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RECORDS Sound is no better than fair. Therr'are the stories of the Iliad and Odyssey and build Mr. Lucas), and, of course, Jaye Ballard's extensive liner notes, and English lyrics up an elaborate parallel fable of doings in superheated Lazy Afternoon - stand up very are supplied, but these are of little help the state of Washington around the turn of well indeed; and so do the revue lampoons when trying to follow the Chevalier argot, the century. The combination of Homer of the second act, especially Calypso and Bibi which is not always pure Parisian. J. F. I. with contemporary spice on the musical Osterwald's wonderful Goona- Goona. All stage is certainly a well- tested one, but in told, good representation of an unusual, and The Golden Apple the parallelism is some- unusually fine, musical. Engineering: GLOCKENSPIELS, TRAPS AND times relentlessly pursued, sometimes vir- Clean, resonant, roomy- studio sound. Re- PLENTY OF PIPES tually forgotten in favor of topical (and not commended. J. H., Jr. infrequently anachronistic) verbal and musi- Leon Berry at the organ the Hub, of cal conceits. The book and lyrics are always THE CIMBALOM Chicago. intelligent and often keenly witty, occasion- Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 8; Rou- REPLICA 33X501. to -in. 23 min. moving, but the elaboration ally genuinely manian Rhapsody; Traditional Czardas is with The kaleidoscopic sound of the modern sometimes just stickily Intellectual Group. a capital "I." theater-organ is reproduced with startling Dick Marta, cimbalom. engineered record. But if the allusive, convoluted plotting realism on this beautifully CooK 1032. to -in. $4,00. The program, varied enough to please all and side -commenting is sometimes more trouble than it is really worth especially tastes, is designed chiefly to exploit the - THE ZITHER organ's uncanny ability to simulate the on records, where the role of Paris, danced tones of several instruments. English horn, so charmingly and explicitly on the stage by The Happy Dancing Rose; Greensleeves; Two flute, trumpet, growling trombone are all Jonathan Lucas, has to be imagined - the Little Stars; Deep Down in the Valley (Da present, plus the more esoteric sounds of score is largely crisp, imaginative, and full unten im Male) (arr. Brahms); Barbara glockenspiel, Chinese block, castanet and of astringent charm. Few show scores at all Allen; The River Seine; September Song. xylophone, plus a regular battery of per- have such individual, sharply -defined musi- Ruth Welcome, zither. cussion. Nowhere is there any sign of over- cal personalities, and although on the record our Times lapping tones, and throughout the sound is much of the interlocking is supplied by If it was the purpose of Sounds of the sound of the crisp and well defined. J. F. I. out -of- character narration by Jack Whiting, to reproduce faithfully the best numbers - like Going Home To- zither and Hungarian cimbalom, this little gether, The Judgement of Paris, (even without disk is a success, for the sounds of the two THE GOLDEN APPLE The Golden Apple: Excerpts from the musi- cal play, book and lyrics by John La- Touche, music by Jerome Moross (some orchestrations by Hershey Kay): RCA Victor Gets in the Gruve .. Cast of Phoenix Theatre production: has been reproved, ever quite enough for perfect protection. In Priscilla Gillette; Stephen Douglass; Kaye RCA VICTOR and being laggardly in its atten- the cardboard jacket probably Ballard; Jack Whiting; Bibi Osterwald; again, for shipment the advanced or - will touch the grooves here and there. Per- Portia Nelson; Martha Lattimore; Geral- tion to the needs of "high is RCA Victor's compromise derived dine Viti. Musical director: Hugh Ross. fidelity" listener. It axiomatic that giants haps move slowly. Once in motion, however, from concern for people with record - RCA VICTOR Loc -1014. 12-in. $5.95. they often do things in a big way, and RCA changers, since an automatic arm would Any way you look at it or listen to it, The Victor did so - twice in one week, as have trouble with a lead -in rim any thicker Golden Apple is a refreshing anomaly of September began. than the one they have contrived (which popular musical theater. It is consciously - The first contribution of the Victor en- we tried on a Garrard RC -8o - worked self-consciously - an attempt to find a gineers was what some one in the advertising fine!). Or perhaps there were warpage -prob- new direction, but almost anyone who cares department chose to call "Gruve- Gard ". lems, occasioned by the unequal cooling of for show music will find in it things that (What was wrong with Groove-Guard ?) the different thicknesses of vinyl. All such appeal to him, while many who habitually It is best described as a palliative pointing problems will no doubt be solved, in due listen down their noses to tunes from Broad- the way to a solution of one of all LP- time, and the noisy groove -gouge will be way will find it more stimulating than they buyers' worst problems - the record that a thing of the past. expect. Its total stage effect is exceptionally comes scratched by grit in its envelope, RCA Victor's second contribution is a difficult to capture on records, but the best or is later scratched by grit between records 12-inch LP record entitled (in flattering part of the score is here, quite well repro- on a changer. Victor's expedient (which imitation) Hearing is Believing, which re- duced. the company promptly made available at produces old and new recordings of the Written and composed under sponsorship no charge to the whole industry) is a raised same musical selections, in quick succession of the Guggenheim Foundation, The Golden lead -in edge and a raised collar around the and startling contrast. The record is a Apple was turned down by numerous pros- label. In the envelope or in a stack with straight promotion - piece, aimed at showing pective angels before finally being staged other records, the raised portions keep the people the difference between "good old" off -Broadway, in the Phoenix Theatre. It precious grooved surfaces from harmful recording and high fidelity. The company got good, respectful notices, but hardly contact - most of the time. put it on the market at a flat $1 price, and unqualified raves; then it caught on, moved The protective raised areas aren't raised at the time of issuance there were too,000 uptown, and ended by winning the New advance orders. Despite the jacket -chat York Drama Critics Circle award as best about New Orthophonic" sound, the net musical of the 1953.54 season, before falling effect is bound to be a public awakening victim to the summer heat. to the fact that all makes of records are Although it is called, like most plotted drastically better than any ever were before. musicals nowadays, "a musical play," The In view of the industry -wide benefit of Golden Apple has no spoken lines at all, and this Victor effort, it is perhaps churlish its book (unlike that of, say, South Pacific) to point out that the record is phonied -up is impossible to imagine as a legitimate play. a little. The old Whiteman Rhapsody in All of the exposition is accomplished in Blue was better than it is made to sound song, except for that concerned with one here, in contrast with a new Hugo Winter - major role that is entirely danced and halter version, and Lawrence Tibbetts mimed. LaTouche's own characterization Pagliacci prologue much better than its of it is "a series of interlocking production reproduction as foil for a new Leonard numbers." Warren rendition (which, in fact, sounds a The story materials and the treatment of little echo- chambery). However, the point them may not charm everyone. What Leonard If arren as Tonic, ill I Pagliacci - is made, and well, and it will do us all LaTouche has done is take as a framework bis duel with Tibbett is slightly' fixed. some good. HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 74 .

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