Classical Records
Edmund Haines: Concertino for Seven Solo Instruments and Orchestra (Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra, Guy Fraser Harrison conducting; Composers Recordings, Inc.). A high-spirited, multi-gaited piece that has its moments of surrealist shiftiness and of sheer pyrotechnics. One movement--the third--stands out with a lovely, brooding string solo. Expertly rendered by the first-desk men of the orchestra.
Beethoven: Fidelio (Mezzo-Soprano Christa Ludwig, Tenor Jon Vickers, Basses Gottlob Frick and Walter Berry; the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Otto Klemperer; Angel, 3 LPs). An easy-breathing, expansive performance notable for the clarity of its orchestral effects. There are more dramatic Fidelias but none with quite the same air of authority that Klemperer musters here. Mezzo Ludwig's singing is pure, true and warm; she creates a Leonora that is consistently moving and everywhere credible.
Stravinsky: "Les Noces," "Renard" and "Ragtime for Eleven Instruments" (Mildred Allen, soprano; Regina Sarfaty, mezzo; Loren Driscoll and George Shirley, tenors; William Murphy, baritone; Donald Gramm and Robert Oliver, basses; Igor Stravinsky conducting; Columbia). A brightly performed addition to the growing collection of Stravinsky's works conducted by the composer himself. At Stravinsky's own request, Composers Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss and Roger Sessions play the piano parts in Les Noces, and in this and the other works Stravinsky shapes performances of water clarity and rhythmic fire. Ragtime is the album's special treat.
Scarlatti-Tommasini: The Good-Humored Ladies; Bach-Walton: The Wise Virgins (the Concert Arts Orchestra, Robert Irving conducting; Capitol). Two ballet scores, dating respectively from 1917 and 1940. The Ladies, adapted by Italian Composer Vincenzo Tommasini from the works of Scarlatti, is airy, bright, bubbling, and contains scarcely a note that does not please the ear. The Virgins, adapted from the works of Bach by England's William Walton, is unfailingly evocative of a less harried time. Neither of the ballets survives as a stage work, but their music deserves a better fate--and gets it here.
Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet (Mezzo-Soprano Rosalind Elias, Tenor Cesare Va-letti, Bass Giorgio Tozzi; the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Munch; RCA Victor, 2 LPs). Berlioz' "symphony with chorus" is given a soaring, beautifully proportioned reading by Munch, and all three soloists contribute performances that are almost without flaw. As satisfactory a performance as the work is likely to find.
Spanish Song of the Renaissance (Victoria de los Angeles; Angel). Accompanied on such old instruments as the vihuela de mono and the lira da braccio by the Ars Musicae of Barcelona, Soprano De Los Angeles exhumes some of the neglected treasures of Spanish song with happy results. The songs for the most part deal with unrequited love ("So sharp is my desire/ Sweet lady, and my pain/ I feel my life expire/ Yet dare not to complain"), and they are beautifully sung--with opulence of tone and an engaging air of gentle melancholy.
Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra (the Chicago Symphony, Fritz Reiner conducting; RCA Victor). For sheer lustrous orchestral sound, Strauss's Zarathustra is hard to beat--especially as it is rendered here. How Reiner manages to build his massive climaxes while maintaining a sound that is brilliant, clear and unclotted throughout is his own secret, but it makes for as nerve-tingling a performance as the music has yet received.
Poulenc: "Trois Pieces," "Melancolie," "Suite Franchise," "Presto in B Flat"; Roussel: "Trois Pieces," "Sonatine" (Andre Previn, piano; Columbia). Poulenc and Roussel are both gifted composers for the piano, and they are here given performances fully worthy of their talents. Previn is equally adroit playing the effervescent Poulenc Presto or the mistily impressionistic Roussel Sonatine. His energy and rhythmic control never flag.
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