Klarinet Archive - Posting 001017.txt from 2000/06
From: MVinquist@-----.com
Subj: [kl] De Peyer's Mozart Concerto
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 22:15:16 -0400
David Niethamer wrote:
David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subject: RE: [kl] Conductors--Rant; Marcellus's Mozart Concerto
on 6/22/00 8:02 PM, Ken Shaw wrote:
>listen to the first recording made by Gervase De Peyer, with Anthony
>Collins conducting the London Philharmonic (I think), from the late 1950s
>when De Peyer was in his glorious prime. It has recently been reissued on
>CD. Every phrase is alive and breathing and fits naturally with the next.
If you and I are discussing the same recording, it's Peter Maag
conducting and London Symphony.
David -
De Peyer made two recordings of the Mozart concerto with the London Symphony
early in his career. The first was with Anthony Collins conducting and was,
I think, only in mono. It was issued on a 10" LP as London LL 1135 and
reissued on a 12" LP as Decca LW 5261. He rerecorded it in stereo with Peter
Maag conducting, which is the version you see most often in the cutout bins.
I have it as a London reissue LP STS 15597.
In my opinion, the recording with Collins is even fresher and more dancelike
than the one with Maag. I'm positive that the Maag has been reissued in CD,
and I'm reasonably sure the Collins has also.
--------------------------------------------
To Gregory Smith:
Thanks very much for the information on Robert Marcellus. Simply because I
prefer other recordings of the Mozart Concerto to his does not limit my
worship of his orchestral playing, or of the many wonderful things in his K.
622. I can still remember where I was -- the room I was in, and who was
there -- when I first heard his stunning solos in the Khovanshchina prelude,
Polovtsian Dances, Capriccio Italienne and Capriccio Espagnole. A dorm room
with half a dozen hot-shot college freshman clarinetists with our ears
hanging out. I went into Cleveland every couple of weeks on a rickety bus
(Oberlin didn't allow cars) to hear him play at Severance Hall and was always
amazed.
I've heard Szell's comment about chocolate over asparagus a number of times.
But hollandaise sauce is perfect with asparagus. I love asparagus plain, but
I want it the other way, too. The difference is not sauce or no sauce. It's
good taste, in music as in food.
Like you and George Szell, I despise sloppiness presented as "artistry," but
that hardly answers the question. I was once at a fashion photo shoot where
a model spent 15 minutes putting every stray hair on her head in place. She
looked gorgeous, and the photographer obligingly shot a dozen frames. Then
he said, "now, shake your head gently." Suddenly, her hair lay naturally,
and everyone (including the model) realized that the perfection had been
artificial. Her face came to life, and everyone was smiling and full of
energy.
Think of Robert Herrick's poem "Upon Julia's Clothes" --
Whenas in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then, (methinks) how sweetly flows
That liquefaction of her clothes.
Next, when I cast mine eyes, and see
That brave vibration each way free,
Oh, how that glittering taketh me!
In De Peyer's Mozart, I hear that liquefaction of his phrases and prefer that
most of the time to Marcellus, which I find, once again in Herrick's phrase,
to be "too precise in every part."
These are matters of personal taste and preference between wonderful
recordings, and at this level it can depend on the mood of the moment. Maybe
2 times out of 10, I'll choose to listen to Marcellus.
Here's to more and better opinions.
Ken Shaw
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