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Volume Nineteen in
Symposium’s invaluably eclectic violin
series is devoted to Beethoven Sonatas
recorded between 1927 and 1938. As the
centrepiece there is the canonical Kreisler-Rachmaninov
Op. 30 No. 3 but surrounding it is more
esoteric, collectors’ fare. The first
of the Op. 30 set is played by the all-Hungarian
duo of Jenö Léner and Louis
Kentner. Famed for his eponymous quartet,
that the Hubay student had led for almost
twenty years by the time he came to
make this New York recording, Léner
made only two solo sets. The other,
made shortly before this one, was of
the Spring Sonata and this is, so far
as I’m aware, the first time that either
has made an appearance since the days
of 78s. The qualities of expressive
warmth and cantabile phrasing that illuminated
his quartet playing – somewhat to the
discomfiture of more purely intellectual
listeners – are refreshingly present
in this Sonata recording. There’s a
warm and open-hearted lyricism to the
phrasing that is entirely consonant
with the quartet’s Beethoven recordings
(they were famously the first to record
the complete cycle). There are a few
scratches along the way but the recording
quality was quite reasonable for its
date.
The other previously
unknown quantity for most people will
be the pairing of Adila Fachiri and
Donald Tovey in the G major. Another
of that famed generation of Hungarian
expatriates (Léner, Szigeti,
Telmanyi and so many more). Fachiri
was also a Hubay pupil and later still
of Joachim, whose niece she was. She
and her more famous sister Jelly d’Aranyi
had lived in London since 1913 and their
association with Tovey was of long standing.
This rare 1927 example of his pianism
was recorded for Compton Mackenzie’s
National Gramophonic Society, which
used Vocalion studios. This accounts
for the somewhat disappointing quality
of sound and for the very over-recorded
piano (a boon to Tovey admirers of course
but more troublesome in relation to
ensemble). Fachiri’s accompanying figuration
frequently goes for nothing courtesy
of the recorded balance and her slow
vibrato is idiosyncratic, doubtless
a feature of her ingrained Hubay habits.
One does feel that she is straining
for a degree of phrasal elasticity that
Tovey is disinclined to indulge. Tovey
is at his most impressive in the slow
movement – where he is veritably gale-like
- whilst their finale is not especially
buoyant and Fachiri’s lower strings
sound rather pedestrian. Still, this
is a first ever re-release and an important
document not least for Tovey’s consistently
illuminating playing. The Kreisler-Rachmaninov
has been better transferred elsewhere
(Biddulph, RCA) and I rather wish Symposium
had taken the opportunity to complete
collectors’ interest by including a
rarer set – say the Spring Sonata
played by Albert Sammons and William
Murdoch on Columbia or by Robert Zeiler
and Bruno Seidler-Winkler on Polydor.
Another time, maybe.
Two first ever re-releases
constitute something of a catch. The
documentation is pretty reasonable as
well, so a strong welcome to a specialist
though historically valuable disc.
Jonathan Woolf
SYMPOSIUM 1312 [65.45] 