Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf - Saint-Saëns: The Carnival of

Classical Music

The 1986 performance of Mahler's Symphony No.3 from London's Royal Festival Hall differs from the studio recording made in the late 70's. As Michael McManus states in his booklet notes, 'Fine though the studio recording from 1979 was and is, this live performance has an intensity and integrity that few, if any, recordings of this work can match' and 'Tennstedt in concert was a very different creature from Tennstedt in the studio. Mahler in particular was a life-and-death experience in the concert hall'. The sound captured by the BBC engineers is state of the art and easily captures Mahler's huge dynamic range. As a bonus, there is a short interview from 1987 in which Tennstedt discusses Mahler interpretation.

This is the first authorized release of this performance. The disc also includes Bernstein's pre-performance remarks and an interview with Glenn Gould from a 1964 New York Philharmonic broadcast.
This disc should serve as an extremely important historical novelty to those listeners familiar with the players and the repertoire. The performance is taken from a 1962 radio broadcast, and Bernstein begins the program with a disclaimer. He tells the intrigued audience that while he looks upon Gould as a supreme artist, he does not agree with the soloist's interpretation of the work, that they share major interpretive discrepancies. Despite this, Bernstein opts to go along with Gould's interpretation.
And so begins this disc, followed by what Bernstein himself called one of the most "unorthodox" renditions of the Brahms he has ever heard. With its varying tempi, sometimes as slow as molasses, Gould still manages to express perfectly what this piece calls for: a sense of majesty, intensity, and delicacy all at once. Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic create an ambience that is as reflective as Gould could have asked for. This disc is indeed a fascinating tribute to the two great artists who could not agree.

Classical Music

In it's touching tenderness, the "Weihnachtsgeschichte" op. 10 by Hugo Distler is one of the most beautiful temptations for any a cappella ensemble at Advent or Christmas time. With it's scoring for four-part choir, from which all the soloists can easily be drawn, it is proof that the Christmas message can be conveyed with the same simple, sublime brilliance as with the old masters. The seven variations on "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" which run through the work are much more than merely a framework for the story - they are also great music within themselves.

Spoken prayers, readings and blessings alternate with the musical selections on this recording.

Humor and reverence. With all the delicacy allowing humor and talent, Dominique Visse and his Ensemble Clément Janequin do mingle several faces of Christmas, between sacred vocal pieces and parodies the crisp text, with the young trio Musica Humana.

Classical Music

The famous Hilliard Ensemble presents a tribute to the fifteenth-century master composer Ockeghem. Interspersed with the music are parts of Guillaume Crétin’s Lament on the Death of the Late Ockeghem, Treasurer of Saint Martin of Tours, in a specially commissioned translation, read by Bob Peck. This disc is the second of four live discs by The Hilliard Ensemble to be released on CORO. The first disc – Pérotin and the Ars Antiqua - won a Diapason D’Or.

Coulthard, J.: Canadian Composers Portrait

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This 32-disc box set collection brings together 12 classic live Royal Opera performances – Tosca, Otello, Cosi fan Tutte, Madama Butterfly, Meistersinger, Don Giovanni and half a dozen more - spanning a period of over forty years, from 1955-97. The set includes many of the world’s greatest operatic performers of the era: Jon Vickers, Joan Sutherland, Janet Baker, Victoria de los Angeles, Cesare Siepi, Sena Jurinac, Boris Christoff, Tito Gobbi, Kiri Te Kanawa, Zinka Milanov and Franco Corelli, amongst others.

Selection includes "Beyond the Notes" - The Mendelssohn's, and the artist's place in high society.

Classical Music

KÁLMÁN Der Zigeunerprimas ? Claus Peter Flor, cond; Gabriele Rossmanith (Sári); Edith Lienbacher (Juliska); Zoran Todorovich (Gaston); Roberto Saccà (Laczi); Wolfgang Bankl ( Pali Rácz ); Sunnyi Melles (narr); Munich RSO; Slovakian P Ch; Bavarian St. Op Children?s Ch ? cpo 777 058 (2 CDs: 101:23)


About three years ago, the Ohio Light Opera released an English-language recording of the complete score, with dialogue, of Kálmán?s early hit Zigeunerprimas (?The Gypsy Violinmaster?). Known to its first American audiences by the name of its heroine, Sári , this story of generational conflict in a family of Hungarian musicians offers ample opportunities for local color á la Hongroise , in so doing providing a resume of the shifting styles of central European operetta at the turn of the century. In my review of that release (26:1), I noted that the composer frequently timed the American and European premieres of his stage works so as to maximize their impact on both sides of the Atlantic, to great success, and with a notable impact on his style, which embraced ?American? dance forms and syncopations faster than did the works of his continental contemporaries


I also noted that the virtues of the Ohio recording lay primarily in the quality of the playing?higher than is often the case from that summer-stock company?and the naturalness of the atmosphere. Surprisingly, while the new recording scores in many areas by comparison, especially in the quality of the direction, orchestral playing, and interpretation (hardly surprising, given the provenance of the musicians), not to mention that it is presented in the original German, the less-polished Ohio effort remains a surprisingly resilient contender.


The reason for this has more to do with the presentation than the performance. If the German recording had merely been cut, or if it consisted solely of musical excerpts, one would be able to rue a loss in dramatic continuity, particularly in the many involving melodramas that run through the score. But the producers have gone a step further, introducing a narrator, who intrudes between musical numbers not only to provide plot summary, which she delivers somewhat in the manner of a carnival barker, but also snatches of dialogue. In itself, the voice of Sunnyi Melles serves the purpose, but when she is called upon to embody the old gypsy violin master and his son, even when they are arguing with one other, one wishes the radio studio had at least hired some other actors. Perhaps to save airtime in the broadcast, dialogue is cut and summarized, often archly and pompously. Elsewhere, the recording falters with a grating, stilted use of a children?s choir in Sari?s entrance scene. While the number calls on her to interact with a group of children, their stilted laughter and clockwork ?oohs? and ?aahs? suck spontaneity out of the moment.


Yet the virtues of the present recording are obvious from the first chords of the overture, with its idiomatically sensitive rubato phrasing, suggesting both an authentic ?Hungarian? flavor and the underlying melancholy?the sense of loss?of the title character. Particularly apt are the many stylistic shifts, which correspond to the changing traditions and tastes reflected in the different musical worlds of father and son. The virtuosic solo violin passages keyed to the father?s world have their folk-music roots underscored by a generous application of cimbalom (an effect missing from the Ohio production); Claus Peter Flor captures the springing fox-trot and waltz rhythms of the son?s emphatically turn-of-the-century world with a constant sense of interest. Narration aside, the finely balanced recording and orchestral playing are almost worth the price of admission.


As the ?Gypsy Master? Pali Racz himself, Wolfgang Bankl projects a weighty and appropriate sense of age, his baritone a bit woolly and weary but constantly in the part. The key moment is his character?s final humiliation. Greeted as an exotic, Racz is asked to play at a Parisian party where his son has already scored with appropriately light and ?modern? dance music. But the bored guests viciously ridicule his old-fashioned gypsy virtuosity as ?horrible scratching.? Bankl invests his voice here with palpable heartbreak, as he sings the reprise of his love song to his ?old Stradivarius.? The finality with which he packs up his career and delivers his prized old instrument to the son he has always undervalued is truly moving.


Bankl?s ?older? voice effectively contrasts with the heroic sound of Zoran Todorovich as his rival and Sari?s eventual love-interest, Gaston. Todorovich has become a constant at Austrian operetta festivals in recent years, and the baritonal steel of his voice does render Gaston a convincing romantic lead. The other roles are also well cast. Edith Lienbacher?s Juliska is light and a bit warbly, but blends glowingly with Roberto Saccà?s light tenor (as the put-upon son Laczi), particularly in the duet at the opening of the second act, whose own distilled Wagnerism bears more than a passing similarity to the Pavillon duet from The Merry Widow . Gabriele Rossmanith rounds out the principals with a powerfully sung Sari. Special mention should also be made of the excellent solo violin work that runs throughout; much of this score comes across as a kind of ?violin concerto in the form of an operetta,? but the soloist unfortunately goes uncredited.


Now that we finally have a recording of Zigeunerprimas in its original language, the choice is clear but difficult. For theatrical atmosphere and a sense of how Kálmán?s theater works for the American stage, the OLO recording may do nicely; but for atmosphere, color, interpretation, and sheer vocalism, the Munich recording comes out far ahead. If only that narrator could somehow be plucked out, I could recommend the new cpo recording without reservations.


FANFARE: Christopher Williams

Classical Music

Following the triumphant reception of the six ground-breaking London Symphonies Hob. I:93-98 during his first visit to England, Joseph Haydn was at the height of his fame when he embarked on his trip back to Vienna in July 1792. Although he had planned to return to the city on the River Thames within six months, Haydn's second visit to England was delayed for an entire year for unknown reasons. In the meantime, he continued to compose and finished his Symphony No. 99 in Vienna in 1793, although the work did not receive its premiere there. Unlike London or Paris, Vienna did not have an active concert life outside of the world of court music at the time. London's large and capable orchestras did not have their equal in Vienna, and neither did London's music press, which enticed the public with timely announcements and reviews. Bruno Weil and the Cappella Coloniensis inspire also with an enthralling and intelligent play in the third serie.

Import Hybrid-SACD pressing.

Music composed by Harold Arlen. Lyrics written by Truman Capote.
Principal Cast: Pearl Bailey (Madame Fleur); Diahann Carroll (Ottilie/Violet); Juanita Hall (Madame Tango); Ray Walston (Captain Jonas); Rawn Spearman (Royal); Geoffrey Holder (The Champion); Ada Moore (Gladiola); Enid Mosier (Pansy); Winston George Henriques (Do); Solomon Earl Green (Don't); Miriam Burton (Mother); Pearl Reynolds (Mamselle Ibo Lele); Dolores Harper (Tulip); Geoffrey Holder (The Champion); Alvin Ailey (Alvin).
Recorded at CBS Studios, New York, New York on January 9, 1955. Originally released on Columbia (ML 4969). Includes liner notes by Didier Deutsch, Howard Kissel.
This is part of Columbia Records "Broadway Masterworks" series.

The first volume of virtuoso guitarist Smaro Gregoriadou’s Reinventing Guitar series was hailed as “a guitar edition that changes the flow of the history of the instrument.” In Reinventing Guitar II Gregoriadou again utilizes reinvented guitars, this time to exploit the dynamic range of sound of the period in novel transcriptions of Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti. Featuring extensive reference materials and research notes, this is certain to excite the most avid guitar aficionado as well as the casual listener.

This selection is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording.
This selection contains a track featuring excerpts from Tim Page's 1982 audio interview with Glenn Gould about the 'Goldberg Variations.'

A Christmas Carol: Victorian Carols with Readings from Dicke