PROKOFIEV: Alexander Nevsky, Op. by Bogatyryev from the Scherzo -Fan- mood music. Yet the soloist's fluent ex- 78 taisie, Op. 72. No. 10, for piano. In any pressiveness is combined so warmly with case, even the more synthetic moments strings, French horn, and wordless voices, Lili Chookasian, contralto; Westminster here are given sonic distinction by some and everything is recorded with such Choir; New York Philharmonic, Thomas of the Philadelphians' finest playing. cap- luscious sonority, that at its best the un- Schippers, cond. tured in superbly expansive and warm ashamed schmaltz is likely to be irresisti- COLUMBIA MQ 466. 41 min. $7.95. stereoism and immaculate tape proc- ble to all save misanthropes. essing. But if this release is welcome as As sometimes does happen, even in re- a novel, more or less Tchaikovskyan di- "An Electrifying Evening with the Dizzy view copies, the taping I first received vertissement, how much more welcome Gillespie Quintet." Verve VSTC 275, was defective in processing (heavily un- would be technically comparable tapings 36 min., $7.95. balanced on the right), yet even so it was of the unjustly neglected first three sym- For once a self- laudatory program title mightily impressive in all other respects. phonies, of which only No. 2 is currently is thoroughly justified. These four long Its corrected replacement is even more available-none too satisfactorily-in a performances (Gillespie's own Kush. Salt so. Nothing I've heard before from 4 -track version! Peanuts. and A Night in Tunisia, plus Schippers on records prepared me for his no less original reworking of Elling- the assured strength and darkly dramatic ton's The Mooche), recorded live during eloquence he reveals here in an uncom- a concert at the New York Museum of monly evocative performance of one of Modern Art, are electrifying indeed. The Prokofiev's most gripping works, which trumpeter's soliloquies are inexhaustibly in this first tape appearance should win LEONTYNE PRICE: "Swing Low, inventive and his sidemen (Leo Wright, a host of new admirers. And although Sweet Chariot" flute and alto sax; Lalo Shifrin, piano; 1. like others who first encountered this Chuck Lampkin, drums: and Bob Cun- music (apart from its original score for Leontyne Price, soprano; Chorus and ningham, bass) are inspired to superbly the famous Eisenstein film) in the 1945 Orchestra, Leonard de Paur, cond. resilient collaborations. Add the most debut recording by Ormandy, can never RCA VICTOR FTC 2109. 38 min. natural of cleanly open recording, and forget Jennie Tourel's incomparably $8.95. John S. Wilson's disc review accolade poignant solo in "The Field of the Dead" can be paraphrased to read "one of the has an even movement, Miss Chookasian LEONTYNE PRICE: "A Christmas most consistently stimulating jazz pro- more sumptuously dark, if less steady, grams yet committed to a single tape." voice, and she brings a very moving Offering" pathos to her role. Unlike the old Or- "Folk recent fine Leontyne Price, soprano; Singverein der Matinee." The Limeliters. RCA mandy version and the more Victor FTP 1143, 29 min., $7.95. by Reiner, the text Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and -but untaped -one Wiener Grosstadtkinderchor; Vienna Phil- It seems to me the time has come for used here is the original Russian (and Inci- harmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Kara- this talented trio to return to their origi- Latin, for the Crusaders' chant). nal practice of making live re- dentally, stereophiles in search of truly jan, cond. concert LONDON LPM 70049. 39 min. $6.95. cordings, where the presence of a re- spectacular demonstration materials sponsive which also are of genuine musical sub- audience might relieve them stance can hardly find more thrilling Admirers of Miss Price will not want to from feeling that they must work as passages than some of those in the "Bat- miss her brilliantly recorded singing in hard as they do in this studio session. tle on the Ice" and "Alexander's Entry either the current program of fourteen Or perhaps it is because they have less into Pskov." Negro spirituals or in a last- season attractive materials here that they strain Christmas special which was received too overmuch to put them across. At any late for review in the December 1961 rate, with the exception of a mildly amus- TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker, "Tape Deck." But they will have to settle ing. relaxed Funk. this high- tensioned. Op. 71 for sheer beauty of voice only: Miss self -conscious, and overrobustly recorded Price's performances are. for all their program (flawed. too, by some preëchoes Utah Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Ab- simplicity and fervor, overcareful to a and spill -overs) is -for all of its virtu- ravanel, cond. point often approaching stiltedness: the osity -the least satisfactory the Lime - VANGUARD VSTF 1646 (twin -pack). spiritual arrangements (mostly by De liters have given us so far. 84 min. $9.95. Paur) are too fussy, and even the carols (mostly in arrangements by Frederick "Gilbert and Sullivan Songbook." Mar - Despite the excellence of the tape proc- Meyer), while less pretentious, are self - tyn Green, Andrew Gold. June Bron- essing here the $2.00 difference between consciously "devotional." Different as hill; Starlight Symphony Orchestra and this and other reel editions of the com- the recording techniques are, each is ex- Chorus, Cyril Ornadel. cond. M -G -M plete Nutcracker is scarcely substantial tremely effective in its own way, but STC 3980, 45 min.. $7.95. compensation for its competent but noise in the Although the disc version of this mis- The dif- the whisper of background strictly routine performance. quietest passages of both releases is a cellany of G & S bits and pieces appeared is enough to pay for the ferential little faint but inescapable reminder that tape nearly a year ago. I haven't been able virtuoso brilliance of Ansermet (Lon- processing has its recalcitrant problems. to trace any reviews of it and suspect don), the poetic warmth of Rodzinski that other commentators have yielded to the grace of (Westminster), or balletic the same urge I feel -that it would be Irving (Kapp), each of whom is wholly kindest to pass this over in silence. The successful in terms of his individual ap- former Savoyard Martyn Green retains proach to Tchaikovsky's delectable music. many of his skills. of course. and still "Baldwin Organ and Bongos." Eddie Os- has a unique way with the patter songs, TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 7, born; Bob Rosengarden; rhythm ac- but nothing he does here is comparable in E flat (arr. Bogatyryev) companiment. Audio Fidelity AFST with his great performances in the past. 1974, 26 min., $8.95. The contributions of the other soloists Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Or- In the nearly two years since this pro- and chorus are, at best, nondescript. mandy, cond. gram appeared on discs, I'd forgotten COLUMBIA MQ 472. 38 min. $7.95. how attractive it was. Now. even better "Hawaiian Wedding Song and Other processed on tape, it clinches its earlier Sounds of Paradise." Gordon Jenkins Now that the hullabaloo over Ormandy's claims to preeminence: as a display of and His Orchestra with the Ralph concert premiere of this reconstructed the variety in timbres commanded by Brewster Singers. Columbia CQ 461, symphony has begun to subside, the re- two different models of Baldwin organs 39 min., $7.95. cent disc version and prompt tape release (it should be interesting even to those A lushly colored, boldly if quite closely of his performance better enable us to who normally disdain electronic organs): recorded program of familiar songs of judge the work's permanent value. And as a model of imaginative percussion the Islands (Now Is the Hour, Ke Kali to acknowledge that this is negligible scoring; and as a gleamingly bright re- Nei Au, Honolulu Honeymoon, etc.) (as long as the music is considered as an cording of exceptionally zestful and taste- which must be well -nigh unique in that adjunct to the Tchaikovskyan symphonic ful pops performance. it dispenses entirely with the usual uku- canon) is not to deny its shallower, yet leles and steel guitar glissandos. For my far from inconsiderable. appeal as tonal "Concerto for My Love." George Shear- part. any loss in authenticity this may entertainment. Its value in this light is ing and His Orchestra and Chorus. entail is made up for in sheer aural especially marked in its nostalgic slow Capitol ZT 1755, 30 min., $6.98. relief! The warm strings and voices. movement and in the whirling remotely Shearing's performances here are styled spiced with occasional piquant passages "Polovtsian" third movement transcribed for the most part as richly sentimental for woodwinds and the leader's own

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