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Volume 5, Number 3.
July-August, 1953.
Design Review is published bimonthly by the Architectural Centre Inc., Wellington.
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Recently much has been written and many views expressed on the subject of high building costs. To all who go to make up that substantial proportion of our population who are unsuitably housed, the topic is an absorbing one; to the young family man the matter is one of vital concern, and small prospect of improvement in the situation has been offered. Old converted houses, although something of a national asset in times of housing shortages, have been “home” to too many growing families for too long, but high rentals and living costs make the task of saving enough to bridge the gap between loan monies and the price of a house and section, lengthy and difficult.
From this situation one supremely significant fact emerges. Today the building industry as a whole is critically short of labour. At the same time the industry is geared to produce a type of house which is traditional in regard to planning, construction, and materials. This type was developed when labour was plentiful and cheap and many present-day machines and equipment were unheard of. But because the industry is at present organised to produce this traditional house it can do so more cheaply than other types which theoretically should be less costly. Public demand is therefore for the traditional house, lending institutions naturally prefer it, and both State and private builders continue to produce it. Thus a complete circle is described which is heartbreakingly tight and proverbially vicious.
How can this circle be broken? Isolated attempts by the more progressive architects to develop new house types, although perhaps suggesting a more rational approach to the problem have not been successful in practice because with a traditionally trained labour force any variations from standard practice tend to increase costs. On a national basis the solution surely is in the hands of the building industry itself. What is urgently needed is an organisation set up by the industry, staffed by research technicians and designers, and backed by an adequate publicity department. Such an organisation if maintained on a broad enough basis could surely evolve a new type of house in which modern planning and machine techniques are fully utilised and man hours in construction are reduced to an absolute minimum— a house in which standards of a different but not inferior … kind are introduced. The training of key men in the labour force would also have to be the responsibility of the organisation and the new dwellings would have to be presented to the public by the publicity department in the way that Detroit announces a new automobile.
Dare we suggest that the new dwelling type might prove to be, not the isolated single house, but one of a group of perhaps four or six, each with its own private garden? And constructed, perhaps, from timber pre-cut in a mobile workshop on the site?
Is it beyond the bounds of possibility that a Building and Research Authority could be set up?
Building contractors, material suppliers, hardware merchants, sub-contractors, lending institutions, architects, local authorities, the Government, and the general public are all concerned, and the national interest would be well served if differences were settled and full support offered to such a project.
P.S.… But A Whimper
As we go to press the results of the Housing Competition are announced. So far we have seen only newspaper reproductions of the winning paln, but these are sufficient to show that those competitors who placed emphasis on houses extensible from two to three bedrooms, or on flexible orientation and siting, or even on low cost, backed the wrong horse. Although these factors were conditions of the competition they are not particularly evident in the winning design.
I think it is a mistaken attitude to be derisive of flag hanging and other forms of festoonery—even if they are done out of compliance rather than zeal, the effect of temporary gaiety can do no harm. I hope those who are now planning the final details of the Queen's visit will have learned something about the use of flags and bunting during the Coronation week. One thing I noticed was how much more effective were a few large flags than a whole string of little ones. One of the most effective means of street decoration is rows of flags or decoration across from building to building unifying the whole street as a colourful parade.
I like a city to be brilliantly lit at night. I like neon lights and I like floodlit buildings. But I would enjoy floodlit buildings a lot more if some skill were shown in the way the lights are arranged. The Coronation floodlighting showed us that it is not enough to throw powerful rays indiscriminately on to the face of a building. I object to red white and blue and any other sort of coloured floodlighting. Most of all I object to seeing plastic flex draped out of the first floor window of a government building to a piece of pinus nailed to the side of the lightstand on the footpath, trailing along to the next stand, looping round a lamp post on the way and then disappearing again into another window. If floodlighting is to enhance a building by night, why clutter it up by day? I hope the experts who were responsible will learn better by the time of the Royal visit.
In comparison with memorials to World War I, local memorials to World War II have had as their theme ‘a living memorial’. Community centres, and sports grounds have curried more favour than stone obelisks or brick entrance gates. But for the National Memorial one could not have expected us to have developed sufficiently to wish for anything else than what we are to have—a great pillared hall of memories in concrete and stone. Designs have been published showing lofty halls flanking the Carillon in front of the Dominion Museum. As a formal classical composition in two dimensions it appears to adhere to most of the rules. But I seriously question whether the architects have given sufficient study to the scheme in perspective. If we remember that the site is a steep one sloping up from Buckle Street with long nights of steps to the Carillon and up again to the Museum, we will realise that the design can never be seen in front elevation as it has been shown. It can be seen only from below, reducing the height of the main Museum building. The serious weakness of the design is, I fear, that the new structure will almost hide the main building and gain undue prominence. The whole group is fairly complete now and there is scarcely space for further structures on the main axis. I should like to see a perspective or model before I am convinced that the estimated £250,000 is to be spent to good effect.
By now entries for the Government's housing competition will have been judged. Congratulations to the winners and may their ideas get further than the walls of Bellamy's. Pardon my pessimism, but I don't see much hope of this unless times have changed since the last competition was held to solve the housing problem. Anyway, people ask, has the Government's Housing Division not been producing bright ideas on the subject since 1936 that it is now necessary to appeal to the public for them? I should have thought that at this stage a clear-sighted nation-wide policy would do more.
The long-delayed Town Planning Bill will be before Parliament this Session. If it goes through as an Act it will replace the existing legislation which has, for the last 27 years, made town planning control available to local authorities. They haven't used it very much though many have tried. The trouble largely lay in the unwieldy method of central control placed in the hands of the Town Planning Board. This was a formidable obstacle to the wide adoption of town planning proposals. If, as we can expect, the new Act disbands the Town Planning Board in favour of more local responsibility then more planning activity should result. And if recent public statements about the need for foresight—planning, in other words—in the use of our agricultural land and the expansion of our towns mean anything, then the Act will be most welcome. Two things will be needed, however. Firstly, a greater respect among local authorities for the sort of assistance they use in preparing their plans—the sanitary inspector really isn't the man for the job. And secondly the amount of practical advice, research information and helpful surveillance the central government intends to make available to them. I feel that either through the Ministry of Works or, preferably, a special Ministry, the Government might now exercise a stronger hand in promoting town planning than it has so far.
News that the Queen is to lay the foundation stone of the Wellington Anglican Cathedral reopens an issue that had appeared to be almost forgotten. So Wellington is to get its Cathedral apparently—for once a building has a foundation stone something is bound to follow sooner or later. The question this building once raised was the vexed one of architectural worthiness for its elevated purpose. It seems now that the criticism then showered on the ponderous design is to be quietly ignored. And no one will be surprised, though some will be very disappointed. It seems there is something indefinitely hereitcal in criticising a dull cathedral design, even though one may have the interests of the Church very much at heart in doing so. I should like, however, to raise a question which is strictly a matter of Church policy—is St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral really inadequate for the purpose? If the surrounding area were to have a fraction of the cost of the new Cathedral spent on it in providing an appropriate setting, wold not this fine old building embellish the City in a manner impossible to the proposed new structure?
A House in Napier.
Having secured an excellent piece of land on the Wharerangi hills facing northward toward Napier and looking out over the sea, Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Bisson asked their architects to design a house for them which would make the most of the site, with its trees, its existing drive and the view. Their requirements were those of most New Zealand families, an easy, unhampered home life, closely related to the outdoors, a house adaptable for entertaining yet simple to maintain without domestic help, warm in winter and cool in summer—and, of course, built within a strict budget. And in this long, open-planned house with wide eaves shading its ample windows the architects have satisfied their clients’ wishes while making, in their straightforward and mature design, a valuable contributidn to our contemporary domestic architecture. Yet this house, before it was built, was refused an advance by a Government lending agency and was declared by some builders to be too ‘unconventional’ for them to take on. Perhaps the forthcoming Housing Conference will open their eyes to the need for a more enterprising outlook.
Waterproof concrete floor slab with asphalt tile or body carpet finish. Timber frame with studs and rafters at 3ft. centres. External lining in 8in. × 1in. tongued and grooved redwood laid vertically and left to weather. Roof in corrugated aluminium sheeting. Average ceiling height 8ft. 3in., slope of ceiling giving apparent increase in height to rooms while offering maximum sun and glare control at eaves.
Externally, natural redwood siding with white trim, blue eaves soffit and bright yellow entry door.
Living room has blue ceiling, grey walls and clear lacquered knotty pine boarding, rimu doors and fittings, ivory painted trim. Floor covered in rich red carpet or blue asphalt tile.
Sliding doors: Henderson Tracks from Odlin's Ltd., Napier. Windows: Top-hung Whitco fittings. Asphalt Tiles:
Ltd., Hastings. Fire surround: N.Z. Marble Co.
Photography by A. B. Hurst & Son, Napier.
Open hospitality at night, easy living by day, is suggested in these photographs. The living room's sloping ceiling, following the line of the roof, the contrast of natural and painted surfaces, the wide sliding window wall, all contribute to achieve greater character without loss of simplicity, informality within convention. Set close to the ground on its concrete slab floor, this house makes the transition from living space to outdoor terrace simple, inviting.
In his concluding article
“Towns have sometimes been described as the physical expression of a nation's civilisation. The physical form of a town does in many ways reflect fairly accurately the social conditions of the people who live in it, their mode of life, their cultural achievement, their economic status, the kind of government they possess. The town reflects these characteristics because it arises out of them.”Dr. Thomas Sharp, “Town Planning”
God forbid that visitors should judge us as Thomas Sharp suggests by the condition of our towns. If they did, the most charitable thing that could be said for us would be that we are blind, old fashioned and wealthy—so blind that we cannot see the disorder and ugliness around us—so old fashioned that we like to think that it is still the 19th century, and so wealthy that we can afford to behave as though it were.
If you think that this is an extravagant statement just take a look at your own town. To start with, consider the accommodation provided for community activities. Is there a civic centre or any grouping of public buildings? If you have a town hall, when was it built? What sort of distortions do its acoustics give to the National Orchestra? Where do the local drama societies rehearse and play? Is there a decently equipped theatre when the Old Vic Company or the ballet or Shakespeare come to town—or do they play in a 19th century building that is dusted up for the occasion? Where do you hold exhibitions? Are they accessible in lunch time or are they out of town like the Art Gallery in Wellington?
Is there any square or place that has been designed for outside gatherings of citizens, such as for the Coronation, or do you just cordon off some street from
“frame the north-eastern side of Parliament grounds”
If you live in Auckland, take a look at the surroundings of the Town Hall. Then take a quiet walk around the inner residential areas of the city—preferably on a Sunday morning when there is no traffic about to distract you. You will find slums—yes, real slums—up side streets within a stone's throw of the Town Hall. Then I suggest spending a half-hour or so in the gully behind Karangahape Road. Then turn back towards the Harbour from Ponsonby Road corner and investigate some lanes off Nelson Street and down into Freemans Bay past the gasometer. You can find many more areas equally degrading, but that should be enough. It's not pretty is it?
But you will find the same kind of living conditions all around Wellington from Mt. Victoria through Te Aro Flat and over to Aro Street. Then have a look at the accommodation that passes for flats around Wellington Terrace and Kelburn, Tinakori Road and Thorndon. Ask to see some of the “rooms with tray” and find out what rents are paid.
Do people live like this because they want to? Of course they don't. Why then do we have conditions like this? Because we as a nation have overlooked the fact that many people want to live close to town. Everyone is supposed to live in a suburban bungalow with a garden. It is somehow slightly immoral to live in a flat. Our housing policies, in fact, have always been framed on the assumption that every household consists of a father and mother and a family of young children. Little or no thought has been given to the actual proportion of such households in the total population. Housing surveys in the past have shown that at least one-third of the households consists of one or not more than two people. In a recent survey in Auckland the proportion was found to be even higher. This is not surprising. Think of the number of young childless couples you know. What about the parents whose children have grown up and left home—and the widows and widowers. Where do the single typists, clerks, shop assistants, factory workers (male and female) live? Could any of these cope with a suburban house and garden? Consider the plight of the University and Training College students and of all the clerks, cadets and trainees for professions who come from country districts to the cities. What provision do we make for them? Are they not entitled to expect that society will provide some reasonable accommodation for them?
The ordinary suburban family house is of no value to these various groups. They need a different type of living space and they want it nearer the city centre. Think of the savings in fares and travelling time, the convenience of access to libraries and clubs and entertainment, the pleasure for retired people of a short walk to the city. Many workers could go home to lunch as they do in country towns. Then if we build upwards we could have plenty of open ground around buildings and everyone could share the sun and the view. There would be room for bowling and croquet and tennis and for vegetable and flower plots—for those that want them. Community laundries could be well equipped with inside driers. We need not be at the mercy of the elements. We might even have some service flats as they have in other countries so that those who work all week would not have to spend their week-ends doing domestic chores. In a country where there are not enough people available to do the work of the nation we could encourage those who have no home ties to
“down into Freeman's Bay past the gasometers.”
But this blind spot in our housing policies does not only affect the thousands who fall within the groups I have mentioned. It touches all our pockets. For, while the suburbs are spreading ever outwards the inner areas are rotting. From the point of view of municipal economics there is a double wastage. While public utility services—water, sewerage, electricity, telephones, etc., road and public transport, not to mention the postman, tradesmen and deliveries, the rubbish man and all the rest—are being extended uneconomically over thin and often straggling peripheral suburban development, the public utilities and transport services provided in the inner areas are far from fully used. From the point of view of rating it should be remembered, too, that the inner parts of the city contribute by far the greater proportion of the municipal rating revenue, area for area, even in their present dilapidated condition. And if they were redeveloped into decent modern higher density residential areas they would contribute even more to the municipal purse. For example, it is estimated that the rate revenue from a block of the existing Freeman's Bay slums, which is now measured in hundreds of pounds, would on redevelopment be multiplied into thousands.
In fact, the economic and social problems of our towns are so inter-related that they are one and the same thing. Unhealthy living and working conditions inevitably produce unhealthy municipal balance sheets. And you don't need to be a trained town planner to be able to diagnose the prevailing sickness in the local body politic as a disease of the heart. Our suburbs look healthy enough. No doubt much could be done to make them more convenient, but by and large they are reasonably pleasant to live in. It is the business and industrial centres and the inner residential areas that look so sick and no amount of paint and cosmetics can disguise it.
The plain fact is that our towns are at least half a century out of date. They were designed—if designed at all—for the day of the horse-drawn vehicle and its leisurely way of life, and no amount
“our inner residential areas”
The general practice of preventing the establishment of industries in residential zones is all very well but the city will not advance if residential building is not prevented in industrial zones. Industry must go somewhere and if we do not reserve those areas that are most suitable for it then we must allow it to go anywhere. Similarly if we want decent and convenient shopping centres then we must listen to the retailers’ plea for continuous shopping fronts and exclude industries, garages and workshops. Recreation areas must be well distributed and accessible to the various people who want to use them. If they are 30 miles out of town their use will be limited. An airport can be excellent from the point of view of aircraft operations and yet be unsuccessful if at the same time free traffic access from the centre and the rest of the town is not provided. It can also make conditions unbearable in its vicinity. Have you heard the latest jet planes?
New inventions, particularly in aviation, prompt people to say that change in this century is so rapid that plans are likely to be out of date before they can be carried into effect. So why plan—somehow it will all come right. Will it? Of course it will not. It is this counsel of inaction that has brought us to our present pass. It is this attitude that is accountable for the blighting of hundreds of acres in our city centres while the suburbs continue to spread ever outwards eating up our limited fertile soils. The land around Auckland and Wellington that produced milk and fresh vegetables 20 years ago is now under houses. Aready Wellington looks 50 miles to Otaki for its market gardens and now they, too, are under threat of urban encroachment. Are we going to continue to fritter away our resources like this? We know now that our population is increasing very rapidly—faster in fact than any other country in the world—there will be another million—so the statisticians tell us—in 25 to 30 years. Present population may even have doubled by the turn of the century. At the moment we have the highest standard of living in the world. This is made possible by New Zealand's remarkable productive capacity per head. But what happens when the population is doubled? On our present showing will be able even to feed ourselves, let alone export a surplus in exchange for those necessities New Zealand cannot produce?
Even as we delay the population is increasing at the rate of over 40,000—a new Lower Hutt—every year. Shall we continue to take land like that of the Hutt Valley out of production each year? Or can we convert the reproach of the present run-down condition of our cities into a challenge—a challenge to plan for redevelopment, to take positive steps to conserve our resources for the future? This could be the greatest adventure of our history.
“A house is a thing for living in”
Many and diverse are the ways of life, and ways of living: so living rooms have likewise many aspects. Every member of the family and a wide variety of people outside it make use of your living room in various ways at various times. The planning problem is therefore complex.
You can simplify matters by having a separate dining room, a separate entrance hall, a separate study, a separate playroom, a separate “best room”, and so on—if you can afford it, and if you don't mind housework—and those are pretty big ifs these days. The tendency is rather to include the kitchen and even the bedroom in the apparent space of the living room, screening or dividing by door-high fittings, sliding screens, or curtains. This means greater apparent space, more flexible and usable, for less gross floor area and less cost. You may, however, prefer a permanently private bedroom; you may feel a playroom is worthwhile and important (can you be sure the kids will want to stay there?) These things you must work out for yourself but do work them out. Make out lists, and draw diagrams. Read about—and go and see when you can—what other people have done. List all the activities that are likely to take place in your living room. Check all the equipment and furniture that is necessary for these activities, and make sure that it can all be conveniently placed or stored. Make your design and selection of furniture as versatile as possible, to avoid waste space and clutter. Your living room will then have character as well as dimensions, and the most that can be said about many a living room is that it is 20 × 12 or whatever it is.
a living room in a house in Takapuna by Group Architects
two living rooms in houses for the Architects’ parents.
Both living rooms on this page are for married couples whose families have grown up and left home. The upper living-room, photographed from the dining area, opens on to two garden courts. On the right is a glass-fronted head-high china cabinet screening the kitchen; on the left are piano, built-in oil-burning space heater, and head-high bookshelf with radio fitting screening the bedroom sewing space. Architect, S.
This living-dining-room is on the first floor of a house in a very restricted and steeply sloping site. The dining end opens on to a sheltered paved terrace and the opposite end of the room faces a spectacular view. The door and glass panel to the stair hall divide built-in storage fittings of appropriate kinds, and the varied levels of the ceiling give some character to an otherwise rather flat room. Architect,
Plan 1 is a house to be built at Takapuna on a steep bush section (Group Architects). The living room of 2 (
Some shops in our cities are aware that the design-conscious section of the buying public is increasing. We now find attention being given by local manufacturers and salesmen to overseas designs for contemporary furniture. The need in small homes for light, comfortable and easily arranged furniture of simple lines is now recognised by most housewives. The difficulty is to find it. Although these photographs by no means cover the full range of modern furniture procurable at present, they give some indication of the current improvement in design. Again, the wide variety of furnishing materials available now offers many alternatives to the conventional floral chintz and autumn-toned plush coverings. Both strong and subtle colour is to be found as well as more original patterns and interesting textures in the fabrics recently imported. A wide range of prices place these within the means of anyone thinking of re-covering furniture or hanging new curtains.
The dining table and chairs, right, designed for the Festival of Britain Exhibition by Ernest Race Ltd., England, skilfully combine wood, metal and fabric. The solid mahogany top, 4ft. × 2ft. 8in., is supported by cream-grey aluminium alloy legs screwed to the top. The foam rubber chair seats are covered in rough textured cotton fabric in flame red. Price approximately £57/15/- at the D.I.C., Wellington.
The Antelope chair, upper, and the Springbok, lower, above, were both designed by Ernest Race Ltd., for the Festival Exhibition and used there for public seating. Both chairs are suitable for either indoors or the garden and may be left out in all weathers. The Antelope, £9/9/-, has a white metal frame and yellow plywood seat. The comfort of the Springbok lies in its rows of plastic-covered metal springs which give flexibility of support. In white frame and red plastic, £12/12/- at the D.I.C., Wellington. The coffee table, right, is available at Stockton's, Woodward Street, Wellington, or Brenner Associates, Dominion Road, Auckland. The glass top may be removed and the table reversed. Price, £11/11/-.
This fabric from Hurdley's of Wellington is a woven mixture of jute and cotton, designed for Glamis, The coarse, knobbly texture is interesting, the cloth being woven in gently merging bands of colour of which there is a wide variety of choice available. This Bevis cotton fabric has a charmingly stylised pattern overprinted on a patterned weave. The print is deep red and green the background, pale grey with a slight tone of green. Price, 19/6 a yard, 48in. wide, from Hurdley's, Wellington. Marian Mahler's design for a David Whitehead fabric. The block pattern is printed on flame coloured rayon in white, lemon, beige, with linear designs in white and black, 12/6 a yard, 48in. wide, from Stockton's, Wellington. Interesting texture and pattern in a Whitehead cotton fabric designed by Terence Conran. In black on flame, 25/- a yard, 48in. wide, from Stockton's. Jacqueline Groag designed this pattern printed on teal blue rayon in lemon, white, grey, black and vermilion. This Whitehead fabric is 12/6 a yard, 48in, wide, obtainable at Stockton's, Woodward Street, Wellington.
photography: Mervyn Holland
This house is for a family of two adults and four children. The house was designed to be built in two stages, each complete in itself. The first stage completed was the living room-study-kitchen area. This portion was built and used for three years before the bedroom wing was started, the owners, Mr. and Mrs. R. S. V. Simpson, and their family meanwhile sleeping in an old existing cottage on the site. The old cottage has now been demolished, the materials from it being used to construct a playhouse for the children in another part of the garden.
Site. The site is extensive, with some fine native bush, and slopes gently to the west. There are fine views over the Hutt Valley. Extensive clearing has been done by the owner, and lawns formed which merge pleasantly into the native bush on two sides of the house. Skilful and imaginative planting has also improved immensely the native advantages of the site without spoiling its informal character.
Planning. The general plan shape evolved from for considerations— the construction was to be in two stages—sun was required in all living and bedrooms—a view over the Hutt Valley was desired from the living room and principal bedroom—privacy was required from visitors, etc., using the approach drive. These conditions have been satisfied by placing the two plan stages at an angle to one another and linking them with a passage and side entrance unit. Advantage has been taken of the natural slope by placing the second (bedroom) stage 15 inches lower than the first stage, but it was still possible to work in an extensive storage/utility room under the principal bedroom. The children's bedrooms are divided by sliding folding doors, which are opened during the day to give one large play space. It is interesting to note that the living room, one wall of which is entirely glass, can become too warm for comfort on sunny days in mid-winter.
Construction is normal wood frame. Roofs ars single slope covered with bituminous fabric. Ceilings of minor and service rooms are sloping. Ceilings of principle rooms are level, the ceiling joists beng used to form flat trusses with the roof joists over large spans. Weatherboards are sawn and oiled. Resin bonded ply and vertical t. and g. have been used for contrast. River stones are used to face all external concrete walls. Interiors are lined with Pinex and Gibraltar board, and are painted throughout. Windows are designed to fit between cased studs, and no large trimmers were needed. Where no opening sash is provided glass is fixed directly into the frame.
(1) A view of the house from the garden.
(2) The living room.
(3) A view of the house showing bedroom wing.
(4) This bedroom can be divided down the middle by a movable wall.
(5) The main bedroom with the dressing room in the rear.
photography: Photo News
Nixa's horizons have been brightening and widening of late, offering solace to the music lover who, while acknowledging the significance of the vast amount of “baroque” music appearing on this particular label, appreciates something different now and then. To at least one such, the issue of Mahler's “The Youth's Magic Horn”, settings from a collection of German folk poetry bearing that title, is an exciting event (Nixa VLP 412, four sides). This is in no sense a “work” and the songs may be played as your fancy pleases. They range from the simple and gay, such as “Up there on the Hill” (once magically recorded by Elisabeth Schumann) to the deeply tragic, such as the drummer boy about to be hanged for some undisclosed breach of discipline. The Vienna State Opera Orchestra under Felix Prohaska plays its part with a real Mahlerian tang—swirls from the woodwind and evocative flashes from trumpets and drums. The baritone Alfred Poell seems to live each song he sings. Lorna Sydney, an Australian contralto who has made her career in Germany and Austria, has a few moments of unsteadiness, but is the possessor of a rich, appealing voice. Do not neglect these discs. The record covers do not give us the customary scholarly essay. Instead, they provide something equally welcome and far more valuable—the complete words, in both English and German, of all the thirteen songs.
Tchaikovsky's music is so universally accepted that Nixa have been encouraged to make available many of his lesser-known works, such as the first three orchestral suites (CLP 1121, 1122, 1144) under the baton of the indefatigable Walter Goehr. These belong in the sphere of light music (though the “introduction and fugue”. of No. 1 seem to betray serious intentions) and as such have their honourable place. Those who enjoy the composer's ballets need not hesitate here; they will find fresh and charming music, well played and recorded by the Winterthur Symphony Orchestra. This is the place to mention that Mewton Wood, also with Goehr as conductor, has recorded the attractive second piano concerto (CLP 1125), the unknown third, and a “Concert Fantasy”, opus 56 (CLP 1126). The same performers have given us, on CLP 1153, a forthright account of Chopin's E minor concerto. For possibly the first time in its “recorded” history, the long orchestral introduction to this work is given uncut, which cannot but add to its stature.