Hidden Gold
George Mardinly

First off, let me say what a pleasure it is to be a Positive Feedback contributor. I’ve been reading PF since issue one, and have always enjoyed the fact that it is informative while not taking the pursuit of audio too seriously.

This column asks the question: "What hidden treasures lie on vinyl’s outer banks?" ie:—Capitol, Phillips, Columbia and DGG, not to mention many other labels. Accordingly, we will examine recordings seldom, if ever, written about presently available on the used market priced anywhere between $1.00 to $5.00. My personal preferences on vinyl run to "Living Stereo," "Living Presence," "EMI," "Decca," and "London Bluebacks"; thus, recordings chosen for this column will possess many of the sonic virtues found on these classic labels.

The reference system used for reviewing consists of Quicksilver KT-88 amplifiers, Quicksilver Pre-amp, Magnepan MG-111 speakers, Sota Sapphire turntable (along with the Super Mat and Sota Reflex Clamp), Eminent Technology H tonearm with Sumiko Blue Point Special and Grado F3E+ cartridges. Interconnects are by Aural Symphonics, XLO, and Kimber Kable; and Kimber Kable, Tara RSC, and Audioquest F-4 are used for the speakers. Additionally, careful use of Tip-Toes is made beneath the preamp and turntable, along with prodigious amounts of marble and slate. Finally, Stylast and Stylast Cleaner are put to good use. With that bit of introduction, let’s get on to the matter at hand.

Kaleidoscope: Overture and Dances by Offenbach, Brahms, Smetana, Nicolai and Weber. London Symphony Orchestra, Charles Mackerras, conductor, Phillips, PHS 900-022.

This early Phillips is a classic recording of ‘lollipops,’ as Sir Thomas Beecham called them, making for forty minutes of lighthearted listening. The highlights of this delightful album are overtures by Offenbach, Nicolai and Weber.

From the opening brass tuttis of the overture to "Orpheus in the Underworld" we know we are in the presence of a superb recording. The following clarinet cadenza gives a very good mid-stage perspective while an accompanying oboe solo outlines the outer edges of a very wide soundstage. The Can Can, while no LSC-1817 is, nevertheless, very good with extremely powerful trombone and brass tuttis contrasted by quieter passages for violins and triangle.

The pastoral opening of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" overture presents a very broad, and deep, soundstage. The introduction, essentially a forest idyll, highlights timpani, deep into the left rear of the stage, along with horns in the bass register placed directly behind the timpani. The ‘sprite music’ of the Allegro section features divided violins playing piano contrasted with loud exchanges from the entire brass section. Orchestral tuttis, featuring prominent trombone, bass drum and cymbals, make for an evenly balanced soundstage. Nicolai’s powerful coda features chromatic brass notes in the trombone section which stand above the entire ensemble bringing the work to a rousing close.

In the "Abu Hassan" overture, by Carl Maria Von Weber, the orchestra resembles a giant janissary ensemble or Turkish percussion section. Janissary music is Turkish percussion consisting of large drum, cymbals and jingling Johnney (triangle.) The overture, after all, is a prelude to an opera based on "Abu-l-Hassan the Wag, or the Sleeper Awakened" from The Arabian Nights. As with the other light compositions on this recording, percussion and brass are delicately scored alongside Filigree like string writing. This overture, perhaps more than the others, displays the excellent balance Phillips engineers achieved in capturing quiet cymbal and triangle notes above running passages in the first violins.

All things considered, Kaleidoscope is an excellent recording and deserves a strong recommendation.

Beethoven, Symphony 4-Op. 60; Grosse Fugue-Op. 133, Neville Marriner, Academy of Saint Martins In-The-Fields, Phillips 9500-033.

The opening B-flat pedal in the horns and woodwinds lays out a firm bass foundation for this wonderful recording. Beethoven’s mysterious opening for this easygoing, yet harmonically novel, symphony features bassoon and clarinet figures resolving thematic material in the first violins. Here, the dovetail effect of strings melding into woodwinds was well balanced by the Phillips production team.

Orchestral tutti passages, particularly at the entrance of the first theme, are articulate, with each choir of the orchestra clearly audible. Beethoven’s characteristic woodwind writing (particularly for clarinet) in the second theme is one of this recording’s finest moments.

The rhythmic buoyancy, caught by Marriner in the second movement adagio, is the single quality which evades most recordings of this symphony. Here, the distinction between the repetitive thirty-second note, sixteenth-note motive, and the lyrical first theme carry the movement ahead, giving it rhythmic and thematic sense. The manner in which the first flute sonically floats above the first violins is magnificent. Horn, flute, and clarinet signals in the coda pop out of the sonic fabric with great clarity.

The perpetuo moto quality of the final movement is sonically caught on a soundstage that is wide and very well balanced. The contrast between the sixteenth note opening theme, in the first and second violins, and the dotted quarter note/eighth note reply in the clarinets and oboes shows great vertical space between the two orchestral sections. Phillips engineers brought out all of the woodiness of Beethoven’s famous bassoon, and later clarinet, solo near the movement’s end.

It’s curious how, with this last movement, the layout of Beethoven’s Fourth is seen as the progenitor of the light hearted symphony. Indeed, the notion of a symphonic archetype is not unique to Beethoven’s Fourth, for if we consider the broad outline of Tschaikovsky Sixth Symphony, we perceive the structure of Mahler’s Ninth. Here, the carefree nature of Beethoven’s work is seen as the impetus of many another symphony — specifically, the Bizet Symphony in C and the Britten Simple Symphony.

William Schuman, Symphony 7; Ned Rorem, Symphony 3, Maurice Abravanel, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Turnabout TV-S 34447.

The real glory of this recording is the Rorem Symphony. Composed in 1958, this five-movement work is an audiophile’s delight. Perhaps the single most memorable quality of the recording is the superb definition between the various brass choirs. Horns, trumpets, trombones, and tuba lines are contrapuntally distinct and sonically balanced.

From the work’s opening chime, bass drum and brass punctuations, the pervasive g-e-f-d theme of the first movement permeates the entire orchestral fabric. Celeste and triangle float above the orchestral stage on their own cushion of air, while the brass carry the four note theme punctuated by pizzicato, gong and harp passages.

The second movement is a decidedly jazzy affair, redolent with snare drum rimshots, bass drum, and staccato brass writing. Once again, the recording presents sharp contrasts between orchestral tuttis and brief solo moments — in particular passages for solo violin and tambourine. The lateral spread of the soundstage is enormous and makes for a perfect acoustic setting in which the movement’s assorted brass and percussion outbursts unfold.

It’s somewhat unusual but, for some reason, the overall effect of this movement — that is, its overall scansion — continually reminds me of Copland’s "El Salon Mexico. "

The third and fourth movements of Rorem’s symphony are pastoral in nature and, again, the recording offers a very wide, and deep, soundstage on which numerous oboe, English horn and clarinet recitatives unfold. The fourth movement, in particular, is thematically notable for its variant on the first movement g-e-f-d theme on solo oboe. The concluding fifth movement is a self contained "concerto for orchestra" opening with solo castanets, tambourine and snare drum. The woody, raspy quality of these instruments is augmented by Rorem’s percussion-like use of pizzicato in the first violins. The entire first third of the movement has excellent presence, as the entire symphonic fabric becomes one large percussion ensemble.

This orchestral texture develops while a powerful brass chorale unfolds in which each member of the brass section is discernible. The movement concludes in an explosion of bass drum notes, cymbal crashes and xylophone solos. The energetic character of this final movement brings the Third Symphony to a close in a manner strongly reminiscent of the jazzy second movement.

Though the Schuman 7th Symphony is a welcome companion to the Rorem Symphony, this recording is worth finding for the Rorem alone. A strongly recommended recording.

Meeting At The Summit, Benny Goodman, clarinet; works by Stravinsky, Copland Gould and Bernstein. Igor Stravinsky, Morton Gould, Aaron Copland, and Leonard Bernstein conductors, Columbia MS 6805.

This collection of jazz-inspired works for solo clarinet and chamber orchestra is worth finding purely for the Copland Clarinet Concerto. I have admired this composition for some time and, within the spectrum of Copland’s opus, the work has a logic and durability that exceed his other compositions. Indeed, the poignancy of the opening andante is more memorable than even the closing pages of Appalachian Spring. The concerto, commissioned by Benny Goodman, is based on elements of north and south American popular music.

The opening harp and bass pizzicato notes, which accompany a long and soaring andante melody in the strings, are clear and resonant. Indeed, one can immediately detect the presence of the harpists’ fingers plucking the thick metal bass register strings of the instrument. As the opening cantabile melody works itself into the higher registers, the vertical distance between strings, solo clarinet, and harp becomes enormous. In the ensuing 3/8 Allegro a cascade of string pizziacti, with the solo clarinet developing a chromatic south American folk melody, make for a very wide and deep soundstage. As the work takes on a decidedly jazzy nature the prominence of slap bass, combined with staccato piano notes in the bass register, has tremendous presence. The work concludes in a rush of string and clarinet glissandi bringing this wonderful performance to a grand close. Although the Stravinsky, Gould, and Bernstein performances are wonderful in their own right, this recording is worth hunting out for the Copland alone. Highly recommended.

Igor Stravinsky, "The Flood" and "Mass." Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Conductors; Columbia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Sebastian Cabot, Laurence Harvey, John Reardon, Elsa Lanchester, Paul Trip and Richard Robinson; Columbia MS 6357.

I’ve saved the best for last. In 1959 Igor Stravinsky was commissioned by CBS and Breck Shampoo to write a work specifically for television. "The Flood," based on the biblical allegory of Noah and the Ark, is a dance drama for tenor, bass soloists, narrators, choir and orchestra. Stravinsky’s account, made in 1962, is magnificent in its aural impact, and easily puts this recording in the same league with the best Living Presence and Living Stereo productions.

The sense of ‘pointillism,’ or the breaking up of melodic and thematic lines among different instruments, is perhaps the recording’s most magnificent quality. The opening string tremolos, contrasted with biting piccolo and growling trombone notes, present a scene of desolation spread across a soundstage that is very wide.

"The Building of the Ark," the work’s second main section, is sonically overwhelming as individual lines, consisting of single harp, xylorimba, trombone, flute, timpani, violin, and cello notes, vertically and horizontally explode across a soundstage that is deep and very wide. The cumulative effect is of several workers, hammers in hand, constructing a gigantic vessel.

Stravinsky’s musical representation of the flood is frightening in its portrayal of a world deadened by the onslaught of God’s fury. Over the words "the earth is overflowed," first and second violins play relentless chromatic tremolos. The orchestral image is one of unending effluvia negating all terrestrial life. In the closing pages of "The Flood " Stravinsky answers God’s global baptismal with a musical question mark as ascending woodwind passages unfold over God’s command to "Be fruitful and multiply." The enigmatic nature of Stravinsky’s music questions whether mankind truly can flourish and inhabit the earth. This musical and sonic masterpiece receives the highest recommendation.

Well there you have it! Five recordings, neither Mercury, nor RCA, nor EMI, be well worth hunting for in this first installment of "Hidden Gold." If there’s one recording you search for above all others, by all means make it "The Flood." Next time we’ll unearth several more heretofore hidden treasures.

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