Critics' Choice

THEATER

DUTCH LANDSCAPE. Dramatist Jon Robin Baitz, 26, who made a splash with The Film Society, echoes its South African setting in this autobiographical work, premiering at Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum.

PRAVDA. A stinging British satire of Murdochian media moguls more concerned with money than truth gets its U.S. premiere from the Guthrie troupe in Minneapolis.

THE HEIDI CHRONICLES. Playwright Wendy Wasserstein revisits the rise and fall of principle among baby boomers, and star Joan Allen makes the stereotypes come touchingly alive, off-Broadway.

MUSIC

JOPLIN: PIANO WORKS, 1899-1904 (RCA). Sixteen of the best rags by the American Schubert, including the Maple Leaf, The Entertainer and the neglected A Breeze from Alabama. A welcome CD reissue from pianist Dick Hyman.

BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 6 (EMI). The obscure Sixth in a bang-up reading by Riccardo Muti and the Berlin Philharmonic. And you thought Bruckner was boring.

CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG: AMERICAN DREAM (Atlantic). The title cut on this reunion album delivers more bounce -- as well as a bit of bile -- than the rest of the album combined, but the guitar work has some fire, and those famous harmonies can still soar high.

THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET: FOR ELLINGTON (East-West). Part hommage, part reinvention, this is a ravishing tribute by one of the premier jazz groups to one of America's greatest composers. The M.J.Q. pays the Duke the ultimate honor: they don't just respect him, they make him swing.

ART

FREDERICK KIESLER, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City. Kiesler (1890-1965), a visionary artist-architect-designer, is seen in all his guises in this gathering of drawings, sculptures, architectural plans and models, furniture and paintings. Through April 16.

MARC CHAGALL, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The only North American showing of this first major retrospective since the artist's death in 1985. More than 150 paintings, gouaches and drawings. Through Feb. 26.

PAINTING IN RENAISSANCE SIENA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The ^ gentle, graceful 15th century fragments and miniatures in this scrupulous show offer respite from the brutish reality of modern life. Through March 19.

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON: THE EARLY WORK, 1929-1934, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Some 75 prints from the period when Cartier-Bresson was creating one of the most original and influential styles in the history of photography. Through Feb. 26.

MOVIES

DANGEROUS LIAISONS. What deadly games people play in this excellent gloss on Christopher Hampton's play. John Malkovich and Glenn Close are the decadent puppeteers of lust who realize, too late, that the job comes with fatal strings attached.

PELLE THE CONQUEROR. A timid old Swede and his dashing young son find work on a 19th century Danish farm. Aided by stars Max von Sydow and Pelle Hvenegaard, director Bille August cuts a stern, colorful grand swatch of masterpiece cinema.

BOOKS

HONG KONG by Jan Morris (Random House; $19.95). The indefatigable traveler and perceptive commentator conveys the sights, sounds, aromas and political significance of this thriving British colony, scheduled to be returned to China in 1997.

AMERICAN APPETITES by Joyce Carol Oates (Dutton; $18.95). A prolific author's powerful novel about a well-to-do married couple falling before a fate that is unearned and undeserved.

THE LYRE OF ORPHEUS by Robertson Davies (Viking; $19.95). The third novel in a trilogy about the life and aftereffects of an eccentric Canadian millionaire. An engaging plot involving high finance, grand opera and a voice from Limbo.

TELEVISION

BOOKMARK (PBS, starting Jan. 22 on most stations). Serious authors generally get short shrift on American TV. But this half-hour series will feature one each week, discussing his or her work with host Lewis Lapham and a guest panel.

THE SUPER BOWL (NBC, Jan. 22, 5 p.m. EST). The game is usually a bore, but who can pass up TV's gaudiest sports extravaganza? It starts this year at 3 p.m. with the usual pregame babble.

BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE (NBC, Jan. 22, 23, 9 p.m. EST). Robert Mitchum, fresh from War and Remembrance, plays a CIA genius who trains two surrogate sons to be lethal operatives in a two-parter based on David Morrell's novel.