I read John Smith's Mid-Price Curiosities the other day in which he
mentions Geminiani Concerti Grossi, without specifying which conceti
grossi or played by whom.  It really does not matter, because it reminded
me of a comment that I would like to make on the different interpretations
on recordings, and I would appreciate your feedback and recommendations if
you have any.

I have and old (1954) Westminster LP of Geminiani 6 Concerti Grossi Op. 3
with the English Baroque conducted by Hermann Scherchen that I like very
much.  Reading that there was a new recording of these same concertos with
the Orchestre Baroque de Montreal on period instruments directed by Joel
Thiffault, I bought the CD. No doubt that the advances in recording in
this last 4 decades has been huge.The CD has a very good fidelity, you can
hear the strings with a clarity we did not even dream off 40 years ago, it
appears to be well conducted, it has plenty of ornamentation.  But...but
I like the old LP better.  not the sound of course, but everything else.
The pace, the simple ornamentation, and everything that has to do with the
composition, for me it is much better in the LP.

The same is true of another LP that I have it is an Angel (stereo, so
it must be early sixties).  Heinrich Schutz Christmas Oratorio with the
Windsbach Boys Choir conducted by Hans Tham.  Angel recordings were not
very good to start with and so after many years of playing it, has got to
the point one can hardly listen.  So I bought an Archiv CD played by the
Gabrieli Consort direct by Paul McCreesh.  Again the sound is wonderful,
but the interpretation is much inferior to the LP.  With the LP you can
picture yourself in a small German town a couple of centuries ago.  The
Angel sung the Edith Mathis sounds (I imagine) just like an Angel.  Georg
Jelden Evangelist is extremely clear.  You can fallow every word without
difficulty.

In the LP booklet I see that it mentions other Angel recordings of that
time, one of which is Bach: St. Matthew Passion with Schwarzkopf etc,
and Klemperer directing which is a wonderful recording that they transfer
to CD. Why do they do not do the same with other wonderful recordings such
as this Schutz?

Ramiro Arguello
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