It is rather mystifying to understand Cantelli's famous dissatisfaction with this miraculous 1951 recording of the "Italian', it is to my mind even better than his later mono remake, with freshness and vitality pungently to the fore. Tempi are well-nigh ideal especially in the sunnily exuberant First Movement and the harrowing Andante con moto, a picture postcard of a religious procession. The Philharmonia play like angels throughout and the 1951 sound is rather bewildering in its vividness, you could almost mistake it for forty years later albeit there is some background hiss.

The Brahms Third is more famous, indeed it was briefly available on an EMI label some years back but the Testament remastering is definitely the clearest I've heard. Much has been written about this genial performance, it is rather Klemperer-like in its retrospective beauty although there are none of the defects that mar that particular recording. Cantelli is akin with Brahms' mysterious scoring, the slow movement is a real gem and the concluding bars of that Allegro are wonderfully magical, an almost spiritual touch with the Philharmonia strings playing like angels led by the redoubtable Manoug Parikian.

As is usual with these splendid reissues, Alan Sanders provides informative and eminently readable annotation that supplements the finished copy with aplomb. It is good to have these splendid performances back in the catalogue, the Mendelssohn is really an artistic treasure recovered from the deep.

Reviewer

Gerald Fenech

Performance:

Sound: