CAL HERITAGE SOCIETY MHS 1976 $3.50 telescope. Yet the end result is exquisite and (plus 75e handling charge from Musical Heri- strangely affecting. tageSociety,Inc.,1991Broadway, New Indeed, the affective quality of this entire FOR A SOUND York, N.Y. 10023). recording bespeaks not only the taste and re- INVESTMENT Performance: Entrancing sourcefulness of the Malfitanos. daughter and Recording: Very good father, but is testimony to Miss Malfitano's rare beauty of voice and total command of the You Need Sound Advice... At a time when just about every programming musical substance and expressive potential of gimmick seems to have been tried, it is a real each of the works she sings here. And the 1975 STEREO DIRECTORY & pleasure to encounter a program that is origi- recorded sound, like the performances, is BUYING GUIDE nal and arresting in content, utterly free of flawless. D.H. gimcrackery, and superbly effectiveinits The complete guide STEREO DIRECTORY& sharing between performer and listener. Such to everything you is this unusual Musical Heritage 'Society disc, RECORDINGS OF SPECIAL MERIT need for your home BUYING .411P1197.1 music system. It devoted in its entirety to works for voice with : Favorite Duets with Ten- features all the latest solo violin accompaniment, all in fine perfor- ors. Massenet:: Oui! Je fus cruelle et information on stereo mance by soprano coupable.Offenbach:The Tales of Hoff- systems and corn- ponents-4-Channel Catherine Malfitano and her violinist father mann: C'est une chanson d'amour.Donizetti: Components Ampli- (and teacher) Joseph Malfitano. Lucia di Lammermoor: Sulla tomba. Anna fiers Tuners With the exception of the Holst songs, all Bolena: Debole io fu. Beverly Sills (soprano): Receivers Hi-Fi , Stuart Burrows, and Carlo Compacts Changers and Turntables Bergonzi (tenors); New Philharmonia and Speaker Systems Phono Cartridges and London Symphony Orchestras, Julius Rudel Arms Cassette, Open -Reel and Cartridge and Thomas Schippers cond. ABC ATS- Tape Machines Headphones and Micro- 20018 $5.98. phones Raw Tape and Accessories PLUS -4 -Channel Section. More than 1500 prod- uctsinall-listed by manufacturer, each BEVERLY SILLS: The Mad Scenes. Bellini: / with model number, complete specifica- Puritani: Qui la voce.Donizetti:Lucia di tions, description and price-and a BONUS Lammermoor: Il dolce suono. : FEATURE on What Every Hi-Fi Shopper Piangete voi? Thomas: Hamlet: A vos jeux, Should Know Before Buying. The Directory tells you what to look for, mes amis. Beverly Sills (soprano); other sing- what to avoid, how to decide what's best ers: Ambrosian Opera Chorus: London Phil- for you at a price you can afford. Now you harmonic, London Symphony, and Royal can know what you want before you visit Philharmonic Orchestras, Julius Rudel, Thom- the dealer and what to listen for when you as Schippers, and Charles Mackerras cond. get there. ABC ATS-20019 $5.98. 1975 TAPE RECORDING Performances: Convincing Recordings: Fine & BUYING GUIDE If such stars as Sutherland, Horne, and Pava- WITH THE TAPE RECORDING rotti have made the London catalog flourish, BUYING GUIDE Beverly Sills has been the virtual reason for OF TAPE IN BEVERLY SILLS ABC Audio Treasury's existence during the AST -FORWARD, Sensitive, convincing arias past few years. Her many fans, whose bel HOW CAN YOU KirJOIC canto enthusiasm may stop short of acquir- .SSIP.0136 KEEP UP? V WM ing all the complete opera sets built around Allthechanges and the works here appear to be first recordings, thissingular diva, may now consider two advancesinthetape and, while not every one is an imperishable well-chosen and very attractively produced market could make your head spin. Here's the masterpiece, there are no duds either. Among highlight discs. magazine that unsnarls those that are imperishable masterpieces are "Favorite Duets with Tenors" offers the the facts.It records all thechanges, choices the four songs from Helen Waddell's Medie- tense and torrid St. Sulpice scene from Man - and facts you need to make a clear-cut buying val Anthology that Gustav Holst set in 1916, on and the tender Antonia episode from The decision. Completedirectoriesandbuying guides compare products feature by feature, the nature of the setting being suggested by Tales of Hoffmann on side one -both convin- cost by cost-Open-Reel Tape Machines Cas- the accidental experience of wandering into a cingly done, the soprano's sensitive vocalism sette Tape Machines 8 -Track Tape Machines church where a woman violinist happened to 4 -channel Components-tape machines, head- being paired with two tenors (Nicolai Gedda phones, decoders and more Auto Tape Ma- be improvising and singing wordlessly to her- and Stuart Burrows) who bring stylistic right- chines Portable Tape Machines Headphones self. Of comparable merit, and with its own ness to the task. These scenes are admirably and Microphones Blank Tape and Accessories. Special features and articles by the authorities deep poignancy,isthesecond of Ralph conducted by Julius Rudel, who also presides to keep you up-to-date-Tape Machine Buying Vaughan Williams' cycles on poems of A. E. over the less familiar Anna -Percy duet from Tips Using the Four -Channel Tape Recorder in the Home How to Select Microphones Housman. Along the Field (1927). The music Donizetti's Anna Bolena on side two, again Choosing the Right Tape Choosing Portable is spare and austere when heard alongside the with the cultivated Burrows in the tenor part. and Mobile Tape Recorders How to Check Tape -Head Alignment at Home. Plus a host of youthful and impulsive On Wenlock Edge Since the "Debole io fu" scene, though quite other informative features. Order your copy now. cycle of 1909, but it is piercingly beautiful. In extended, concludes with an abrupt fadeout, a more exotic and colorful vein is the brood- however, it was a mistake to end the side with 2iffDavis Publishing Company ingly bardic Hercules by Alan Hovhaness, it. That posnion should have been given to the Consumer Service Division whose sliding violin tones lend just the right Lucia duet, in which the conducting of Thom- 595 Broadway New York, N.Y. 10012 eastern Mediterranean touch to his own text as Schippers seems a shade over -energetic Please send the Annuals checked below: telling how Hercules built, from the notes of a but the singing of Beverly Sills and Carlo Ber- ID 1975 Stereo Directory & Buying Guide, $1.85 (1) singing swan, "a path to hell and up to heaven, gonzi cannot be faulted. 1975 Tape Recording & Buying Guide, $2.25 ABOVE PRICES INCLUDE POSTAGE AND HANDLING to part the dead from: the living." The Villa - "The Mad Scenes" collection contains ap- CHARGES. Outside U.S.A. copies are $3.00 each, Lobos songs are colorful vignettes inthe propriate episodes from I Puritani, Lucia di postpaid. composer's most spontaneous Brazilian na- Lammermoor, Anna Bolena,andHamlet. TDTAL ENCLOSED $ SR65 tional style. Finally, the setting of the Paolo The singing of Beverly Sills is a model of mu- ResidentsofCalif.,Col.,Fla.,Ill.,Mich.,Mo., and Francesca episode from Dante by the late sical accuracy, dramatic insight, and expres- N.Y. State, D.C. and Tex. add applicable sales tax. Boris Blacher is something of a curiosity. The siveness. The florid embellishments in the print name small scale of the voice -and -violin combina- repeat of "Vien diletto" (I Puritani) are over- address tion (remember the orchestral interpretations done, and the final high E -flat is not the firm- of the story by Liszt and Tchaikovsky) gives est note imaginable, butthese are minor city me the feeling of witnessing Francesca's pa- flaws. Full texts and good annotations are state zip thetic narrative as through the wrong end of a supplied with both albums.

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