BEETHOVEN:
PIANO CONCERTO NO:1
PIANO SONATA `LES ADIEUX'
Rudolf Serkin
Philadelphia Orchestra, cond. Ormandy
MYK 37807
DVORAK:
SYMPHONY NO: 8
Cleveland Orchestra, cond. Szell
MYK 38470
MOZART:
VIOLIN CONCERTOS NOS: 4 & 6
Isaac Stern
Various Orchestras
MYK 37808
All of these recordings, dating from 1957 to 1977, have been issued before, in some cases several times. Why, then, is Sony going to such lengths to promote them? The only polite answer can be that they believe there is an innocent audience out there who will be attracted to them by their (relatively) low prices.
That said, there is some fine playing here. The Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell was in the 1960s one of the very finest of all American orchestras, as was the Philadelphia under Eugene Ormandy. As for the soloists, pianist Rudolf Serkin and violinist Isaac Stern remain legendary names. You can't go wrong with performances like these, even though the sound is full rather than sharp and precise in the modern way.
CHARLOTTE CHURCH: PRELUDE
SK 86990
MARIO FRANGOULIS: SOMETIMES
I DREAM
SK 87873
Anyone who will call round to my house and take this Charlotte Church CD away will receive a belated red envelope into the bargain. Looked at from every possible angle, it is excruciatingly horrible. Tracks include Bridge Over Troubled Water, Amazing Grace, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Pie Jesu leading the way into a few other unctuous, sentimental-religious confections. Poor Charlotte Church! Does someone so young really have to be exploited in quite this hideous fashion?
Mario Frangoulis' offering is even worse. The title track features Puccini's tenor aria Nessun Dorma. This contains the following words (in English translation): "You too, O princess, in your chaste room, are watching the stars which tremble with hope and love." This, together with memories of another Puccini aria, has led lyricist Steve Wood to come up with the following: "And the stars were shining ... and the earth smelled sweet ... the garden gate creaked ... her footsteps barely touched the path ... . She came in, so fragrant, and fell into my arms." This is accompanied by bongo-style drumming on heavy-duty, industrial-strength drums, and the result physically hurts your ears.
Why do Sony expect the Taipei Times to review this sympathetically in a classical music column? It's vulgar in a way that makes the vulgarity of past ages seem like heavenly choirs. In addition, every effort is made in the accompanying illustrations of Frangoulis to market this CD through his physical allure. This is a tactic common enough with popular music, less common with classical. That Sony are applying this treatment to Frangoulis demonstrates that they are not seriously in the business of attracting classical music-lovers to this CD.
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