RECORDS

TM 68001. 10 -in. $2.98 (with excerpt beat and brilliant in sound. The Heger (Paris), Felix Weingartner, cond. COLUM- from Der Fliegende Holländer). version is very fine musically, decently BIA ML 4680. 12 -in. $3.98 (with miscel- -Blick ich umher; Wie Todesahnung and played, but not so well engineered; it does, laneous Wagner excerpts). O du mein holder Abendstern. Otto Edel- though, to its advantage, share a disk with mann (b); Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the lovely tone painting that opens Act III. 1848 Rudolf Moralt, cond. EPIC LC 3052. 12 -in. Weingartner's interpretation of this Act (4 Editions ) $3.98 (with other excerpts). III music is marvelously shaped, but only If Tannhäuser is a work, Lohen- fairly well played, and the sound is on the transitional is the of TANNIIAEUSER (orchestral excerpts) old side. grin transitional work Wagner's life. it he no more of what Orchestral excerpts from Tannhäuser fall, -Overture and Venusberg Music. Sym- After produced in general, into two categories: those that phony orchestra, women's chorus, Leopold can be called operas in the conventional All rest are more properly what offer both the overture and Venusberg Stokowski, cond. RCA VICTOR LM 1066. sense. the music (Paris, i861); and those that offer I2 -in. $3.98 (with Wesendonck Gedichte). the composer-author called them: music only the overture (Dresden, 1845). In the -The same. Philharmonia Orchestra, dramas; that is, works in which the formal a - former category Stokowski's is preferable, Paul Kletzki, cond. ANGEL 35059. 12 -in. patterns of opera give place to through principally because it alone uses the off- $4.98 (with excerpts from Tristan). composed structure of associative themes. stage women's chorus called for in the -The same. Vienna Philharmonic Orches- Although Lohengrin is still a Romantic - grand opera, the music is almost all defin- score -an almost unheard -of concert -hall tra, , cond. LONDON ably and no one else; its quality is extravagance. The reading is strong and for LL Boo. 12 -in. $3.98 (with excerpts Wagner in the most part straightforward, with only a from Der Fliegende Holländer and Die more uniform, and higher; and certain scenes the musical usages are far more like nominal number of odd twists and hoked- lW'alkiire ) . later than like up balances, mostly in the bacchanale. The -The same. Philadelphia Orchestra, Eu- those of the great scores any It can be sound is quite full and bright. Of the gene Ormandy, cond. COLUMBIA ML 4865. those of operatic precedents. musical others, the Kletzki is very cleanly conducted 12 -in. $3.98 (with miscellaneous Wagner a wonderfully strong piece of and played, and well reproduced. The excerpts). theater, particularly if heard uncut, with its Knappertsbusch leans to the heavy, leisure- -Overture. Detroit Symphony Orchestra, not quite homogeneous materials in bal- ly, thick -toned side, but it is very well Paul Paray, cond. MERCURY MG- 50021. ance. -length recordings make Lohen- engineered and is interpretatively distin- 12 -in. $4.98 (with miscellaneous Wagner Four full grin by far the most accessible Wagner guished in its exploration of the Tristan- excerpts). stage work on LP. However, there is really esque Venusberg harmonies. Ormandy's -The same. New York Philharmonic - weighing has no special distinction as a reading, but Symphony Orchestra, George Szell, cond. very little point in shaving and and balancing pros and cons among them, the plushy Philadelphia sound may make COLUMBIA ML 4918. 12 -in. $3.98 (with some friends. Contrariwise, the miking -up miscellaneous Wagner excerpts). for the London recording, made at the 1953 of inner voices may disturb those who re- -Overture; Introduction to Act III. Or- , has an all -round excel- gard the Venusberg as a sacred precinct. chestra of the State Opera, Robert lence of its elements, a unity of artistic pur- Of the versions that offer the overture Heger, cond. URANIA URLP 7077. 12 -in. pose, and a spaciousness of sound that place alone, the choice is almost a toss -up be- S3.98 (with excerpts from Lohengrin). it well ahead of the competition. There Lohengrin tween the Paray and Szell performances; -Introduction to Act III. L'Orchestre de have doubtless been better per- they differ, of course, but both are vital in la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire formances than this, but they have not been recorded. Eleanor Steher produces some spread tones and some un- steady ones, but the one has the sort of rapt, innocent conviction needed to make Elsa seem human, the other the sort of BORODIN: SYMPHONY NO. 2 IN B MINOR i L. assurance and force to make Ortrud seem not merely a stage villainess but a creature TCHAIKOVSKY: SUITE NO. 1 IN D MAJOR at once of earthly passion and almost Plu- tonic powers of evil. Nor is Wolfgang Windgassen's Lohengrin perfect; his voice does not always flow, and there is some uncertainty of pitch; but his approach to the music is so right that the effect he makes is never far from the mark. Perhaps the most striking of all the principals is Hermann Uhde. His Telramund is - as it should be but almost never is - an absorb- ing character study of a man strong yet weak, unscrupulous yet stricken by con- science, brave yet a coward, chivalric yet not knight enough to keep himself from evil. Josef Greindl, generally not the most inspired exponent of Wagnerian bay- ing -bass roles, sings here with firmness PHILHARMONIC-SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF NEW YORK and great dignity, and , without poking around in search of ar- DIMITRI MITROPOULOS, cono,cton cane harmonic effects, gets out of the score all that Wagner put in - which is a very HI -FI SPECIAL Iii -Fi. Lo -Fi, Middle-Fi! All the Fi's are present great deal. in these spacious, new Columbia recordings of two masterworks -both on one In the HMV set, the studio -style sound and the record for the first time! This music from the pens ol'the greatest melody writers lacks the Bayreuth spaciousness, combined Hamburg- Cologne forces have Of all tinte exploits the full tonal range of the modern symphony orchestra. not the festival quality. Its strong assets are Dinütri Mitropoulos conducts the Philharmonic- Symphony Orchestra of New Margarete Klosé s excellent Ortrud and 'I oils. M1. 4966 53.98 Gottlob Frick's solid King Henry. The Decca version is quite well recorded, if not EXCLUSIVELY ON COLUMBIA O RECORDS with much depth of perspective, the Mu- nich radio players and singers are certainly New Needle, New Sound! Change Now To A Columbia Needle. competent, and conducts with the authority of experience. The . ii,.ilin, It) Tn,I.nork IR.r. II .S. 11,t. Off. Mitosis Iteki, trs ., Tnnl.- ,n,rk. frise is sottIttisteil list. Urania set, quite live in sound, made a

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