Fanfare Reviews
from September/October 1983
DVOŘÁK: Serenade in E for Strings, Op. 22. Serenade in D Minor for 10 Winds, Cello, and Bass, Op. 44. Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Neville Marriner. PHILIPS 400 020-2 (compact disc).
The more popular String Serenade has always struck me as a little too sweet, but I cherish the wind serenade as I do few other compositions. The difference between them is that between sentimentality and sentiment. I never come away from the wind serenade without being spiritually refreshed, and it has an assured spot in my "desert-island" collection.
I'm referring to the piece, not to this particular recording, though that is not without its virtues, which include clean, crisp playing and superb sound. The string serenade is sonorously performed--I may be won over yet. Philips' success in capturing the unique instrumental colors of the wind serenade is especially noteworthy. The outer movements are very sharp, but in the crucial inner movements, Marriner seems bent upon avoiding sentimentality and in the process squeezes out much of the real sentiment as well. Consider this a welcome attempt, one that will do until the real "desert-island" CD version appears. Come to think of it, I'm not sure the real "desert-island" version exists yet on analog discs, either. Until it comes along, I'm saving a spot for the De Waart recording on Philips Festivo.
George Chien
Copyright © 1983 by Fanfare, Inc. Reprinted by permission from Volume 7, No. 1 (September/October 1983), page 112.
HOLST: Suites for Military Band: No. 1 in E-Flat, Op. 28, no. 1; No. 2 in F, Op. 28, no. 2. BACH: Fantasia in G, BWV 572 (arr. Goldman and Leist). HANDEL: Music for the Royal Fireworks (ed. Baines and Mackerras). Cleveland Symphonic Winds conducted by Frederick Fennell. TELARC CD-80038 (compact disc), produced by Robert Woods.
This recording is going to get me into trouble, I swear. It's not that I have to worry about a lease--I live in my own house, and I have neighbors who play their equipment a lot louder than I (I won't go into what they play). It's the boy-who-cried-wolf effect: after X number of times jumping up to answer a telephone that's not ringing, you just know that someday I'm going to ignore a phone that really is--and that it'll be a call I ought to take.
In a sense, this is the recording that started it all. I don't believe that it was the first to have been made by the digital process, but it was the first, to my knowledge, that achieved demonstration-record status, and I doubt that anyone shopping for components four or five years ago did not hear at least snatches of it in one store or another. Although our audio editor, N.G.L., has been less sanguine, our J.B., after a feature article describing Telarc's recording session (Fanfare I:6), greeted the conventional disc version with the triumphant exclamation, "I have heard the future, and it works!" (II:1). Not only was it the record that introduced most of us to the digital process (and to Telarc's celebrated bass-drum thwack), but it was also the record that convinced a lot of doubters--like yours truly--to shell out big bucks for a single LP disc, which is not an insignificant historical accomplishment in itself.
Well, in fact, J.B. had not heard the future, though his LP version was an extremely good approximation of it. I found it hard to believe myself, but an A-B comparison of the conventional disc version and the compact disc revealed slight but noticeable differences. The CD is brighter, cleaner, and has an even wider dynamic range. I'm really impressed. The future may be here, indeed.
As for the performances, the Holst Suites are about as close to definitive as one might hope to find. The Bach transcription is well done as Bach transcriptions go. The Fireworks Music may not achieve the last word in either scholarship or finesse, but it's a lot of fun to hear.
(Note: I've also heard a CD of the Fireworks Music and the Suite in D from the Water Music by Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music on Oiseau-Lyre. These are fine, authentic performances, with the best laser recording I've encountered so far from O-L, but I find inescapable that the Fireworks have greater impact on modern wind instruments.)
My next problem is to figure out the best time to point my speakers out of my window (aimed you know where), to turn my gain knob up to 10, and to program my disc for "La réjouissance." Sunday morning around 6:30 seems about right. But wait! Here's that warning note again: "Damage could result to speakers or other components if the musical program is played back at excessively high levels." Friends, Robert Woods speaks not with a forked tongue. He may also be a spokesman for the conscience of the recording industry. I'll just have to play this disc for musical reasons. And enjoy it for the same.
George Chien
Copyright © 1983 by Fanfare, Inc. Reprinted by permission from Volume 7, No. 1 (September/October 1983), page 115.
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