Search - Janacek, Edinger, Neumann :: Sinfonietta 60 / Violin Concerto / Cunning Little

A good bargain intro to the Sinfonietta

03/30/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I dearly love the Sinfonietta, and I think that no one's music library is complete without a recording. Mackerras is absolutely tops, but you could do a lot worse than with Neumann on Arte Nova (certainly if you listen to a lot of critics and go for the Naxos version, you will do plenty worse). The SWF is not the Vienna Phil, but they do boast strings that have a glowing tone (although intonation is sometimes suspect in the violins, although surprisingly not in the violas!), and good woodwind soloists. The trumpets (all 12) behave themselves for the most part, although there are some fluffs in I, but not too serious. Again, V sums up the piece for me. Neumann takes his time (or so it seems). He lays out the piece for you so that you can read it like a good book. He pays attention to much detail, and the SWF gives it to him. He expertly balances the various choirs (no mean feat in Janacek; this is where Lenard fails miserably on Naxos), and he has good flow (although not to Mackerras' exaulted extent). Engineering is fine, again superior to Naxos velvet-curtain treatment to 2/3rds of the orchestra. Heartily recommended for bargain hunters, but I would suggest that saving your pennies for Mackerras might even be wiser if you want only one copy in your collection."