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| Decca (Full price) (CD) 410 551-2DH. From SXDL7505 (12/80). |
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The LP of this coupling received an unenthusiastic notice from me, partly because the playing, although alert, lacks distinction, and partly because the closely-balanced recording brings certain drawbacks, like a curious bass-drum effect in Swan Lake and buzzy cellos in the "Waltz of the Flowers" from the Nutcracker suite. But I must now report that the Compact Disc sounds greatly superior to the LP. The sound is richer and more refined, and in the Nutcracker there is more delicacy of texture, the balance and inner perspectives more believable. The vivid climaxes remain: the horns are thrilling as they swell up in the famous opening tune of Swan Lake, and there is a general feeling of Tchaikovskian spectacle, which certainly makes a strong impact.
John Culshaw in his autobiography Putting the record straight (Secker and Warburg: 1982) expressed a lack of confidence in the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv (where this was made) as an ideal recording site, and certainly its somewhat dry acoustic as capture here is no match for London's Kingsway Hall. But perhaps surprisingly, the Compact Disc flatters the orchestral sound in a way the LP does not, and there is certainly no lack of vividness and colour, with the bass drum now more realistically resonant and the cello timbre smoothed out. Yet in the last resort it is the performances that matter. They sound committed but somewhat run of the mill.
IM