London Goes to Italy for a Songbag of Sunshine
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tion of man's supremacy over his own soul. other example of the frivolous misuse of Romeo and Juliet; read by Paul Rogers. The life and death of Faustus is set power. The ordinary living -room listener, SPOKEN ARTS 723. 12 -in. $4.98. forth in blank verse of extraordinary however, probably will most enjoy the This disk is an actor's tour de force, pro- power, in language of a vigor and flamboy- sheer magnificence of sound in those pas- viding the listener with an opportunity to ance eminently fitting the tremendous voy- sages in which an arrogant Faustus de- hear the Old Vic's Paul Rogers portray a age of discovery on which not Faustus and bates with himself on the possibilities of roles ranging from Falstaff Marlowe alone but the whole Renaissance damnation and salvation, and will be most wide variety of to the parts of all six world were embarked. Marlowe here is, stirred by the final soliloquy in which the through Macbeth home -spuns" who usually in fact, much more poet than playwright, now abject hero grovels in an agonizing of the "hempen reader in A Midsummer Night's and one suspects Caedmon might have plea that time stand still. bore the Dream. Mr. Rogers' Falstaff is a bumbling done better to present those excerpts dem- In Mr. Silverá s reading the sound is but at that, may onstrating the "mighty line" rather than magnificent. The play is, of course, very fat fool, pure and simple; to author's intention than the to offer the play more or less complete. much Faustus', but he is ably abetted by a be closer the whom latter -day senti- The pageant of the seven deadlies surely competent cast of readers, of whom Fred- tragic hero manqué have created from the devotee is dependent on visual spectacle for its ef- erick Rolf in a gentlemanly interpretation mentalists addresses the fectiveness; the horseplay at the papal court of Mephistophilis is especially distin- of old sack. His Mercutio Mab speech to a lovesick Romeo is farcical comedy on the most elementary guished. The incidental music (from Queen John of level; the childish revenge on the skeptical Palestrina to Bartók) neither adds to nor with proper bravura splendor. s ( "This blessed plot, this knight is hardly amusing unless one sees, detracts from the production's effectiveness, Gaunt paean is read, whether on stage or in the mind's eye, but the omission of the text is a sad de- earth, this realm, this England ") is not, as part the cuckold's horns appear on the doubting ficiency. J.G. as it should be but often Richard Thomas' head. The presentation of Doctor of the dying man's prophecy that . fierce blaze of riot can- Faustus as a whole may be intended to the Second's ". WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE from Macbeth make the student aware of the structural not last." And the excerpts interpreta- deficiencies of Marlowe's play and of the Scenes from Macbeth, A Midsummer provide an extremely sensitive customary Elizabethan catering to the tastes Night's Dream, First Part of King Henry tion of a highly complex role, culminating of the groundlings; and perhaps it may IV, Second Part of King Henry IV, Merry illumine the character of Faustus as an- Wives of Windsor, King Richard II, Continued on page to London Goes to Italy for a Songbag of Sunshine THE POPULAR music of Italy has never and guitar of Roberto Murolo, who, thanks l'Amore Quando e Sera, or How Good been as plentiful in American record to Angel, is no stranger to United States it is to Make Love in the Evening. marts as the chansons of neighboring discophiles. Murolo here ranges with ef- The only distaff voice on Durium's list France. This discrepancy seems the more fortless vocal grace through a selection of is Flo Sandon's (DLU 96008) . Signorina remarkable inasmuch as post -World War florid Neapolitan melodies generally less Sandon's (she spells her name with the II Rome has supplanted Paris - at least well known - but no less beautiful - than apostrophe) has a robust delivery and a in the accounts of bedazzled tourists - the usual staples like Core 'Ngrato and voice that is reasonably pleasant and flex- as Europe's "gayest capital." Now, in one Santa Lucia. ible. She is, according to the notes, "one of fell swoop, the balance begins to be re- However, precisely such basic fare is Italy's most popular girl vocalists." In dressed. Ten releases on London's Durium contained in Aurelio Fierro Sings Italian addition to a group of Italian torch songs, label, all ten inch and all priced at $2.98, Popular Favourites (DLU 96010). Fierro, she essays a few Spanish and Portuguese manage to cover just about every high- a versatile, full -throated tenor in the best ballads with a good deal of success. light of the contemporary Italian "pop" Italian tradition, is a splendid interpreter Judging from the rather fatuous anno- picture. The sound throughout is never of these overblown but marvelously tune- tation of An Italian In Paris (DLU 96013), worse than good, and in most of the ful ballads of lost and thwarted love. The pianist Luciano Sangiorgi is (God forbid) records it is the peer of anything currently accompaniments by Mino Campanino and Italy's answer to Liberace. Actually, his available. the Neapolitan Song Orchestra sometimes keyboard transcriptions of such Parisian From the mecca of all Italian vocalise smack of Phil Spitalny, but they never stand -bys as La Mer, Ciel de Paris, etc., are well played save for some unduly come two albums. One ( Songs From become really distracting - mostly because Napoli, DLU 96011) features the voice Fierro in full cry can eclipse all accom- heavy fingering in the fortissimos. In- panists. terpretatively, they are straight out of a Fierro's other album, Canzoni d'Altri carriage -trade cocktail lounge. Tempi (DLU 96007), is a genuine gem. Like a breath of bracing air comes The These are vintage Italian pops of thirty Mountains of Italy (DLU 96018), where- years back - and a nostalgic, bubbling in the Chorus of the Club Alpinistico draught they are. Fierro adapts his voice Italiano of lowland Padua present folk nicely to these relaxed, "happy ending" songs from the snow- topped, granitic love songs of a less complex, less neurotic Dolomites. These songs deserve to be age than our present decade. better known. In addition to surpassingly The Songs of Rino Salviatti (DLU lovely melodies, they possess a kind of 96015) are another matter. While Sal - charming artlessness. Regrettably, conduc- viatti gives us a whirl through the cur- tor Livio Bolzonella drags his tempos and rent Roman hit parade, neither his voice occasionally allows the chorus to over - - which seems to drip sugary grief no harmonize - which is no reason not to matter what the mood of the song - buy the record. It is unlikely to find com- nor the material is arresting. In fact, one petition for some time to come. item, Buongiorno Tristezza, causes one to Danze Folcloristiche (DLU 96019) is a regret that Françoise Sagan ever took pen bit of mislabeled fluff, containing work- in hand. manlike renditions of assorted tangos, On another tack, Sergio Centi has as- mazurkas, and waltzes - but not a single sembled a group of peculiarly Roman tarentella. And The Fifth San Remo Song songs which he delivers in the quick - Festival (DLU 96006) is a potpourri of tongued Roman dialect ( Canzoni Romane, 1955 favorites sung by Aurelio Fierro, Flo DLU 96009) . Centi is an ideal interpreter Sandon's, and Bruno Rosettani. Neither of this genre, and his repertoire includes the songs nor the performances generate perhaps the most unexceptionably titled more than perfunctory interest. Roberto Murolo, of Naples. song in the series: Corné e Bello Far HOWARD LaFAY zoé HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE .