Instrumental Records
(RECORDING COMPANIES: D, Decca; DT, Ducretet Thomson; V, Vox.) The admirable Barchet Quartet continu e's its Mozart series on Vox. Their latest additions are K.499 (in D) with K.575 (also in D); the famous D minor (K.421) with K,387 (in (1); and a group of early quartets, K.158-160. They play them all most beautifully, though the recording on the first pair deteriorates towards the centre of each side. A special word should be said for the three early works, which are all brimming over with youthful genius, and make an enchanting record that should not be missed. Another of the great chamber works, the E flat Divertimento K.563, for string trio, is well Played by the Kehr Trio (V), but without quite the vivacity of the Bel Arte Trio on the earlier Brunswick version. A lesser trio, with piano, that in E major (K.542), appears as a fill-up for Beethoven's 'Ghost' Trio (D), in which the play- ing of the Trio di Trieste lacks a sufficiently ab- sorbed or absorbing intensity. Mendelssohn's two feathery Piano Trios are a much easier propo- sition in interpretation, though a fine sensibility must be brought to them if they are not to sound vapid. In the brilliant and beautifully balanced per- formance of the Trio di Bolzano (V) they beguile us from beginning to end. Still more beguiling, be- cause musically finer, are Schumann's two master- pieces of chamber music with piano, the Quintet and the Quartet, played by the Barchet Quartet and Walter Bohle (V) with an ideal blend of classical purity and elegance, and warm romantic lyricism. The slight roughening of the recording towards the centre of each side, as in the Mozart record referred to earlier, should not deter any- body from this 'musically perfect and most .beautiful disc. Another very persuasive Schu- mann performance is by Friedrich Wiihrer, of the rarely heard F minor Piano Sonata, curiously entitled Concert sans Orchestre, backed by the Dat'idsbiindler Dances (V). Wiffirer also con- tinues his series of Schubert piano sonatas, with the late A major plus the A minor op. 164 (V). in performances that are satisfying though not quite so inspiredly poetic as could be—a com- ment that applies also to the `Trout' Quintet, in which he joins members of the Barchet Quartet (V).
More modern piano music includes the first version available in this country of Debussy's Studies, played by Ferber (DT). Although a re- cording of this work is badly needed, the very critical may still prefer to wait, for despite the many virtues of his playing, he does not bring a sufficiently poetic insight to the music to com- pensate for his distinct shortcomings in point of sheer virtuosity. In the'Debussy Pretudes, of which•he plays Book 2 (DT), he faces some very still' competition, against which Gulda's clean and decisive playing of both Books (D, two discs) is recommended as having a better chance of finding favour. A further Decca record of Danish chamber music brings the Third String Quartet of Tolmboe, a highly interesting work, of great intensity and originality, well backed by Nielsen's Fourth Quartet, a very light, gay, neo-classical work, characteristic of the Nielsen more generally known only in a slight eccentricity of manner; An excellent new recording. of Kodaly's great Sonata for solo 'cello is offered by Zara Nelsova (D), backed by a Reger unaccom- panied sonata that will appeal mainly to 'cellists. Bach would have been a better choice. Vaughan Williams's recent Violin Sonata has quickly been recorded (D) by Grinke and Mullinar, who reveal it here as a splendid and characteristic work, much more inventive and effective than it seemed as their original public performance of it. On the reverse side Arthur Benjamin joins the same violinist in his own Sonatina. Another quasi-sonata for violin and piano, Stravinsky's Duo Concertant, is excellently played by Gitlis and Zelka (V). It is the most rewarding section of a disc that includes also the rakish (Rakish too) ballet suite The Card Game and the rather trifling Violin Concerto; neither very substantial but both rare enough to make this a valuable issue. Janacek's entertaining Sin fonietta comes in two versions, of which Kubelik's (D, medium play) is much livelier and brighter than Horen- stein's (V). Finally one still more exotic record : Hungarian Rhapsody (V, ten-inch), containing Liszt's Rhapsody No. 2, and some genuine peasant music, played in a slightly too urbanised but at-
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