RECORDS

worth of every student of are 's long opening monologue Continued from page 57 the attention per singing. For the record: many or all of of ecstasy at being close to the trees and bothered to translate a zazuela . the stanzas of the hymns in the oratorio are flowers she loves so much, and the final The performance is fine, with the honors deleted; otherwise the work is presented scene, in which her voice floats forth in going to the superb baritone Manuel complete. R. E. joy at her release from human form into a Ausensi. Pilar Lorengar does not boast of state in which she can love all living things, a voice with the dimensions and funda STRAUSS without fear, without disillusion, unending- mental beauty of Lily Berchman's, the for Piano and Orchestra -See ly. Once past the unsettling idea of an oper- in the Montilla recording, but Mozart. atic heroine who turns into a bird sanctuary. neither does she spread her tones as Berch- it is not in the least surprising that Daphne's man does once in a while. The recording music is exceedingly lovely. After all. her itself is silky smooth, fully up to the usual STRAUSS need for an identity, for a certain special London standards. G. S.. Jr. Daphne; ; (excerpts) ability to love and be loved, is not so differ- Daphne: O bleib, gelieb:er Tag; Irh k.mme, ent from the need of, say. Ariadne, or of SHOSTAKOVICH grauende Braider (Daphne). Ele4tra: A //tin! , and her music is, in its own grace- The Fall of - Suite Ir,(h, grit: al/tin (Elektra). Salome Ab! Du ful. unsensual, outgoing way. expressive of the same things. Miss Kupper's singing is State Radio Orchestra and Chorus of the uve/ftetr mich nice deine,, Aland lasses, lassen fresh and vital, with mote gleam to the tone USSR, Alexander Gauk, cond. through finale (Salome. Herodias, Herod). than is characteristic of her on recordings The Battle for Stalin- Annalies Kupper (s), Daphne; Christel Goltz released here. tKhachaturian: Hetty grad -Suite (s), Elektra and Salome; Plúrcacher The other side is less compelling of in- (ms), Herodias; Wolfgang Windgassen (t). terest only because the musics and the singer the USSR, Aram State Radio Orchestra of Herod; Philharmonic Orchestra. are more familiar. There are two complete Khachaturian, cond. Fritz. Lehmann, (Daphne): Bavarian cond. Salome sets with Christel Goltz in the title CE 12 -in. CLASSIC 3009. 55.95. State Orchestra, , cond. (F_le4 role. and although lier performance Itere is era); Wiirttemberg State Orchestra of Stutt- Both these suites are drawn from music very fine it calls for no new comment. Her gart, Ferdinand I.eitner. cond. (Salome). written for Soviet propaganda films issued Elektra monologue has been released here DEUTSCHE GRAMMnPHON 18090 I.PM. t 2 -In. during World War Il. As is usually the already by Decca. The German recording is S8.5c. case with music cf that kind, it all sounds technically quite good, all in all. the only very trite and empty when divorced from This disk of excerpts from by Rich. notable flaw being a fallingoff in quality in its context and its historic moment. The ard Strauss has a special claim to attention the last few measures on the Daphne side. Shostakovich recording is passable, the because it provides the first easy opportunity The packaging is a flexible, booklet -type Khachaturian quite poor. A. F. to hear what the score of Daphne is like. envelope with a plastic facing in the record slot. Texts and notes in German. Because First performed in 3938, in Dresden - in a SIBELIUS dos.ble bill with , another Strauss of the Daphne excerpts, in particular. recom- Symphony No. 2. in D, Op. H., Jr. 43 yet to be heard here-Daphne is a mended. J. Hallé Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli, cond. myth told in music. to a text by Josef Gre- RCA VICTOR LBC 3084. 12in. $2.98. gor. but a myth made complexly allegorical STRAUSS and filled with the mystery of love. Daphne Last month RCA Victor issued a dreadful herself is loving. but her love is of the earth Sibelius Second by Stokowski and the NBC and the trees and blossoms. She (Armor "Warwick Symphony Orchestra" (Phila- Symphony for 53.98, and now here is an yield her identity with nature to the human delphia Orch., Eugene Ormandy, cond.). excellent version by Barbirolli from the love of her childhood playmate; and al- CAMDEN CAL 194. 12 -in. $1.98. same company for a dollar less. This may though she leek drawn to , who has This Camden is not to be received with not be the greatest interpretation of the taken human form to try win her. she to condescension. When it first appeared, on work on disks, but it is soundly conceived rejects him when she senses that his affec- ten 78 -rpm sides for ten dollars, it was this and amply dramatic. while the realistic tion for is pure and brotherly. her not The critic's opinion that the ten sides contained sound, especially in the lower strings. quarrel. and the god kills the boy suitors highly competent conducting, dazzling makes it one of the very best recorded of full for Then. of remorse having interfered playing in the orchestra, and spectacular all Sibelius Seconds. Definitely worth in with the lives of mortals, he asks that with registration. There is no reason to change vestigating, along Koussevitzky (RCA Zeus give Daphne to him not as :. girl. - that opinion, even in the matter of spec - Victor) . Collins (London), and Ormandy but made immortal as a laurel tree. (Columbia). P. A. Luularity; for the bristling brass and snarl- The excerpts sung here by Annalies Kup- ing woodwinds are an undulant wall of STAINER retained complex timbre, the dynamic The Crucifixion range is excellent, and although we know that there was some original restriction of Richard Crooks, ; . high frequencies, the ear cannot swear to Wilfred and baritone; Glenn Frank Croxton, it. articulation is more incisive on the bass; Mark Andrews, organ; Trinity Choir. best LPs but is not badly blunted here. CAMDEN CAL 235. 12 -in. $1.98. The most successful of recorded Helden- Most church musicians have had contact lebe,u is also an RCA product - Dr. Rein - sooner or later with Sir 's ora- cr's on LM 1807 - and music-lovers who torio The Crucifixion, and it is to them that arc coy to the price of that one will not this recording might conceivably appeal. A suffer at having this one at less than half. simple, tidily written example of English C. G. B. Victorian church music, composed in 1887 by a man who functioned exclusively in STRAVINSKY ecclesiastical and pedagogical posts, it has Story of a Soldier little value to the serious -minded listener. Being a reissue of a 78 -rpm recording, it is Fritz Weaver. John Harkins. Frederic War - sonically outdated: the organ sounds thin riner, speakers; instrumental ensemble, and wobbly and gets obscured by the sing- Emanuel Vardi, cond. ers; the choir seems small and dominated VOX PL 8990. 12 -in. $3.98. by male voices; there is little range in dy- Suite a Octet: namics and consicerable surface noise. fror Story of Soldier; The Symphonies of Wind Instruments recording has one great virtue in its favor - the singing of Richard Crooks and Law- Instrumental ensembles, Igor Stravinsky. rence Tibbett. whose enunciation, phrasing. cond. tonal beauty. and emotional sincerity are Igor Stravinsky COl.UMmIA ML 49(54. 12 -in. $3.9$.

60 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE