Classic and Choice

By William Bender

Mozart: Piano Concerto in C, K. 246; Haydn: Piano Concerto in D (AnaMaria Vera pianist, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Edo de Waart conductor, Philips). Another up-and-coming pianist is Ana-Maria Vera of Washington, D.C. The joyous innocence with which she attacks these lighthearted concertos is at once admirable and touching. So is her sparkling technique and rapport with Maestro De Waart, the Dutchman who is succeeding Seiji Ozawa at the helm of the San Francisco Symphony. Ana-Maria, born in 1965. was eleven when this recording was made.

Mendelssohn: Quartet in D, Op. 44, No. 1; Schumann: Quartet in A minor, Op. 41, No. 1 (Budapest Quartet, Odyssey). Though less well known than their composers' works for orchestra or piano, these string quartets are charmers. The first is as spirited and melodic as one would expect from Mendelssohn. The second is imbued with the blend of impulsiveness and poetic fancy that Schumann alone seemed to possess. The superlative interpretations by the sui generis Budapest Quartet come from tapes of live performances at the Library of Congress in 1959 and 1961 and are released here for the first time.

Beethoven: Sonata No. 21 in C (Waldstein), Eroica Variations (Pianist Emanuel Ax, RCA). Since winning the Artur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Israel in 1974, Emanuel Ax has devoted himself on records primarily to Chopin, and expertly so. Here he turns to Beethoven with a dream technique that more than meets the virtuoso demands of both works. But unlike many a prizewinner, he has much more than dexterity going for him. Ax controls the music completely, not it him. Such ease, logic and warmth suggest that he is a Beethoven pianist to keep an eye--and ear--on.

Brahms: The Four Symphonies (Vienna Philharmonic, Karl Boehm conductor, Deutsche Grammophon; 4 LPs); (Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink conductor. Philips; 4 LPs). Both Boehm and Haitink are generally thought of as orthodox conductors, interested in Brahms' Brahms rather than their Brahms. Yet how different these interpretations are. Boehm almost seems schizoid about these essentially well-adjusted symphonies, as though he could not make up his mind whether the dreamy, expansive Furtwaengler or the lean, surging Toscanini were right. No such problems with Haitink. His Brahms bristles with muscle and the knowledge of a certain destination.

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (London Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn conductor, Angel; 3 LPs). Previn herewith completes his cycle of the three great Tchaikovsky full-length ballet scores. As with his The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, he is always conscious of the ingenious nature of the composer's orchestrations, yet never tries to overcome the music's essential dance quality with virtuoso orchestral tricks. A delightful album, and by far the best Swan Lake on the market. William Bender

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