Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-07
By JAMES G. DEANE

terest that musicians seem to
be making the widest breach
in the Iron Curtain. The Bos-
ton Symphony has just been
to Russia and. of course. tri-
umphed. Oistrakh and Gilels
had already conquered the
United States. Records even
by other Russian artists are in
the shops and more seem to
arrive almost daily.
There are several new
Oistrakh records at hand. No
one has had him do the COM
plete Beethoven sonatas yet,
but two of them-the third
and 10th-are on an Angel
and a Columbia disc, re-
spectively. Oistrakh plays
Beethoven with as little APP
parent effort as anything else.
The two performances don't
go as far into the music, per-
haps, as those by Joseph
Fuchs, but they are impressive.
Brahms third sonata, in D
minor. is on the back of An
gels disc. 1t is possibly bet
ter suited to the Oistrakh
temperament. Columbia'S Sec
ond side has some less inter-
esting. but spectacularly
played, encore pieces by
Brahms, Vital and Men
delssohn.
If anyone was under the i'm
preston Oistrakh was the
dominant name among Soviet
f1ddlers, a pair of Angel rec
ords suggests the impression
may be at least slightly over
weighted, Leonid Hogan, a
violinist now 80, is heard on
both discs. playing the G
major and A major Brahms
sonatas on one and Bach's E
major concerto. D minor
double concerto and an unac-
companied Sarabande on the
other.
Hogan clearly is a threat to
the younger generation of his
competitors, Western as well
as Russian. Both records con.
tain unusually fine playing.
The Brahms sonatas also are
models of balance, as are too
few sonata performances or
recordings of any kind. Hogan
doesn't play both parts in the
double concerto. The second Is
taken by his wife, who hap
pens to be the sister of Pianist
GilelS.
Both records, incidentally,
were made in London when
Hogan performed there last
year. So was Angels Oistrakh
record. The Beethoven 10th
sonata was taken from a Rus
sian tape, however. Russian
originals are not yet up to
Western ones.
The era when Reifetz with
RubenStein and the late
Emanuel .Feuermann) was a
chamber performer is recalled
by a Westminster record.
OiStrakh in this case, too, has
a pianist and cellist for collab-
orators. although neither has
yet become known in the West
as a virtuoso. Dvorak's Dunn
ky" trio and the neglected
G minor trio of Smetana COM
prise the music. The melodic
Smetana work, in particular,
makes a welcome novelty.
The Brahms E fiat trio,
with a French horn taking the
normal cello position, is of
fered on another Westminster
disc, with Hogan, Gilels and a
horn player identified as Yakov
Shapiro doing the honors. It
is a little difficult to judge Mr..
Shapiro on this basis. for the
recording is another one from
Russia and it leaves something
to be desired. Haydn's D major
trio, with Mstislav Rostropo-
vich, the Russian cellist, as
third man, is done in lively
fashion on the oversize.
BIRTHDAY GIFTS
When the records noted in
this space a week ago were
being audited, two of those
Columbia has issued to mark
Bruno Walters 80th birthday
had not arrived. Later they
did-juSt past deadline.
Both are we'll worth noting.
One record is in the Walter
Mozart department. The E
fiat mo. 39) and c major mo.
Al symphonies are coupled on
it. The performances are won
derfully rich and robust
sounding. and filled with little