JAVS Fall 1998

34

Sonata, waxed in 1939 but unpublished on 78rpm discs, is the jewel of a STRAD CD, the first of three Primrose recordings and the only one in which he plays the Amati; his part ner is the distinguished Puerto Rican pianist Jesus Maria Sanroma and the interpretation, subtle. He recorded somewhat fleeter interpreta tions of both sonatas with Rudolph Firkusny in the LP era but the 78rpm versions are won derfully autumnal in the true late Brahms ian manner. The published 78rpm F-minor Sonata is notable for being among the few records made by the brilliant American pianist William Kapell (1922-1953), who perished in an air crash; this version has more overall cohe sion than the 1939 one with Sanroma. Also on the STRAD disc is the Mozart G major Quartet, K387, featuring the Primrose Quartet, which arose from the ranks of the NBC Symphony in 1938 and broke up in 1942. Although Primrose's three colleagues were all significant virtuosi, the quartet did not have time to become a great ensemble. It was a very good one, however, as this perfor mance demonstrates. The group's other four recordings-a disappointing Schumann Quin tet (with Sanroma), a fair Smetana E-minor and superb accounts of Brahms's B-flat and Haydn's Seven Last Wort&-are on Biddulph set (LAB 052/3, two discs). A wonderful Dohnanyi Serenade with Heifetz and Feuer mannis on Biddulph (LAB 074), along with a tightly controlled Bandel/Halvorsen Pas sacaglia and some Heifetz-slick Mozart. Available from Biddulph (LAB 150) are songs with the great contralto Marian Anderson, in cluding Brahms's Op. 91 set. Not yet on CD are such gems as the Hindemith Sonata, Op. 11 No. 4, with Sanroma. Primrose enjoyed playing short pieces such as jamaican Rumba by Australian-born Arthur Benjamin, and when he asked for a work from Benjamin, he was rewarded with a splendid triptych for viola and orchestra, ideal for slotting into a recital in its piano accompaniment form. He had similar luck when he got to know the American composer Roy Harris in 1938, receiving a suite and the Soliloquy andDance. The Benjamin and Har ris performances are definitive-the latter has the additional attraction of featuring

the composer's wife Johana, a committed in terpreter of her husband's music and an occa sional recital partner of Primrose's. Both are on a Pearl CD (GEMM CD 9253) along with the Brahms Sonatas (Moore and Kappell ver sions) and Kreisler's Praeludium and Allegro. The Praeludium has one or two uncharacteris tic intonation slips and one assumes Primrose chose this 'take' because he played the Allegro so brilliantly. His bowing here would be a tour de force on the violin, let alone the viola. war recordings. Primrose had always employed an unusually fast vibrato, leading the Tertis faction to say that he played "like a fiddler"; and in later years, while he still commanded a wide range of color, his tone was more mezzo soprano in quality than the contralto or tenor that it had been. Two 1946 recordings on an EMI disc (CDH 7638282, also on Pearl) showed him still in sonorous form: Walton's Concerto, with composer conducting, and Vaughan Williams's gentle Flos Campi with Boult. To the Walton, Primrose brought a new dimension of virtuosity; and although Walton, who had made a still unsurpassed recording with Frederick Riddle eight years ear lier, could not raise his own rather moderate game to that of his 1946 soloist, the perfor mance had marvelous moments, not least from the Philharmonic wind soloists. Flos Campi was another matter. With the incom parable Adrian Boult in charge, this inspired piece received a rapturous performance, right down to the difficult closing bars. Primrose was clearly using either the An drea Guarneri viola or his Moennig for the 1947 sessions with his longtime accompanist David Stimer which round out the STRAD disc. Only three of these tracks, Boris My ronoff's unpublished Caprice and Heifetz's Latin American arrangements-Huella by Aguirre and Ao Pe da Fogueira by Valle-were issued by RCA Victor, on two 45rpm discs coupled with Saint-Saens' The Swan and Bach's Air (omitted from the CD for space reasons, along with an impatiently played Tchaikovsky-Kreisler Andante cantabile). Mil haud's First Sonata was then a new work. It is Post-World War II Recordings Our third group takes in a mass of post