Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-05-13
TURNTABLE TALK
BY JAMES G. DEANE

This department has been
having some interesting cor
reSpondence of late over a
matter which, if not of note,
at least is of notes.
Some months ago, in a new
recording of Mozart's we'll
known "Haffner" symphony, it
was discovered that all was not
quite as usual. Always, when
the "Haffner" had been heard
previously. the third movement
"a minuet) had ended unmis-
takably with two off beats. On
this recording, the off beats
were missing.
Two theories were OWNED in
explanation - gremlins. and
careless processing. The latter
was the one leaned to; appar-
emily some engineer had
shipped out the two notes &C
cidentally while editing the
tape. A letter was sent off to
the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
suggesting this theory, and
back came prompt confirma-
ton. Actually there was all
ready an awareneSs of the
lapse, Columbia bravely owned,
and replacement was being
planned for any unfortunate
owners who had purchased the
issue all unsuSpectingly and in
good faith.
This situation was duly re-
ported. (Also reported, for good
measure, was the situation of
the Angel issue of Gieseking
playing Mozart'S B flat sonata,
where the second movement
was missing all but a wisp of
it's first chord, and which Angel
has subsequently made good.)
Several weeks passed by.
Then came another letter.
from Erich LeinSdorf, conduc-
tor of the Columbia recording.
1t was rather a shocker. 1t
turned out that Mr.. Leinsdorf
himself was responsible for the
missing off beats. And his eX-
PLANTATION was even more
startling. II never have the
two notes played" he stated,
"as they should not be played"
In calculation he went on
to cite footnote in the pocket
score of the Gutenberg edition.
He also offered the conviction
that mo Mozart Menuet ends
on two off BEATS" with a sug-
geStion that it would be strictly
out of style if one did.
A telephone inquiry to the
Library of Congress verified the
unsettling footnote. 1t said
Tin German that there was
doubt about the two off beats,
though leaving some doubt also
as to exactly why. (Since then
a second inquiry to the Library
produced the further unset
ting information that this
particular footnote could no
longer be found. The Signifi-
canoe of this turnabout has not
yet been resolved. 1t was con-
jectured that perhaps the VOL
ume had gone to the binderyD
x X y -
The gist of the footnote was
that there was supposed to be
a fermata or hold indicated
on the note Immediately pre-
ceding the two off beats. Such
a state of affairs, obviously.
poses some interpretive diff
Guilty.
At this point mental note
land aural check was made
spotted our critic Wendell
Margrave. He didn't know
whether Mr.. Margrave could
play bass viol, but he was
familiar with a widespread
belief that Margrave can make
music on anything. He APP
pealed to our critic that to
play was no less important
than to write. Mr.. Margrave
allowed that he could and
would play double bass if
there were music and instru-
ment handy. AS one of the
regular players had left an
instrument in the hall, Mr..
Margrave served as both critic
and bass.
THE bass section gave evil
dence of lack of rehearsal"
he wrote next day in The
Star.