Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-03-27
Schumonn Song Cycles AttroctiveIy Recorded
Turntoble Talk
By james 6. Deone

By james 6. Deone
Sena Jurinac, one of Eu-
ropes most accomplished
younger sopranos, has made
an excellent new recording of
Robert Schumann's "Lieder-
kreis" and "Frauenliebe und
Leben" cycles.
Well sung, there is hardly
anything more haunting than
one of Schumann's love songs.
and Miss Jurinac brings to
these two collections - the
"Liederkreis" is the second of
the two bearing that title
both a lovely voice and musical
intelligence. In this music one
naturally thinks back 10 the
interpreter whose last name
matched the composers land
whose recording of "Frauen-
liebe und Leben" is at hand) i,
who even in memory remains
peerless. But I can think of
no one around now who does
better at capturing the subtle
mood of mixed ardor and
melancholy which runs through
all of these songs.
The all-important accom-
paniment, played by Franz
Holetschek, is not sighted, and
1t is a pleasure to have West
minister supply the music in
such satisfactory up-to-date
recorded sound, although I
would not give up Elisabeth
Schumann for any amount of
technical advancement.
y u u
Rich Schubert
Schubert's die Schoene
Muellerin" cycle is newly avail
able in duplicate. Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau, young Ger
man baritone, has recorded it
with the invaluable assistance
of Gerald Moore for HMV, and
Petre Munteanu, the Roma
nian-born tenor. essays the 20
songs for Westminster. lean
to Fischer-Dieskau's approach
for its vigor and volatility.
Munteanu's singing, while
technically above reproach,
seems rather cool and studied.
Westminster's disc has the
more substantial sound, how
> ever.
Schubert's more than 600
songs are the richest untapped
treasury for recordings In ex-
istence. and to the record in
dustry's disgrace nobody has
yet even begun to do much
about it. In this context it is
at least encouraging when a
company-in this case London
issues a Schubert Recital
No. g." for it seems to imply
the possibility of more.
The singer of Recital No. 2"
is Gerard Souzay, one of the
better baritones of the day.
The IA songs-as would prac-
tically any IA that any Schu-
bert ,recitalist picked-repre-
sent all sorts of moods, and
there is none that isn't a gem.
Among them, to name a few
arbitrarily. are the lovely
"Nachtviolen," the gay Der
Musensohn." Grippe aus dem
Tartarus," a splendidly dra-
matte piece, and the beauti-
fully reverent "Litanei." The
value of London's disc unfor-
tunately is considerably di-
minished. for the non-German
speaking, by the lack of printed
texts. When will this stupidity
cease?
Tribute to Technieions
The late Artur Schnabel's
Beethoven performances on
long play discs have now been
extended by six more sonatas,
half in Vol. 3 and half Vol. 4
Of Victor's reissue series.
The sonatas are Opp. 81, No.
/: 40. No. /, and ITO, on the
first record: and Opp. 2, No. Q;
q. No. 2 (the Moonlight
and 8la on the second. COL
lectors will be gratif1ed that
they are incomparably better
reproduced than the first two
LIPS. Victor's engineers this
time having the good sense
not to try to smother the old
fashioned surface hiss of the
originals and with, it all SEM
blance of high frequencies.
The sound. in fact. is remark
ably natural considering that
it originated in 1889 and 1888
"a tribute to the talent of the
last generation of E. M. I.
technicians, who were far
ahead of their day,
The playing, as hardly need
be said, remains on a level that
no pianist now living has man
aged to achieve, even Back
haus.
instruments in Character
An entertaining version of
Benjamin Britten's Young
Persons Guide to the Or
chestra" arrived from Angel
almost concurrently with the
recent high. fidelity fair.
This was appropriate tim
ing, for the record is an ex-
cellent sample of high fidelity
itself, and in addition it offers
the invaluable services of a