Editorial Reviews

For those listeners who missed them when they were first released in the early days of the digital era, EMI's Composers in Person series is presented here in a single package. Most every composer EMI recorded in the first half of the twentieth century is here, from Bartók through Stravinsky with stops for Hindemith, Shostakovich, Elgar, Villa-Lobos, Strauss, and even Lehár among more than a dozen others. Many of the performances are virtually definitive, among them Elgar leading Yehudi Menuhin in his "Violin Concerto," Dohnányi performing his own "Variations on a Nursery Song," and Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten performing the latter's "Michelangelo" and "Donne Sonnets." All of the performances are fascinating. Hans Pfitzner finds more in his music than any conductor since, and Stravinsky's early recordings, while less cogent than his later recordings, are also sharper-cornered and harder-edged. It should be said that some of the performances are not particularly well played; Holst, for example, is not an especially adept conductor and his "The Planets" almost spins out of control. But all the performances here demonstrate insights into the music that other interpreters have inevitably missed. Lovingly restored, the sound here is in most cases small, gray, hard, and harsh. James Leonard, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

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