Customer Reviews

Brahms: Variations for Orchestra, Op. 56; Mozart: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 23; Wolf-Ferrari: The Jewels o

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Ferdinand Leitner was primarily known to the record-buying public as an operatic conductor. He was chief conductor for many years at the Stuttgart and later the Zurich Opera Houses. And he was an excellent accompanist. These recordings date from the late 1940s (Wolf-Ferrari) and early 1950s (Brahms, Mozart) and the sound, although cleaned up a bit, is pretty tubby. Further, in the Brahms, the interpretation has a heaviness to it that makes it rather a chore to get through, frankly. Our taste in Brahms performance style has perhaps changed in the past 50+ years. The Mozart, while played with full orchestra, not the stripped down classical orchestra we now take for granted, is rather better. Monique Haas, a French pianist primarily known for her performances of modern music, was a fine interpreter of the classics as well and her A Major Concerto, K. 488, is fleet and airy in the outer movements, and deliciously melancholic and beautifully phrased in that glorious F sharp minor middle movement. She sets such a brisk pace at the outset of the third movement that the orchestra (and particularly the bassoon, which has those rapid accompanimental roulades at the end of the second theme) have a merry time simply keeping up -- and this is the Berlin Philharmonic! Still, I found her pace to be bracing and liked it rather a lot.

The two intermezzi from Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's 'The Jewels of the Madonna' are negligible pieces, albeit beautifully written, and are played unexceptionably.

I cannot recommend this disc primarily because of the dated sound and the phlegmatic Brahms, but if you are interested in hearing Haas's brisk Mozart this release might be for you. But be warned that the sound takes some getting used to.

Scott Morrison