Word: soloists
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...Scherchen recording of 1952). Richter had the courage to vary the tempi quite a bit to his taste. The bass aria Quoniam tu solus was taken very slowly. The horn playing in the obbligato solo to this aria is the best that might ever be expected. The soloist exhibited a precision of control that allowed for the most subtle variation in tone, dynamics and attack while preserving melodic integrity. Even his placement on the stage was perfectly coordinated to bounce the horn's sound off the left front well of the hall towards the audience. The solo singer...
...program for the content might be called imaginative if only for the inclusion of Poulenc's Concerto in G Minor for Organ, Strings, and Tympani, James Johnson, Music Director of the church and organ soloist, has an impressive technique at his disposal. He tore right into the beginning of the Poulenc--a dramatic start with the volcanic sound of double bass and tympani joining the organ...
...ORCHESTRA ALSO played for the Handel Organ Concerto No.4.Though hardly a weighty work, the sense of ensemble between soloist and orchestra displayed the piece to great advantage. Handel's fine sense of tone color was especially evident in the oboe parts, which were beautifully played. The first movement was lively, but Johnson's tempo in the Adagio lagged painfully, lacked phrasing, and made every step of the walking bass far too staccato...
Following the "suite" was Bartok's last completed work, the Third Piano Concerto, in which soloist Debbie Sobol provided the most satisfying music-making of the evening. Miss Sobol's lyrical, carefully-shaded conception of the concerto was brought forth with remarkable technical assurance and relaxed poise. Generally, the orchestra did not approach the buoyant subtlety and control of her playing in the first and last movements, again because of rhythmic and textural insensitivity. Moshell's monochromatic manner of conducting is at least partially responsible for such problems: a beat which does little to emphasize legato and staccato, piano...
Mozart: The Four Horn Concertos (Barry Tuckwell soloist, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner conductor; Angel, $5.98). As a solo instrument, the French horn lacks the innate variety of the piano or violin. That is a fact to be noted, then forgotten, while listening to this ravishing LP. Tuckwell plays the concertos as though they were as emphatically profound as anything Mozart ever wrote-which in the case of Nos. 3 (K. 447) and 4 (K. 495) is not too far from the truth...