Classic and Choice

By Annalyn Swan

For summer listening

Mozart: Mitridate, Re di Ponto (Sopranos Arleen Auger, Ileana Cotrubas and Edith Gruberova, Mezzo Agnes Baltsa, Tenor Werner Hollweg, Mozarteum Orchestra, Salzburg, Leopold Hager, conductor; Deutsche Grammophon; 4 LPs); La Clemenza di Tito (Mezzos Janet Baker and Yvonne Minton, Tenor Stuart Burrows, Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis, conductor; Philips; 3 LPs). Mozart composed Mitridate when he was only 14; La Clemenza came just before he died at 35. Both works are all but forgotten. They are opera seria, the early style of Italian opera that can present obstacles for the modern listener: dry recitatives, stiff action, mezzos singing male roles. But there is splendid music here, and even some good drama. Arleen Auger pours out brilliant coloratura cascades in Mitridate as the old King's fiancee; Baltsa stands out as Farnace, Mitridate's arrogant son. In La Clemenza, Baker's unique timbre and intensity fire the role of the vindictive Princess Vitellia, and Burrows is appropriately regal as the forgiving Emperor. These are definitely collector's items.

Chopin: Chopin (Pianist Vladimir Horowitz; RCA); Concert Favorites (Pianist Vladimir Horowitz; RCA). Released for Horowitz's golden jubilee year, both records are selections from mono collections compiled over three decades. Chopin's demanding B-flat-minor sonata, a Horowitz signature, is here. The Favorites album shows Horowitz's quieter side, with such masterly but unpretentious works as Scarlatti's Sonata in E-Major and Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses. Even without stereo tracking, the playing here is what Horowitz fans expect: the best.

Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor; Deutsche Grammophon). In the case of the "New World" Symphony, familiarity has bred lack of imagination: conductors tend to blast through the great crescendos and wallow in the well-known themes. Not Giulini, however, whose byword is subtlety. The Chicago's famous brass is brilliant, not blaring, and Giulini achieves unexpected nuances of color and volume. Those who prefer their "New World" brooding and Slavic should stick with Stokowski's various recordings, but those with an ear for freshness will like this interpretation.

Charpentier: Te Deum, Magnificat (King's College Choir, Cambridge, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Philip Ledger, conductor; Angel). Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1634-1704) wrote brilliant religious music for Louis XIV that is seldom heard today. This recording celebrates Charpentier's majestic trumpet flourishes and garlands of intertwined, polyphonic passages. The resplendent voices of the King's Choir--recorded in the King's College 500-year-old chapel, with its perfect acoustics--would have pleased the Sun King.

Sessions: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd (Soprano Esther Hinds, Mezzo Florence Quivar, Baritone Dominic Cossa, Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, conductor; New World Records). It takes strong music to match the passion of Walt Whitman's elegy for the murdered Lincoln. In Roger Sessions' contemporary cantata--set to Whitman's verse and recorded here for the first time--the sense of foreboding and despair is relentless. Whitman's extended lines sweep over the dense, driving texture of polyphonic clashes and percussive explosions like a meteor against an ominous sky.

Mozart: The Piano Quartets (Pianist Arthur Rubinstein, members of the Guarneri Quartet; RCA). While much of Mozart's chamber music celebrates the joys of life, his two works for piano and ensemble are more troubled. Rubinstein softens the solemn mood with dramatic piano work and sweet, gentle moments here and there, and the Guarneri Quartet adds a special glow in its playing.

Vaughan Williams: Concerto for Bass Tuba and Orchestra, The Lark Ascending, Concerto for Oboe and String Orchestra (Tuba Player Arnold Jacobs, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, conductor; Deutsche Grammophon). In this collection of Vaughan Williams' more intimate music, the tuba--rarely allowed the limelight --struts gaily through its concerto like a fat man at the circus. The Lark Ascending is Vaughan Williams' haunting tribute to the violin, one of his favorite instruments. Barenboim conducts with a flourish that is matched by the instrumentalists.

Beethoven: "Diabelli" Variations (Pianist Alfred Brendel; Philips); Liszt: Variations on "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen," Pensees des Morts, Fantasy and Fugue on BACH, Benediction de Dieu dans la Solitude (Pianist Alfred Brendel; Philips). Brendel is an intellectual pianist who often seems ill at ease with tender or tempestuous music. But he excels in less emotional works, such as Beethoven's witty variations on one C-major sequence, which skip from light triplets to solemn versions in the minor key. Brendel handles them with wry humor and a slightly detached air. He winds up with the best "Diabelli" on disc. The Liszt works again show Brendel's introspective temperament to advantage. The Benediction, in particular, is serene and lyrical.

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