Word: philharmonia
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Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (the Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan conducting; Columbia, 2 sides LP). Bartok's best work attains one of the marks of a classic: varying interpretations. Karajan distorts the slow movement; in another performance Rafael Kubelik, conducting the Chicago Symphony (Mercury, 1 side LP), is overly fussy with the dynamics. The first recording by Harold Byrns and the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony (Capitol) is still the best. All recordings are good...
Walton: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (Jascha Heifetz, the Philharmonia Orchestra, William Walton conducting; RCA Victor, 1 side LP). Heifetz fiddles with love and care through a piece that is splashy with romance. Recording: excellent...
Beethoven: Concerto No. I (Walter Gieseking, pianist, with the Philharmonia Orchestra; Columbia, 2 sides LP). The first new postwar recording to reach the U.S. of one of the piano masters of this generation. Pianist Gieseking has lost none of his power, precision or beauty of tone. Recording: excellent...
...With Albert Hall packed for the occasion, great-domed German Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler stepped to the podium to lead London's Philharmonia Orchestra. Plump and majestic, Soprano Flagstad took her place near his side, solemnly donned spectacles to read the music. What followed was a moving and deliberate farewell from a composer who, in his earlier years, had turned out the rich and masterful scores of Der Rosenkavalier, Death and Transfiguration, Don Quixote...
Shakespeare: Hamlet (spoken excerpts by Sir Laurence Olivier, with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Muir Mathieson conducting; Victor, 6 sides). In addition to Laurence Olivier's fine soliloquizing, music lovers can hear on this album how good movie music can be. English Composer William Walton did a lot in Olivier's Henry V to lift the standards of film scores; in Hamlet he raises a craft to an art. The score never intrudes, but accompanies the spoken word like an orchestra accompanying the piano or violin in a concerto. Recording: good...