Search - George Barati, Eugene Ormandy :: George Barati: Cello Concerto (1950) / Harpsichord Quartet / Chamber Concerto (1951)

A mixed bag in terms of musical appeal

P. SIMPSON | North Yorkshire, United Kingdom | 08/19/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I ordered this disc after hearing the Naxos disc of the Symphony and, for the first three tracks, the Cello Concerto, was very pleased I had done so. The concerto is a dark and dramatic work, bitter and impassioned in parts and so reminiscent of Shostakovich's concertos, but with enough contrast to maintain interest as well as tension. Barati himself conducts the London Philharmonic and the cellist is Bernard Michelin. I will certainly be playing it again.

The Harpsichord quartet, though, was a different kettle of fish. Its a purely personal taste, but I found it far too densely modernist (a la early 60's) for me. I didn't last the distance in a single one of its three movements so I won't comment on performance or sound, other than to say that they are each spikily aggressive (which is appropriate). Things come back together again in the Chamber Concerto (of 1952, a year before the Cello Concerto) which offers as much collective virtuosity as the Cello Concerto but without quite as much musical interest. The four wind soloists on this recording (with Ormandy and the Philadelphia) are those for whom the concerto was written and who gave it its premiere. You will have gathered by now that this disc brings together three different recordings, originally dating from 1962 (the Chamber Concerto), 1964 (Cello) and 1967 (Harpsichord). They have clearly been remastered with great care, expertise and affection. There is some residual tape hiss but its never obtrusive and is the price you pay for a very "analogue" sound, rather than one simply passed through digital filters. The result is very wide ranging, dynamic, natural and exciting sound(s), - a splendid set of transfers. I have only one reservation with the sound and that concerns the level of low-frequency reverberation and air movement sometimes present. My guess is that these reflect the original acoustics, with the microphones picking up too much from the floor of the sounding stages. It's irritating at times, but never really detracts from the music or becomes too annoying. If the price of eliminating it had been a loss of bloom and excitement to the original tapes, then I'm much happier to keep that bloom and excitement and pay the price of the extra "noise"."