ANSERMET:

Mozart: Serenade No. 10, B-flat Major, K. 361. [Ansermet was hardly famed as a Mozartian -- or, for my money, a half-way interesting conductor of ANY German music (those God-awful Beethoven symphonies!), but he does just fine here, in this positively antediluvian London LP . Mozart's slightly dry, pointed elegance suits his temperament, and the Suisse-Romande -- whose strings were usually scrawny and whose brass section could have used a massive hit of Geritol -- always had very decent woodwinds, which get to strut their stuff very handsomely here. I really didn't expect to like this relic, but I did; you will, too.]

BARBIROLLI:

Grieg: Piano Concerto, A Minor, Op. 16 w/ Wilhelm Backhaus, Piano. (rec. October, 1933) [26:26]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8.  w/ Halle Orchestra; live; 7/ 20/ 1970 {broad, spacious, noble.]

BEECHAM:

Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet, Overture-Fantasy. w/ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; rec. 12/ 1946 and 2/ 1947 [20:53]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3, D Major, Op. 29, ("Polish"). w/ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; rec. April, 1947 [43:24] [See dithering comments under "Composers"…]

BERNSTEIN:

Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale. w/ New York Philharmonic, live, 12/16/ 1956

CASALS, Pablo:

Haydn: Symphony No. 45, F-sharp minor, {"Farewell"). w/ Festival Orchestra Casals; live, 1959 [32:15]

Mozart: Symphony No. 36. F-sharp Minor, K. 425 ("Linz") w/ Festival Casals Orchestra, live, 1959 [29:42] [Most unusual! Tempi are about as broad as you'll hear this side of Celibidache, yet Casals demands that all the phrasing and tutti passages be played "firmly but with a LIGHT bow", which had the paradoxical effect of reinforcing the tone-colors, firming up the line, pushing aside all trace of hoity-toity daintiness, AND keeping everything buoyant and emotionally high-spirited! Great interpretive trick, and it's so interesting to hear these two symphonies played with this "late-classical era" density that you scarcely notice how really sloppy some of the playing is! Aw, c'mon and give the guy a break, will ya? Casals was pushing ninety when this was taped, (and he had a gorgeous wife about one-third his age for whom he had to save a BIT of vitality, don't you think??) This is a hard-to-find LP, and there are some light scratches here and there, especially in the Mozart, which doesn't want to sustain Casals' strange interpretive stances without a struggle!]

DAMROSCH, Walter:

Brahms: Symphony No. 2, D Major, Op.73. w/ New York Symphony Orchestra; rec. 1926 [Notice the orchestra's name: the New York Symphony. Yes, this very early electrical recording dates from the days BEFORE this orchestra and its plusher sounding rival, the New York Philharmonic, merged into the mega-ensemble officially known as the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra (which you will often see referred to simply by the acronym "NYPSO". Notice also the stolid visage of its charismatic, but unutterably stolid and unimaginative  Music Director (well, "notice" it if I remember to scan a photo of him for insert here!) -- he looks like a prominent bank executive in a middling-prosperous town just west of the Rhine.

   Walter Damrosch was born in Breslau 1862.  His family immigrated to America when Walter was only nine and settled in Manhattan, where Herr Damrosch, Sr, founded the New York Symphony Society. There was an enormous pool of musical talent in the city, thanks to the influx of large numbers of European trained musicians, who were also hungry for employment. There were rival ensembles in the city, but the new ensemble managed to survive thanks largely to Maestro Damrosch's skill in judging the applicants who came to him for auditions. AND because his orchestral programs tended be livelier and less hackneyed than those of his rivals. Young Walter helped out wherever he could, and doubtless soaked up a lot of practical knowledge. If it had not been for his youth and for the orchestra's generally precarious financial condition, Walter might have made a go of it, when his father unexpectedly died in 1885. That was a MITE young for the job. For the next decade, the New York Symphony Society limped along, inactive for long stretches of time, while Walter hustled additional money for his family by conducting the Oratorio Society and intermittent gigs conducting German productions at the Met.

     By the time he was thirty, Damrosch's virtues AND his shortcomings were well defined, and would not change much, if at all, throughout the rest of his long life. He was not a stupid man; he knew he had severe limitations and worked hard to minimize them, figuring that if he could keep the positive elements on top, he would still be a useful servant of music. And indeed he was, especially as founder and guiding spirit behind a phenomenally successful series of children's concerts that inculcated if not a love then at least an open-mindedness toward classical concerts.

The kids in the audiences referred to him as "Poppa Damrosch"

     Alas, his weaknesses are all-too-apparent on this very recording: a seemingly chronic inability to sustain a long legato line without the tone becoming thin, even coarse; indifferent skill when delineating roughly similar passages that recur in cyclic form -- one time, the passage glows perfectly, a suave ribbon of elegance; the very next time, it's turned into choppy, graceless sonic sludge. Attacks and releases can easily turn lumpy and ragged. Big Tune lyrical lines can degenerate from suave elegance into vulgar and schmaltzy; and the man's sense of phrasing was horrendous! Surge and chug; slither and hop-scotch all over the place, so that any sense of cumulative rhythmic power is just thrown away. Result: one of the most horridly uneven and deranged readings of this fetching symphony ever recorded. You'll marvel at the rhythmic instability, the precipitous mood-swings, the change in ensemble from superb to provincial, all within the space of a few dozen bars!

    But let's not leave Poppa Damrosch, without GETTING ON THE RECORD some observations about his very significant achievements on behalf of musical culture in the American heartland. He introduced to New York audiences, for example, Brahms' Fourth, Tchaikovsky's Fourth and Fifth; the recondite Fourth Symphony by Sibelius, along with a host of works by Ives, Elgar,                                                                                                                          Ravel, Stravinsky, Wagner; et. al.  Perhaps some of these works he neither liked nor deeply understood, but he felt they deserved a public hearing. And God knows you've never heard another Brahm's Second remotely like this. Nor, I suppose, would you want to! But this recording is, in so many ways, a fascinating historical document that it richly deserves a listing in these archives!]

FISTOULARI:

Delibes: "Copelia", Suite from. w/ RCA Victor Symphony [See under "Composers" for grumpy. seemingly anti-ballet comments.

Delibes: "Sylvia", Suite from. w/ RCA Victory Symphony [Yeah, DO that.]

FRECCIIA, Massimo:

Debussy: La Mer. w/ Rome Symphony Orchestra

Franck: Le Chasseur Maudit. w/ RCA Victor Symphony

Franck: Symphonic Variations for Piano & Orchestra. w/ Earl Wild, piano; New Philharmonia Orchestra

Respighi: Fountains of Rome. w/ Rome Symphony Orchestra

Respighi: Festering Romans…er…Roman Festivals. w/ Rome Symphony Orchestra

Stravinsky: Firebird Suite. w/ Rome Symphony Orchestra. [Between the astounding improvement in this orchestra (since it appeared in the first Readers Digest box, ten years earlier) and this final RD compilation, and Gerhardt's super-cinematic sound, all four of these works emerge with remarkable power, freshness, and hyper-vivid details, across a big deep sound-stage. And Maestro Freccia gets a chance to show off what an exciting interpreter he could be, something no other label permitted him to do (except, rarely, with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia, which was decidedly bush-league then, confirming the cliché that Italian symphony orchestras were always doomed to be second or third-rate. The Rome band just sounds world-class here. The whomping and thumping in the Firebird will shake your floor, and Freccia summons those raw horn glissandi in the final bars almost as prominently as Stokie (which is one of the hallmarks of a of a great Firebird, in my estimation; although he does NOT slow them down and engorge them to the point of grotesque parody, as Stokowski did in his early RCA mono LP. The Debussy sparkles and crashes against the foundations of St. Peters; and the Festering Romans has never spewed forth a more debauched opening orgy, or a wilder tarantella (perhaps the orchestra members WERE bitten by spiders!) at the conclusion. So good were these readings considered to be that at least the Respighi was re-issued in a mass-market pressing on Quintessence, in which format it garnered wonderful reviews and sold very well. Unless I missed it after diligent search, neither the Stravinsky nor the Debussy were re-issued in similar manner, but they bloody well deserve to be. I hate so say it, but there's some minor persistent crackle under the great sound, a sure indication that the previous owners either was playing them on one of those hideous old Garrard turntables with a half-dollar taped over the end of the tone arm, or with a stylus that had been worn to a carpet tack. Fortunately, the music is usually so loud you won't notice or care.]

FURTWANGLER:

Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 2. w/ Hamburg Philharmonic; live, rec. 6/ 9/ 1947 [15:55] [Truly monolithic reading; a touch of distortion in the huge, Stonehenge chords, otherwise the sound is quite decent.]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 1, C Major, Op. 21. w/ Stuttgart Radio Symphony; live broadcast 3/ 30/ 1954 [27:16]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4, B Major, Op. 60. w/ Berlin Philharmonic; probably wartime date [OK, here's a weird story -- This is an EAST GERMAN "Aeterna" LP, which I bought in Helsinki in 1964 (height of the Cold War, for those with short memories). At that time, none of Furtwangler's wartime tapes -- purloined by the Red Army 20 years earlier -- had been re-issued on Western labels. Hence, this performance was new to me. Now, of course, all (???) of those tapes have been returned and all (???) have been nicely and repeatedly re-mastered on modern CDs. This performance MAY be the same as the 1944 one issued on Turnabout, c. 1978; I honestly can't say, without timing the damn thing with a stop-watch (and if I honestly thought there were more than eighteen people world-wide who were reading this, I probably would). To my ears, it sounds sort-of like a different reading, and given its provenance, it may well be. East German record producers, presumably, had access to the original looted Magnetophon tapes, reportedly stored in Moscow, but who knows? hence this iteration MAY have sonics more faithful to the original performance than other, later, non-Communist iterations. (This must derive from a live broadcast before either no audience at all, or one that had been bound and gagged, so silent and not-there are they). The general outlines of the interpretation are obviously of a piece with the other known Furtwangler Fourths -- broad, weighty, dark, very serious-minded Beethoven; and on those terms, it's a powerful reading (although a bit TOO gloomy for my taste). The sound is perfectly OK for its time, although the East German disc was pressed on somewhat noisy vinyl. Final verdict: damned if I know, not for a certainty. If this ISN'T the same 4th as the one issued on Vox/Turnabout (and a dozen overseas labels since), it's very similar, but NOT IDENTICAL -- at least not to my ears, on my system. So I offer it as a curiosity, and something Furtwangler completists might want just because it came from East Germany 45-odd years ago. You want it, I got it; I make no claims about its date or other attributes; other than to assert that it unquestionably IS Furtwangler, and not Oskar Wurstfangler and the Krupp Heavy Industries Symphonic Assembly Line, circa 1943…]

Brahms: Ein Deutches Requiem, Op. 45. w/ Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus;

Kerstin Lindberg-Torlin, soprano; Bernhard Sonnerstedt, baritone; live; November 1948   [Es ist KOLOSSAL!]

Bruckner: Symphony No. 6, A. Minor (Movements II - IV only ) w/ Berlin Philharmonic; from a live broadcast given on November 16, 1943. {And wouldn't you bloody know it, but Movement One is -- my favorite part -- is missing and presumed forever lost!) On the other hand, we DO have three-fourths of a stupendous Furtwangler eading of this epic symphony, and he didn't program it very often.]

Strauss: Tod und Verklarung. w/ Hamburg Philharmonic; live, 6/ 9/ 1947 [24:36]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, F Minor, Op. 36. w/ Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

GOULD:

Arnold: Harmonica Concerto, Op. 46. w/ Larry Adler, harmonica; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [8:29]

Benjamin: Harmonica Concerto. w/ Larry Adler, harmonica; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [19:02]

Milhaud: Suite for Harmonica & Orchestra. w/ Larry Adler, harmonica; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [13:33]

Vaughan-Williams: Romance for Harmonica & Orchestra. w/ Larry Adler, harmonica; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [6:52]

HERRMAN, Bernard:

Rosza: "Julius Caesar", Suite from. w/ National Philharmonic Orchestra [12:30]

Shostakovich: "Hamlet", Incidental Film Music. w/ National Philharmonic Orchestra [21:30]

Walton: "Richard III". Prelude from. w/ National Philharmonic Orch. [9:56]

HORENSTEIN:

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5, E Minor. w/ New Philharmonia Orchestra. [When Charles Gerhardt taped this one for RCA/ Readers Digest, Horenstein was in an unusually expansive and romantic mood. It's still basically a straightforward no-monkey-business interpretation, but it's hot and intense and splendidly well recorded. No Horenstein fan should be without it.]

INGELBRECHT, Desiree:

Debussy: Images for Orchestra, Complete. w/ Orchestre de l'ORTF, c. 1952 -1953

Debussy: Nocturnes, complete. w/ Orchestre & Chorus de l'ORTF, rec. circa 1952-1953. [When Ingelbrecht was a young man, he was befriended by the leading Impressionist composers and so learned their music  while the ink was still damp on some scores; he was friends with Ravel for a much longer time than Debussy, because Ravel simply lived a much longer time. But when Ingelbrecht went into the ORTF studios to tape his integral set of the orchestral Debussy, he brought with him a half-century of deepest immersion and insights into the music; and you can hear that, despite the less-than-world-class playing of the ensemble.  When Capitol was EMI's American affiliate, that label brought these Ingelbrecht records out, for a short time, but remastered them "for the American market" (which was marketing code for "louder, coarser, sounds-more-impressive-on-cheap-speakers) and collectors in-the-know just ordered EMI pressings from Europe (which of course only made Capitol's marketing gurus seem very wise, having initiated a self-fulfilling prophecy!). My set derives from a French EMI box that came out circa 1978, a remastering of the remasterings, as it were, and of which I managed to snag two copies for the classical section at Peaches No. 36 -- one for me and one for, well I don't remember, but it didn't last in stock more than a week and we never got any more in; There's one aggravating Skippy in III of the Nocturnes; I couldn't try to seal it in without likely doing even worse damage, but otherwise the surfaces are pristine and the recorded sound was always good. Funny stuff, those "idiomatic" readings -- they're not just inherited or "traditional" ideas about basic tempi and dynamics; it's usually far more subtle than that, just a pervasive vibe that a conductor either "gets" and communicates, or he'll have to make up a plausible simulacrum from his own psychic turf. And while it may be hard to define, you'll sure notice when it's ABSENT; check out Vaclav Talich conducting Dvorak and then check out, well, fill in the blank. THAT's "idiomatic" and Ingelbrecht delivers it, in this legendary integral cycle.]

JOCHUM, Eugene:

Mozart: Symphony No. 40, G Minor, K. 550. w/ Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; live, 11/ 21/ 1943 [25:28]

VON KARAJAN:

Strauss: Don Juan, Op. 20. w/ Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; live, August, 1943 [17:19]

KLEIBER, Erich:

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in B-flat Major, Op. 55. w/ NDWR German Radio Symphony, Cologne; live, 4/ 12/ 1953

KOUSSEVITZKY:

Ravel: Mother Goose Suite. w/ Boston Symphony, c. 1935. [Yes, I listed this one earlier -- MUCH earlier, like the second or third update; but I'm listing it again because I last week had the incredible good luck to find a near-mint copy of the Camden re-=issue, one in considerably cleaner shape than my beloved old relic; in fact, the sound is downright marvelous, given its age. This is one of the records I used to play for people who didn't know about Koussie and thought his reputation must be exaggerated (because, let's face it, RCA really screwed him over in terms of catalogue coverage, and the BSO is still playing mean when it comes to issuing their archival tapes and acetates). Every person I played it for fell under its spell; more than one actually wept at how magical the mood was coming out of the speakers. So here it is again, from a pristine copy of its last incarnation, c. 1954! The most moving and atmospheric recording this marvelous score has EVER had!]

LEIBOWITZ:

Gluck: Concerto for Flute & Orchestra in G Major. Jean-Pierre Rampal, flute; Paris Philharmonic [13:36]

Ibert: Escales. w/ Rome Philharmonic Orchestra [See comments below under "Ravel"]

Puig: Stigmates -- Chamber Opera. Unidentified Vocalists and Chamber Ensemble [See disgruntled old-fart comments under "Composers"…]

Ravel: Rhapsodie Espagnol. w/ Rome Philharmonic Orchestra [I have no idea what, if any, the distinction is between the "Rome Symphony" and the "Rome Philharmonic" (sounds like the same outfit to me), but that's the way RCA chose to designate the performers, so that's how I've reproduced it here. Both this and the Ibert travelogue listed above are given scintillating, vivid readings by the ever-interesting Leibowitz.]

Telemann: Suite for Flute & Strings, A Minor. w/ Jean Pierre Rampal, flute; Paris Philharmonic Orchestra [25:23]

MALKO, Nikolai:

Ipolitov-Ivanov: In the Scents of Stepperal Asia. (I kid the esteemed Russian composer, surely he knows that! This soft-focused, gauzy-atmospheric reading, may well have been my first exposure to this score, courtesy of the Charlotte Public Library! I probably hadn't listened to it in 30 years until I dubbed it yesterday, but unlike many items that have been with for that long, Malko's rendition holds up handsomely -- a lot of real poetry in the playing and phrasing] 

MENGELBERG:

Beethoven: Egmont Overture, Op. 84. w/ Concertgebouw Amsterdam; rec. 4/ 29/ 1941 [8:46] [Ausgezeichnet! In typically unrestrained style, the Flying Dutchman Tampers With the SCORE! Adds loud timpani strokes on-the-beat to the final bars of the piece. It may be an outrageous presumption, but it's sure as hell exciting!]

Brahms:

MITROPOULOS:

Lully - Felix Mottl: Minuet from "The Temple of Peace". Rec. 1944 (?) [3:38]

Mendelssohn:  Symphony No. 3, A Minor,  "Scottish". w/ Cologne Radio Symphony; live, 1954

Milhaud: Le Boeuf sur le Toit. w/ Minneapolis Symphony; rec. 3/2/1945 [13:16] [Here's what IU had to say about this "buried treasure" in "Priest of Music": "…the flat-out greatest version of Milhaud's 'The Nothing-Doing Bar' that has ever been recorded! Mitropoulos GETS DOWN with the piece, so idiomatically you can smell the sawdust on the floor!"

Ravel: Le Tambeau de Couperin. w/ Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra; rec. 12/ 6/ 1941 [11:43] [Many consider this THE finest recording Dimitri ever made with the MSO. Yes, the sound is still "dry", but in the sense that a fine wine may be described as "dry", and the emotional balance between stoicism and tragic grief is established in the first bar and sustained throughout the piece.]\

MONTEUX:

Debussy: Images, I and III.  w/ San Francisco Symphony, mid-to-late Forties. [Almost as special, in the Monteux style, as Koussevitzky's Ravel!]

MRAVINSKY:

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, F Major, Op. 68, "Pastoral". w/ Leningrad Philharmonic; rec. 3/ 29/ 1949 in Moscow [41:08] [Generally brisk tempi, like Toscanini, sort of, but with a lovely autumnal glow.]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, A Major, Op. 92. w/ Leningrad Philharmonic; rec. 11/ 16/ 1958. [38:36] [A big, sleek, Arabian stallion of a reading, in late very fine mono, which some critics compared favorably to Stokowski's magnificent 1927 Philadelphia version. My dub is Sourced from an East German import and has significantly better sound, and quieter surfaces, than the somewhat slab-like "MK" pressing released in the U. S. in 1961. The overall sonority of the LPO became a bit coarser in later years, but here it just sounds magnificent in every choir!]

Haydn: Symphony No. 101, D Major, "The Clock". w/ Leningrad Philharmonic; rec. 1953. [30:02] [Kosmic Haydn!]

Mozart: Symphony No. 39, K. 543. w/ Leningrad Philharmonic; rec. 2/ 26/ 1965, live, IN STEREO. [26:46]

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien, Op. 45. w/ Leningrad Philharmonic; rec. Moscow, 1950 [14:10]

Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings, Op. 48 w/ Leningrad Philharmonic Strings; recorded in Moscow, 1949. [28:30] [First, the sonics are a LOT better than would might expect from a studio recording made during this period in Stalinist Russia -- a bit recessed, but warmly blended and rich in atmosphere; secondly, Mravinsky either was mellower then or he is made to sound that way by the engineers. The bite and sharpness that characterized his later interpretations, especially those in which his "fire and ice" temperament inclined toward the chilly side of things, simply is there -- it’s a nostalgic, touching, somewhat                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 dreamy reading that I like very much. Maybe the slight diffuseness was adopted in part to cloud the occasional graininess and less-than-perfect ensemble of the Leningrad strings at this time, but none of those things really militates against the beauties of the reading. The Capriccio is also somewhat laid-back; again, the emphasis is on color and atmosphere rather than cheap thrills. Myself, I like a bit more of those -- like the shrill but savage old Van Kempen/ Amsterdam recording once on Epic, but I also find much to savor here, too.]

*************************************************************************

MYSTERY MAESTRO OF THE MONTH!

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5. Conductor, orchestra, date and venue absolutely unknown. [This appeared out of nowhere on the "Seraphim" label. NO, not the Angel Records/EMI budget/historical re-issue label of venerable respect from the Sixties and Seventies! This was a much earlier label, evidently from the Fifties, ALSO calling itself "Seraphim". It has nice, if generic, cover art and the LP is well pressed on good-grade vinyl. I've never seen this label before, anywhere, in any store and can tell you nothing about it or the anonymous performers. What I CAN tell you is that the sound is better-then-fair (quite good mono, actually), the pressing appears and sounds clean (a few very minor scratches but no Skippies), the sound is well-balanced and realistic and conveys a real orchestra playing in a real hall. The performance? Well, it turned out to be surprisingly exciting! There's a LOT of rubato, which the unidentified orchestra handles with aplomb and conviction, tipped with some really sharp, ballsy even, work from the brass. It's safe to say this is NOT the "Wireless Telegraphy Orchestra of Calamari, Italy" under Hoot Gibson; I wish I know WHO was doing it, because it's got personality and swagger and an almost reckless indifference to middle-of-the-road-ness. Bravo…whoever you were.]

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ORMANDY:

Strauss, Johann: "Die Fledermaus". Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera; Lily Pons; Ljuba Welitsch; Richard Tucker; Charles Kullman; Martha Lipton; John Brownlee [See comments under "Opera & Choral" and "Individual Vocalists"]

Strauss, Richard: Don Quixote, Op. 35. Emmanuel Feuermann, cello. w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; rec. circa 1940-1941. [One of the glories of the pre-LP catalogue! Feuermann turns his cello into a walking, talking, suffering, exultant human being, the Knight of the Woeful Countenance in-the-flesh (or in-the-wood, as you prefer) and together -- with the help of RCA's engineers who knew a thing or two about capturing the fantastic sound of the pre-war Philadelphia Orchestra -- they preserved for all time a Don Quixote of astounding eloquence and heart-breaking sensitivity. Cervantes would have been amazed, had he heard how extravagantly both composer and performers had brought his character vividly to life. The sonics are STILL wonderfully realistic and faithful to the sumptuous sound of the Philadelphia at absolute peak!]

REINER, Fritz:

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, in F Major. w/ Columbia Chamber Ensemble, c. 1948

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, F Major. w/ Columbia Chamber Ensemble, c. 1946 [As most collectors know, Reiner wasn't at heart a Baroque man; he conducted very little from the period with either the Pittsburgh OR the Chicago Symphonies. As you might expect, though, these readings are brisk (not to say "brusque"), somewhat on the fast side, splendidly articulated (especially in the winds) and as brilliant in sonic concept as Columbia's typically tubby engineering will permit. And what a chamber group! Bill Vacchiano, trumpet! Hugo Kolberg & Felix Eyle, violins; Sylvia Marlowe on harpsichord; Julie Baker, flute; Robert Bloom, oboe; William Lincer, chief violist, and Leonard Rose, cello. Legends, one and all. So how does Fire-and-Ice-Fritz conduct this ensemble of superstar virtuosos? Like a pack of sled dogs who need whipping even to move, thank you. Nobody much says "farewell!" on their way out of the studio. The musicians play like gods for their little Napoleon, and he barely nods his head to dismiss them. Ten years later, he's astonished to learn that none of these men wish to join his Chicago Symphony; they'd rather teach and plat freelance gigs when the can rather than play under Little Fritz day in and day out. That's how the recording sessions went, and I've heard only slightly different versions from 7-8 different musicians over the years, so I figure somewhere down there in the cobwebs and nostalgia, lies a kernel of truly nasty anecdotes!]

RODZINSKI:

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1, Opus 10. w/ Cleveland Orchestra, 1941. [31:08]

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, Op. 47. w/ Cleveland Orchestra; rec. February 1942, in Severence Hall. [40:32] [These two long-forgotten Columbia recordings offer vivid testimony to the genius and charisma of a conductor who had, cumulatively, perhaps the worst luck of any major maestro of the 20th Century. Unexcelled as a trainer and builder of orchestras, Rodzinski's most productive period AS a recording celebrity, mainly for Westminster, tragically coincided with the last and most dismaying years of his life. Following his scandalous mistreatment by the all-powerful agent Arthur Judson (who hired Rodzinski to re-build the frayed ensemble quality of the New York Philharmonic and to modernize its repertoire), and the truly demented way a single too-powerful critic (Claudia Cassadey) had the poor bastard all-but-crucified in public after only a single season as music director of the Chicago Symphony, the brilliant but mercurial Polish-born maestro's understandable proclivity for paranoia turned into the kind of erratic hot/cold behavior that bordered on clinical schizophrenia. His reputation, once stellar (Stokowski hand-picked him as the primary guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and praised Rodzinski publicly as he never praised another conductor before or after!), never recovered during his lifetime, and STILL hasn't fully been rehabilitated; historical re-issues on numerous "grey market" European collectors' labels are still numerous and usually snapped-up quickly (before the labels that publish them vanish back into limbo), but almost none of those items reach the United States, and those that do can only be found in the few remaining super-stores located in, maybe, six or seven major cities.

In this especially felicitous coupling, from one such elusive Euro-pirate label long defunct, you can hear, A) how Rodzinski was transforming the second-rate Cleveland Orchestra into the crack ensemble George Szell would inherit and lead to global stardom; B) the energy, precision, and sleek "modernity" of Rodzinski's general approach to the big symphonic works, of whatever epoch, and C) how much better Columbia's engineering was in Cleveland than it was in Minneapolis or even New York. These are sizzling interpretations, almost Bauhaus-bright in their razor-sharp edges and un-romantic brilliance. They rivet your attention from first note to last, and they assuredly make you want to hear MORE of Rodzinski's recordings than the late Westminster offerings, which are so erratic and so audibly affected by the fact that Rodzknski, not to mince words, was rapidly loosing his marbles when the performances were taped. In these jet-propelled but richly expressive Shostakovich readings, we hear virtuosi playing and an exhilarating general incandescence that bears witness to genius, integrity, and an interpretive "style" generally closer to that of Toscanini than to that of the Polish conductor's illustrious patron and number one fan, Stokowski.]

SCHWARZ, Rudolf:

Liszt: Liszt: Les Preludes. w/ Philharmonia Orchestra [Another very promising conductor whose career was badly short-circuited by World War Two, Scghwarz was beginning to make a come-back, thanks to a spectacularly (for 1958) recording of Mahler's 5th on Everest…when he died. Ain't life a bitch, ;ladies and gentlemen? Here he lets Les Quaaludes off its leash in a very poetic and thoughtful interpretation…a few more jolts of Mengelbergian drama (or closer miking of the timpani and snares) would have elevated this reading to the highest rank. Decent, clear sound is a plus. And the Hu garian Rhapsody is perhaps even better, precisely because it doesn't require as much over-the-top excitement to sell.]

SILVESTRI:

Bartok: Divertimento for Strings. w/ Philharmonia Orch. [29:13] [One of the more intense versions]

Dvorak: Carnival Overture, Op. 91. w/ London Philharmonic Orch. [9:06]

Khachaturian: "Gayne" Ballet Suite. w/ Vienna Philharmonic Orch. [10:41]

STOKOWSKI:

                    ANTHOLOGY: "INSPIRATION"

[This tackily named compilation marks, I think, the nadir of Stokie's long relationsip with RCA Victor. That label's first conductor superstar, by the mid-Sixties, when this was taped, RCA had come to regard him as little more than a glorified Pops conductor, an anachronism whose enduring legacy would be that damned scene of him shaking hands with Mickey Mouse. So the label plugged him into something like this, which could as well have been named Music for Tired Businessmen, With Chorus. All the music was familiar and reactionary in mood and technique, and virtually all the selections were tried-and-true warhorses that Stokie could conduct in his sleep. Fortunately, Stokie was wide awake for these sessions (also the handiwork of producer Charles Gerhardt, so at least the sonics were up-to-snuff!), and he gives it his professional best shot. The chorus is polished and not so large as to preclude the sort of clarity LS was after. While I could do without another version of "Sheep May Safely Graze", the relatively obscure Beethoven piece and "Deep River" move me every time I play this disc. In other words, it's not a major addition to the Stokowski catalogues (and one cannot help but gnash one's teeth in frustration that RCA was wasting so much time and energy making albums like this, instead of some of the major works Stokie wanted to conduct for-the-record, but couldn't, because none of the labels he was under contract with wanted to spring for the expenses… For what it is, this one is actually pretty good!]

Bach: Sheep May Safely Graze.  w/ New Symphony of London & Norman Luboff Choir

Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. w/ New Symphony Orchestra of London.

Beethoven: The Heavens Are Telling… w/ New Symphony of London & Norman Luboff Choir

Gluck: "O Saviour, Hear Me" from "Orfeo". w/ Norman Luboff Choir & The New Symphony Orchestra of London

Handel: "Xerxes", Largo from. w/ Norman Luboff Choir & New Symphony Orchestra of London

Humperdinck: "Evening Prayer" from "Hansel  & Gretel". w/ Norman Luboff Choir & New Symphony Orchestra of London.

Overture & Incidental Musiv yo yjr mp

Tchaikovsky: Pater Noster for Unaccompanied Choir. w/ Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London

Traditional: The Doxology. w/ Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra; New Symphony Orchestra of London

Traditional: "Deep River". w/ Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London

Wagner: Pilgrims' Chorus from "Tannhauser". w/ Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London.

************************************************************************

Brahms: Symphony No. 1. w/ Hollywood Bowl Symphony, mid-Forties. [Stokie made three studio recordings of the First: the staggering 1927 Philadelphia, the London Symphony live celebration-of-his-50th-anniversary-on-the-podium one that came out on London Phase-Four, and this almost forgotten one. Some scratches; nothing major; basically very very good sound. A whirlwind of rubato and personal eccentricities; you'll either love it, or run screaming from the room. The big climax in Movement IV? He takes it half-again slower than in his Philadelphia version, and THAT was once the slowest in the catalogues, The climax becomes HUGE, distended, rotten-ripe! Is it tacky? You bet. Would I want to hear it that way very often? No way, Jose! It really is Too Much! But my God is it overwhelming if you're in a receptive mood! And if nothing else, this recording proves that LS took the frikkin' HOLLYWOOD BOWL orchestra and turned it into a world-class ensemble in only three years! The playing is dynamite! And this LP is excruciatingly rare, too!]

Harrison, Lou: Suite for Violin, Piano, & Small Orchestra. Anahid Ajemian, violin; Maro Ajemian, piano; Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra.

Loeffler: A Pagan Poem, Op. 14. Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra [23:39] [The first stereo recording of this fascinating and ahead-of-its-time composition, and does Stokie ever send it over-the-top! Please note also that I offer another great, and very scarce version of this excellent piece, in absolutely different sound and point-of-view (but in its own way, equally absorbing), a pretty fair-sounding mono interpretation from about 1951, with Maurice Rosenthal and the Paris Symphony (it was issued here, for about ten minutes I think, on an ancient Capitol LP that is now virtually impossible to find…my Source copy is very clean, too, considering it's a half-century old!]

Orff: Carmina Burana. w/ Houston Symphony Orchestra & Houston Chorale; Virginia Babikian, soprano; Clyde Hager, tenor. [N.B.: SUPERIOR JAPANESE IMPORT PRESSING! Starting about the mid-Sixties, many record collectors began to suspect that Capitol was re-processing the master tapes they got from Angle/ EMI, in order to make them sound "better" on the average American stereo system -- i.e., louder dynamics, harsher treble and "bigger" (coarser, more artificially pumped-up, bass). While the label never confessed to any jiggering, it's interesting to note that Capitol/ Angel releases started sounding more realistic not long after a spate of articles appeared about how many U.S. collectors were ordering their EMI releases directly from the U.K., despite the stiff premium prices, in order to hear the exceptional clarity and range of the original tapes, rather than the washed-out, bogus tone-colors that had become endemic to pressing made in Los Angeles. This release is "Exhibit A" in the controversy! Mind you, the Capitol pressing had very GOOD sound, for its time (c. 1959), but this Japanese EMI iteration blew it away. The opening chords of the Orff just leaped out of the speakers into your face, and the ferociously accented timpani-beats made the floor shake under your feet! That imported pressing was never "officially" released in the US, but Mr. Robert M. Stumpf, the indefatigable chairman of the American Stokowski Society imported a small quantity of them at his own expense, offered them for sale at a suitable premium price (I understand they cost him almost twenty bucks WHOLESALE!) and I was lucky enough to snag one while they were available. The sonic difference is as night-unto-day!]

Schoenberg: Transfigured Night, Op. 4. Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra [28:18] [Stokie was THE master interpreter of this erotic masterpiece; his FOUR commercial recordings (!) are all wonderful, but this last one (first one in stereo) is surely the most voluptuous of the lot -- he uses the stereo separation element to impart marvelous clarity AND his trademark "drenched" string tone to paint this gibbous-moon-on-naked-buttocks encounter in the darkest, most velvety, purple-and-muted-gold-candlelight colors it's ever had on records -- the left-to-right stretch of tone is HUGE yet hypnotically spacious; you remember what it was like to make love after filling the psychic gas tank with some really, really great pot, don't you? That special distention of time in which every little caress becomes an orgy-unto-itself? Well, I remember it, anyway and I miss the hell out of it, but that's beside the point. Here's a super-saturated wallow in ultra-vivid sonics, c. 1964. If you dig the Schoenberg, give Stokie's ne-plus-ultra reading of Loeffler's Pagan Poem a spin, too!]

Schubert: Overture & Incidental Music to "Rosamunde".  w/ His Symphony Orchestra

Wagner: "Parsifal" --excerpts from Act III. w/ His Symphony Orchrstra,

Weber, Ben: Symphony on Poems of William Blake, Op. 33. w/ Warren Galjour, baritone; His Symphony Orchestra

SWOBODA, Henry:

Martinu: Concerto for Double String Orchestra, Piano & Timpani. w/ Arthur Balsam, piano; Winterthur Symphony Orchestra. [An incredibly early Concert Hall Society offering -- number NINE -- in miraculously good condition, pressed on TRANSLUCENT BLOOD-RED VINYL; and a corker of an interpretation, too!]

SZELL:

Bruckner: Symphony No. 3. Cleveland Orchestra [47:59] [Unusually spacious, noble reading….for Szell.]

TOSCANINI:

Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 1, Op. 133. BBC Symphony; live, 6/1/ 1939 [7:54]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4, B-flat minor, Op. 60. w/ BBC Symphony, live (6/ 1/ 1939) [29:58]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, A Major, Op. 92. w/ BBC Symphony, live, 6/14/ 1935 [33:58] [When I first started collecting records, the Toscanini/ New York Philharmonic Beethoven 7th was widely regarded as the ne plus ultra, the definitive recording. And it WAS a mighty rendering, but contrarian that I am, I always found it a bit…studied and detached. Not so this BBC version, which has vastly more -- and more telling -- inflection, nuance, and simple drama -- it is, in fact, one of Tosco's finest Beethoven recordings, and the sonics are astoundingly rich, detailed, and realistic, with lots of dynamic range and presence (recorded in Queens Hall); so if you want to REALLY hear what all the hero-worship was about, turn to these UK imports, magnificently restored by sonic wizard Keith Hardwick]

Records in the Attic, NEW YEAR / NEW LISTINGS

  COMPOSERS (alphabetically by last name)

    ANTHOLOGY

"Airs de Cour" -- Drinking Songs from the Reign of Louis XIII. Nigel Rogers, tenor; Anthony Bailes, lute. [Wonderful stuff, this; very nicely performed and recorded too, with an ideal balance between lute and voice, and Mr. Rogers blessedly refrains from hamming-it-up in the name of expression and/or inebriation.]

Anonymous: C'est un amant, ouvrez la porte. [1:06]

Bataille, Gabriel (1575-1630): Un jour que ma rebelled. [1:18]

Bataille, Gabriel: Ma bergere non legere. [2:20]

Bataille, Gabriel: Qui veut une migraine. [2:37] (*)

Boesset, Antoine (1585? - 1643): Plaignez la rigueur de mon sort. [1:53]

Boesset, Antoine: N'esperez plus, mes yeux. [3:09]

Boesset, Antoine: Ennuits, desespoirs et douleurs. [4:31]

De Courville, Joachim Thibaut (c.1535 - 1581): Si je languis d'un martire incogneu. [2:26]

Le Feguez, Francois ( ? -- ? ):  Petit sein ou l'Amour a bati son sejour. [1:23]

Guedron, Pierre ( ? -- 1621): Si jamais mo name blessee [2:42]

Guedron, Pierre: Quel espoir de guarir [3:47]

Guedron, Pierre: Cesses mortels de soupier. [5:54]

Maudit, Jacques:Eau vive, source d'amour. [3:08]

Moulinie, Etienne (c. 1600 - 1669): Paisible et tenebreuse nuit. [2:56]

Moulinie, Etienne: Quelque merveilleuse chose. [2:21]

Moulinie, Etienne: Je suis ravi de mon Uraine. [2:30]

Moulinie, Etienne: Enfin le beaute que j'adore. [6:04]

Rue, Grand (? - ?): Lors que tes beaux yeux mignonne. [1:30]

(*) My hangover is giving me a migraine (?)

**************************************************************

                        ANTHOLOGY: SLOVAK ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

CIKKER, Jan: "Nad starym zakopam" Symphonic Poem. Ladislav Slovak; Slovak Philharmonicx Orch

MOYZEZ, Alexander:

"Vatry na hoirach, Op. 71. Symohonicka Suita. Zdenek !Kosler; Slovak Philharmonic

OCENAS, Andrej:

"Plamene maja, Op. 15 -- Symphonic Prelude. Ladislav Slovak; Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra

[Well, what else can I do? Everything here in the notes is in Skovak, and I'm NOT even going to fantasize about what the word "zakopom" might mean in English -- pickled goat's tripes or some such. I can tell you that both the Cikker and the Ocenas pieces are solidly-crafted, post-modern exercises in what surely sounds like Abstract Expressionism. Both works are multi-sectional and fairly accessible, as long as you aren't wholly hostile to matters of modern harmony and tone-color. Even so, I found some sections absorbing and worth additional hearings, and some just irritated the crap out of me. The Moyzes suite has a lot more personality and several segments that show strong backbone and driving excitement. This composer is not TOTALLY unknown over here -- I bought a CD of symphonies from Records International about 10-12 years ago and liked it, but he's hardly even a cult figure. Performances seem excellent; the disc itself seems pressed on some kind of unusual compound that attracts dust and static electricity while-you-watch. I swear there were more irritating scratches on the surfaces than there had been when I started dubbing the master CD!  Even so, good luck finding any of this music anywhere else, on the Web or off.]

******************************************************************

ALWYN, William:

Symphony No. 4. Norman Del Mar; London Philharmonic Orchestra [34:58] [A big, bold, heavy-with-bronze piece that is a real knock-out for the brass section, but also contains a lot of sweeping cinematic melodies, deployed in full wide-screen mode and played to the hilt. This is the kind of mighty, no-holds-barred seascape symphonies that can turn skeptics into true believers, or at least into open-minded Seekers of the Truth! us. Alwyn composed some rip-roaring orchestral showpieces. And this one MAY be his most over-the-top symphony, just brilliantly orchestrated and stuffed with one glorious orchestral gorgeous passage after another.  Go ahead -- enjoy!] 

ARNOLD:

Harmonica Concerto, Op. 46. w/ Larry Adler, harmonica; Morton Gould;  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [8:29]

BACH:

Brandenberg Concerto No. 1, F Major.  Fritz Reiner; Members, Pittsburg Symphony

Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, F Major. Fritz Reiner; Members, Pittsburg Symphony [See comments under "Conductors"]

Cantata No. 131, ("Aus der Tiefe"). Robert Shaw; Robert Shaw Chorale; RCA Victor Symphony

Cantata No. 140 ("Wachet Auf!"). Robert Shaw; Robert Shaw Chorale; RCA Victor Symphony

Cantata No. 100, "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan". Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra & Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral, Hamburg; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Lotte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Carl-Heinz Muller & Hans-Olaf Hudemann, basses.[34:14]

Cantata No. 175, "Er ruhfet seinen Schlafen mit Nahmen…; Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Latte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Hans-Olaf Hudemann and Carl-Heinz Muller, bases both in featured parts; Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral. [17:07]

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. Stokowski; Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London

Orchestral Suite No. 1, C Major, BWV 1066. Paillard; Paillard Chamber Orchestra

Orchestral Suite No. 2, B Minor, BWV 1067. Paillard; Paillard Chamber Orchestra

Orchestral Suite No. 3, in D, BWV 1068. Paillard; Paillard Chamber Orchestra

Orchestral Suite No. 4, in D, BWV 1069. Paillard; Paillard Chamber Orchestra

Orchestral Suite No. f, G Minor, BWV 1070.  Paillard; Paillard Chamber Orchestra [One of my favorite sets of these delightful works; don't think I've listed an integral set since I started doing this & figured it was high time. Paillard's readings are "French" in the best sense: elegant, bright, festive, with perky rhythms and silvery trumpets. No overall timings given, but if you know the music, you'll know it fits comfortably on 2 CDs.]

Sheep May Safely Graze". Stokowski; Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London

Suite for Cello No. 3 (transcribed for guitar by A. Carlevalo). Irma Constanzo, guitar

BALAKIREV:

Islamey, Oriental Fantasy. Douglas Gamley; RCA Victor Symphony. [Here's yet another conductor who did some fine work for the Readers Digest box sets and then seemingly vanished into thin air. I can tell you nothing about Maestro Gamley except that he leads a very fine rendition of this faux-Rimskyian arrangement and that it is HIS orchestration, and very colorful it is, too. The usual terrific recorded sound from Charles Gerhardt. I liked this man's work (Gamley, not Balakirev; HE doesn't need a plug…) and if any readers can tell me anything about him, or where he went after working on this third and last Readers Digest box, I'd very much like to know. Meanwhile, here's a very nice bit of Balakirev, originally for piano, transcribed in lavish fashion for full orchestra.]

BARTOK:

"Bluebeard's Castle" . Rozhdestvensky;  Evgeny Kibkalo, baritone;, soprano; Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra [48:39] [Or, as it's quaintly titled on this Soviet Melodiya pressing "The Castle of the Duke Blue Beard". Intense but gritty-toned reading by the young. Impetuous Rozhdestvensky and the confusingly-named "Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of the All-Union Radio" Whatever; without a Big Gun soprano like Arkipova, this recording just isn't competitive with the great Kertesz, or the newly relieved BBC video production in which Sir Georg Solti sets himself on fire with a quart of potato brandy, three cups of medicinal Spiritus Fortis, and a thick greasy pot of goulash ("Hungarian Napalm") and practically sets Albert Hall ablaze with his intensity! Otherwise, this slightly cautious Soviet reading (all that Freudian symbolism must have given the censors fits!) seems  just too restrained -- and I never thought I'd write THAT about a Rozhdestvensky performance!]

Concerto for Orchestra.  Kubelik; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [Originally on the Capitol label, from the days before Kubelik had an international following, this most excellent rendering was pretty much blown into oblivion when the Czech maestro re-made it with the Boston Symphony in the late Seventies, a demonstration-class recording. But the earlier version retains its charms: the agile, characterful intertwining of the woodwind lines in II (against a marvelously metallic-sounding side drum), the frantic, breathless, veering-toward-madness in III, the :gibbous-moon eeriness of the nocturne-music…this reading has SO much going for it that it remains fully competitive forty-five years after it was originally released.]

Divertimento for Strings. Silvestri; Philharmonia Orchestra [29:13] [One of the more intense versions on records]

BATAILLE, Gabriel (1575 - 1630):

Ma bergere non legere. [2:20] [See "Anthology" above]

Qui veut chaser une migraine. [2:37] [See "Anthology" above]

Un jour que ma rebelle. [1:18] [See "Anthology" above]

BEETHOVEN:

Egmont Overture, Op. 84. Mengelberg; Concertgebouw Amsterdam; rec. 4/ 29/ 1941 [8:46] [Ausgezeichnet! In typically unrestrained style, the Flying Dutchman Tampers With the SCORE! Adds loud timpani strokes on-the-beat to the final bars of the piece. It may be an outrageous presumption, but it's sure as hell exciting!]

3 Equali for Four Trombones. Davis Shulman; Salvatore DeVincenzo; Abraham Realstein; John Clark

The Heavens Are Telling, Op. 48/ No. 4. Stokowski; Norman Luboff  Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London

Leonore Overture No. 1, Op. 138. Toscanini; BBC Symphony; live 6/ 1/ 1939 [7:54]

Leonore Overture No. 2. Furtwangler; Hamburg Philharmonic; live, 6/ 9/ 1947 [15:55]

String Quartet No. 9, C Major, Op. 59 / No. 3. The Beethoven String Quartet. [Two of my favorite Razumovsky S.Q.s, given splendidly hearty, soulful readings by this exemplary Russian ensemble, which remains too little known and under-recorded in the West. Big, close-up sonics (it took the Russians a while to get the hang of stereo -- not to mention enough systems in consumers' homes to make the format commercially viable -- but they got real good at it real fast, as this circa. 1977 Melodiya LP demonstrates]

String Quartet No. 10, E-Flat Major, O. 74. The Beethoven String Quartet.

Symphony No. 1. Furtwangler; Stuttgart Radio Symphony, live; 3/ 30/ 1954 [27:16]

Symphony No. 3, E Flat Major, Op. 55, "Eroica". Erich Kleiber; NDWR Radio Symphony, Cologne; live, 4/ 14/ 1953

Symphony No. 4, B flat major, Op. 60. Toscanini; BBC Symphony; live, 6/ 1/ 1939 [29:58]

Symphony No. 4, B flat Major, Op. 60. Furtwangler; Berlin Philharmonic [Sourced from an EAST GERMAN LP that was, I believe, the first time this wartime concert material had ever been made public. I bought it in Helsinki in 1964 and STILL don't know for sure which Furtwangler reading it is. See whole story in comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 6, F Major, Op. 68, "Pastoral". Mravinsky; Leningrad Philharmonic; rec. 3/ 29/ 1949 [41:08] [ "Subjective objectivism" at its best!]

Symphony No. 7, A Major, Op. 92. Mravinsky; Leningrad Philharmonic; rec. 11/ 16/ 1958. [A big, sleek, Arabian stallion of a reading, in late very fine mono, which some critics compared favorably to Stokowski's magnificent 1927 Philadelphia version. My dub is Sourced from an East German import and has significantly better sound, and quieter surfaces, than the somewhat slab-like "MK" pressing released in the U. S. in 1961. The overall sonority of the LPO became a bit coarser in later years, but here it just sounds magnificent in every choir!]

Symphony No. 7, A Major, Op. 92. Toscanini; BBC Symphony, live, 6/ 14/ 1935 [33:58] [See rave under "Conductors]

BELLINI:

"La Sonnambula" --- "Come per me sereno", Act I. Amelita Galli-Curci, soprano

                               --  "Sovra il sen la man mi posa", Act I.

BENJAMIN, Arthur:

Harmonica Concerto. w/ Larry Adler, harmonica; Morton Gould; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [19:02]

BERG:

Four Songs, Op. 2. w/ Heather Harper, sop. / Paul Hamburger, piano [9;50]

Two Songs. Heather Harper, soprano; Paul Hamburger, piano [Actually, it's two quite different renderings of the SAME song ("Schliesse mir die Augen beide"), one from 1900, the othjer from 1925 -- the interest, of course, lies in comparing Berg's two treatments! Ms. Harper sings superbly.]

BLAVET, Michel (1700-1768):

Concerto in A Major, Op. 12/ No. 1. Goebel; Musica Antiqua Cologne [13:57]

BOISMORTIER, Joseph Bodin (1696-1755):

Concerto in D Major, Op. 26/ No. 6. Goebel; Musica Antiqua, Cologne [6:18]

BOESSET, Antoine (1585? - 1643):

Ennuits, desespoirs et douleurs. Nigel Rogers, tenor; Anthony Bailes, lute [4:31] [See "Anthologies" above]

N'esperez plus, mes yeux. [3:09] [See "Anthologies" above]

Plaignez la rigueur de mon sort. [1:53] [See "Anthologies" above]

BOITO:

"Mephistofele" -- "Lontano, lontano", Act III; Conductor, Orchestra & Venue unspecified; Pia Tassinari, soprano & Fererucio Tagliavini, tenor [See details under "Opera and vocalists"]

BRAHMS:

Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45. Furtwangler; Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus;   Kerstin Lindberg-Torlin, soprano; Bernhard Sonnerstedt, baritone; live; November 1948   [Es ist KOLOSSAL!]

Piano Concerto No. 1, in D Minor, Op. 15. Sandor Falvai, piano; Antal Jancsovics; Hungarian State Orchestra.  [54:45] [Somewhat akin to the very fine Moravec/ Neumann recording on Supraphon (and still very much in copyright, hence it doesn't make itself available for multiple duplication.

But basically, these musicians approach this work with their emphasis on its lyricism, not on its youthful ardor and passion (although there's a considerable amount of passion here to savor), it's the quiet moments that come off best, indeed they come off very beautifully]

Symphony No. 1. Stokowski; Hollywood Bowl Symphony [See my deranged babbling under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 3, F Major, Op. 90.  Mengelberg; Concertgebouw Amsterdam; live, 2/ 27/ 1944).  [36:41] [NB: This is NOT the same as the often-reissued studio Brahms Third, long considered one of the great ultra-Romantic interpretations! Although the general outlines are the same, by 1944 the Concertgebouw was both reduced in size -- wonder where all our Jewish colleagues got to? -- and somewhat ragged in  spirit. Mengelberg has to flog them into a semblance of giving-a-crap, which does give this reading a sort of haggard intensity that I find riveting if somewhat morally repugnant.]

BRUCKNER:

Symphony No. 3, D Minor. Szell; Cleveland Orchestra [47:59]

Symphony No. 8. Barbirolli; Halle Orchestra; live; 7/ 20/ 1970 [73:01] [Broad, spacious, noble]

BUFFARDIN, Pierre-Gabriel (1670-1768):

Concerto a 5, in E Minor. Goebel; Musica Antiqua Cologne [12:16].

CANTALOUBE:

Songs of the Auvergne -- "Bailero" only. Rosalind Elias, mezzo; Oscar Danon; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

CAPLET, Andre:

Conte Fantastique after Poe's "Mask of the Red Death", for Harp & String Orchestra. Ann Mason Stockton, harp; Felix Slatkin; Concert Arts Orchestra. [One of the rarest LPs in my collection, and one of the more interesting. Light scratches, but not serious considering this is a rimless Capitol Green Label]

CASCARINO, Romeo [1922 -  ? ):

Sonata for Bassoon & Piano. Sol Schoenbach, bassoon; Composer, piano [6:06] [A perfect little gem: witty, lively, and quite touching in the brief andante cantabile where Schoenbach demonstrates just how soulfully the bassoon can sing, without getting lachrymose, in the hands of a true virtuoso. I only know one professional bassoonist -- not many gravitate to that bazooka-like piece of orchestral plumbing! -- but she swears this sonata is one of every bassoonists' all-time favorites. I can understand why: as a recital piece it demonstrates the full expressive range of the instrument, yet the entire piece unfolds in under seven minutes, while never sounding rushed or over-tightly-wound. Just a delight!]

CHARPENTIER:

"Acteon", Opera de Chasse. William Christie; Ensemble "Les Arts Florissants" [40:10]

CHAUSSON:

Poem of Love and the Sea. Unidentified soloist; Andre Girard; ORTF Orchestra. [A lovely rendering, and, I confess, the soloist IS "identified", but the Frog announcer's pronunciation is so arch and exaggerated that if you don't already understand that rich but bafflingly unfriendly language, what he says sounds to me like someone clearing away some awful post-nasal drip crude on the morning after a binge with vin ordinaire a half-a-carton of Galloises. I kid you, my French friends! This is sumptuous music and this reading catches it all.]

CIKKER, Jan:

"Nad starym zakopam" Symphonic Poem. Ladislav Slovak; Slovak Philharmonicx Orch

CORETTE, Michel (1709-1795):

Concerto Comique No. 25, G Minor, "Les Sauvages et La Furstemberg". Goebel; Musica Antiqua Cologne [9:12]

DE COURVILLE, JOACHIM THIBAUT (c.1535 - 1581):

Si je languis d'un martire incogneu. [2:26] [See "Anthology" above]

CRESTON:

Sonata for Saxophone & Piano, Op. 19. Composer @ piano; Vincent J. Abato, saxophone

DEBUSSY:

Iberia -- Complete. Ingelbrecht; Orchestre de l'ORTF. C. 1952-1953 [See detailed comments under "Conductors"]

Images, Parts I & III. Monteux; San Francisco Symphony

La Mer. Freccia; Rome Symphony Orch. [See comments under "Conductors"]

Nocturnes, complete. w/ Desiree Ingelbrecht; Orchestre de l'ORTF w/ Chorus. [Legendary interpretations; see comments under "Conductors"]

DELALANDE, Michel Richard (1657-1726):

Grand Motet: "Sacris Solemnis". Andre Girard; Orchestra & Chorus of the ORTF. [What a grand…um…motet! Spirited performance, too. Alas, while most all of the "French Collection" discs are in very good shape, this one appears to have been spattered with little drops of white paint. It doesn't ruin the performance, but there ARE a few small places where I couldn't flick this crap off with a fingernail and some of the gunk had gone down into the grooves. So at those points, it sounds like crap. But those are only 2.5 minutes out of an otherwise top-notch rendereing of a work that probably hasn't been recorded much, if at all, on commercial discs]

DELIBES:

"Copelia", Suite from. Fistoulari; RCA Victor Symphony

"Sylvia", Suite from. Fistoulari; RCA Victor Symphony [Personally, I could live the next three incarnations without ever hearing this damn music again. But for those who still can tolerate it, Fistoulari was famed for his skill and verve as a ballet conductor. But, I'm sorry -- I just can't voluntarily listen to this air-headed dreck one more time. But this recording is at least good enough to make me wish I tolerated it more willingly.]

DORATI:

Concerto for Cello & Orchestra. Janos Starker, cello; Jorge Mester; Louisville Orchestra [26:14] [A corker of a cello concerto; Starker thinks it belongs in the working repertory and so do I. Dorati happened to be a first-class composer (his symphony is a dynamite piece), and needless to say, the soloist is matchless.]

DVORAK:

Carnival Overture, Op. 91. Silvestri; London Philharmonic [9:06]

In Nature's Realm, Op. 91.  Gerhardt; RCA Symphony Orchestra [Gerhardt could even conduct performances that sounded "Czech"…well, 75 % Czech, anyhow.]

ENESCO:

Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1. Oscar Danon; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. [Danon's main claim to fame, I think, is from being Music Director in Belgrade or Slobovinia or some Balkan place; he used to emerge sporadically to do a Readers Digest recording gig, then vanish again. I have no sense of his strengths and/or weaknesses as an interpreter because there just haven't been that many commercial recordings by him. However, in this instance he self-indulges in some of the most extreme rubato this piece can stand without falling apart. It's like Hermann Scherchen conducting on a serious dose of Oxycontins. I don't know if I like it or not, but it made me sit up and take notice, and the faster climaxes are whipped into a lather, too. Decidedly fascinating, if maybe insane reading.]

ETLER, Alvin:

Sonata for Bassoon & Piano. Sol Schoenbach, bassoon; Joseph Levine, piano [12:23]

DE FALLA:

El Amor Brujo. Rosalind Elias, mezzo; Robert Mandell; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Three-Cornered Hat, Suite.  Robert Mandell; RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra. [From the last, hardest-to-find Readers Digest classical box. I've never heard of Maestro Mandell, who is featured a LOT in this compendium, but he does a bang-up job here, in both of these De Falla works, and in several other selections. The engineering was an all-Charles-Gerhardt project, so the sound is ultra-vivid and full of impact. Fully competitive with almost any version you may have heard, ever; with maybe only Stokowski/ Shirley Verritt and Reiner / Leontine Price in the same ball park, which rather suggests that Maestro Mandell doesn't derserve the obscurity in which he languishes.]

LE FEGUEZ, FRANCOIS (16th cent.):

Petit sein ou l'Amour a bati son sejour. [1:23] [See "anthology" above]

FIBICH (1850-1900):

Symphony No. 2, E Flat Major, Op. 38. Jiri Waldhans; Brno State Philharmonic [32:49] [By the time it flowed through the veins of Zdenek Fibich, the red blood of Czech romantic-nationalism had grown a mite attenuated (it ran more hotly in the veins of Novak and Suk!), but even though Fibich dies at far too early an age for us to guess what major works he would compose, the two symphonies and handful of tone poems he did leave are always pleasant to hear, even if they aren't ripped asunder by passion and/or militancy. This symphony is basically  sunny, optimistic, sort-of pastoral and leave the listener smiling. What more could you ask from a composer who was obviously intimidated by laboring in the shadows of MA VLAST!; It boils down to this: if you like Czech music in general, you'll surely welcome find a place in your heart and on your shelves for Fibich -- it wasn't HIS fault he died before he could reach his maturity as a creative artist!]

FRANCK:

Le Chasseur Maudit. Freccia; RCA Victor Symphony

Symphonic Varations for Piano & Orchestra. Earl Wild, piano;

FRANCOER, Francoise 1698-1787): [Sometimes, ya just gotta take an educated guess; you know? Even thought I neither speak nor read French, and the extensive program notes are ONLY in French, here’s what it looks and sounds like:

THIS much I CAN parse out: M. Francoeur was the court musician for one Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois. At a "fete royalle" M. les Comte commissioned M, Francoeur to compose a kind oftrafagantl and paid well for the pastiche. Either by design, as a musical "in jnoke" or as a "Gotcha!" surprise element, Francoeur was instructed to weave signally INTO his jnew background music prominent and recognizable motifs from a HUGE list of composer's names, naturally all scrambled up to prevent those  with a certain type of bean-counter mind from being able to spot which composer came net. The thingh about it is, the big pastiche picture tillm it sure gave them somet6hing to keep their bnrains occupied wjilst the adults got on with their evening's social events.

Of course, I could have this story utterely wrong or inside-out and would surely appreciate emails setting me (and the record) straight. And without further interruption, here's the lif continuum,. The list of works INSIDE the two "Suites" that comprise  M. Francoeur's "QUATRIEME" AND "DEUXIEME Study the animals surely did!] 

"Deuxieme Suite': Maurice Andre conducting; Paillard Chamber Orchestra,

1) Menuet I (Rebel); and Menuet II (by M. Francoeur);

2) Entrée de chasseurs (M. Dauvergne);

3) Menuet gracieux (by M. Rameau);

4) Air Tendre  (by M. Francoeur)

5) Air de rondeau (by M. Francoeur);

6) Musette, de Mr. Mondonville);

7) Rondeau M. Mondonville)

8. Rondeaux (by M. Francoeur]

9: Rondeau gay * (by M. FTANCOEUR)

DEUXIEME SUITE

1) Ouverture by Mr. Francoeure);

2) Air Majestueux (by Mr. Rameau);

3) Contredanse (by Francoeur]

4) Air Gracieux (by Francoeur);

5) Air Vif (by Francouer);

6) Gavottes (by M. Francoeur);

7) Air tres vif (by Dauvergne);

8) Air marque (by Francoeur);

9) Air de Chaconne (by M. de Bury);

10) Gavottes (by de M. Mondonville);

11) Air Vif (Mr. Francoeur};

12) Gavottes (any that weren't nailed down, but especially by Rameau

GABURO, Kenneth:

Line Studies. Walter Trampler, viola; Julius Baker, flute; David Glazer, clarinet; Erwin Price, trombone. [9:41] [I know; its title leads you to expect…more twitter-squeak-pop music, but it's actually a quite agreeable piece, the aesthetic point of which is made crystal-clear by the artistry of this amazing quartet (only Lieberson could pick up the phone and call four of the most sought-after first-chair players in the world and book 'em to record a cold-titled piece of contemporary music, knowing in advance that, A) they wouldn't turn him down and, B) by the time these four guys finished absorbing it, the piece would be anything but remote and abstract! OK, it doesn't sound like Schubert, but it's no harder on the ears than a cheerful Paul Klee drawing is on the eyes.]

LA GALLIENE, Dorian [1915-1963]

Sinfonietta. John Hopkins; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra [12:58] [Dead, from terminal illness, at only age 48, La Gallienne  was a sterling and stout-hearted representative of the first generation of Australian composers -- those who either had to try and bring everything with them in their steamer trunks, or make things up from scratch once they settled down-under. One commentator has gone so far as to describe his orchestral music as "not just conservative but downright tweedy. Low blow! Granted, this is arch-conservative stuff all right -- in places it makes Vaughan-Williams sound radical -- but it is light-hearted, fetchingly tuneful, and obviously intended to accomplish nothing more than to stimulate the happy tapping of the listener's foot or the easy smile that well-wrought yet unassuming music can generate so well. This is the flip side of the two stark and brooding Sculthorpe tone poems listed below. And all three works are superbly, idiomatically played (in so far as a nascent "national" style may be said to have evolved into an "idiom" in Australia by 1960!) and handsomely recorded on this album (which was, I believe, the first non-historical LP I ever purchased on Columbia's then brand-new "budget" label, "Odyssey". That label was a class act during the great days when Goddard Lieberson was the head producer for the Columbia classical catalogue.]

GERSWHIN:

"Porgy & Bess" Highlights. Rise Stevens, mezzo-sop.; Robert Merrill, tenor; Robert Russell Bennet; RCA Victor Symphony & Robert Shaw Chorale [This IS one of my favorite "Porgy's" but I also suspect t it was the LAST recording that didn't feature any Negro lead singers and didn't raise a stink because of it. Ms. Stevens sings with passion, but no more sounds like a Black woman than Dolly Parton does. Musically, though, it's a good compilation OF HITS.]

GLUCK:

Concerto for Flute & Orchestra in G Major. Jean-Pierre Rampal, flute; Rene Leibowitz; Paris Philharmonic [13:36]

"O Saviour, Hear Me", from "Orfeo et Eurydice". Stokowski; Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London

GRIEG:

Piano Concerto, A Minor, Op. 16. Wilhelm Backhaus, piano; Sir John Barbirolli; New Symphony Orchestra of London; rec. October, 1933 [26:26]

GRIFFES, Charles Tomlinson:

The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, Charles Gerhardt; RCA Victor Symphony [Again, Gerhardt proves himself the equal, in this repertoire at least, of many more famous conductors. This piece used to be programmed with some frequency, but seems to have become almost extinct in the concert hall recently. Too bad, because it’s such fun, and that's how Gerhardt -- who, not being an aspiring maestro whose REAL career was in the balance,  had nothing to lose by letting it all hang out in these recording sessions. He's having fun, doing the ultimate Walter Mitty fantasy of all classical music nuts, and the orchestra's having fun, and consequently WE have fun as well!]

GUERDRON, Pierre ( ? - 1621):

Cesses mortels de soupirer. [5:54] [See "Anthology" above]

Quel espoir de guarir. [3:47] [See "Anthology" above]

Si jamais mon ame blessee. [2:42] [See "Anthology" above]

HAIEFF, Alexi:

Ballet in E. Whitney; Louisville Orchestra. [Very nice ballet suite, although it sounds far more like a previously undiscovered neo-classical Stravinsky work than it does Haieff's other Sweet-Psalmist-of-Israel works listed in these catalogues. I'm not sure it has, so to speak, long legs as an independent orchestral work, but it's lively and diverting.]

HANDEL:

"Xerxes", Largo from. Stokowski; Norman Luboff Choir New Symphony Orchestra of London. [No, I have no idea why there HAD to be a "new" full orchestra in London; nor a single clue as to whay might have hjappened to the "old" London Symphony Orchestra.]

HANSON:

Symphony No. 2, "Romantic". Gerhardt; RCA Victor Symphony [Most impassioned recording of this wonderful piece since the composer's own, and played by a much superior orchestra]

HARRISON, Lou:

Suite for Violin, Piano & Small Orchestra. Anahid Ajemian, violin; Maro Ajemian, piano; Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra

HAYDN:

Piano Concerto in D Major, Hob. XVIII/II. Gerard Hengeveld, piano; Jan Koestler; Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; live, 7/ 23/ 1943 [21:22]

Symphony No. 45, F-sharp Minor ("Farewell"). Pasblo Casals; Festival Casals Orchestra; live, 1959 [32:15] [See comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 101, D Major, "The Clock. Mravinsky; Leningrad Philharmonic; rec. 1953 [30:02] [Kosmic Haydn; reminds me of Sanderling's approach to these scores, which is understandable given that these two conductors worked together for 20-odd years, and that's a Good Thing,]

HINDEMITH:

Trauermusik for Trombone & Strings, Davis Shulman, trombone; Tibor Serly; Members of the NBC Symphony

Morning Music for Brass. Tibor Serly; Members of the NBC Symphony. [Lovely and deeply felt. See comments about this very scarce album under "Rimsky-Korsakov"]

HONEGGER:

Pastorale d'ete. Jan Koelster; Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; live, 7/ 22/ 1943 [8:00]

HUMPERDINCK:

"Hansel und Gretel", slightly abridged and sung in English. Max Rudolf; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus; Laurel Hurley (Gretel); Mildred Miller (Hansel); Regina Resnick (The Witch); Thdelma Votipka (The Mother); Emilia Cundari (The Sandman); Calvin Marsh (The Father) [See details under "Opera, Vocalists and Choral listings below]

"Hansel & Gretel" -- Evening Prayer only.  Stokowski; New Symphony Orchestra of London; Norman Luboff Choir

IBERT:

Escales. Leibowitz; Rome Philharmonic Orchestra. [Almost as lush and evocative as Stokowski's! I think Leibowitz was more of a poetic soul, and more of a self-conscious "wow!" conductor than he pretended to be, because, you know, being "passionate" in those days wasn't cool. Still, he WAS, as his great Beethoven cycle (don't rush me; I'll get to that eventually!) demonstrates beyond any doubt]

JARRETT, Keith:

[I'm about to take another Extreme Position, by declaring that these three compositions, grouped together on one 37-year-old ECM LP, constitute -- almost -- a tripartite symphony that is one of the most eloquent, moving, and exquisitely atmospheric "fusion" works ever composed. Jarrett conjures a vast, desolate beauty with his icy, spare, modal piano motifs; Gabarek once again proves why he might justly be called the greatest living saxophone virtuoso -- he gives his two instruments a keening, almost human voice; Haden's bass sounds like a whole quartet. The "jazz" elements are used subtly, and when they appear, change the mood into something resolved and stoic, if not exactly chipper. This was the LP that opened to me the ravishingly beautiful sub-genre of ECM's "chamber-music jazz", and I can only listen to it sparingly, because I associate it with a gloriously happy interlude in the late-Seventies, one that crashed and burned and left scars that still hurt when the weather is cold and damp. Let's just say that this is NOT an album you should play late at night, when you're lonely, a bit smashed, and sort of hoping old age defuses the lingering ability to feel…how can I put this delicately?...terminally horny. Sublimely beautiful and deeply haunting music, recorded with that special sense of chill Nordic vistas that ECM's engineers managed to put into their classic early LPs.

Mirrors. w/ Jan Gabarek, tenor and sop[rano sax; Mladen Gustesha; Strings of the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, [27:49]

Runes. w/ Jan Gabarek, tenor & soprano sax; Charlie Haden, bass; Mladen Gutesha; Strings of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony [15:19]

Solara March (Dedicated to Pablo Casals). w/ Jan Gabarek, saxophjones; Charlie Haden, bass; Mladen Gutesha; Strings of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony [9:40] [See sappy Hopeless-Romantic comments under "Composers"]

KHACHATURIAN:

"Gayane" Suite. Silvestri; Vienna Philharmonic [10:41]

LACHNER, Franz (1803-1890):

Symphony No. 1, E-Flat Major, Op. 32. Choo Hoey; Singapore Symphony Orchestra. [33:26] [Franz Lachner was a close and valued friend of Schubert, who thought rather highly of his abilities and from whom he learned a lot. I both like Lachner and feel a bit sorry for him. His music always gives pleasure, and there's no doubt that he mastered all the formal rules, but when all is said and done, he was not, and could never have been in a thousand years, a composer of Schubert's stature…but then, who was? Divine spark; it hits some of us head-on, and others just get a glancing blow. (I've about decided that what I got was the Divine Rope-Burn and that's all, but never mind). Here's a thoroughly well-crafted, tuneful, agreeable symphony that just misses being…more than that. I listen to it now and then and always with pleasure; Lachner had much to say and said it skillfully and with integrity. But he was not Schubert, and on some level, that must have been hard to live with. Very creditable performance, too, by the little-known conductor and his far-away orchestra.]

LARSSON, Lars Erik (b. 1900 --  ? ): Is another Swedish Romantic whose stock has st

owly but surely risen in recent years, His music is straightforward, easy like, and usually full of agreeable melodies, some folk-based, some original; the Adagio Contasmovement in   the Serenade. The Double-Bass Concerto is an unpretentious delight, and God knows virtuosos on THAT instrument need some suitably flashy. And not-always-lugubrious concerti for that ungainly instrument -- Larssen's is actually charming and downright winsome! I think it's way past time for the Greater World to take some notice of Larsson's pleasing, warm-hearted music. Certainly, these two works might find a ready audience in the U.S, and/or the U.K.]

Serenade for Strings, Op. 12. No conductor listed; Swedish Broadcasting Symphony Chamber Orchestra [10:50]

Concerto for Double-Bass & Orchestra, Op. 45/ No. 11. Luigi Ossoinak, double-bass; Swedish Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra. [9:50]

LIEBERSON, Goddard:

String Quartet No. 1.  Galimir String Quartet [15:06]  [Columbia Records' visionary head producer decided to allow himself ONE public perk by committing his string quartet to vinyl; but it's at least as good as half the works he was producing from "professional" composers in those days, so let's skip the "vanity project" sneers shall we? Lieberson, for those who aren't old enough to remember, masterminded Columbia's every-single-note documentation of Stravinsky, Webern, Schoenberg, et. al., and even continued championing Stravinsky during the old prune's last, most hermetic, vapid, and dried-up period, when nobody wanted to listen to anything he was writing. (Nobody still does, for that matter; when was the last time you read about a new recording of Noah's Flood? Or those execrable, shriveled up songs based on T.S. Eliot's poetry? Right; just so.)  Not surprisingly, Lieberson's quartet displays a LOT of neo-classical-period Stravinsky fingerprints, but it's darker, juicier, more lyrical, and at the bottom line a thoroughly decent effort for an "amateur" composer. I'd rank it up there with Glenn Gould's string quartet (which Lieberson encouraged; had Gould lived longer, the wild hermit of Canada would probably have turned out some orchestral pieces, too -- he had announced his intention of doing so, after all). Anyway, this quartet holds your interest, and needless to say it is played and recorded to the highest standards.]

LISZT:

Grand Etudes After Paganini, No's 3 in E Major; No. 4 in E Major ("La Chasse")  & No. 5 in G-sharp Major ("La Campanella"). Victor Merzhanov, piano. Timings are: [1:50], [2:37] and [4:45] [See comments under "Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3. Merzhanov proves himself to be a splendid Lisztian in these USSR-made recordings, unavailable in the West since the late Sixties.]

Hungarian Rhapsody No.   Rudolf Schwarz; Philharmonia Orchestra

Les Preludes. Rudolf Schwarz; Philharmonia Orchestra [See comments about this unspeakably rare LP under :Conductors"]

Mass for Four-Part Male Chorus, "Szekszard Mass". Istvan Kis; Chorus of the Hungarian Peoples Army

Four Sacred Male Choruses: Mihi autem adhaerere; Ave maris stella; Anima Christi, sanctifica me, II; and Ossa aarida. Istvan Kis; Chorus of the Hungarian Peoples Army. [Liszt's music sometimes strikes me as being akin to a gigantic mountain, only ten per cent of which is visible above sea-level. The rest, stupendous in its breadth, variety, and general qualify, is only dimly perceived and that by listeners who specialize AS listeners, to piano music, organ music, or Romantic-era liturgical music. The sacred pieces Liszt composed, after he got religion and was too old and worn-out to chase women around the Austro-Hungarian Empire as he once did, are compartmentalized from his ostensibly more exciting secular works. On the evidence I've heard, that's just patently unfair, for Liszt poured just as much emotion into his sacred compositions as he did into, say, the Hungarian Rhapsodies. Only it's a different KIND of emotion: austere, harmonically rather stark, structurally tight instead of luxuriant and sprawling. It affords little opportunity for virtuoso display (except for some of the organ works, and we'll get to them after Christmas.[ Meanwhile, here are five truly majestic works for chorus and organ, beautifully rendered by a virile and youthful-sounding male chorus

LOEFFLER, Charles Martin:

A Pagan Poem, Op. 14. Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra [23:39] [The first stereo recording of this fascinating and ahead-of-its-time composition, and does Stokie ever send it over-the-top! Please note also that I offer another great, and very scarce version of this excellent piece, in absolutely different sound and point-of-view (but in its own way, equally absorbing), a pretty fair-sounding mono interpretation from about 1951, with Maurice Rosenthal and the Paris Symphony (it was issued here, for about ten minutes I think, on an ancient Capitol LP that is now virtually impossible to find…my Source copy is very clean, too, considering it's a half-century old!]

LULLY (Orchestrated by Felix Mottl):

"Minuet" from "The Temple of Peace". Mitropoulos; Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra; rec. c. 1944 [3:38]

LUTOSLAWSKI:

String Quartet. New Budapest String Quartet.

McCABE, John:

The Chagall Windows - Orchestral Rhapsody. James Loughran; Halle Orchestra [I own a few other recordings of McCabe's music, and have heard 3-4 unrecorded pieces on live concerts aired by local FM stations, but until stumbling upon this gloriously-engineered EMI disc (never released in the U.S.), I had only formed a very hazy notion of his style and general "sound". That impression was rather vague and indifferent, Not so here, beginning with this big, complex, yet thoroughly accessible work for full orchestra, composed after McCabe was commissioned to write the soundtrack for a Granada Television network documentary about the magnificent cycle of stained glass windows Chagall designed for the Hadassah Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a prize-winning film that was first shown during the 1974-1975 season. McCabe had long admired the art of Chagall, but was utterly unprepared for the staggering personal impact the great cycle made on both his intellect and his spirit when he first beheld them in situ and with ample time to study each panel in detail, under various conditions of light. Although McCabe deliberately tried to avoid a literally "programmatic" style, it seems clear to my ears, at any rate, that he focused on several major Biblical motifs that recur at leitmotifs or metaphysical benchmarks in the progression of images. His music hews closely to the same conceptual scheme, and his exploration of vast orchestral resources is so brilliantly "descriptive" that Richard Strauss at his most inspired could hardly have surpassed it. Thus my estimate of the McCabe's ranking in the pantheon of major post-war composers has now rising several notches -- this is deeply "inspired" music, not simply a slick commercially lucrative contract-fulfillment, and McCabe's contribution to the overall film was remarked-upon and critically praised at the time of its premiere broadcast. Divorced from the images that inspired it, the music stands alone with fierce integrity and is memorably scored for maximum abstract power, even rapture. Truly a wonderful piece of "contemporary" music. Conductor James Loughran has never struck me as being anything special as an interpreter, but he too seems inspired here, for he elicits playing from the venerable Halle ensemble that has the same intensity as the best work of Sir John Barbirolli, Loughran's illustrious predecessor; and the sonics are appropriately both lush and crystalline -- in other words, the recorded sound is glorious -- a perfect example of why so many collectors preferred to pay, on average, 30% MORE for the air mail shipment of the U.K. pressing, rather than purchase the much cheaper, but almost certain-to-be inferior U.S. pressings by Angel. And on the flip side of the amazing Chagall-inspired music, we get another McCabe work that stands out from the welter of late 20th-Century "isms" and contending styles. The "Hartmann Variations" are based on -- inspired by -- a gnarly, actually rather UN-attractive bits from that German expressionist's somber and close-to-atonal 4th symphony. Yeah, I know -- that REALLY sounds attractive, doesn't it? But McCabe rips Hartmann a "new one" by cavorting with and mutating the original bits in much the same brilliantly extroverted manner as Hindemith used in his "Variations on a Theme of Weber". The handling of both color and rhythm is particularly vivid, even toe-tapping; I initially became rather grumpy at the prospect of dubbing this "B Side", right after being blown-away by the potent Chagall-inspired music, but I enjoyed this virtuoso romp very much indeed.:

Variations on a Theme of Karl Amadeus Hartmann. James Loughran; Halle Orchestra  [No timing listed -- another British eccentricity, one presumes, just like the BBC's refusal to broadcast its concerts in stereo until five years after every other radio corporation in the world had made that conversion --  but my wall clock told me the piece lasts approximately 23- 24 minutes; and very colorful minutes they are, too!]

McDONALD, Harl:

Suite From Childhood. For Harp & String Orchestra. Ann Mason Stockton, harp; Felix Slatkin; Concert Arts Orchestra

MASCAGNI:

"L'Amico Fritz" (*) -- "Cherry Duet", Act II. Pia Tassinari, soprano; Ferrucio Tagliavini, tenor; Orchestra, Chorus, venue unidentified. [See more under "Opera, Choral and solo vocalists]

(*) "The Amicable Maestro Reiner"

MARTINU:

Concerto for Double String Orchestra, Piano & Timpani. Arthur Balsam, piano; Swoboda; "Concert Hall Symphony". [It's almost certainly either the Vienna Symphony or the orchestra in Winterthur, both of which Swoboda conducted around 1952-1953, when this staggeringly rare Concert Hall Society LP was issued, by subscription only. I WISH I COULD SHOW YOU THIS ONE! The underlying tape recorded sound on these ancient CHS records was often quite decent, but it's very rare to find one in the kind of near-pristine shape this one was in when I found it (at the local Goodwill thrift shop!). Moreover, the LP is pressed on TRANSLUCENT BLOOD-RED VINYL! Is that cool or what? Swoboda has the measure of Martinu's style (the composer was in  consultation when this disc was taped!), Balsam "gets" the piano part as few subsequent artists have -- and he left so few recordings anyway! -- that it's worth buying just for his contribution. From the catalogue number ("nine") this must have been one of the earliest Concert Hall "main selections", and it surely would command a dandy price on E Bay…but not for you, dear listeners, not for you! It and 50-odd minutes' worth of additional music are all yours for the customary $12.50.

MASSENET:

"Werther" -- "Il faut nous separer…", Act I. Pia Tassinari, soprano; Ferrucio Tagliavini, tenor; unidentified orchestra, chorus and venue. [See more under "Opera, Choral and Vocal" listings]

MAUDIT, Jacques (1557-1627):

Eau vive, source d'Amour. [3:08] [See "Anthology" above]

MENDELSSOHN:

Songs Without Words, Op. 67, 1-6/ Op. 65, 1-6/ Op. 102, 1-9. Ginette Doyen, piano

Symphony No. 3, Op. 56. "Scottish". w/ Cologne Radio Symphony; live, 10/ 24/ 1960    [Dimitri never gave a routine or lackluster performance of this piece in his life, and this live rendition -- with his favorite European radio orchestra -- evokes the stern misty highlands almost as intensely as his NY Philharmonic studio recording. Shiver me sporran, Jock!]

MERCADANTE, Sererio (1795-1870:

"Il Giuramento", complete and ONLY recording. I can only tell you that my Source tape (which has excellent sound), derives from a performance given in the late Seventies by the Opera Lyrique forces of the French ORTF. It takes up 2.5 CDs, which in my estimation is at least one CD longer than its content and musical quality warrant. However, if you want a good laugh, turn to its listing under "Opera, Vocal & Choral" and read the verbatim English rendering of the synopsis, was Xeroxed for me by The Rooster, who sent me the tape many years ago. I think it offers a perfect example of why Mercadante's operas rarely appear on the contemporary stage -- in fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say this whole thing was a parody, a la PDQ Bach!]

MILHAUD:

Le Bouef sur le Toit. Mitropoulos; Minneapolis Symphony [See comments under "Conductors"]

Suite for Harmonica & Orchestra. w/ Larry Adler, harmonica; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [13:33]

MOYZES, Alexander:

"Vatry na horach", Op. 71 - Symphonic Suite. Zdenek Kosler; Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra

MOULINIE, Etienne (c. 1600-c. 1669):

Enfin la beaute que j'adour. [5:04] [See "Anthology" above]

Je suis  ravi de mon Urainie. [2:30] [See "Anthology" above]

Quelque merveilleuse chose. [2:21] [See "Anthology" above]

Paisible et tenebreuse nuit. [2:56] [See "Anthology" above]

MOZART:

Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475. Ivan Moravec, piano [12:47]

"Idomeneo", K. 367, Ballet Music from. Philippe Entremont; Vienna Chamber Orchestra [27:40]

"La Petits Riens", K. Anh. 10, Ballet Music from. Philippe Entremont; Vienna Chamber Orchestra [23:20]

Sonata in C Minor, K. 457.  Ivan Moravec, piano [18:10]

Sonata in B Flat Major, K. 750.  Ivan Moravec, piano [17:11]

Serenade No. 10, B Flat Major, K. 361. Ansermet; Suisse-Romande Orchestra. [See comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 28, C Major, K. 200. Philippe Entremont; Vienna Chamber Orchestra [22:11]

Symphony No. 29, A Major, K. 201. Philippe Entremont; Vienna Chamber Orchestra [25:52] [This Mozart collection was, I believe, Entremont's debut as a conductor, a career-switch that seems to have gone well for him. Sparkling performances, and there isn't much competition as far as the ballet music goes.]

Symphony No. 36, C Major, K. 425 ("Linz"). Casals; Festival Casals Orchestra; live, 1959 [29:42] [See comments under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 39, K. 543. Mravinsky; Leningrad Philharmonic; recorded 2/ 26/1965 IN STEREO.

Symphony No. 40, G Minor, K. 550. Eugene Jochum; Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; live, 11/ 21/ 1943 [25:28]

NABAKOV, Nicolas:

Symboli zChrestiani, For Bariton and Orchestra. William Pickett, baritone; Whitney; Louisville Orchestra [Compelling ritualistic amalgam of old Christian modes and symbols, spicved by some mid-20th Century harmonies and spikey tone-colors. It has a sustained mood of hieratic ceremonial intensity that holds you attention; Ms. Pickett's dark, sonorous voice suits the music to a tee and Whitney seems more deeply engaged here than he sometimes was. Nice stuff, if you're in the mood to go around muttering "Ikthos!" and waving a sensor full of smoldering goat cheese…]

OCENAS, Andrep:

"Plamene maja, Op. 15 -- Symphonic Prelude. Ladislav Slovak; Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra

[Well, what else can I do? Everything here in the notes is in Skovak, and I'm NOT even going to fantasize about what the word "zakopom" might mean in English -- pickled goat's tripes or some such. I can tell you that both the Cikker and the Ocenas pieces are solidly-crafted, post-modern exercises in what surely sounds like Abstract Expressionism. Both works are multi-sectional and fairly accessible, as long as you aren't wholly hostile to matters of modern harmony and tone-color. Even so, I found some sections absorbing and worth additional hearings, and some just irritated the crap out of me. The Moyzes suite has a lot more personality and several segments that show strong backbone and driving excitement. This composer is not TOTALLY unknown over here -- I bought a CD of symphonies from Records International about 10-12 years ago and liked it, but he's hardly even a cult figure. Performances seem excellent; the disc itself seems pressed on some kind of unusual compound that attracts dust and static electricity while-you-watch. I swear there were more irritating scratches on the surfaces than there had been when I started dubbing the master CD!  Even so, good luck finding any of this music anywhere else, on the Web or off.]

ORFF:

Carmina Burana. Stokowski; Houston Symphony & Chorale; Virginia Babikian, soprano; Clyde Hager, tenor. [SUPERIOR JAPANESE PRESSING!! See comments under "Conductors"]

PAGANINI:

Violin Concerto No. 1, D Major, Op. 6. Herman Krebbers, violin; Van Otterloo; Hague Philharmonic Orchestra

Violin Concerto No. 4, D Minor. Arthur Grumieauz, violin; Franco Gallini; Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureaux. [This work was long thought lost; these same forces gave the premiere of the newly reconstructed score on November 7, 1954; this recording was made several days later]

PERSICHETTI:

Concerto for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 56. Vincent & Dorothea Persichetti, pianists. [A fine piece for an unusual combo of forces! Energetic, lyrical, even touched with a bit of "Prairie Romanticism" now and then, it's a work that spills rather joyfully over the boundaries of genre and "school" (which were even in 1953 beginning to choke the life out of some American composers; Persichetti had the technical chops to go over to the academic serialists, but he also had the integrity not to; that probably stunted his career somewhat, but it kept him always listenable and still does. I suppose for sheer virtuosity, some later duo-pianists could have out-panached Vincent and Dotty, but the husband-and-wife team notion is too irresistible and thi is one of the landmark American music LPs Columbia issued during the Fifties, exactly the kind of thing, down to the cover design, that made curious teenaged pilgrims like me mull over it at the public library, then take it home and have an ear-adventure!]

PETROVICS, Emil:

String Quartet. New Budapest String Quartet [Sounds a lot like Bartok, in places, but it's a substantial, meaty quartet, superbly played and recorded. I think I have also listed some orchestral works by this estimable composer, too; check the "Cumulative Listings" under "Twentieth Century Composers"]

PISTON:

Wind Quintet. Boston Wind Quintet, c. 1957 (first-ever recording)

PUCCINI:

"Tosca" --  "Or lascimai al lavoro…", Act I. Pia Tassinari, soprano; Ferrucio Taglivini, bass; Conductor, orchestra & Chorus unknown [See more under "Opera, Choral, and Vocal"]

PUIG, Michael (1930 -  ? ):

"Stigmates" -- Chamber Opera. Rene Leibowitz; Unidentified Vocalists and Chamber Ensemble. [32:36] [Here's 33-odd minutes of sterile, pretentious twitter-squeak-blat atonalism from 1961, as only the French wing of Darmstadt could grind it out, year after dreary year. The recording, on the "BYG" label (!?!) is certainly rare, and for what it's worth the sonics are very good, but does anybody care about this crap any more? The cumulative damage done by 20 years of "new" music being synonymous with such effete rubbish almost terminally alienated what remained of the already-shrinking audience for "classical" music, and many of those people haven't come back into a concert hall since. Way to go, Stockhausen; thanks for the fish. Next to this, the music of Boulez sounds positively decadent and sensual! This opera is based on writings by Jacques Pajak (1900-1965, and I've never heard of him either); the brief notes are only in French; the performers aren't identified (not that I blame them for wishing to remain anonymous!); the music has some nice but rather shapeless snare drum riffs (and some actually cute patters on the bongos!) but the orchestration also calls for random blasts on a plastic dime-store whistle! Otherwise it all sounds exactly like that classic Hoffnung Festival parody, "Punkt-Contrapunkt"; there's a tenor who either is quoting from texts or scat-singing in random grunts of either pain or aggravation; the small chorus occasionally shouts or snarls something that sounds like "Cheese it, the cops!" or "Zoot alours!" or is maybe the name of Leibowitz's pet cat; who knows or cares? About the composer, "Mister Pig", we get no information except his date of birth. The original Surrealists did this whole fur-lined-teacup bit with far more wit, point, and relevance than we hear in all 33 minutes of this wretched thing. That said, it IS a very rare LP; it IS in very good condition; and the bafflingly contradictory Leibowitz conducts a sharply etched performance of music he probably believed in. Then he turns around five years later and does a simply marvelous Beethoven cycle for Readers Digest! Go figure. "The French, they are a funny race…" as the old British Tommies were wont to say. Decorum inhibits me from quoting the rest of the quatrain. I'm an all-inclusive collector, folks, and I'm glad I ran into this mutant composition, but that doesn't mean I'm going to pretend to like it or con you into wanting to buy it. However, I won't laugh at ANYBODY who sends me a check, I promise!]

QUENTIN, Jean-Baptiste ("Le Jeune") (1718-1750):

Concerto in A Major, Op. 12/ No. 1. Goebel; Musica Antiqua Cologne [13:05]

RACHMANINOFF:

Piano Concerto No. 3, D Minor, Op. 30. Victor Merzhanov, piano; Nikolai Anosov; USSR State Symphony Orchestra [39:18] [Merzhanov isn't well known in the West; his career reach ed its peak just as the Cold War reached its most frozen and he seems never to have appeared farther from the USSR's borders than Austria -- a token Salzburg Festival appearance, if I'm not mistaken. His name means something to connoisseurs of the keyboard, however, because he shared First Prize in the 1945 All-Union Competition with a young chap named Richter -- you probably HAVE heard of him! Merzhanov preferred (or was compelled) to spend most of his time teaching at the Moscow Conservatory, and his occasional recordings were primarily circulated only inside the Soviet Union. A small number did appear on labels such as Monitor (which is my Source for this rather well-engineered mono recording with good ol' Anosov). It is, of course, a very distinguished "Rachy Three", although it's very obviously different from Richter's readings -- more tensely phrased, more emphasis on rhythmic articulation and harmonic layering than on color and sweep -- not that those qualities are slightly (the reading throws off plenty of sparks), but that they grow out of the other more formal elements of the work rather than being the soloist's primary concern. It's certainly a major statement of the score, aided greatly by Anosov's incisive conducting, and the Source LP is both in near-mint condition and about as scarce today as a matched set of do-do eggs.]

RANKI, Gyorgy (Hungarian, 1906 -- ? ):

"King Pomade's New Clothes", Suite from. Jorge Mester; Louisville Orchestra [27:13] [It's a Magyar version of Hans Christian Anderson's familiar tale, and a rousing good take it is, too. Any resemblance to Kolday's "Hary Janos" is wholly intentional and Rank's music very nearly equals Kodaly's in its zesty paprika-flavored colors and energy.]

RAVEL:

Rhapsodie Espagnol. Leibowitz; Rome Philharmonic Orch. [Good as it gets!]

Le Tombeau de Couperin. Mitropoulos; Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Rec. 12/ 6/ 1941 [11:43} [See comments under "Conductors"]

REICHA:

Wind Quintet in E Flat, Op. 88 / No. 2. Boston Wind Quintet; c. 1`957

RESPIGHI:

The Fountains of Rome. Massimo Freccia; New Philharmonia Orchestra

Roman Festivals…or, as my lamented old pal The Rooster used to call it "Festering Romans".  While Freccia's readings are certainly not anonymous -- he always displays plenty of personality in his too-few commercial recordings -- the real star here is neither Respighi's glorious but trashy scores mor this fine Italian conductor's sensibilities…it's the sensdational analog sound engineered by Charles Gerhardt. These two recordings, and a number of listings analogous to them, derive from the third and last massive boxed sets of classical pieces compiled by the lame old "Reader's Digest" label and conducted by terrific stick-men like Barbirolli, Freccia, Dorati and Horenstein, all recorded on a lavish budget, by Gerhardt and several excellent for-hire orchestras. Many of the better recordings were later released as separate one-LP albums and distributed by Quintessence, et. al. Several became legendary (Fritz Reiner's Brahms IVth, for example, was one of his last recordings, period, and his only major studio venture weith any orchestra except his own Chicago Symphony (in this case it was the Royal Philharmonic and I thought the "classical" interpretation really sucked eggs -- insanely fast and emotionally constipated, albeit in sensational sound!. There's no shortage of great-sounding "Roman Festerings", but this one will make your hair stand on end when  those horns cut loose at the very beginning. Terrific LP, and the ones made for this third collection -- Lord knows why -- did not receive the marketing support it should have had and consequently is VERY scarce and collectable nowadays. I lucked out when I located this near-mint set, too; as you will no doubt agree when you start ordering bunches and bunches of dubs from this site. Why delay? Whip out that check book!]

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV:

Capriccio Espagnol. Oscar Danon; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [Vividly colored and full of the very sort of "punch" that fatally hobbles James Walker's Scheherazade, listed below]

Concerto for Trombone & Military Band. Davis Shulman, trombone; Tibor Serly; NBC Symphony Wind players (moonlighting as "The Classic Editions symphonic Band"). [This wonderfully raucous piece was long thought to be lost (Rimsky mentions it being premiered at the naval base on Kronstadt in 1877 and grumps about how "nobody paid any attention"!), until the score happened to turn up in 1951, about two years before this rare and delightful recording was made! Let us remember that in his "real life", Rimsky was an officer in the Tsarist Navy ("Inspector of Bands", which means he was a naval officer in about the same way that Borodin was a pharmacist!), and was required to crank out occasional pieces and/or conduct band concerts. It doesn't sound anything like his other music, but it sure it great high-stepping fun! So is this unutterably rare "Classic Editions" LP, too, produced by none other than Peter Bartok and still very good-sounding. On the original LP, the wind band was identified as       , but the players were supposedly guys from the NBC Symphony, making a fewq bucks on the side. They're terrific brass players, that's for sure. No timing on the LP, but the concerto lasts about 16-17 minutes; Mr. Shulman plays the be-jezus out of the solo part, as he does with the other selections on this wonderful gem of a rarity.]

"Le Coq d'Or" -- March only. Oscar Danon; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. [Terrific! Danon has the timpanist slam each beat like a meat-packer wielding the sledge as the cows walk into the chute and it makes the piece sound really wild, Mongol, and hairy!]

Three Russian Folksongs for Brass. Tibor Serly; Members of the NBC Symphony.

Scheherazade. James Walker; New Philharmonia Orchestra. [Here's another promising conductor nobody'd ever heard of until his got this plum for this last and splashiest Readers Digest box. Only, unlike Maestro Gamley, Maestro Walker doesn't strike any sparks, largely because he takes no risks. This is a sane, safe, middling-good Scheherazade, handsomely played and recorded; it's not exactly dull, but it IS a little like listening to an old roué spin tales about his youthful conquests -- eroticism recollected in tranquility may have a nice glow about it -- and there ARE many felicities to he heard on the softer end of the dynamic scale -- but the fires are banked and there's a certain conceptual distance between listener and music. It's perfectly possible to conduct this work with the emphasis on elegance and color, not swaggering melodrama (Monteux and Beecham knew how to do that; and the Phase-Four Stokowski/ London Symphony version had EVERYTHING, in great voluptuous pillows of sound), but Maestro Walker seems hesitant to go there. Result: a very finely polished interpretation that never really heats up. I am not surprised that we've heard little about this conductor since this box set came and went; I would much have preferred a sloppy but passionate reading to this almost dainty traversal!]

ROMAN, Helmich Johan ( Swedish; 1694-1758):

Symphony No. 3, D Major. No conductor listed; Swedish Radio Chamber Orchestra. [6:25]

Violin Concerto No. 3.  Ollie Swembel, violin;Swedish Radio Chamber Orchestra [13:30] both pieces sound a bit like they'd been tarred with the C.P.E. Bach Brush, but what's wrong with that?]

ROPARTZ:

Deux Pieces for Woodwind Quintet. Boston Wind Quintet, c. 1957. [See comments under "Chamber Ensembles & Solo Virtuosi"]

ROSZA:

"Julius Caesar", Incidental Music to Film. Bernard Herrmann; National Philharmonic Orchestra [12:30]

RUE, Grand (16th Cent.):

Lors que tes beaux yeux mignonne. [1:30] [See "Anthology" above]

RUST, Wilhelm Frederich (1739-1796]

Sonata in C Major. Vladimir Pheshakov, piano [12:25]

Sonata in D-Flat Major. Vladimir Pleshakov, piano [10:04]

Sonata in F-Sharp Major. Vladimir Pleshakov, piano  [11:54]

Sonata in G Major. Vladimir Pleshakov, piano. [9:58]

[Here's a composer who's about as obscure as they come; these four short sonatas, altogether less than one hour of polished music, comprise the ENTIRE known output of Herr Rust! And although we know tantalizingly little about him, among the things we DO know is that both Franz Benda and C. P. E. Bach befriended him and helped him as teachers, for a relatively short period of time at least. Rust was born in the tiny postage-stamp principality of Anhalt, in the even tinier village of Dessau (general vicinity of Leipzig), and that except for a two-year residence in Italy, as Kapellmeister to, and friend of, the Prince of Anhalt, and a youthful period of study in Berlin, principally with CPE Bach, he lived, worked, and died within the same tiny ambit, and he seems to have been perfectly content that it was so. So far as we know, he left not a single bar of orchestral music, not any chamber works -- just these four little jewels of piano sonatas, over which he apparently spent thirty-off years fussing, revising, and perfecting )he finished revising the G Major sonata only a few weeks before dying!). Nevertheless, Rusy was either telepathically tuned-into the coming Zeitgeist, or he was a remarkable, never-fully-realized near-genius, because there are pages and pages of music in which he clearly anticipates not just Beethoven (whom he may in fact have known or corresponded with!) but -- in the F-Sharp Major Sonata --  Schubert as well. By turns Rust's music is "galant", suave, joyful (in a decorous, not boisterous manner), and he was able to write a damn good fugue. In the two later sonatas, he seems strongly attracted to cyclical form and his style changes accordingly. Prescient? To be sure! But a nascent revolutionary a la Beethoven?. No way! He never strains the boundaries of good piano-forte range; nothing is forced; but his innate gift for melody, and a pervasive underlying vigor make him SOUND uncommonly like Beethoven; and I don't mean the young, still-fumbling-around Beethoven, either; more like the mature middle-period composer. The pianist, Maestro Pleshnakov (an ex-pat Russian born in Shanghai, formally educated in Australia (first concerto appearances under the baton of Eugene Goosens, who was at that time conductor of the radio symphony of New South Wales!) states firmly that he believes Rust to have been a truly remarkable "transitional" figure, with one foot firmly and comfortably in the style of CPE Bach, and the other sort of striding in the general direction of the "Waldstein" Sonata! I find all four of these sonatas to be thoroughly beguiling, full of self-expression effortlessly wedded to good taste, and very strong in melodic content. Another writer who thought so -- and without whose research we would know next-to-nothing about Rust, is Vincent D'Indy, who speculated: "His pianoforte style (especially when the sonorous texture tend to become thick) displays many qualities which we, erroneously, attribute almost exclusively to the mature piano works of Beethoven. Yet the question won't go away: who influenced whom?  Whatever new information may eventually turn up on that subject, there is no denying that Rust anticipated, quite uncannily, some salient characteristics of music that would not come to be written until decades after his time."

     And that's just what I hear in these fascinating works! Metempsychosis, anyone? Oh, yeah, both the performances and the recorded sound on this antedeluvian LP are exemplary! I love it when discoveries like this pop up!]

SAINT-SAENS:

"Samson & Delilah", Op. 42. Louis Fourestier; chorus, orchestra & stars of the Paris Opera, circa 1947 [See details down under "Operas & Choral Works" -- this is the first-ever complete recording of "S-and-D"!!]

SALZMAN, Eric (1932 -  ?  ):

The Nude Paper Sermon. Joshua Rifkin, conducting sundry ensembles and bunches of musicians; spoken material by Stacy Keach [44:53] ["The medium is the message", intoned Marshall McCluhan during his 55 minutes of fame (I allotted him extra time because he really DID earn it!), and Mr. Salzman -- who in addition to being a composer and teacher, was also a highly respected record reviewer for "Stereo Review") -- took that as his point of departure for this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink recording. The recording IS the work-of-art itself, you see (although a fairly chaotic staged version exists and has been many times performed); it is, in Mr. Salzman's words "the first 'total' work to be shaped on, by, and through the medium of modern recording -- the record is not a REPRODUCTION of anything; it is the THING ITSELF…Recording technology transforms that which it communicates; it makes all music part of the present and thereby changes it. There is nothing inherently good or bad about this (technology can liberate and it can oppress), but there is no running away from it; we must master it lest it become oppressing; we must learn to use in order to create and liberate." I'm not going to come down on any side of the intense aesthetic debate that followed the 1968 debut of this recording-composition. Whether I (or you) "like it" as music, (although in point of fact I like parts of it very much) is beside the point. It was a defining aesthetic "object", a sonic fur-lined teacup if you will; it crystallized AND polarized what had hitherto been an inchoate welter of babbling opinions and half-naked ideological cant. Like Cage's "silent" piano composition or several of Berio's more far-out compositions, it was and remains a landmark in modern musical history -- it permanently fixes a bug chunk of the Zeitgeist. Circa 1068. It will be studied and argued about for years, decades perhaps, yet to come. And since it doesn't seem to be in print anywhere at the moment, and hasn't been for almost 20-odd years, I'm offering it for your contemplation, neither endorsing it nor lam-basting it AS music, but strongly citing it as an important and singular work. If you order a dub, I will include the program notes --which DO help you figure out what the hell's going on -- free of charge.]

SCHOENBERG:

Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38. Frederick Prausnitz; New Philharmonia Orchestra [20:44]

Six Pieces for Male Chorus, Op. 35. The John Alldiss Choir [14:39]

SCHUBERT:

Overture & Incidental Music to "Rosamunde" Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra

SCULTHORPE, Peter (Australian, b. 1929 --   _): [If you saw and got spooked by the wonderful Australian movie "Picnic at Hanging Rock:" (Horror? Fantasy? Mass hallucination? Whatever you finally decide about this eerie and disturbing film, the real star of it IS the Australian landscape itself. It's not atonal or technically fearsome, but it IS uncompromising in its tonal depiction of a vast. primordial space where the Sun not only dominates your puny human presence like a sure-nuff god, but places where it can knock you dead as surely as a bullet. Sculthorpe finds the tonal equivalent of a great painter's pallatte and wields it brilliantly.  where other-worldly anomalies such as Ayers's Rock (I hope I spelled that properly, my Aussie friends! We are, after all, bound by a common tongue which generally sounds the way it looks -- except of course, when YOU guys get a-hold of it. Walloping Wallabies, Bat Man !!]

Irkanda IV. John Hopkins; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra [11:26] [As Sculthorpe explains, this poignant work is basically a threnody in memory of his father, who had recently died. "Irkana" is, as you might expect, an Aboriginal word, meaning "a sad, remote and lonely place"…assuming you could find such terrain easily on the Australian land-mass…]

Sun Music II. Hopkins;  Melbourne Symphony  Orchestra [10:20]

SHOSTAKOVICH:

"Hamlet", Incidental Music to the Film. Bernard Herrmann; National Philharmonic Orch. [21:30]

Symphony No. 1, Op. 10. Rodzinski; Cleveland Orchestra; recorded 1941 [30:36] [See lengthy comment under "Conductors"]

Symphony No. 5, Op. 47. Rodzinski; Cleveland Orchestra; rec. 1942 [34:33] [See extensive commentary under "Conductors']

SMETANA:

Overture to "The Bartered Bride". Oscar Danon; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [Or, as Sir Thomas Beecham used to call it "The Buttered Bride"…]

SPOHR:

Symphony No. 2, D Minor, Op. 49. Choo Hoey; Singapore Symphony Orchestra [28:34]

STARER, Robert:

Five Miniatures for Brass. Tibor Serly; Members of the NBC Symphony. [See comments under "Rimsky-Korsakov"]

STRAUSS, Johann:

"Die Fledermaus", complete. Eugene Ormandy; Orchestra & Chorus of the ZMetropolitan Opera; Lily Pons; Ljuba Welitsch; Richard Tucker; Charless Kullman; Marthat Lipton; John Brownless. [I think this was Ormandy's ONLY full-length opera recordings, and it's a perfect match. Perfect conductor, stellar soloists; good mid-Fifties sound.]

STRAUSS:

Don Juan, Op. 20. Von Karajan; Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; live, August, 1943 [17:19]

Don Quixote, Op. Don Quixote, Op. 35.   Emmanuel Feuermann, cello. w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; rec. circa 1940-1941. [One of the glories of the pre-LP catalogue! Feuermann turns his cello into a walking, talking, suffering, exultant human being, the Knight of the Woeful Countenance in-the-flesh (or in-the-wood, as you prefer) and together -- with the help of RCA's engineers who knew a thing or two about capturing the fantastic sound of the pre-war Philadelphia Orchestra -- they preserved for all time a Don Quixote of astounding eloquence and heart-breaking sensitivity. Cervantes would have been amazed, had he heard how extravagantly both composer and performers had brought his character vividly to life. The sonics are STILL wonderfully realistic and faithful to the sumptuous sound of the Philadelphia at absolute peak!]

Schlagobers ("Whipped Cream") Ballet, complete. Erich Kloss; "Frankenland State Symphony Orchestra" (Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra) [From a very hard-to-find Lyrichord set, in B-plus condition]

Tod und Verklarung. Furtwangler; Hamburg Philharmonic; live, 6/ 9/ 1947 [24:36]

STRAVINSKY:

Firebird Suite. Freccia; Rome Symphony Orchestra [See comments under "Conductors"]

Song of the Nightingalew.  Bernstein; New York Philharmonic; live, December 12, 1956 [approx. 21 minutes]

VON SUPPE:

"The Beautiful Galatea". Anton Paulik; Soloists, Orchestra & Chorus of Vienna State Opera [See details under "Operas & Choral works"]

SWEELINCK, Jan Pietersoon (1562-1621): [For my money, one of the greatest of all the Late Renaissance polyphonists; and no one projects the luminous stained-glass radiance of his music better than this fantastic choral ensemble, with their hair=trigger discipline and almost unearthly purity of intonation.]

CANTIONES SACRAE: (all with Netherlands  Chamber Choir]

O DOMINE JESU CHRISTE. [2:38]

BEATI PAUPERES. [5:06]

MAGNIFICAT. [5:57]

DOMINE DEUS MEUS.  [3:29]

VENITE EXULTEMUS [2:25]

PSALMS:  (All with Netherland Chamber Choir)

Psalm 122. Incontinent que l'eu ouy………… [2:03]

Psalm 20. Le signeuer ta priere entende……. [2:27]

Psalm 68.  Que Dieu se monster seulement. ..[3:06]

Psalm 86. Mon Dieu, preste moy l'aureille….[2:26]

Psalm 150. Or soit loue l'eternal ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,. [7:28].

Psalm 134 -- Or sus, seruiteurs du signeur… [2:53]

STRAVINSKY:

"Le Baiser de la Fee", The Fairy's Kiss, complete ballet. Composer; Cleveland Orchestra. [A much riper and more embraceable performance than his arid stereo re-make!]

TAKEMITSU, Toru: [I confess, I waffle hot and cold about this composer (for whom I have deep respect, incidentally). Somehow, the IDEA of Takemitsu's music (especially those lush, Hovhaness-ian titles) is somehow usually more appealing than the MUSIC itself. Granted, musical haiku, and gnomic abstract-expressionism is not a style I usually have a problem with, but every now and then I just wish the little gnome had written a TUNE to go with his spare, dabs and Jackson-Pollock spurts of sound. It's either that, or a feeling that most of his compositions aren’t, somehow, COMPLETE -- that they're all shards of some cosmic meta-symphony that he somehow never quite figured out how to assemble. Take "Vocalism AI" listed below… "AI" in Japanese means "love". Very simple word; Two letters, two syllables. Yet Takemitsu morphed and warped and fiddled with that little word to create a tape-montage piece that lasted SEVENTY-TWO HOURS! (I didn't stay for the encore…) And then, presumably for recording purposes, he "edited" it down to… FOUR MINUTES AND NINE SECONDS. Am I missing something here? Well, however inscrutable his methods, he did write a lot of impressive music, and I think the 4:09 version of "AI" certainly gives us, as it were, the heart of the original piece…]

Asterism, for Piano & Orchestra. Yuki Takahasi, piano; Ozawa; Toronto Symphony [11:50]

Coral Island, for Soprano & Magnetic Tape. Mitsumi Msauda, soprano; Hiroshi Wakasigi; Yomuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. [ 16:40]

Requiem for String Orchestra. Ozawa; Toronto Symphony [7:45] [For what it's worth, this is one of my favorite Takemetsu pieces; I don't know why, exactly, but like The Duke always said: "If it SOUNDS good, it IS good!"]

Water Music, for Magnetic Tape. [9:42] [Warning: do not listen to this with a full bladder!]

Vocalism "AI", for Magnetic Tape. [4:19] [See dyspeptic comments above]

TCHAIKOVSKY:

Capriccio Italien, Op. 45. Mravinsky; Leningrad Philharmonic [14:10] [See comments under "Conductors"]

Pater Noster for Choir. Stokowski; Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London

Romeo & Juliet, Fantasy Overture. Charles Gerhardt; RCA Symphony [Gerhardt was not only a great record producer, he proved to be an instinctively dramatic and compelling conductor, too and even made a few small label audiophile discs after his monumental gig producing box sets for Readers Digest came to an end This version of R & J comes from the last and rarest of those sets; it certainly belongs in the top 25 % of the lot, too -- tender and savage by turns, Gerhardt's interpretation reminds me of Stokowski's way with this score (and Gerhardt was a huge Stokie admirer, as you might imagine). Do I really expect to sell any dubs of this? No, but I've been surprised before and if for some unfathomable reason you need or want another good Romeo & Juliet…uh…here is one. The recorded sound, it goes without saying, is ultra-vivid in the trademark Gerhardt manner.]

Romeo & Juliet, Fantasy-Overture. Sir Thomas Beecham; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; rec. 12/ 1946 & 2/ 1947 [20:53]

Serenade for Strings, Op. 48. Mravinsky; Leningrad Philharmonic; rec. 1949 [28:30] [See comments under "Conductors"]

"Sleeping Beauty" Ballet Suite. Douglas Gamley; Royal Philharmonic. [Again, the little-known Gamley delivers the goods; as fine a realization of this score as I've ever heard]

Symphony No. 3, D Major, Op. 29 ("Polish"). Sir Thomas Beecham; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; rec. April, 12947 [43:24] [Of course, this is the least-played, least-recorded of the symphonies -- even less so than the "Manfred" -- largely because it can't decide whether it's a ballet score OR a proper symphony. But when you hear it conducted by Beecham (or Albert Coates, in his antediluvian but white-hot recording from the Thirties) -- you wonder WHY? If these conductors could "sell" the piece, why can't others? Well, some could (Maazel, Markevitch and maybe Bernstein -- but the answer is that nobody since Beecham and Coates WAS Beecham or Coates. Right?  <<"Pay no attention," muttered Skippy to the nonplussed interviewer; "Even his dogmatic pronouncements tend to chase their tails these days… Sad, isn't it?">>]

Symphony No. 4, F Minor, Op. 36. Furtwangler; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Symphony No. 5, E Minor. Jascha Horenstein; New Philharmonia Orchestra [See comments under "Conductors"]

TELEMANN:

Suite for Flute & Strings in A Minor. Jean-Pierre Rampal, flute; Leibowitz; Paris Philharmonic Orchestra [25:23]

Suite in D -- Overture only. Boston Woodwind Quintet; c. 1957 [See listing under "Chamber & Solo Virtuosi" for details.]

Tafelmusik, Complete (Banquet Music). Jean Francois Paillard; Paillard Chamber Orchestra [requires two very full CDs]. [I KNOW Bach was the greater composer, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Telemann; his music seems, just a bit, lustier and more vital -- less, um, "Protestant". And even if he didn't compose a great Passion or a stupendous Mass, he did compose this monumental set of dinner music variations for his wealthy patrons, who sure-as-hell got their money's worth. More spontaneously inventive than Vivaldi, more unbuttoned than Bach, yet every bit as prolific as either, Telemann is my man!]

TRADITIONAL:

"Deep River". Stokowski; Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London [Very powerful and moving arrangement; one of my favorite moments in 20th Century music is when the chorus begins intoning this spiritual, over a bleak background of timpani beats, in Sir Michsael Tippett's "A Child of Our Time" -- and surely he used it for the same reasons Stokie decided to program it here. It's a song that truly has universal appeal, and it can always give the listener a shiver -- which it does here.]

The Doxology. Stokowski; Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London

TURINA:

Rhapsodie Sinfonica, Op. 66. Earl Wild, piano; Freccia; RCA Victor Symphony. [A bright, tuneful, very Iberian mini-concerto, no more than 15 minutes' long…and who ever plays it? Well, probably nobody with the panache and razzle-dazzle of Wild, who is ably accompanied here by Freccia. I know there've been a few recordings of this charming piece, but I think this is the only one I've got, and it would be hard to improve upon it, either in terms of sonics or virtuosity.]

VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS:

Romance for Harmonica & Orchestra. w/ Larry Adler, harmonica; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [6:52]

VERDI:

"La Traviata" -- "Parigi o cara…", Act III. Pia Tassinari, soprano; Ferrucio Taglivini, tenor; Unidentified orchestra, conductor & venue [See more under "Opera, Choral & Vocal"

VILLA LOBOS:

Choros No. 1. Irma Constanzo, guitar

Five Preludes for Guitar. Irma Constanzo, guitar

WAGNER:

"Parsifal" -- Prelude, Act I. Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra

"Parsifal" -- Music from Act III. Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra

"Tannhauser" -- Pilgrims' Chorus. Stokowski; Norman Luboff Choir; New Symphony Orchestra of London [Crescendo, decrescendo; they appear, draw neigh, then fade into the distance -- most effective and moving rendition I know of.]

WALTON:

"Richard III", Prelude to… Bernard Herrmann; National Philharmonic Orchestra [9:56]

WEBERN

Cantata No. 1, Op. 29. Heather Harper, soprano; John Alldiss Choir; English Chamber Orchestra. [7:32]

Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10. Gary Bertini; English Chamber Orchestra [4:26]

XENAKIS, Iannis: [Xenakis -- a practicing mathematician as well as a composer -=- writes exactly the kind of music I should hate; yet I don't. I find it fascinating, compelling, even profoundly "expressive", although I cannot define what is being expressed, unless the mechanisms of theoretical physics have "souls", along with the concomitant longings and desires that come with a soul. His music doesn't meet you half-way; like a gritty whirl of galactic debris, it's just Out There; you're welcomed to observe, ponder, even to be moved, but don't ever expect this dense, highly abstract idiom to cut you some slack or "remind" you of anything other than itself. I hear: fierce integrity, a striving for the cosmic utterance, the many-throated chopirs of Chaos striving to find harmonic peace where Nature provides none. His best pieces, I think, have a monolothic, Stonehenge-like Presence that can neither be ignored nor easily described. You can almost walk around the sounds while they're vibratory in your listening space. Does this stuff ever get "pretty"? That depends -- how broadly can you define "beauty" in abstract but densely organized pure sound-edifices? In any case, I think Xenakis is the Real Deal, even if I can't exactly hum any good tunes from his oeuvre. So I'm listing my holdings, at least the ones I'm reasonably sure are out-of-print. This is about as "far out" as my tastes run, or, for that matter, as music itself can get without disintegrating into random cloud-chamber events. If you feel like experimenting, this is the best place to start…I make no promises that you'll eventually like this stuff, or even learn to tolerate it, but at least by listening to it, you pole-vault over the head of Charles Ives and breast-stroke into the Unknown!]

Achorripsis, for 21 Instruments. Simonovich; Paris Ensemble for Contemporary Music. [9:14]

Akrata, for 16 Wind Instruments. Simonovich; Paris Ensemble for Contemporary Music [9:50]

"Polla ta Dhina", for Orchestra & Children's Chorus. Konstantin Simonovich; Paris Ensemble for Contemporary Music; Children's Chorus of Notre-Dame de Paris. [7:35]

ST/ 10 == 1.080262, for Ten Instruments. Simonovich; Paris Ensemble for Contemporary Music [12:10]

[C'mon, let me quote you just a snatch of the composer's own program notes! I mean, I lampooned a bunch of composers whose music I dislike, so why not let this difficult fellow, whose music I kinda like, have a turn on the soapbox? Right, Inannis, step this way and don't mind Skippy -- if he annoys you just kick him hard a few times. No. it's all right; they don't feel pain the way we do! OK, Iannis, over to you! Tell us something about, oh, how about 'Achorripsis'? That always sounds like an exotic Albanian form of venereal disease…"

            "Good guess, Mr. Bill, but actually the word itself means 'Jet of Sound', and I composed it in accordance with Poisoon's Law of Probabilities. The score, for want of a better word, was developed with the help of a matrix in which compositional behavior is stochastic in nature. That is to say, 'Achorripsis' explores what might happen in a given space shared by men and musical instruments. Note that there is NO obligatory cause or will-to-produce-sounds, but in a sufficient period of time, it is possible that there will be a generation of sounds which have a certain duration, a certain timbral spectrum, and a certain speed. These rare, sonorous events can be any shape at all: isolated notes, clusters, a quasi melodic configuration, cellular structures or agglomerations whose characteristics are all ruled equally by the laws of chance.  For example, shades of punctural ((Yes, that IS the composer's correct word choice and yes, that's how he wants it spelled)) sounds may turn into 'temperatures of speed and so forth, until we have a pattern of, what shall we call them?'

            'Quantum dingleberries?'

            "Capital suggestion, Skippy~ Now, as to the audiences' perceptions…"

            So on into the night they ramble, the Greek mathematician and my amanuensis, who for lack of a precise alternative word, we shall describe as being "vaguely but repulsively humanoid'',

Everybody got that? Excellent, because there will be a writ after lunch break!"]

CHAMBER ENSEMBLES & SOLO VIRTUOSI

D'ABATO, Anthony (saxophone):

Creston: Sonata for Saxophone & Piano, Op. 19. w/ Composer @ piano

ADLER, Larry (harmonica): [Adler was a serious artist as well as a very charming entertainer, and he was able to coax grace, elegance, rhapsodic lyricism, and power from his humble plebian instrument in the same way Horowitz could play the piano or Heifitz the violin…well, at least up to the built-in limits of the instrument. All four of the works listed below were commissioned by Adler, in order to expand the concert repertoire for the harmonica…come to think of it, there hasn't been anyone since Adler who's done this except for one British virtuoso whose n/ame escapes me at the moment. Gould -- who also composed at least one spiffy piece for Adler --provides scintillating orchestral accompaniments and the sonics are excellent.]

Arnold: Harmonica Concerto, Op. 46. w/ Morton Gould; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [8:29]

Benjamin: Harmonica Concerto. w/ Morton Gould; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [19:02]

Milhaud: Suite for Harmonica & Orchestra. w/ Morton Gould; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [13:33]

Vaughan-Williams: Romance for Harmonica & Orchestra. w/ Morton Gould; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [6:52]

AJEMIAN, Anahid (violin):

Harrison: Suite for Violin, Piano & Small Orchestra. w/ Maro Ajemian, piano; Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra

AJEMIAN, Maro (piano):

Harrison: Suite for Violin, Piano & Small Orchestra. w/ Anahid Ajemian, violin; Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra

BACKHAUS, Wilhelm (piano):

Grieg: Piano Concerto, A Minor, Op,16. w/ Sir John Barbirolli; New Symphony Orchestra of London; rec. October, 1933 [26:26]

BAKER, Julius (flute):

Gaburo: Line Studies. w/ Walter Trampler, viola; David Glazer, clarinet; Erwin Price, trombone.

BALSAM, Arthur (piano):

Martinu: Concerto for Double String Orchestra, Piano, & Timpani. w/ Swoboda; Winterthur Symphony Orchestra [Actually, an insanely rare and wonderful disc! See comments under "Composers"]

BAILES, Anthony (lute):

See Anthology "Airs de Cour" -- Drinking Songs from Reign of Louis XIII. w/ Nigel Rogers, tenor

BEETHOVEN STRING QUARTET:

String Quartet No. 9, C Major, Op. 59 / No. 3.  [Two of my favorite Razumovsky S.Q.s, given splendidly hearty, soulful readings by this exemplary Russian ensemble, which remains too little known and under-recorded in the West. Big, close-up sonics (it took the Russians a while to get the hang of stereo -- not to mention enough systems in consumers' homes to make the format commercially viable -- but they got real good at it real fast, as this circa. 1977 Melodiya LP demonstrates]

String Quartet No. 10, E-Flat Major, O. 74. .

BOSTON WIND QUINTET: [A "dream team" ensemble, playing an excellent program on this VERY scarce "Boston Records" LP, probably from 1957; first recording made in the new Boston U. auditorium on Commonwealth Avenue; very fine soniucs; a handful of hairline scratches don't significantly interfere with the spectacular playing of these first-desk virtuoso from the Boston  Symphony: Doriot Anthony Dwyer, flute; Sherman Walt, bassoon; Gino Cioffi, clarinet; James Stagliano, horn; Ralph Gomberg, oboe…

Piston: Woodwind Quintet (first recording);

Reicha: Wind Quintet in E Flat, Op. 88 / No. 2'

Ropartz: Deux Pieces for Wind Quintet;

Telemann: Suite in D, Overture only.

CIOFFI, Gino (clarinet):

[In works by Telemann, Reicha, Piston & Ropartz; see details under "Boston Wind Quintet]

CONSTANZO, Irma (Guitar):

Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 (transcribed for guitar by A. Carlevalo).

 Villa-Lobos: Choros No. One.

Villa-Lobos: Five Preludes for Guitar

DOYEN, Ginette (piano):

Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words, Op. 67, 1-6/ Op. 65, 1-6/ Op. 102, 1-9

DWYER, Anthony Doriot (flute):

[In works by Telemann, Reicha, Piston & Ropartz; see details under "Boston Wind Quintet]

FEUERMANN, Emmanuel (cello):

Don Quixote, Op. 35.  w/ Philadelphia Orchestra; rec. circa 1940-1941. [One of the glories of the pre-LP catalogue! Feuermann turns his cello into a walking, talking, suffering, exultant human being, the Knight of the Woeful Countenance in-the-flesh (or in-the-wood, as you prefer) and together -- with the help of RCA's engineers who knew a thing or two about capturing the fantastic sound of the pre-war Philadelphia Orchestra -- they preserved for all time a Don Quixote of astounding eloquence and heart-breaking sensitivity. Cervantes would have been amazed, had he heard how extravagantly both composer and performers had brought his character vividly to life. The sonics are STILL wonderfully realistic and faithful to the sumptuous sound of the Philadelphia at absolute peak!]

GALIMIR STRING QUARTET:

Lieberson: String Quartet No. 1. [15:06]

GLAZER, David (clarinet):

Gaburo: Line Studies. w/ Julius Baker, flute; Walter Trampler, viola; Erwin Price, trombone [9:41]

GOMBERG, Ralph (oboe):

[In works by Telemann, Reicha, Piston & Ropartz; see details under "Boston Wind Quintet]

GRUMIEAUX, Arthur (violin):

Paganini; Violin Concerto No. 4. w/ Franco Gallini; Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureaux; FIRST RERCORDING, 1954

HENGEVELD, Gerard (piano):

Haydn: Piano Concerto D Major, Hob. XVIII/ II. Jan Koelster; Concertgebouw of Amsterdam; live, 7/ 22/ 1943 [21:22]

FALVAI, Sandor (piano):

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1, D Minor, Op. 15. w/.Antal Jancsovics; Hungarian State Orchestra  [54:45]

LEVINE, Joseph (piano):

Etler: Sonata for Bassoon & Piano. w/ Sol Schoenbach, bassoon [12:23]

JARRETT, Keith (piano)

KREBBERS, Herman (violin):

Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1, D Major, Op. 6. w/ Van Otterloo; Hague Philharmonic Orchestra

MERZHANOV, Victor (piano):

Liszt: Three Grand Etudes After Paganini (No's 3 - 5) [9:34] [See comment under "Liszt" above]

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3, D Minor, Op. 30. w/ Nikolai Anosov; USSR State Symphony Orchestra [39:18] [See comments under "Composers" above]

MORAVEC:

Mozart: Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475. [12:47]

Mozart: Sonata in C Minor, K. 457. [18:10]

Mozart:  Sonata in B Flat Major, K. 750 [17:11]

NEW BUDAPEST STRING QUARTET:

Lutoslawski: String Quartet

Petrovics: String Quartet

OSSOINAK, Luigi (Double Bass):

Larsson: Concerto for Double-Bass & Orchestra; No conductor listed; Swedish Narional Broadcasting Symphony, Chamber Ensembl3 [9:50]

PLESHAKOV, Vladimir (piano):

Rust: Sonata in C Major.  [12:25]

Rust: Sonata in D-Flat Major.  [10:04]

Rust: Sonata in F-Sharp Major.  piano  [11:54]

Rust: Sonata in G Major.  [9:58] [See short essay about this elusive and fascinating "minor" composer under, what else, "Composers"!]

PRICE, Erwin (trombone):

Gaburo: Line Studies. w/ Walter Trampler, viola; Julius Baker, flute; David Glazer, clarinet [9:41]

RAMPAL:

Gluck: Concerto for Flute & Orchestra in G Major. Jean-Pierre Rampal, flute; Rene Leibowitz; Paris Philharmonic [13:36]

Telemann: Suite for Flute & Strings, A Minor. w/ Leibowitz; Paris Philharmonic [25:23]

SCHOENBACH, Sol (bassoon):

Cascarino, Romeo: Sonata for Bassoon & Piano. w/ Composer at piano [4:46] [See comments under "Composers"]

Etler: Sonata for Bassoon & Piano. w/ Joseph Levine, piano [12:23]

SHULMAN, Davis (trombone):

Hindemith: Trauermusik for Trombone & Strings. w/ Tibor Serly; Members of the NBC Symphony Orchestra

Rimsky-Korsakov: Concerto for Trombone & Marching Band. w/ Tibor Serly; Members of the NBC Symphony [An absolute delight! See comments under "Rimsky"!]

STAGLIANO, James (French horn):

[In works by Telemann, Reicha, Piston & Ropartz; see details under "Boston Wind Quintet]

STARKER, Janos:

Dorati: Concerto for Cello & Orchestra. w/ Mester; Louisville Orchestra [26:14]

STOCKTON, Ann Mason (harp):

Caplet: Conte Fantastique after Poe's "Mask of the Red Death", for Harp & String Orchestra. Ann Mason Stockton, harp; Felix Slatkin; Concert Arts Orchestra. [One of the rarest LPs in my collection, and one of the more interesting. Light scratches, but not serious considering this is a rimless Capitol Green Label]

McDonald: Suite From Childhood. For Harp & String Orchestra. Ann Mason Stockton, harp; Felix Slatkin; Concert Arts Orchestra

TRAMPLER, Walter (viola):

Gaburo: Line Studies. w/ Julius Baker, flute; David Glazer, clarinet; Erwin Price, trombone [9:41]

WALT, Sherman (bassoon):

[In works by Telemann, Reicha, Piston & Ropartz; see details under "Boston Wind Quintet]

WILD, Earl (piano):

Franck: Symphonic Variations for Piano & Orchestra. w/ Freccia; New Philharmonia Orch.

Turina: Rhapsodie Sinfonica, Op. 66. w/ Freccia; RCA Victory Symphony

            OPERAS, COMPLETE OR MOSTLY SO

CHARPENTIER:

"Acteon", Opera de Chasse. William Christie; Ensemble "Les Artes Florissants [40:10]

GERSHWIN:

"Porgy & Bess" Highlights. Rise Stevens, mezzo-sop.; Robert Merrill, tenor; Robert Russell Bennet; RCA Victor Symphony & Robert Shaw Chorale [This IS one of my favorite "Porgy's" but I also suspect t it was the LAST recording that didn't feature any Negro lead singers and didn't raise a stink because of it. Ms. Stevens sings with passion, but no more sounds like a Black woman than Dolly Parton does. Musically, though, it's a good compilation of hits]

HUMPERDICK:

"Hansel und Gretel" (somewhat abridged). Max Rudolf; Orchestra & Chorus, Metropolitan Opera; (sung in English)

LAUREL HURLEY (soprano)……………..                 GRETEL

MILDRED MILLER (mezzo)……………………….    HANSEL

REGINA RESNIK (soprano)…………………………. THE WITCH

THELMA VOTIPKA (mezzo)………………                THE MOTHER

EMILIA CUNDARI (soprano)………………………….THE SANDMAN

CALVIN MARSH (baritone)……………………………THE FATHER

MERCADANTE:

"Il Giuramento" -- As promised, here's the first portion of the libretto/ synopsis translation, verbatim, all the way down to the unintentionally hilarious punch line…

Synopsis:

Manfredo, Count of Syracus, loves Bianca, the daughter of Ruggiero, Baron of Catania, and obtains her hand. Obeying her father, she follows a husband whom she does not love because she is secretly in love with a foreigner who knows nothing about her except her name. Bianca has to endure her husband's indifference, pride, and jealousy, taking refuge in the mrmory of her father's house and above all of her innocent love.

Brunoro, Manfredo's secretary and favourite, dares one day to declare that he loves her. Bianca is offended and Brunoro is sent away for a time.

Five years ago by. A rich, beautiful French woman settles in Syracuse, and her palace becomes a centre of feasting and pleasure in fashionable society. All eyes, including those of Manfredo, are on Elaisa. She has come to Sicily to find the daughter of an Aragonese captain who, in response to his child's tears and entreaties, has spared the life of Elaisa's own father, a soldier from Anjou. Elaisa swears eternal recognition to her benefactress and gives her a medallion.

While crossing the Appenines, Elaisa is on the point of being robbed by bandits when she is saved by Viscardo, with whom she naturally and immediately falls in love. Viscardo wishes he could return her love, but his heart has been given to another. He nevertheless pretends to be Elaisa's brother and the two young people go to Sicily, from where Viscardo had been driven away by his enemies, the Dukes of Benevento.

One day when Viscardo is ardently kissing the portrait of his beloved, Brunono surprises him and recognizes not only Bianca, in the portrait, but also the knight banished by his former master, the Duke of Benevento. Now he has the means to take revenge on Bianca for rejecting his advances.

At this point, the opera proper begins,

"At this point the opera BEGINS" ?????

Perhaps, too, "at this point" one begins to understand why Mercadante's operas now languish in theatrical limbo!

PUIG, Michael:

"Stigmates". Rene Leibowitz; unnamed orchestra & vocalists. [32:36] [See curmudgeonly comments under "Composers"]

SAINT-SAENS:

Samson & Delilah, Op. 47. Louis Fourestier; Orchestra & Chorus of the French National Opera; Helene Bouvier, mezzo-soprano; Jose Luccioni, tenor; Paul Cabanel, baritone; Charles Cambon, bass. [Hello, what's this? (you might well be asking), and what it is, is the FIRST recording of this opera ever made, in about 1947, as released in North America on very early Columbia LPs, circa 1949! Moreover, the discs are in quite amazing condition for heavy, thick, rimless just-released-into-the-market long playing records that are SIXTY YEARS OLD as of today! Don't expect anything here to be "world class" (well, a couple of the singers maybe, in these roles in this cultural milieu probably WERE considered to be, but the orchestra is wonderfully sleazy and provincial sounding and the sonics aren't much better), yet this elephantine shaggy mastodon of an opera emerges with great élan and zest! Zoot alours! How can this be? Well, the whole enterprise is so monumentally FRENCH, I supposed, that a production which might be laughed off the stage at today's Met actually turns out to charm your sox off! I've always had a sneaking fondness for this opera, and would rather listen to it -- warts in the woodwinds and sinus-clogged vocal mannerisms and all -- in this cheesy incarnation than in any more modern, better-sounding recordings (except, of course, for the long excerpts Stokowski did for RCA a zillion years ago, and I can't list THAT because it's back in print now on CD -- Chandos issued it -- and I'd love to see it rack up big sales. Anyhow -- now you know where this bizarre old opera set comes from. Know also that this is the FIRST time I've ever seen a set in which both LPs were basically like-new, free of horrendous scratches and ash-tray smears and rodential fecal matter, so even though the recorded sound is pretty raunchy by modern standards, the LPs I'm dubbing from are pretty close to brand-new-looking! It does require two CDs, of course, and it's worth every penny!!]

STRAUSS, Johan:

"Die Fledermaus", complete. Eugene Ormandy; Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, with a stellar cast; employs then-new English lyrics by Howard Dietz and corresponding libretto by Garson Kanin]

            LILY PONS………………………………….Adele

            LJUBA WELITSCH…………………………Rosalinda

            RICHARD TUCKER………………………...Alfred

            CHARLES KULLMAN……………………...Gabriel von Eisenstein

            MARTHA LIPTON……………………….Prince Orlofsky

            JOHN BROWNLEE………………………Dr. Falke

VON SUPPE:

"The Beautiful Galatea". Anton Paulik; Orchestra & Chorus of the Vienna State Opera.

            Elizabeth Roon, soprano……………………. Galatea

            Kurt Preger, tenor……………………………..Pygmalion

            Waldemar Kmentt, tenor………………………Mydas

            Otto Wiener, bass……………………………...Ganymede

            SOLO VOCALISTS, COLLECTIONS BY

( WITH A FEW FAMOUS DUETS THROWN IN )

ELIAS, Rosalind (mezzo):

Cantaloube: Songs of the Auvergne -- "Bailero" only. w/ Oscar Danon; Royal Philharmonic

De Falla: El Amor Brujo. w/ Robert Mandell; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

GALLI-CURCHI: FAVORITE BELLINI  & DONIZETTI ARIAS & DUETS

"La Sonnambula" -- -- "Come  per me sereno", Act I.

 "             "           "           '         "  -- Son geloso del Ziffiro", Act I.

  "           "         " -- "Ah! Non credea mirarti!", Act III. 

"I Puritani" -- (Polonaise) "Sin vergin Vezzosa", Act I

  "    "       " -- "Que la voce sua soave", Act II;

"Lucia di Lammermoor" -- "Verrano a te sull'aure".

   "      "             "          " -- "Il dolce suono; Spargi d'amaro Pianto

"Linda di Chamounix" -- "O luce di quest' anima", Act I;

"Don Pasquale" -- "Quel guardo di quest' Anima";

   "            "      " -- Tornami a dir che m'ami", Act III; duet with Tito Schipa, tenor.

all  w/  unidentified orchestra and conductor

KIBALO, Yevgeny (baritone):

See Bartok: "Bluebeard's Castle" w/ Rozhdestvensky; Bolshoi Theater Symphony

MELBA, Nellie (soprano): [Yes! She for whom the toast is named! In the shoddiness so typical of this label, during the long -- in fact, endless; some permutations are still popping up on esoteric micro-labels today! I recently (September 2008!) found a NEW boxed set of the Joseph Krips Beethoven cycle, which is pretty good all things considered, but has been in circulation since at least 1959, a fact NOT prominently displayed anywhere on the outer surfaces of the container! There's no question that, by assembling and compiling ultra-rare 78 sides by the likes of Melba, Aureliano Pertile, and Frieda Hempel, the Everest/ La Scala series resurrected many priceless items, and made them widely, cheaply available, but you'd THINK they might have included the recording dates and venue information while they were at it!!]

Ardit: Se Saran Rose.

Donizetti: "Lucia di Lammamoor", Act III" -- "Scene della Pazzia";

Handel: "Il Pensiroso" -- "Sweet Bird";

Ronald: "Oh, Lovely Night!";

Puccini: "Tosca", Act II -- "Vissi d'Arte";

Tosti: "Goodbye";

Tosti: "Serenade";

Verdi: "Traviata" -- Ah, For' E' Lui"

POLIAKOVA, Nina (soprano):

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle. Rozhdestvensky; Bolshoi Theater Symphony;  Yevgeny

ROGERS, Nigel:

See Anthology "Air de Cour" -- Drinking Songs of the Reign of Louis XIII. w/ Anthony Bailes, lute

SCHIPA, Tito (tenor):

"Don Pasquale" -- "Tornami a dir che m'ami". w/  soprano Galli-Curci       

TASSINARI, Pia (soprano) & TAGLIAVINI, Ferruccio (tenor): [I assume this was a famous and exportable duet at the time this Italian import arrived here -- in very small quantities, when Cetra has a U.S. distributor. Frankly, I'd never heard of them until stumbling across this long, long forgotten LP, still in a reasonably intact box but with a lot of dust and pet dander and a few annoying but not utterly destructive scratches; all these things I cleaned up painstakingly anmd by hand, leaving us with an old, imported Cetra 12-inch of two once-famous Italian singers whom maybe one opera fan out of 3,000 has ever heard of over here, singing a not-terribly-interesting assortment of duets, backed up by a pit orchestra -- UNIDENTIFIED, AS IS ITS CONDUCTOR -- MORE NOTABLE FOR ITS ZEST THAN ITS POLISH  -- and I don't think they sound all that great, but then, opera isn't my strong suit. And as always, somebody out there, somewhere, has been itching to find a playable copy of this LP for 35 years. Well, here it is…although the "playable" part is right there on the borderline between junk and "listenable-if-you-CARE-enough"]

Boito:  "Mephistofele" -- "Lontano, lontano", Act III;

Mascagni:  "L'Amico Fritz" (*) -- "Cherry Duet", Act II;

Massenet:  "Werther" -- "Il faut nous separer…", Act I;

Puccini: "Tosca" --  "Or lascimai al lavoro…", Act I;

 Verdi: "La Traviata" -- "Parigi o cara…" , Act III

( * ) From the not-too-popular opera about the great Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, "The Amicable Fritz"

VOCALISTS IN OPERA ROLES/ LIEDER/ ORCHESTRAL WORKS

BABIKIAN, Virginia (soprano):

See Orff: Carmina Burana. Stokowski; Houston Symphony & Chorale

BROWNLEE, John:

See Johan Strauss, "Die Fledermaus" below

CUNDARI, Emilia (mezzo):

See under Humperdinck: Hansel und Gretel"

Galjour, Warren (baritone):

Weber: Symphony on Poems of William Blake, Op. 33. w/ Stokowski; His Symphony Orchestra

GALLI-CURCI, Amelita:

[See detailed listing under soloist-antyhologies]                                                 

HAGER, Clyde (tenor):

See Orff: Carmina Burana. Stokowski; Houston Symphony & Chorale

HARPER, Heather (soprano):

Berg: Four Songs, Op. 2. w/ Paul Hamburger, piano [9;50]

Berg: Two Songs. w/ Paul Hamburger, piano [Actually, it's two quite different renderings of the SAME song ("Schliesse mir die Augen beide"), one from 1900, the other from 1925 -- the interest, of course, lies in comparing Berg's two treatments! Ms. Harper sings superbly.]

Webern: Cantata No. 1, Op. 29. w/ John Alldiss Choir [7:32]

HUDEMANN, Hans-Olaf (bass):

Bach: Cantata No. 175 -- "Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen. w/ Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra & Choir of St. Jacobi Cathedral, Hamburg; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Lotte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim-Rotzsch, tenor; Carl-Heinz Meuller, bass.

HURLET, Laurel (soprano):

See under Humperdinck: "Hansel und Gretel".

KIBLAKO, Evgeny (baritone):

See Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle. w/

KMENTT, Waldemar (bass):

See VON SUPPE: "The Beautiful Galatea".

KULLMAN, Charles:

See Johan Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" below

LINDBERG-TORLIND, Kirsten (soprano):

See Brahms Requiem; Furtwangler/ Stockholm, 1948

LIPTON, Martha:

See Johan Strauss "Die Fledermaus" below

MARSH, Calvin (baritone):

See under Humperdinck: "Hansel und Gretel"…

MERRILL, Robert (tenor):

See Gershwin: "Porgy & Bess" excerpts, w/ Rise Stevens, soprano

MILLER, Mildred(mezzo):

See under Humperdinck: "Hansel und Gretel"…

MULLER, Carl-Heinz (bass):

Bach: Cantata No. 100, "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan". Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra & Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral, Hamburg; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Lotte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Carl-Heinz Muller & Hans-Olaf Hudemann, basses.[34:14]

Bach: Cantata No. 175, "Er ruhfet seinen Schlafen mit Nahmen…; Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Latte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Hans-Olaf Hudemann and Carl-Heinz Muller, bases both in featured parts; Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral. [17:07]

PICKETT, William (baritone):

Nabakov: "Symboli Chrestiani", For Baritone and Orchestra". [See comments under "Composers"]

PONS, Lily:

See J. Strauss "Die Fledermaus" below

PREGER, Kurt (baritone):

See VON SUPPE: "The Beautiful Galatea"

RESNIK, Regina (mezzo):

See under Humperdinck: "Hansel und Gretel"

ROON, Elizabeth (soprano):

See VON SUPPE: "The Beautiful Galatea"

ROTZSCH, Hans Joachim (tenor):

Bach: Cantata No. 100, "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan". Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra & Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral, Hamburg; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Lotte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Carl-Heinz Muller & Hans-Olaf Hudemann, basses.[34:14]

Bach: Cantata No. 175, "Er ruhfet seinen Schlafen mit Nahmen…; Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Latte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Hans-Olaf Hudemann and Carl-Heinz Muller, bases both in featured parts; Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral. [17:07]

SCHWARZWELLER, Lisa:

Bach: Cantata No. 100, "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan". Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra & Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral, Hamburg; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Lotte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Carl-Heinz Muller & Hans-Olaf Hudemann, basses.[34:14]

Bach: Cantata No. 175, "Er ruhfet seinen Schlafen mit Nahmen…; Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Latte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Hans-Olaf Hudemann and Carl-Heinz Muller, bases both in featured parts; Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral. [17:07]

SONNENSTEDT, Bernhard (baritone):

See Brahms Requiem; Furtwangler/ Stockholm, 1948

STEVENS, Rise (mezzo-soprano):

See: Gershwin: "Porgy & Bess", w/ Robert Merrill, tenor

TUCKER, Richard:

See J. Strauss "Die Fledermaus" below

VOTIPKA, Thelma (soprano / mezzo-soprano):

See under Humperdinck: "Hansel und Gretel"

WELITSCH, Ljuba:

See Strauss, Johan "Die Fledermaus"

WIENER, Otto (bass):

See VON SUPPE: "The Beautiful Galatea"

WOLF-MATTHAUS, Lotte (alto)

Bach: Cantata No. 100, "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan". Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra & Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral, Hamburg; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Lotte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Carl-Heinz Muller & Hans-Olaf Hudemann, basses.[34:14]

Bach: Cantata No. 175, "Er ruhfet seinen Schlafen mit Nahmen…; Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Latte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Hans-Olaf Hudemann and Carl-Heinz Muller, bases both in featured parts; Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral. [17:07]

  ANTHOLOGIES OF OPERA EXCERPTS

CHORAL WORKS W/ OR W/OUT ORCHESTRA

BACH, J.S.:

BACH:

Cantata No. 100, "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan". Heinz Wunderlich; Hamburg Chamber Orchestra & Choir of St. Jacobi's Cathedral, Hamburg; Lisa Schwarzweller, soprano; Lotte Wolf-Matthaus, alto; Hans Joachim Rotzsch, tenor; Carl-Heinz Muller & Hans-Olaf Hudemann, basses.[34:14]

Cantata No. 131, ("Aus der Tiefe"). Robert Shaw; Robert Shaw Chorale; RCA Victor Symphony

Cantata No. 140 ("Wachet Auf!"). Robert Shaw; Robert Shaw Chorale; RCA Victor Symphony

SCHOENBERG:

Six Pieces for Male Chorus, Op. 35. The John Alldiss Choir [14:39]

SWEELINCK, Johann Pietersoon:

CANTIONES SACRAE: (all with Netherland Chamber Choir]

O DOMINE JESU CHRISTE. [2:38]

BEATI PAUPERES. [5:06]

MAGNIFICAT. [5:57]

DOMINE DEUS MEUS.  [3:29]

VENITE EXULTEMUS [2:25]

WEBERN:

Cantata No. 1, Op. 29. Heather Harper, soprano; The John Alldiss Choir [7:32]

  CELTIC & RELATED GENRES

LINDISFARNE:

"Fog on the Tyne":

"Meet Me on the Corner [2:39]

"Alright on the Night" [3:32]

"Uncle Sam" [3:01]

"Together Forever" [2:38]

"January Song" [4:15]

Peter Brophy Don't Care" [2:48]

"City Song" [3:10]

"Passing Ghosts" [2:29]

"Train inm G Major" [3:15]

"Fog on the Tyne" 3:24]

Alan STIVELL:

"Journee a la Maison". [This may have been Stivell's first American-label release, back around 1980 I think. Those of you who've been following this never-ending project already know that I regard him as one of the greatest musical artists of the late 20th Century. This album only consolidates that opinion…]

Let's Clink Glasses;

The Apple Tree;

Hidden Ways;

Wrath in Quimper;

After Dinner;

The Three Knights;

In Front of the Hearth;

The Black-haired Maiden;

O'Carolan's Farewell;

North of the Midnight Islands

  ETHNIC/ FOLK MUSIC, NON-CELTIC

THE KINGSTON TRIO: [OK, stop smirking. EVERYBODY owned at least one of their LPs]

"Sold Out" [Live gigs, c. 1963-64]

El Matador;

The Mountains O'Mourne;

Don't Cry Katie;

Medley: Tanga Tika and Torau, With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm;

Carrier Pigeon;

Bimini;

Raspberries, Strawberries;

Mangwani Mpulele;

With You My Johnny;

The Hunter;

Farewell, Adelita

RED ARMY (Ensemble & Chorus):

"Soldiers' Songs". [Patriotic tub-thumpers, on the trashy side of the propaganda spectrum; I can just SEE Joe Stalin contemplating a callipygian beauty in Red Army boots, a strategically-placed copy of Das Kapital, and little else… That said, I don't think these boys could sing "Ballad of the Green Berets" which did NOT elicit goose-bumps from somewhere in the audience.  I was, however, disappointed to see that my personal favorite, "Song of the Machine-Gun Cart", Did not make the cut for this album."]

"Lenin Lived Here";

"Combat Friendship";

"A Song Goes to War";

"A Border Guard is Returning Home";

An Old Poplar Tree";

"I Am on Duty Again";

"Peaceful Country"

"It is Quiet in the Little Town;"

"A Soldier Must be on Guard"';

"An Old Soldier"

(Polish) "POLSKIE KAPELE LUDOWE" --  [Logic tells me that since this album's titles and notes are entirely IN Polish, it's not likely to be ordered by anyone who's not Polish by nationality or descent; which means I really OUGHT to transcribe all the selection titles as they appear on the album cover. OK, fair enough, but I have enough of a problem copying Italian aria titles without screwing up, so what follows is at best a game stab at it! The LP, by the way, appears never to have been played, or at most, played once or twice then put back into storage and forgotten-about and it sounds brand new, too!]

EJ. JEGODY JEGODZNY;                                              PIESNI KOROWAJOWE;

OJ. PALILA DZIEWCZYNA;                                  ZASZLO SLONKO ROGU PIECA;

OJ. CO TO ZA GOSPODARZ;                               OBEREK  STARODAWNY;

JUMPALA SIE KASIA W MORZU;                       WIWOT WESELNY;

OJ. LECIALY GOLEBIE;                                       KRAKOWIAK SADECKI;

SWIEC MIESIACZKU;                                          A WY GOSCIE NIE ZALUJCIE;  

OJ. GORA, GORA, SLONECZO;                           A JAK SZLAM NA WESEELE;

A KTOZ MOJE KOSY ROZPLECI;                        TESCIOWO, TESCIOWO;

SIADAJ NIE GADAJ;                                            0J, KOLYSZ MI SIE KOLYSZ

WIDZISZ TY, KASIUNIU;                                     KOLYSANKA    

OJ. TOCY MI SIE;

PRZYLA STAROS.CINA;

POPOD SADZIKIEM;                                      (NB: It would appear that a surprising number of the

PRZODEK WELELNY;                                   cuts on this album concern the trials and

tribulations of that great Polish-American hero, O. J. Simpson! Who would have

believed it?]

SPOKEN WORD, POETRY & COMEDY

DE MAUPASSANT, Guy:

Favorite Stories by Guy de Maupassant. Read by CLAIRE BLOOM [And a classy job she does of it, too. The only sad thing being that, when this record was made 40 years ago, a lot of high school students actually knew WHO Guy De Maupassant WAS, even if they didn't pack a volume of his works off to the beach with them. Nowadays, I wouldn't bet money that 30 % of our college students have a clue, much less have ever read one of his stories. Can such decline ever be reversed? History, alas, shows that after a certain snowballing threshold, it cannot. Dumber and dumber they get; nobody much cares; nobody knows anything vital is being overlooked; and the students just don't even entertain the notion that something better than texting to their friends might be available to fill their hollow "spare time". It was once called "reading", and those of us who practice "writing" are increasingly preaching to an empty church… Anyway, Clair Bloom brings her usual poise, easy grace, and erotically tinted vocals to these tales and somehow all those qualities fit just perfectly…]

The Diamond Necklace. [18:52]

The Signal. [12:00]

Useless Beauty. [29:22]

                   POP & ROCK

T. S. BONNIWELL:

"Close". [This guy might have made it, if he'd been born a couple of year's sooner and made his recording debut in the Sixties; the whole Sensitive Balladeer schtict had room for a few more contenders ("Move over a bit, would ya, Donovan? Thanks, mate.") , but by the time he made this album (his first and only), the streets had turned mean and Flower Power had been tromped to death by Disco wattage; Groovy Anarchy was trumped by musical Fascism; stuff like that. Want the song titles? Nah, I didn't think so. Only one of them is named "Love is such a simple Word", but 3/4ths of them might as well be…]

Dave EDMONDS:

"Get it!" [One of the most influential, vital, wide-ranging albums of the Seventies, evoking Buddy Holly one cut, Carl Perkins the next. Dave Edmunds had absorbed all the styles, AND mastered the art of writing lyrics to fit with those styles. It's one of those albums that almost brutally shapes the whole future of Pop music, with a ripple-effect akin to a massive tsunami! I loved this LP from the first time I heard it, and recommended it, over the years, to dozens of aspiring rock performers and lyricists, and damned if some of them didn't thank me later for the nudge.]

Get Out of Denver;

I Knew the Bride…  (*)

Back to School Days'

Here Comes the weekend;

Worn Out Suits, Brand New Pockets;

Where or When

JuJu Man…

Git it!

Let's Talk of Love…

Hey, Good Lookin!

What Did I DO last night?

Little Darlin,

My Baby Done Left Me…

McGARRIGLE. Anna & Kate:

"Pronto Monto". {No, I have no idea what the title means, either, but with these two delightful/ goofy chicks -- er, young women-- it seldom mattered. The usual mixture or literate, sardonic lyrics and pointed, whimsical Shaped-Note-on-a-mescalin-trip harmonies obtain here, along with a bit more unabashed romanticism than usual. Seems one (both?) of the ladies had a baby, and, well, you know, that kind of makes you sober-up even as it makes you turn sappy as Lawrence Welk when you're writing song lyrics. No matter; even slightly world-weary, the lassies out-point just about any other female duo on the planet, except for maybe the Wilson Sisters of "Heart", back when they were in their ripe prime…]

Oh, My Heart;

Side of Fries;

Just Another Broken Heart;

NA / CL (The "Chemistry Song");

Pronto Monto;

Stella by Artois;

Bundle of Sorrow; Bundle of Joy;

Come Back Baby;

Tryin' to Get to You;

Fixture in the Park;

Dead Weight;

Cover Up My Head

THE TURTLES:

"Happy Together"  [I happened to catch these guys at a lavish E-3 corporate party at one of the last and most overwhelming of those events. Yes, they'd declined from superstars to nostalgia gigs at private parties at trade shows. Hey, it could've been worse, depending on how many of the original personnel had recently died, and whether or not those deaths were predictable/ risible or just routine casualties. I realized how damned good some of their colleagues rescued for me an off-the-mixing-board tape.  Their songs ranged a wider gamut than we ever realized when they were at the height of their popularity!]

Makin' My Mind Up;

Guide for the Married man;

Think I'll Run Away;

The Walking Song;

Me About You;

Happy Together;

She'd Rather Be With Me;

Too Young to be One;

The Person Without a Care;

Like the Seasons;

Rugs of Woods & Flowers

  JAZZ & BLUES

ELLINGTON, Duke:

This is Duke Ellington  -- [Detailed commentary would be superfluous; this anthology is comprehensive, well-chosen, and nicely re-mastered. Dubbed from a VG-plus Source copy]

"Black & Tan Fantasy" (rec. 10/ 25/ 1927);

"Creole Love Call" (rec. 10/ 26/ 1927);

"East St. Louis, Toodle-oo" (rec. 12/ 19/ 1927);

"The Mooche" (rec. 10/ 30/ 1928);

"Three Little Words"  (rec. 8/ 26/ 1930);

"Ring Dem Bells" (rec. 8/ 20/ 1930);

"Mood Indigo" (12/ 10-/ 1930);

"Delta Serenade" (rec. 1/9/1934);

"Solitude" (1/ 10/ 1934);

"Do Nothin' 'Till You Hear From Me!" (rec. 3/ 15/ 1940);

"Don't Get Aroun d Much Anymore" (rec. 5/ 4/1940)

"Cotton Tail" (2/ 15/ 1941);

"Take the 'A' Train"  (2/ 15/ 1941)

"I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" (6/ 26/ 1941);

"Perdido" (red. 1/ 21/ 1942);

"The 'C' Jam Blues" (rec. 1/ 21/ 1942);

"Caravan" )rec. 5/ 11/ 1941);

"In A Sentimental Mood" (rec. 5/ 14/ 1945);

"Sophisticated Lady" (rec. 5/ 14/ 1945);

"I Let A Song Go Out of My Heart" (5/ 15/ 1946)

FAHEY, John:

"The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death". {I'm not a blues expert; even less than I am a jazz expert (I can listen to your typical blues concert for maybe ninety minutes before my ears begin to glaze over, whereas with jazz -- unless it's really blaring Big Band brass-heavy stuff, I'm usually good for the whole evening (it depends on the company, the venue, the quality and quantity of the drinks, etc.), so I mean no slight to the blues aficionados amongst you when I say that I COULD, very happily, listen to John Fahey play all-frackin' night! He is to the blues guitar what Andres Segovia was to the classical instrument! I'm therefore pleased to list this, his seventh (?) album, out of print for at least the last twenty-nine years, dubbed from a near=pristine Source. The cuts are: ]

Beautiful Linda Getchell [1:50];

Orinda-Moraga [3:55]

I am the Resurrection [3:00];

On the Sunny Side of the Ocean [3:00];

Tell Her to Come Back Home [2:45]

My Station Will Be Changed, After a While [2:02]

101 is a Hard Road to Travel [2:17]

How Green Was My Valley [2:15]

Bicycle Built for Two [1:10];

The Death of the Clayton Peacock [2:52]

Brenda's Blues [1:45];

Old Southern Medley [6:08]

Come Back Baby [2:15]

Poor Boy [2:25]

JARRETT, Keith:

"Arbour Zena". [See sappy rave comments under "Composers". Three lovely works that form, as it were, a symphony for strings with piano and saxophone obligato ('obligati'??), and they are:

Mirrors. w/ Jan Gabarek, tenor and soprano sax; Mladen Gustesha; Strings of the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, [27:49]

Runes. w/ Jan Gabarek, tenor & soprano sax; Charlie Haden, bass; Mladen Gutesha; Strings of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony [15:19]

Solara March (Dedicated to Pablo Casals). w/ Jan Gabarek, saxophjones; Charlie Haden, bass; Mladen Gutesha; Strings of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony [9:40]

MARTIN, Skip:

SCHEHERA-JAZZ  -- Skip Martin and the "Video All-Stars". [This one is a legend: a completely over-the-top arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade for big band, jazz combo, and what sounds like 135 strings! It's unabashedly sleazy, slinky, lounge-lizard stuff and it's "jazz" only by extended courtesy, but so what? It's incredibly obnoxious yet somehow endearing. Imagine a harem in which all the tantalizing houris look like Julie London crooning in a smoke-filled bar, circa 1956. Somerset Records was famous for its exaggerated left-to-right stereo spread, its blaring treble-edge, and its lease-breaking dynamic extremes; this LP has all that and MORE! What's sp bizarre is that Rimsky's music can take everything Mr. Martin dishes out and it still sounds great…in a sleazy, 1950's cocktail-lounge sort of way. Over the years, this one has developed a sizable cult following and copies in near-mint will start bidding on E-Bay at $60 - $75.00. I've had a raunchy, played-to-death copy for 45 years, but it was not in good enough condition for me to list it. Recently, whilst pawing through the junk at the local Goodwill thrift shop, LO! There is was! Not "mint", exactly, but no major scratches and only one minor Skippy (which I corrected by hand) and no distortion in the loud parts -- i.e, 85 % of the album. So NOW I can finally list it, and if you order it, I don't think you'll be disappointed; it's one of the all-time great "Classical Party Records"!

  FILM & THEATER MUSIC

BY COMPOSERS' LAST NAMES...

Barry, John:

"Out of Africa" -- Big, lush score well mated to big, lush imagery except for…Oh, God, how to say this without sounding like 500 other curmugeonly old critics> Except for Meryl Streep who just isn't half-way lush enough to stand-in as an erotic metaphor for an entire continent! Yes, I=OK, grant6ed she looks convincing enough whe she and Redford are in a clinch together -- hell, by DOG would look sexy in that context -- but otherwise, Africa steals the show, even though it basically only has a walk-on! None of which detracts from John Barry's epic score!

FRIEDHOFFER, Hugo:

"In Love and War" -- Main Title (Requiem). Fred Steiner; National Philharmonic Orch. [7:20]

HERRMANN, Bernard:

"The Kentuckian", Suite from. Fred Steiner; National Philharmonic Orchestra [19:28]

NEWMAN, Alfred:

"Down to the Sea in Ships". , Suite from. Fred Steiner; National Philharmonic Orch. [8:57]

NORTH, Alex:

          ANTHOLOGY: "NORTH OF HOLLYWOOD"

[Nifty idea: a whole LP comprising cuts from the soundtracks to several of the "noire" flicks North composed for during his early years in Hollywood. Is this stuff REALLY "jazz"? Depends on how generous you feel like being; I suppose it is, but in the same way the snappy soundtrack to "Peter Gunn" was jazz. It never really sounds dangerous of verging on, gasp, "Negro anarchy" the way even the earliest Miles Davis albums did. It's awfully slick and skillful, though, and as far as I know these are the only recorded examples of this period in North's distinguished career. TRUTH-IN-ADVERTISING-MOMENT: I can't imagine how he managed it, but the previous owner contrived to ruin the first quarter-inch of the grooves on both sides'-- almost as though he'd intentionally rubbed jewelers' grit into the grooves and smeared it around. But, thanks God, just beyond that quarter-inch mark, the damage goes away and the sonics from that point on are quite good. Here's the TOC and in parentheses the title of the movie each cut was lifted from:

(1) Stud Poker ("Streetcar Named Desire"); (2) Four Deuces ("Streetcar Named Desire"); (3) Trick or Treat ("Wall Street Ballet"; (4)  The French Quarter ("Streetcar Named Desire"); (5) Hot Spell ("Hot Spell"); (7) Ode to a Western (American Road"); (8) Unchained Jazz ("Unchained"); (8) Monte Carlo ("The Racers"); (9) Floozie ("The Rose Tattoo"); (10)  Mardi Gras Bump ("Member of the Wedding"); (11) Magnolia ("Member of the Wedding"); (12) Ticker Tape {"Wall Street Blues"); (13) Jody's Lament ("Member of the Wedding"); (14) Black-jack ("The Racers")

*********************************************************

"The Rainmaker". Producer: Hal Wallis/ Starring: Katherine Hepburn & Burt Lancaster; Wendell Cory; Lloyd Bridges; Earl Holliman; Cameron Prud'homme/ A strong screenplay, based on the off-Broadway hit play, by N. Richard Nash/ Good picture, very apt and dramatic score by North]

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< SPECIAL LISTING ! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

PREVIN, Andre:

"The Subterraneans". [A forgettable and corny adaptation of an early Jack Kerouac novel, starring (are you ready for these "Beatniks"?) Leslie Caron, George Peppard, Janice Rule, and Roddy McDowell!! Previn's score, though, is something else: good, cool, "intellectual" jazz, featuring an all-star assortment of artists: Carmen McCree, vocals; Gerry Mulligan, baritone sax; Art Farmer, trumpet; Buddy Clark, bass; Art Pepper, alto sax, and Shelly Manne on drums! This ancient MGM LP is incredibly rare, and there are a few rough spots (including one mean Skippy on side A that was beyond any means of correction), but basically it's OK, and if I've only seen one copy in forty-odd years, what're your (or my) chances of finding one in better shape, Hell, it's listenable, and it's very good early Previn!]

ROSZA:

"Ben Hur", Orchestral Suite from. Conductor, Orchestra & Venue unknown.  [ Like many other releases on the wildly eclectic "Somerset" label, this Rosza mini-anthology is engineered to emphasize those crude but dramatic early "ping-pong" effects (exaggerated left / right separation in particular), so that owners of new el-cheapo stereo rigs could at least show-off the "stereo-ness" of their new toy system, if not the depth or faithful orchestral timbres it could hurl at the listener with every decibel of its potent 10-watts-per-channel amp! So even if the overall sound was not subtle, nuanced, or even remotely like the sound of a real orchestra playing in a real concert hall, customers who paid the bargain-tier sticker price at least got their money's worth in terms of loud, flashy sonics. Actually, that works pretty well for these Biblical-epic extravaganzas. The playing is professional-quality and the unnamed conductor -- quite possibly our ol' friend Hoot Gibson -- is better-than-competent; in some movements he displays a genuine sympathy for the wide-screen Rosza style; the un-named chorus is rather recessed, but bellows the vocal portions out with lots of gusto. There are, to be sure, quite a few hairline scratches, but given how bloody loud the scorers often are, you'll not be bothered by them a greal deal. And unlike many other rock-bottom bargain  labels (Royale, Allegro, et. al), Somerset at least pressed their LPs on real vinyl, and with a protective rim on the outer diameter. It's no substitute for the slightly later and often spectacularly recorded compilations issued by EMI, Polydor, and other full-priced labels (often conducted, with tremendous flair) by Rosza himself, but if you're just sort-of interested in the music and want an introductory sampler, you won't feel cheated.]

"El Cid", Orchestral Suite from. [See comments above]

"Even as I jsf

"Julius Caesar", Prelufe so are Sodo,

"King of Kings", Orchestral-choral suite from. See comments above]

SCHIFRIN, Lalo:

"Voyage of the Damned". Composer; "Entr'acte Symphony Orchestra. [35:13]

SHOSTAKOVICH:

"Hamlet", Incidental Music to the Film. Bernard Herrmann; National Philharmonic Orchestra [21:30]

WALTON, Sir William:

"Richards III", Prelude II: No.yukitu

WAXMAN, Franz:

"Sunrise at Campobello" -- Main Title; Hyde Park; Ten Years Wiser' End title. Fred Steiner; National Philharmonic Orch. [6:26]

BY FILM/ SHOW TITLES.

"Ben Hur", suite from. [See comments under "Rosza" above]

"El Cid", suite from. [See comments above under "Rosza"]

"King of Kings".  [See comments under "Rosza"]

"Out of Africa"

"The Rainmaker". [See under "Alex North"]

"The Subterraneans" [See under "Previn" above]

"Sunrise at Campobello".  [See under "Waxman"]

"Voyage of the Damned". Lalo Schifrin [See under "Voyage of the Damned"]

MUNDO BIZARRO

                ANTHOLOGY

        THE "YOU'RE GOING TO HATE THIS RECORD" RECORD! [From a cottage-industry label calling itself "The Only Label in the World", this represents the producers culling of "the most hated bands" in New York and San Francisco" (only there's one band here that's from Greensboro, and they're not hated at all, really; just the opposite…but I won't name them because I'd hate to spoil their street cred!) and it's quite a compilation…] The album originally came with a plastic bag full of rubber dog poop glues to the cover, but alas, that has vanished over the years. Sic transit…]

GG Allin & The Jabbers: "F**k Up!";

Art; The Only Band in the World: "Smash the Nazis!";

Furry Couch:  "Control";

The F**k-Ups: "Negative Reaction";

The (Legendary) German Shepherds: "The Earthquake Has Come";

Tina Peel: "Exception to the Rules";

Psychodrama: "Castration Ceremony";

Shockabilly: "Party House, Part III, in 3-D";

Psychodrama: "Tormental";

Tina Peel: "Wang It!";

The (Legendary) German Shepherds: "I Adore You";

The F**k-Ups: "I Think You're S**t!";

Art; The Only Band in the World: "Get Away, Kids!ic for "Rodremunde;"No Rules!"

What else can I say except that: this is a great compilation album!

MY SON, THE FOLK SINGER by Allan Sherman. [Here's a perfect example of satire that's hot for a time, then becomes boring and oh-so-Sixties, then, if you wait long enough, becomes funny again. Well, if you're in the right mood. For readers who're too young to remember this freak hit, I think the album and song titles will give you more than enough of the general idea. It was the kind of record you played for yourself twice, then played once for the friends you thought might like it, too, and then…back on the shelf; where my copy's been for almost half-a-century.]

The Ballad of Henry Lewis;

Shake Hands with Your Uncle Max;

Sir Greenbaum's Madrigal;

My Zelda;

The Streets of Miami;

Sarah Jackman;

Jump Down, Spin Around, Pick a Dress o' Cotton;

Seltzer Boy;

Oh Boy;

Shticks and Stones

THE RABBIT ISLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL, 1973: [Ohhh-KAYYY! There's this lush, Edenic island in the Hawaiian chain named "Manana" (rhymes with "banana", stupidly enough), which means "Island of Rabbits". I could tell you the background for THAT, but life's too short and that's what Wickipedia exists for. Anyway, you need a special permit to land on this place, from the Honolulu Department of Game and Natural Resources and you can't shoot or pitch a tent or get openly wasted because…(Oh, Lord, you just KNEW it would be something like this, didn't you?) Manana Island is the main and preferred breeding ground for the Great Sooty Tern (No, I didn't just make that up, Skippy; haven't I always told you that real life is weirder than most fiction?) And once a year, a bunch of local musicians get together and purchase said permit and just…goof around all day, having spontaneous jam sessions and interacting with the rabbits and the turtles and the Sooty Terns (not much fun, those birds, but then they DO come here to bang other birds, not to socialize with a bunch of noisy bipeds.). The result is the annual Rabbit Island Music Festival, which is distinguished from other music festivals by the fact that except for a couple of audio engineers and photographers, there ISN'T ANY AUDIENCE (except for the terns, and it's hard to tell from their expressions whether they like the music or not; the rabbits, however, appear to love it. The big turtles? They're still making up their minds. Like Tolkien's Ents, they're in no hurry and they don't often get polled for their opinions, so when they ARE, they want everything to be reasoned-out very thoroughly before going on-the-record.)

Look, I could've put this album under "Ethnic, Non-Celtic", but it's just weird enough to qualify for this sub-genre, too, and this category gets more hits. This is NOT the kind of Hiwaiian music you hear in the bar at Trader Vic's. These boys are LOOSE, and they do enjoy getting down; even I enjoyed this LP and I normally can't STAND Hiwaiian music. <<What, Skippy?>>

<<You ARE going to type out the titles of the tracks, aren't you Mr. Bill?>> <<Not if I can bloody well help it, you worm…>> <<But you voluntarily typed out eighteen lines of POLISH last week, so how come the bias against Polynesian or whatever-the-hell it is?>> <<I'm not biased; I just finished typing Italian aria titles for the Galla-Circhi compilation! You think that's FUN, you smug little homunculous?>> <<Whassa-madda, Boss? Can't get it up for the Hula dancers any more?>>

Wai'alae;

Ho'oheno Keia No Beauty;

He Nohea'oe l Ku'u Maka;

Makee Ailana;

Ka Loke O Maui;

Ua Nani Kaua'i;

Pua Lilihehua;

Kaua'I Beauty;

Palolo;

In the Garden of Paradise

SALZMAN. Eric (American, 1936 --  ):

The Nude Paper Sermon. Joshua Rifkin, conducting sundry ensembles and bunches of musicians; spoken material by Stacy Keach [44:53] ["The medium is the message", intoned Marshall McCluhan during his 55 minutes of fame (I allotted him extra time because he really DID earn it!), and Mr. Salzman -- who in addition to being a composer and teacher, was also a highly respected record reviewer for "Stereo Review") -- took that as his point of departure for this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink recording. The recording IS the work-of-art itself, you see (although a fairly chaotic staged version exists and has been many times performed); it is, in Mr. Salzman's words "the first 'total' work to be shaped on, by, and through the medium of modern recording -- the record is not a REPRODUCTION of anything; it is the THING ITSELF…Recording technology transforms that which it communicates; it makes all music part of the present and thereby changes it. There is nothing inherently good or bad about this (technology can liberate and it can oppress), but there is no running away from it; we must master it lest it become oppressing; we must learn to use in order to create and liberate." I'm not going to come down on any side of the intense aesthetic debate that followed the 1968 debut of this recording-composition. Whether I (or you) "like it" as music, (although in point of fact I like parts of it very much) is beside the point. It was a defining aesthetic "object", a sonic fur-lined teacup if you will; it crystallized AND polarized what had hitherto been an inchoate welter of babbling opinions and half-naked ideological cant. Like Cage's "silent" piano composition or several of Berio's more far-out compositions, it was and remains a landmark in modern musical history -- it permanently fixes a bug chunk of the Zeitgeist. Circa 1068. It will be studied and argued about for years, decades perhaps, yet to come. And since it doesn't seem to be in print anywhere at the moment, and hasn't been for almost 20-odd years, I'm offering it for your contemplation, neither endorsing it nor lam-basting it AS music, but strongly citing it as an important and singular work. If you order a dub, I will include the program notes --which DO help you figure out what the hell's going on -- free of charge.]

"SCHEHERA-JAZZ" -- Skip Martin and the "Video All-Stars". [This one is a legend: a completely over-the-top arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade for big band, jazz combo, and what sounds like 135 strings! It's unabashedly sleazy, slinky, lounge-lizard stuff and it's "jazz" only by extended courtesy, but so what? It's incredibly obnoxious yet somehow endearing. Imagine a harem in which all the tantalizing houris look like Julie London crooning in a smoke-filled bar, circa 1956. Somerset Records was famous for its exaggerated left-to-right stereo spread, its blaring treble-edge, and its lease-breaking dynamic extremes; this LP has all that and MORE! What's sp bizarre is that Rimsky's music can take everything Mr. Martin dishes out and it still sounds great…in a sleazy, 1950's cocktail-lounge sort of way. Over the years, this one has developed a sizable cult following and copies in near-mint will start bidding on E-Bay at $60 - $75.00. I've had a raunchy, played-to-death copy for 45 years, but it was not in good enough condition for me to list it. Recently, whilst pawing through the junk at the local Goodwill thrift shop, LO! There is was! Not "mint", exactly, but no major scratches and only one minor Skippy (which I corrected by hand) and no distortion in the loud parts -- i.e, 85 % of the album. So NOW I can finally list it, and if you order it, I don't think you'll be disappointed; it's one of the all-time great "Classical Party Records"!

SHEB WOOLLEY'S GREATEST HITS: [Surely you remember "Purple People Eater" and "That's My Paw"! If you don't, there ain't much I can tell you about Sheb Woolley, perhaps the raunchiest "novelty" act in Sixties pop music. He practically copyrighted a sub-genre I call "Redneck Satire", which has the peculiar quality of being popular WITH the very rednecks whom it satirizes. Actually, Sheb was a darn good parodist, as his hilarious takes on Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" and Kristofferson's "Help Me Fake it Through the Night". The song titles tell you whether or not you'll find this schtick hilarious or just vulgar and tasteless. Personally, I find that sometimes vulgar and tasteless get it done!]

Purple People Eater;

That's My Paw;

I Walk the Line;

Detroit City;

Runnin' Bear;

Don't Go Near the Eskimos;

Harper Valley P.T.A. (The Next Day);

Little Green Apples;

Ten Little Bottles;

15 Beers Ago;

Almost Persuaded;

Hello Walls;

Green, Green Grass of Home;

Sunday Morning, Falling Down;

Rollin' in My Sweet Bay's Arms;

Folsom Prison Blues;

Little Brown Shack Out Back;

Divorce;

Easy Lovin';

Help Me Fake it Through the Night;

Ruby;

The Games People Play