RECORDING OF THE MONTH RECORDING OF THE MONTH BARGAIN OF THE MONTH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A London Symphony Oboe Concerto £11 post free World-wide RACHMANINOV Elegy, Preludes, Piano concerto 3 £12 post free World-wide CHAUSSON, DEBUSSY RACHMANINOV TRios 2CDs £16 post free World-wide

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Leroy ANDERSON (1908-1975) Blue Tango - Symphonic Pops The Syncopated Clock The Typewriter A Trumpeter’s Lullaby Fiddle Faddle Blue Tango The Phantom Regiment Bugler’s Holiday The Waltzing Cat Sleigh Ride Belle of the Ball Forgotten Dreams Sandpaper Ballet Sarabande Jazz Pizzicato Serenata The Penny-Whistle Song The Girl in Satin Home Stretch The Golden Year WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln/Pinchas Steinberg Recorded WDR Studio Stolberger Strasse, Köln, November and December 1988 SACD CAPRICCIO SACD 71 021 [56.09]

This must be at least the third Leroy Anderson disc I’ve listened to in a matter of months – not that I’m complaining. If ever there was a master of the genre it was Anderson and even if it would be nice to hear the Violin Concerto or the Piano Concerto in C rather more than we do, that’s still no reason to spurn the light miniatures and pops that so wonderfully evoke both time and place. The source here is Cologne with the WDR Rundfunkorchester under Pinchas Steinberg, a versatile conductor. The recordings are not new and I assume they derive from radio broadcasts as they were made in 1988 and are now released in SACD format – though I’ve only listened on a standard set up. The programme is pretty standard Anderson and the only question is how blue the clarinets are in The Syncopated Clock (answer; quite blue enough for my liking) and how aerial and nostalgic is the flute solo in Forgotten Dreams (splendidly). Does the Sandpaper Ballet work or is it generic – in this performance it works well with its soft shoe shimmy nicely approximated. One of the highlights here – indeed one of my favourite pieces of Andersonia – is the Sarabande where he alternates nobility and saucy wit and where the strings’ earnestness is hilariously undercut by the battery of insolently puckish percussion. Maybe – just maybe – we could get more incision once in a while; possibly Jazz Pizzicato could dig a shade harder. But there’s filmic grace to the violins’ line in The Waltzing Cat (and a nice bark and feline spit at the end). There’s also a pretty good spatial balance in The Penny-Whistle Song where the trumpets sound properly back o’ town. We end with the effulgent and well-orchestrated nostalgia of The Golden Year. The notes are perfectly serviceable. The cover booklet has – wait for it – a couple, silhouetted and tangoing whilst lit by the blue ocean and sky. Look carefully and you’ll see she’s just on the edge, held against him; one false move and over she goes. It’s noir-ish, with just a hint of Philip Marlowe. And you just know he wouldn’t do it. Jonathan Woolf   Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage There will be NO VAT Rises [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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