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Walter begins at a speed that emphasises the non troppo of Brahms's allegro and in so reserved a manner that I wondered if he was saving up for something later on. But no; the whole movement, while it has, of course, its brilliant moments, is played with less rapture than I hoped for. What does...

Walter's older recording of this wonderful Concerto was my favourite among the existing ones—more firmly moulded than that of Galliera (Col. mono 33CX1487: stereo SAX2264—with Oistrakh and Fournier), but more yielding and generous than Toscanini's (R.C.A. mono RB16066). Walter's soloists,...

Samson Francois plays in what I would call a pre-war style, and I'm not quite sure which war I mean. He does it pretty well; there is excitement and poetry here. But modern taste usually demands more control, more shaping of the whole. This pianist varies his tempi a great deal and goes all out...

Michaels plays smoothly, with infallible technique and a liquid tone unmodified at any point by even the suspicion of a vibrato. As he phrases well (though without any sudden revelations of unexpected magic) this enables him to give a most satisfactory performance of the Concerto, decently...

A major, K.114; No. 15 in G major, K.124; No. 16 in C major, K.128; No. 17 in G major, K.129. Philhar- monic Symphony Orchestra of London conducted by Erich Leins- dorf. Westminster Q XVVN18864 :

There is nothing very complex technically about Prokofiev's music, but the problems of style it poses are none the less difficult for all that. Somehow both aspects of his puzzling musical personality have to be