As with their restoration
of an obscurely remembered Decca Brahms
Quintet of the same vintage, Pristine
Audio has the knack of tracking down
some rare material. This Vox set was
the first complete recording of the
Op.6 concertos and as the name of the
ad-hoc orchestra suggests was released
in the year of the three hundredth birth
of the composer. This represented quite
an undertaking, especially in a market
that had previously been able to sustain
only a few recordings of the most famous,
the G minor - otherwise known as the
Christmas Concerto.
The orchestra may have
been ad-hoc but the name of Daniel Guilet
will be familiar, as will that of cellist
Frank Miller. I wonder if Guilet’s fellow
violinist Edwin Bachmann was any relation
to the violinist-encyclopaedist Alberto
Bachmann who recorded for French Aerophone
and wrote a celebrated book on the violin.
They’re the only named players and they
take their solo opportunities with commendable
warmth.
I’ve not heard the
original Vox set but this restoration
seems to accentuate a bass heaviness
that might well be endemic, though I
should also note that it’s a characteristic
of Pristine Audio’s restoration that
they do this. These are otherwise warm-hearted,
commendably affectionate readings that
occasionally wallow in some deliciously
old-fashioned and protracted rallentandi.
One can hear this immediately in the
second movement of the D major as one
also hears the chugging basses under
the melodic upper string line.
These are engaging
performances with well-characterised
solo and tutti string divisions; they
cultivate a certain strong drama. The
D major is especially buoyant in this
respect and if the string clarity isn’t
quite as accomplished as the earlier
and contemporary recordings of, say,
the Boyd Neel Orchestra in their Handel
and Bach recordings, or indeed the Busch
Chamber Players, then the Vox has the
merit of entering uniquely unchartered
discographic waters in 1953. Listen
for the diminuendi at repeated phrases
in the F major [No.6] and one can hear
intelligence deployed toward this material.
Miller leads the cellos in the G minor
with gravity and tonal allure and Dean
Eckertsen sculpts the martial command
of the D major adeptly as indeed he
does throughout.
I’m sure collectors
will like to be reminded of Eckertsen’s
pioneering work and these two CDs will
give them cause to admire the production
and the daring comprehensiveness of
that ambition. It’s a pity the movements
aren’t individually tracked.
Jonathan Woolf
Daniel Guilet and Edwin Bachmann (solo violins)
and Frank Miller (solo cello) 
