bennett
concerto will have you forgiving everything else.