Letters: Seeger defended ... Bravo Strauss. Gould's splices (continued)
--- Rupert Holmes--Cynicism only in the eyes of the reviewer?
Dissenting Voices
Having read Henry Edwards' August review of Rupert Holmes's new LP and having subsequently listened to the disc, I am puzzled that your reviewer should make the statement that "cleverness too often takes the place of genuine emotion." It is incomprehensible to me that Mr. Edwards should find, for example, that "Studio Musician," a rare and touching tribute to a group of faceless men, is either negative or cynical. It was my feeling that Holmes genuinely admires these studio men and that he felt it was about time somebody said something about them. Then there's "The Man Behind the Woman," as touching and tender a valentine as has been written for perhaps thirty years. How can Edwards overlook it? How can he talk about negativism when he hears this lovely, uncomplicated love song? For good measure, I'll toss in the disc's finale, "The Place Where Failure Goes," and put it to Henry Edwards that he is himself cynical and negative if he cannot see and hear in this cut all the truth, pain, and emotion that Holmes has felt and written.
In case anyone should think I'm carping, I do admit that most of the review was as complimentary as the disc deserves: it is just that one resents the use of words like cynicism in connection with the cuts cited above. Further, one is left with the impression that your reviewer heard only Side 1.
Gwendolyn M. Pynn Reigate, Surrey, England
Mike Jahn's crude and callous dismissal of Pete Seeger ["Pete Seeger & Arlo Guthrie: Together in Concert," August] begs a rebuttal. To say that "Seeger wore out his wel come twenty years ago" is truly fantastic: This man is currently approaching sixty, yet even now I can think of hardly another folksinger whose mere name is enough to guarantee a sold-out house, Carnegie Hall included.
And why? Has Mr. Jahn never once par taken of the high magic of a Pete Seeger concert, where a huge hall of 3,000 strangers becomes a cozy living room filled only with good friends actually singing together in harmony, obviously deeply moved? The in evitable roaring, standing ovation at the end? Seeger's monologues may be simple, but they're infinitely more graphic and intelligible than most public statements going around these days. And how obdurate to say he "persists in singing the liberal line"! Is Mr. Jahn aware that Seeger, as one of the few original organizers of the Hudson River sloop Clearwater project, is almost single handedly responsible for the current interest in cleaning up the waters? Throughout his long career, Pete Seeger has weathered huge, intolerable pressures that would have bent many a lesser character, yet somehow his musical and altruistic genius has gone on. It is disheartening, even at this late date, to read the inane pronouncements of unwitting, petty little critics like Mike Jahn.
Jeff Rainer Hartsdale, N.Y.
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Contributors' Notes
R. D. Darrell writes to amend his September statement that Christopher Hogwood's l’Oiseau-Lyre disc of Arne harpsichord sonatas "surely must be the first complete recording." In 1974, Musical Heritage Society issued these works on MHS 1897, played by Eiji Hashimoto. Harris Goldsmith points out an in correct editorial insertion in his November review of Anthony di Bonaventura's Connoisseur Society disc of the Debussy etudes: Beveridge Webster's recording, indicated as " Dover, deleted," is in fact in his Desto Debussy box, DC 7111/5, still in print.
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Johann Strauss
Thank you for the October section devoted to Johann Strauss.
True, R. D. Darrell's discography paints a sorry picture for those wanting not only lesser-known waltzes, but even complete performances of some of the best-known compositions. I was surprised that there was no mention under For Specialist Col lectors Only" of the Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain. It issues a monthly news letter and a monthly magazine devoted to the Strauss family and their works. It has also issued many records of lesser-known and hitherto unrecorded waltzes. Any specialist would be interested; the chairman is L. C. Troutbeck, 11 Lamerton Road, Barkingside, Ilford, Essex, England.
Frederick White Chicago, Ill.
With that information duly noted, we must also correct the address printed for the Viennese Light Music Society. Its secretary, Reginald Woollard, informs us that "for some two years now" the address has been: Church Farm, Rushden Nr. Buntingford, Herts., England.
In regard to James L. Cramer's obviously loving account of Vienna's Philharmonic Ball, as an Austrian-American and connoisseur of Viennese music, I wish to correct or supplement some of his points, many of which have been misunderstood outside Austria for a long time.
To clear up the most sensitive statement, Austria is not a socialist nation. It merely has a current majority of Social Democrats, a liberal party in parliament. Austria's "socialization" will last only as long as the cur rent majority party remains so. Its pro-grams, as it happens, are as socialistic as Social Security. Austria is one of the most liberal democratic republics in Europe, and although it is a neutral nation its policies are as Western as those of West Germany.
Mr. Cramer's description of Fasching as "a seasonal dedication to levity and the dance in which a rather self-conscious at tempt is made to recapture the gaiety of other eras" seems unlikely. Whatever Austria suffered under the Third Reich, such festivities were not hindered at all.
The balls Mr. Cramer describes were held as always, and the large opera balls were mostly sponsored by the Goerings or other Nazi party leaders.
Mr. Cramer's explanation of the current use of the title "von" is incorrect. It is true that the granting or official use of titles is forbidden, but that applies to such titles as prince, count, duke, etc., not "von," which is considered part of the surname. Von Karajan is not the only Austrian or German conductor using the "von," with or without permission.
Concerning the national anthem, the melody used by Haydn in his Kaiser Quartet did serve, with different lyrics, for both the German (as "Deutschland tiber alles") and Austrian national anthems; in Austria it was dropped with the advent of the Second Republic in 1955, to eradicate any association with the annexation or of the monarchical past. The current anthem is a fragment from Mozart's Freemason Cantata with words by the Austrian poet Paula Praedovic.
Perhaps the Social Democrats can use their subsidy powers to ease the Philharmonic Ball's financial problems, assuming they remain in power, which seems doubtful as election year draws near. If they do not, the conservative Christian Democrats, a party dominant among the media and cultural associations in Austria, might be able to save this wonderful event.
Robert Harris; Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Osborne Update
In reply to David Margolis' attack on Conrad L. Osborne ["Letters," September], I would like to say that I am quite a bleeding heart myself, usually, but a record review is not the place for "forgiving" mistakes, for when a performer makes a record he is automatically putting himself in direct competition with all the others who have recorded the work.
It is precisely C.L.O.'s "sophistication" and "uncommon learning" that make him one of the very valuable few who may be called record critics rather than reviewers.
His attention to detail enables the reader to make his own choice, according to the reader's own taste, and also makes his re views valuable even years after they were written. For those of us who have not the time nor money to buy and compare all recordings of a work, C.L.O. is a pleasing, reliable, and probably, in his vast knowledge, better alternative.
Please bring him back as a permanent writer; kidnap him if necessary. I agree with reader Jon Conrad, though, that up dated versions of his Verdi, Wagner, and Mozart discographies (with additional chapters on Puccini and The Ring), or a book on recordings of German Lieder, would be at least a strong second choice for me.
- Ray R. Davis; Braymer, Mo.
Federal authorities, we hear, frown on kidnapping. SO we will have to continue to wheedle Mr. Osborne's time on an occasional basis. MUSICAL AMERICA readers are directed to his review this month of Ingmar Bergman's film of The Magic Flute. Next month he will be reviewing the new Columbia/Melodiya Bolshoi recording of Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades.
To Splice or Not to Splice The issue of audible tape splices as "analyzed" by Glenn Gould in his "Experiment in Listening" [August] has not been settled by either that article or the excellent responses to it by Messrs. Kulman and Appleman I "Letters," November]. Therefore, I am writing again on this subject, because readers (listeners?) should become actively aware of this problem.
This is not a sociological or technical problem--it is a musical problem and thus should be approached from that stand point. It is true that most splices are inaudible, but the audibility of a splice is irrelevant. The fact is that the over-all performance of a work is robbed of its spontaneity. its essential "aliveness." This is particularly critical in classical and jazz music. A musical work, like any work of art, must be perceived as an organic whole; to do otherwise is like trying to read poetry written on Burma Shave signs or feeling the impact of The Last Judgment by seeing parts of it in square-foot sections.
This total perception is what accounts for the feeling of spontaneity. Just compare modern spliced recordings with a live performance or, perhaps more to the point, with those recordings made before splicing came into use. This is particularly apparent with recordings made by Toscanini, many of which were positively "electric" in their effect. Anyone who misses this feeling is not being musically perceptive. (I'm surprised at Mr. Gould on this point, for, despite his irritating idiosyncrasies, he is a highly perceptive musician.) The record companies must go back to a more musically positive approach to recording. To do otherwise is to deny the primacy of music over technological processes. This primacy must hold true no matter how state-of-the-art both professional and consumer products become.
- Fred Ross; St. Louis, Mo.;
Echt Mussorgsky
In his November review of the new BASF disc of orchestral works of Mussorgsky, R. D. Darrell states that the album's liner notes do not indicate whether Mussorgsky's own scorings or the Rimsky-Korsakov revisions are employed in the recordings of the shorter works. He concludes that "undoubtedly the Rimskian editions are used." Perhaps his review copy did not include the notes that finally came to be published with the disc, for on my copy it is clearly stated: "From 1930 onwards Paul Lamm in the Soviet Union worked on this legacy, revising and publishing, and it is from this source that these characteristic works for symphony orchestra have been selected. They are recorded here for the first time." Listening to the recordings with score (available from Kalmus) confirms that these are indeed the composer's versions, as edited by Lamm. Congratulations to Marc Andreae and BASF for giving us what may be the most illuminating Mussorgsky disc since David Lloyd-Jones's recording of the original Night on Bare Mountain. Now if only some company could be persuaded to give us Boris as Mussorgsky wrote it!
Robert W. Oldani Jr., Ann Arbor, Mich.
Devetzi
In his October review of the Strauss Beethoven record by Mstislav Rostropovich and Vasso Devetzi, Philip Hart de scribes Ms. Devetzi as "one of the more en gaging pianists to come out of Russia." I would like to point out that Ms. Devetzi is Greek, though she studied in Paris and has recorded in Russia. Her first recording can be found on the Nonesuch label (the Faure Ballade, with Serge Baudo conducting). Vasso gave some concerts in this country two years ago, and last summer at the Athens Festival there was a happy reunion of the three greatest Greek pianists, Gina Bachauer, Rena Kyriakou, and Vasso Devetzi.
Nicholas Peppas; Somerville, Mass.
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(High Fidelity, Feb. 1976)
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