Classical Music

flews Briefs

THE most recent list of ree- the Met on April 26 with the ordstoreceive Grand firstAmerican performance Prix awards from the French of an by Joonas Kok- Academie du Disque includes konen, The Last Temptations. Saint-Saens's Third Sympho- The cast will include the well- ny conducted by Herbert von known Finnish Martti Karajan on Deutsche Gram- Talvela. Also scheduledfor mophon, the"Paris" Sym- performance is The Red Line phonies of Haydn conducted (1978) by . The by Neville Marriner for Phil- conductors are Ulf Soderblom ips, Schumann's Rhenish and Okko Kamu. Both Symphony conducted by Car- are available on discs through lo Maria Giulini on DG, and PolyGramSpecialImports, the album of Bach concertos TheLastTemptationson for three and four keyboards Deutsche Grammophon 2740 by Michel Beroff, Jean -Phil- 190 and The Red Line on Fin- ippe Collard, and others on landia FA -102. Both are Angel. Recordings of two ma- three -record albums featuring jor works by Berlioz also re- the same conductors and sub- ceived awards-the Te Deum stantially the same casts ap- conducted by Claudio Abbado pearing in New York. 0 raiser for the orchestra, the over album by the other on DG and The Damnation of concert took place at Albert superstar.Placido Domingo. Faust conducted by Sir Georg Hall in London.It was at- Called "My Life for a Song," Solti on London. 0 LONDON RECORDS hasre- tended by the Queen Mother, it contains songs by Jacques leased on LP and chrome who was photographed with Prevert, Richard Rodgers, cassette a digital recording of Pavarotti afterwards. A video and John Denver as well as THIS monthforthefirst the 1982 Royal Gala by the disc of the concert is also ex- four new titles especially com- timetheMetropolitan Royal Philharmonic Orches- pected. . . . Pavarotti's reper- missioned from Henry Man- Opera is presenting the Finn- tra conducted by Kurt Her- toire at the Royal Gala was cini, Lee Holdridge, Andrew ish National Opera in New man Adler with tenor Luciano mostly operatic, but a March Lloyd Webber, and the tenor's York. The company opens at Pavarotti as soloist. A fund- release from CBS is a cross - son, Placido Domingo, Jr. 0

Disc and Tape Reviews By RICHARD FREED DA\ ID HALL GEORGE JELLINEK STODDARD LINCOLN ERIC SALZMAN

J. S. BACH: Cantata No. 211. Schueigt Martin -in -the -Fields, Neville Marriner tessitura interferes with the clarity of her stile,plaudertnicht("Coffee(Untata"): cond. PHILIPS 0 6514 213 $12.98, 7337 enunciation, but that is unavoidable. I de- Cantata No. 212, .tiler hahn en neue Ober- 213 $12.98. rived less pleasure from Fischer-Dieskau's keet ("Peasant Cantata"). Julia Varady (so- own contribution. He is certainly expert and PerformanceAnimated alertly musical, but he favors a style that is prano);DietrichFischer-Dieskau(bari- Recording Excellent tone); Aldo Baldin (tenor); Academy of St. excessively declamatory, at times even ex- These two late, lighthearted cantatas sug- plosive. Furthermore, he frequently aban- gest how Bach might have turned out as a dons the notation for a toneless semi-par- Explanation of symbols: composer of comic operas: expert in vocal lando. Both cantatas, incidentally, deal with 0 = eight -track stereo cartridge writing, brilliantly inventive in orchestral ever -timely subjects: No. 212 has to do with © = stereo cassette matters, somewhat long-windedincon- collecting taxes, and No. 211 will reassure = digital -master recording struction, and a shade heavy-handed in hu- parents that children were hard to control = direct -to -disc mor. About a dozen years ago, Dietrich even in the eighteenth century. G.J. = CX-encoded Fischer-Dieskau recorded both these canta- taswithdifferentpartners(Seraphim RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT Monophonic recordings are indicated 60139). They were fine performances, but by the symbol @ this new version has more animated con- BEACH: Songs and Violin Pieces. Ariette; ducting and crisper orchestral playing as Ah, Love. but a Day!; Just for This!: 0 The first listing is the one reviewed; well as absolutely marvelous sound. Mistress Mine; Dearie;Ye Banks and other formats, if available. follow it. JuliaVarady's charming, secure, and Braes o' Bonie Doon; Rendezvous; Chanson cheerful singing adds to the joy. The high d'Amour; Juni; Dark Garden; Elle et Moi;

APRIL 1983 93