George Antheil (1900-1959)
Violin Concerto (1946)
Valentine Waltzes (1949)
Werner Gebauer (violin)
George Antheil (piano)
Dallas Symphony Orchestra/Antal Doráti
rec. 3 February 1946, Fairpark Auditorium, Dallas (Concerto) and 18 October 1951, Gold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood (Valentine Waltzes)
Antal Doráti Society ADL344 [46]

I last encountered George Antheil’s Violin Concerto in its piano reduction form where it lasted 41-minutes. In the disc under review the Concerto is heard in its premiere broadcast and lasts a mere 29. This is because the dextrous soloist, Werner Gebauer, trimmed a good 12 minutes from its running time and thereby substantially altered not only its proportions but its sense of flow. Gebauer was a fine but little-known player, a pre-war immigrant to America, having hurriedly left Germany in 1938, and he had much in common with Antheil. He had also just been appointed concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony under Antal Doráti, the orchestra’s director from 1945-49.

If you have come across this concerto performance it’s probably via YouTube and I can tell you that the Doráti Society transfer is on a par with that one. It has also slightly clipped the first bar of the opening movement. The torrid state of the acetates – constricted, crumbly sound – is pretty remorseless but it does relent a little depending on which acetate side is in use so initial fears as to the sonic state of the concerto shouldn’t necessarily put you off exploring it. Gebauer proves a fearless soloist, slashing his way through the work with panache and utter commitment and a dose of sweet lyrical tone too. It’s a work – in this cut state – of almost cinematic jump cuts, moving from the athletic to march themes clearly derived from Prokofiev to sweet lyric episodes (also not a million miles from Prokofiev – the slow movement of the Second Violin Concerto, for instance), to propulsive sections possibly owing a little to Stravinsky.   

The mordant, curdled elements that can be heard in the reduction are less in evidence in Gebauer’s truncation. That’s certainly true of the central movement, which introduces some catchy Americana to balance the Soviet influence, and the carnivalesque elements of the finale are certainly witty with much insouciant writing – if you can listen through the constricted sound. However, for all the vivid writing, and the excellent playing of the soloist, his snipping has made the work a kaleidoscope of disjunct episodes and there’s a kind of circus hysteria to much of the writing or, if you’re more sympathetic, a compacted melange of episodes. Don’t get me wrong – I like the concerto in either form and I’m a sucker for old recordings so this is just my kind of thing.

The filler has left the compilers confused as to its provenance and undated. The Valentine Waltzes were written for, and dedicated to, Antheil’s then-girlfriend and are warm, sensitive, quirky little pieces. This is his only solo piano recording known to exist though he did record as part of ensembles. The waltzes were recorded on 18 October 1951 at the Gold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood and the last time they were reissued was in the ‘Antheil Plays Antheil’ centenary release on OM1003/4, a 2-CD set, which is the transfer I prefer as the sound there is more forward. The waltzes explore the Chopin-Brahms axis and though Antheil’s playing is occasionally fallible – as is, incidentally, the piano – it’s full of life.

Given the nature of the sonic limitations, I’d give this release, which comes via the Society’s CDRs and without a jewel case, a very cautious vote of approval but it will certainly be of interest to adherents of the composer.

Jonathan Woolf

Availability: send email to Doráti Society