Volume 3 = BERLIOZ: Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9; DEBUSSY: Petite
Suite–Ballet; Premier Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra; RAVEL: La
Valse; BRUCH: Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 26 – Benny Goodman,
clarinet/ Nathan Milstein, violin/ New York Philharmonic/John Barbirolli
Dutton CDSJB 1027 55:54 (Distrib. Harmonia Mundi)****:
More from the New York Philharmonic archives under the auspices of the
Sir John Barbirolli Society, here passionate readings inscribed
1940-1942, the direction by its Music Director John Barbirolli
(1899-1970), who was soon to relinquish his tenure with the orchestra
in the midst of WW II, refusing to take the American citizenship
demanded of all musicians and conductors too, by the Musicians Union.
No false valedictions here. Michael Dutton has extracted from the
notoriously noisy Columbia shellacs a marvelous aggregate of sounds,
from Benny Goodman’s ravishing clarinet work in Debussy, to the unruly
grumblings in the opening of La Valse, to the exalted, driven violin of Nathan Milstein – all in perfect, aural, acoustic quietude.
From the snare drum to the lilting strings, the 16 November 1940 Ravel La Valse pulsates and cavorts in a most coquettish fashion. The Roman Carnival is brisk and appropriately Latin in flavor; the one excerpt from Debussy’s Petite Suite
makes us wish for more. For the first of his three commercial
recordings of the Bruch G Minor Concerto, Nathan Milstein is in clear,
controlled form, urging the phrases while shifting registration without
missing a beat. A combination of bravura spectacle and introspective
intimacy, the performance has a renewed brightness and sonic sheen with
this latest restoration; my old Harmony LP never sounded so good.
–Gary Lemco
