The reviewers Andrew Achenbach Fabrice Fitch
Richard Osborne
Nicholas Anderson Jonathan Freeman- Stephen Plaistow Mary Berry Attwood Nicholas A Rast Alan Blyth Edward Greenfield Guy S Rickards Joan Chissell David S Gutman Marc Rochester Rob Cowan Stephen Johnson Julie Anne Sadie
Peter Dickinson Lindsay Kemp
Duncan Druce
John Duarte
Adrian Edwards
Tess Knighton
Andrew Lamb
Robert Layton
Ivan March
Stanley Sadie
Lionel Salter
Edward Seckerson
Robert Seeley
John B Steane
Richard T Fairman Ivan W G Moody Michael Stewart David Fallows Bryce Morrison Jonathan Swain David J Fanning David Nice John Warrack lain Fenlon Patrick O'Connor Arnold Whittall Hilary Finch Michael Oliver Richard Wigmore
Key to symbols CD New ( i ) Reissue (reissues are also listed in comparisons as R; when a date appears as, say, 7/56 R it means the recording was first reviewed in July 1956 but has since been reissued under the listed number, though not re-reviewed). Al97 refers to reviews in the Awards issue Historic Video Compact Disc Cassette o LP 00 Digital Compact Cassette
" LaserDisc m VHS Cassette oas Only available singly aas Also available singly nla No longer available Price where stated is inclusive of VAT at 17·5% ® Full price £10 and over ® Medium price £7 - £9·99 ® Bargain price £5 - £6·99 ® Super bargain price £4·99
and below AAD/ADDIDDD denote analogue or digital stages in the recording! edi ting or mixing! mastering or transcription processes in CD manufacture
Gramophone Founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie and Christopher Stone
Volume 75 Number 900
Published by Gramophone Publications Limited 135 Greenford Road, Sudburl Hill , Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3YD. Great Britain . Telephon. 0181·422 4562 Fa. 0181·869 8400 E-mail info@gramophone.co.uk Web site IN\oVW.gramophone.co.uk
North American subscriber enquiries Mercury Airfreight International Ltd Tel.phone 908·396 9555 FlU< 908·396 1492 Gramophone is published on the Wednesday nearest the middle of each month prior to that of issu e plus a 13th issue in October and is avai lab le from all newsage nts. bookstalls and via subscripti on. ~ US air · speeded rate $87'00. periodicals postage paid Rahway, NJ and at additional mailing office s. Subscribers, both at home an d abroad, are reguested to advise ch ange of address details to our Subscription Department at least five weeks prior to the change becoming effective.,! US Postmaste r please send North American address corrections to Mercury Airfreight Int ernaliona l Ltd. Inc .. 2323 Randolf Avenue, Avenel, NJ0700 I . Whilst every elTon had been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this m(lgazine. we cannot accept responsi bilit y for any errors or omissio ns, or for matters arising from clerical or printers' errors, or an ad ve rtiser not completing his contract.~ It is requested that all lette rs to the Editor requiring a personal reply should be accompanied by a stam ped addressed enve l ope. ~ Text printed on Galeri c Brite 60gs m. Sup pli ed by S., lhu rst Paper plc .~ Printed in England by St Ives (Plym oulh ) Limited , Plymouth; and London .' ISSN 0017·310X © 1 998 Gramophone Publications Limited
Editorial Fax 0181·869 8403 E-mail edilor@gramophone.co.uk
Editor
Deputy Editor Assistant Editor Sub·editor Edhorial Assistant Editorial Manager Audio Editor Audio Consulting Editor Audio Consultant AdvertiSing Fax 0 181-869 8402
James Jolly Harriet Smith Mark Wiggins Vivian Stewart
Alex Newby Alan Worth Ivor Humphreys
Keith Howard John Borwick
E-mail advertS@gramophone.co.uk
Advertisement Manager lain Hutchison AdverIisernenl Manage!' Paul Geoghegan Advert isemenl Procuction Co-ordin ator Patti Alvarez Design F. . 0 181·8698403
Art Editor Designers
Lisa Druggan
Isabel Jagoe Janis Nicholls
Marketing Fox 0161 ·8698402 E-mail info@gramophone.co .uk
Marketing Manager Verity Batchelder Subscriptions Fo. 016 1·8698404 E-mail subs@gramophone.co.uk
Subscription Manager Valerie Warburton
Gramophone Publications Limited Fax 0181·869 8400 E-mail admin@gramophone.co.uk
Chairman
Editorial Direct Q(
Director of Busi>eSs
DeveIopmenI Rnancial Director Production Manager Product ion Editor
Anthony Pollard
Christopher Pollard
Barry Irving Richard Phalp Dermot Jones Emma Roach
2 Gramophone April 1998
Reviews 4 Index to reviews 36 Orchestral 60 Chamber 74 Instrumental 84 Choral and song 108 Opera 122 Collectors' corner 140 Soundbites 144 Jazz
Features
14 Gramophone at 75
(I
Not only has Edward Greenfield been ~ a stalwart member of Gramophone's ~ reviewing team for nearly 40 years, for many he also is the voice of classical music, with a di sting uished career as a broadcaster and newspaper critic. Here he reminisces abo ut his life in record collecting
Regulars
6 Letters
Setting the record straight on Ettore Bast ianini, a plea for more British music at the Proms, the vexed question of amplified performances in the concert-hall and a hearty thumbs up for Riccardo Chailly's recent Firebird
24 Collection
Stephen Johnson looks at the two strin g quartets of Janacek, the First of which a lso celebrates it s 75th anniversary this yea r. Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the top contenders hal e from Eastern Europe
A1 North American retrospect Jed Distler has been immersing himself in piano music from th e nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including Chopin from artists as different as Pletnev and Perlemuter, Liszt series from Hyperion and Naxos and piano transcriptions by Busoni and Godowsky (follows page 32, only in the North American edition)