BEETHOVEN. Cello Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 5 No. 1'.

SCHUBERT. String Quintet in C major, D956b. * bSfindor Végh, bSandor ZOldy (vns); bGeorges Janzer (va); Pablo Casals, bPaul Szabo (vc); aWilhelm Kempff (pf). Philips

Legendary Classics 0 ([) 420 077-2PLC (72 minutes: ADD). Item marked a recorded in 1961 and new to UK, b from A835099Y (11/62).

A remarkable, but unfortunately a deeply flawed performance of the Schubert. The fly in the ointment is Casals. Quite apart from the familiar grunts and groans, there's his precarious inton ation and equally shaky sense of ensemble—anticipated chords, rubato at odds with the other players—he even manages to get two beats ahead in bars 43-4 of the first movement. True, these complaints refer chiefly to the earlier stages of the work, but while I'd love to be able to say that the playing transcends such technical failings—with my hand on my heart, I can't. There's plenty to commend—the gutsy energy of the Scherzo, Sandor Vêgh's captivating espressivo in the Adagio, the relatively mobile tempo in the trio (Schubert marks this Alla breve—not 4/4), the avoidance of the traditional slow fade on the final C (very likely a misreading of one of Schubert's elongated accents)—but the performance is never quite comfortable enough to be enjoyable.

Casals's idiosyncracies are more palatable in the Beethoven, though even here the tremendous elan doesn't quite compensate for the roughness and unsteadiness—nor does the fine CD transfer. Very disapppointing. S.J.