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the work, which is surprisingly moving and Like The Ballad of Baby Doe, Douglas of the recording is noticeable in the orches- powerful in view of the composer's honestly Moores Carry Nation may be somewhat tral opening, things improve veryrapidly plain and homespunstyle,isthe young lessened by the composer's engagingly mod- once the authoritative presence of the Boris Carry Nation. Her father was something of a est musical gesture. But, also like its success- begins to be felt. G. J. religious fanatic, and, rather like the father - ful predecessor, it's a viable, earnest stage daughter relationship in Charpentier's Lou- piece. Desto's recorded sound is good. A RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT ise, that of this opera has decided overtones libretto is supplied. 1t7. F. of incestuous involvement. MOZART: Concerto, in C Major, for Oboe The opera opens with a prologue set in a RECORDINGS OF SPECIAL MERIT and Orchestra (K. 314); Symphony No. barroom in Topeka in 1901, at the height 34, in C Major (K. 338). Leon Goossens of Carry's saloon -busting fame. Act Iisa MOUSSORGSKY: BorisGodonnov (oboe) ;The Sinfonia of London, Colin flashback to 1865. In the economic depres- (highlights). Alexander Kipnis (bass) ; Ilya Davis cond. RCA Vic-raot.v VICS1382 sion Missourians suffered following the Civ- Tamarin (tenor) ; Anna Leskaya (soprano). $2.50. il War, Carry's family is forced to take in a Victor Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, boarder who has, unhappily, a few prob- Nicolai Berezowsky cond. RCA VICTROLA Performance: Splendid lems of his own: a doctor haunted by the Q VIC 1396 $2.50. Recording: Excellent horrors of the war, he is an incipient alco- Stereo Quality: Fine holic, but he isalso sensitive and intelli- Performance: Commanding Recording: Fairly good Both of these performances are exceptional- gent. He falls in love with Carry, and she, ly fine ones. Goossens plays the Oboe Con- compassionatelyattractedto him, marries When Alexander Kipnis brought his famous certo (it is also known as the Second Flute him against her father's advice in the belief characterization of Boris Godounov to the Concerto, a result of a commission to provide that she alone can rehabilitate him. The Metropolitan in19.13,it became part of a some music for that instrument) quite beau- following scenes trace Charles' descent into patchwork production in which he and Irra tifully,with superb technicalcontrol and hopeless alcoholism, his unsuccessful attempt the highest degree of musicality. Colin Davis to rehabilitate himself on learning of Carry's backs up his reputation as one ofour most pregnancy, and, in dire poverty, Carry's plea distinguished Mozarteans with an alert, viva- to her father for money because of the ex- cious accompaniment, and, on the overside. pected child. With this as a weapon, her with one of the best performances of the father persuades her to leave Charles. Some Symphony No. 34 thatIhave ever heard. time after the birth of her daughter, Carry, The recording leaves little to be desired. I. K. on Easter Sunday ina churchyard, speaks happilyofaletter from Charles which MOZART: Zaide (K. 344); Excerpts from promises they can soon be reunited. But her Lo sposo debts° (K.430) and L'oca del father tells her he has that very day re- Cairo (K. 422).RuthildeBoesch and Karin ceived by telegram a notification of Charles' Kuster(sopranos) ;ErichMajkutand death. Sending her family away, Carry closes George Maran (tenors); Walter Raninger, the opera with a long aria in which her Richard Gotz, and Robert Dietl (baritones). transformation from a compassionate, self - Chorus and Orchestra of the Salzburg Mo- recriminating woman to a religious fanatic zarteum, Bernhard Paumgartner cond. is strikingly telescoped. WORI.D SERIES ® PHC 2015two discs Though Douglas Moore'sconservative, $5.00. tonal, and perhaps inordinately consonant style has neither the range nor the contrast Performance: Good to dig very deeply into the dramatic possi- Recording: Fairly good bilities of his subject matter, the opera none- Stereo Quality: Artificial theless makes a number of telling points. These are incomplete operas by Mozart. Ac- Moore writes very felicitously for the voice, tually, Zaide, a two -actSin,:;spie/, was al. and sets words with such skill that, on rec- LEON GOOSSENS most finished, lacking only the overture, the ords at least, the printed libretto is virtually Superb in Mozart's oboe concerto finale, and connecting dialogues when Mo- unnecessary. He also writes with a certain zart apparently gave up on it and concen- courage: period popularismis not stylized Petina (in the small role of the Tsarevich) trated on other things. The work sounds camp as he uses it, but is given to us baldly; sang in Russian, the rest of the cast in Italian. like a more serious forerunner of Die Ent- furthermore,Iwas somewhat startled by a Two years later, in a burst of inventive ad- f iihrung-it has a Turkish setting, an elope- hoedown scene in Act I, words and music venturousness, RCA Victor transferred his ment, a furious Sultan, and a harem keeper for which might have been by Rodgers and portrayal to records, and displayed furthernamed Osmin-with some ofits melodra- Hammerstein. But somehow the composer wisdom in surrounding the star with Rus- matic elementscuriouslyanticipatingFi- pulls it off, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Of sian singers, a conductor steeped in the tra- dello. Much of Zaide's orchestral writing is a more -serious- nature, the love scene in dition, and a chorus who sang in Russian. extremely inventive, but with the exception Act 1, Scene 2, between Carry and Charles Thus there is considerable history behind of the beautiful soprano aria ''Rube s,m It. isboth fancifuland touching; elsewhere this welcome reissue in which Mr. Kipnis mein holler Lcb,n-, the vocal numbers sel- there are several effective arias; the scene sings not only the great scenes of Boris- dom reach top Mozartian levels. between Carry and her father has power and the Coronation, the second -act Monologue, Only fragments have survived of Lo sposo real musical character; and, most especially, the duet with Shuiski and the Hallucination deluso and L'oca del C.Uro, but such as there the closing aria limns fully the chillingly Scene, and the Farewell and Death-but al- are make us regret that Mozart did not pro- dramatic transformation in Carry. so a generous portion from the Inn episode gress any further with them. The Overture to The performance seems to me to be su- inwhich he assumesthelustyroleof the former is full of hrio, and itleads into perb. Itis possible that Samuel Krachmal- Varlaam. To round matters out, Mr. Kipnis an introductory scene that has much of Cosi nick could have brought more variety to provides his own interestingannotations, fanrurre'ssophistication.Thefinaleof Moore's somewhat self -resembling musical courageously defending the Rimsky-Korsakov L'oca del Cairoalso reveals Mozart athis continuity, but he paces the work with an orchestration which, in accordance with wide- mature dramatic peak, creating an enormous effective briskness that suggests he was at spread practice, was used for the present re- amount of excitement out of what seems to least aware of the music's characteristic prob- cording. The artist knows whereof he speaks, be a rather innocuous libretto. lem. The singers, who, like the conductor for he has evidently studied both Mous- The performances are competent rather and presumably the orchestra, were involved sorgsky's original and the Rimsky transfor- than distinguished, but the singers are good in the 1968 production by the New York mation. The same unfortunately cannot be enough to serve the music, and the ensemble City Opera Company, all strike me as excel- said of some authorities who are so willing work under Paumgartner's knowledgeable lent. Julian Patrick is particularly poignant to dismiss contemptuously all of Rimsky- directionis very fine. This isnot a new as Charles, and he sings beautifully; Beverly Korsakov's contribution. recording, but the sound is serviceable. G. J. Wolff distinguishes herself as Carry, particu- Tamarin is a fine Shuiski; the orchestra larly through her fine vocal characterization. and chorus perform with vigor, and if the age (Continued on page 98) 96 CIRCLE NO. 53 ON READER SERVICE CARD.

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