The Pick of the Holiday Season

By Annalyn Swann, JAY COCKS

Some Christmas gift suggestions, from Debussy to Devo

CLASSICAL

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (Soprano Anna Tomova-Sintow, Alto Patricia Payne, Tenor Robert Tear, Bass Robert Lloyd, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Colin Davis conductor, Philips; 2 LPs). Under Davis, Beethoven's great Mass moves majestically from the solemn opening Kyrie to a troubled Agnus Dei, in which timpani and trumpets dramatically evoke man's troubled state, before the Mass ends on a serene note. The performance is both spiritually and musically intense, and the chorus sings like the heavenly hosts.

Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Soprano Renata Scotto, Tenor Placido Domingo, Baritone Ingvar Wixell, Philharmonia Orchestra and Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Lorin Maazel conductor, Columbia; 3 LPs). Madame Butterfly is one of opera's most endearing and enduring heroines. Scotto makes a warm Butterfly; she effortlessly holds the almost whispered high notes of her Un bel di aria. Domingo's Pinkerton is such a hearty fellow that it is hard to hate him.

Sing We Noel: Christmas Music from England & Early America (The Boston Camerata, Joel Cohen director, Nonesuch). Charpentier: Messe de Minuit pour Noel; Senate a Six (The Boston Camerata, Joel Cohen director, Desmar). The album of folk-inspired Christmas music, a welcome change from today's homogenized carols, ranges from a 12th century Latin tune, Ad cantus leticie, to a rousing Gloucestershire Wassail from modern Britain. Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Mass, based on French Christmas carols, is a graceful work, and the voices of The Boston Camerata are perfectly balanced.

Debussy: Preludes, Vol. 1 (Pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Deutsche Grammophon). Any recording by the reclusive Michelangeli is an event. His Debussy is almost transparent. Light seems to flicker and dance throughout, creating moments of incandescent beauty. The carefree Les collines d'Anacapri and the eerie stillness of La cathedrale engloutie are special joys.

Richard Strauss: Salome (Soprano Hildegard Behrens, Mezzo Agnes Baltsa, Tenor Karl-Walter Bohm, Baritone Jose Van Dam, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan conductor, Angel; 2 LPs). With Karajan, the orchestral music comes first, even in opera. Here he conducts a vibrant, sensuous performance of Strauss's lurid opera. Behrens as Salome may lack the cruel edge of Birgit Nilsson's performance on London. But Behrens' pure voice contrasts chillingly with Salome's lust, while Van Dam's ringing Jochanaan is a saintly counterpoint in a savage world.

Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas (Pianist Alfred Brendel, Philips; 13 LPs). The 32 sonatas, which explore every facet of the keyboard, are an Olympian effort for a performer. Brendel, a meticulous scholar and flawless technician, concentrates on incisive detail rather than drama. If such sonatas as the Appassionata lack grandeur, one can still admire the impeccable musical lines.

Bartok: Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion. Stravinsky: Concerto for 2 Solo Pianos; Sonata for 2 Pianos (Pianists Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky, Percussionists Christoph Caskel and Heinz Koenig, Deutsche Grammophon). The violent harmonies and rhythmic twists of Bartdk's 1937 sonata are still harshly exciting; Stravinsky's 1935 concerto is austere but relentlessly driven. The Kontarskys' diamond-sharp tone makes other versions sound mushy by comparison.

Bernstein: The Three Symphonies, Chichester Psalms (Soprano Montserrat Caballe, Mezzo Christa Ludwig, Pianist Lukas Foss, Vienna Choir Boys, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein conductor, Deutsche Grammophon; 3 LPs). This definitive Bernstein collection, with its cast of hundreds, confirms what Bernstein himself once said: all of his works are in some way really theater music. The trilogy's theme is modern man's crisis of faith, but Bernstein's eclectic style is far more dramatic than spiritual. Foss's playing in the Symphony No. 2 and Caballe's singing in the third stand out, and Bernstein conducts with his usu al volatile energy.

Bach: French Suites (Harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt, ABC [Seon] Classics; 2 LPs). These six suites, composed of various dance movements (stately minuets, lilting gavottes, etc.), are a maze of racing musical lines and intricate rhythms. Leonhardt plays them with a flourish, showing off the glories of Bach's harpsichord music.

Verdi: Otello (Soprano Margaret Price, Tenor Carlo Cossutta, Baritone Gabriel Bacquier, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus, Sir Georg Solti conductor, London; 3 LPs); (Soprano Renata Scotto, Tenor Placido Domingo, Baritone Sherrill Milnes, National Philharmonic Orchestra and Ambrosian Opera Chorus, James Levine conductor, RCA; 3 LPs). These recordings of Verdi's masterpiece stand up well against the Karajan competition -- and each other. Levine's is more immediate and vivid: the instruments are as sharply defined as the voices. Solti opts for a rich orchestral sound that rides beneath the singers. Price's angelically soft Desdemona has the edge over Scotto's blunt reading. The tenor and baritone roles are a matter of personal choice: Domingo's Otello is lyrical and impetuous, Cossutta's darkly vibrant. As Iago, Milnes has the firmer voice, but Bacquier is more cunning.

POP

Van Morrison: Wavelength (Warner Bros.). During a career that has lasted well over a decade, Van Morrison has made two, maybe three albums that rank high among the finest of all rock 'n' roll. Wavelength is good enough to stand close by Morrison's best work, a record of sinuous, sensuous magic. The man just can't be beat.

The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (Epic). The British New Wave still breaks with considerable force. The Clash makes music fierce enough to raise welts, scary enough to keep you looking over your shoulder. Features tunes like Tommy Gun and Julie's in the Drug Squad; unsuitable for caroling or any other seasonal sing-alongs.

Keith Jarrett: Sun Bear Concerts (ECM/Warners). Improvised fantasies by the soaring lyricist of the jazz piano. A ten-record set, beautiful and exacting and a touch toplofty by turns, stunningly pack aged to grace the coffee table while the records do their duty on the turntable.

Devo: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (Warner Bros.). Rock satire that works. Devo is a band of crafty loonies who play at being harbingers of a bleary future when the human species is sliding back down Darwin's scale. Space Junk and Uncontrollable Urge are among Devo's marching songs for"de-evolution"; they are also a rich source of silly fun.

Wings: Wings Greatest (Capitol). A collection of jaunty, well-groomed Paul McCartney tunes, all featuring melodies that can soothe or make you smile at the composer's easygoing pleasure. Yes, the lyrics can turn smarmy, and yes, the mu sic sounds pretty contented. But McCart ney slips in a mickey every now and again (as in Hi, Hi, Hi), and if he is far from a resolute rocker, he has little serious competition as a pre-eminent pop composer.

Billy Joel: 52nd Street (Columbia). Mc Cartney's competition. Home-grown and nurtured on big-city streets, Billy Joel sings spiky ballads and ornery anthems about bitches, grifters and bozos on the make. Pop with a punch.

Al Stewart: Time Passages (Arista). Easygoing voyages into the fantastical by a British rocker who treads lightly. May be too lightly; but songs like A Man for All Seasons (yes, it's about Sir Thomas More) and the title cut have a wistful, uninsistent delicacy that will mightily appeal to any college sophomores in the family as they fret over their first submission to the literary magazine.

Johnny Cash: Gone Girl (Columbia). Much the best Johnny Cash album in years, and a necessary reminder that country music doesn't have to be slick to get unsentimental, doesn't have to bluster to hang tough. An album full of sur prises: some topnotch Cash originals; a country cover of the Stones' No Expectations; a little lyrical autobiography; and a 3%-min. Bildungsroman called The Gambler, in which the worldly title character hands down a little useful guidance to the youthful narrator: "Every hand's a winner/ Just like every hand's a loser/ And the best that you can hope for/ Is to die in your sleep."

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes: Hearts of Stone (Epic). The rave-up record of the season, a terrific broadside of roadhouse rock 'n' roll performed at white heat by Singer Southside Johnny Lyon and the hard-driving Jukes. The album includes a couple of original Bruce Springsteen tunes and a stunning ballad, Light Don't Shine, by Steve Van Zandt. Save Hearts of Stone for New Year's, then kick out the jams.

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