Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-11
TurntobIe Talk

Ralph Vaughan Williams, to
whom recordings at last are
beginning to bring q fitting
measure Of international APP
probation.
The latest Vaughan Will
liams disc, from Westminster,
for the most part is a dupli-
cation Of items previously
availablep But it offers the
advantage in at least one
case-that Of the so-called
English Folk Song Suite-of
greatly superior reproduction.
It also possesses a considerable
asset in having Sir Adrian
Boult as conductor, for Sir
Adrian is an ardent enthusiast
for the music of his fellow
Briton and does an excellent
job of re-creating it, The new
item on this disc is, the
Norfolk Rhapsody" a nostal-
gic, rather melancholy tone
painting. Two familiar fan
tasias. that on the folk-tune
"Greensleeves" and the per-
ennial Tails" one, fill out the
record, which is a particularly
inviting one all around.
More Tosconini
New Toscanini recordings
continue to document the
maestro's activity in the sew
eral years prior to his recent
retirement" One LIP disc
pairs the Mozart G minor and
Haydn Surprise" symphonies,
and after devoting a good deal
of listening time to the matter
I have concluded that the G
minor, at least, is one Of the
two best now available. The
other is Bruno Walters recent
one on Columbia, which you
might label the feminine ap-
proach to this music, Tosca-
minis being the masculine Il
hope DR.. Walter will not mind
this terminology). Toscanini's
reading is wonderfully crisp
and transparent, while WAL
ter'S fingers more over the
marvellous harmonies and So
norities. Both approaches are
to my mind entirely valid,
and if it is a luxury to have
both then this is a luxury to
be aspired to. I don't find that
the ToScanini recording differs
appreciably from Victor's ex-
cellent 70 rpm. one of some
years ago, except that its
tonal riches are incomparably
more numerous.
The Haydn side of the rec
ord is another crisp, caper-
ing performance. It is well
to point it out. though, that in
pacing it is Numerically OPP
posed to that of a conductor
like Scherchen. for instance.
After the leisurely Scherchen
Haydn recordings, Toscanini
takes some getting used to.
Whether either is better" I
am not at the moment pre-
pared to say. One thing is
certain: The Toscanini-NBC
Symphony Surprise" is an
astonishing display of orches-
trail virtuosity. which the
Scherchen Surprise" was not.
The other most recent Tos-
canini effort, a pairing of Ros-
sini's "Semiramide" and evil
liam Tell" overtures, like the
G minor succeeds historic 49,
rpm. issues, and there could
be no more effective testimony
to the virtues of modern rec
ord engineering.
A stunning new perform
ance Of Roussel's charming de-
Scriptive score, "The Spiders
Feast" is the choice item on
a new Mercury disc from Paul
Paray and the Detroit SYM
phony Orchestra. Paray has
the kind of kinetic impulse
which suits this music The
same impulse also is useful
in 1.-THE Sorcerer's Appren-
tice." although I don't find
as much essential excitement
in Paray's performance as
did in the Toscanini one of
a couple of years back, de-
spite all the Paray energy
Faure's "Pelleas and Nell
sande." the final item on Mer-
cury's disc, would have bene-
fitted from more leisurely treat
ment. ! preferred the YER
sions on MGM and Urania to
this one.
Rimsky Korsakoff's second
symphony, subtitled "Antar, /"
and the familiar RUSSIAN
Easter Overture" are excel
lently played by the Paray
forces on another Mercury
issue, which succeeds in
breathing more life into both
of these scores than I had
thought possible. "Antar''
makes a welcome variation
from the overfamiliar strains
of "Scheherazade."
Some Cello Sonotos
Serge Prokofief's cello So
nata OPP. 1l9. and the Bach
D major sonata for viola da
gambia are given fluent rendi-
tons by Gregor Piatigorsky
and Ralph Berkowitz on a
Victor disc made at Tangle-
wood last August. These are
the first Piatigorsky recordings
] have encountered in some
time, and they strike me better
than anything else I have
heard from him for a longer
time than that.
Another cello sonata, Op. 19
by Rachmaninoff. is expertly
played by Joseph Schuster on
a Capitol release. with Leon
ard Pennario at the keyboard,
The piece should not take