Handel's score considerably to make it phony). London Symphony (in the ing; in the case of Siegfried, lengthy pas- viable for the contemporary stage, omit- Suite), Antal Dorati. cond. I (A) from sages were left unrecorded. so that we ting a number of arias. mostly for the Mercury MG 50258/SR 90258. 1960; have had to wait for London's recent subordinate characters. He also shifted (B) from MG 50157/SR 90006. 1958] stereo version for a complete presenta- two prinicipal parts. originally for castrati, MERCURY MG 50343. LP. $4.98. tion of the opera. to a baritone and a bass. MERCURY SR 90343. SD. $5.98. Nonetheless, the HMV Siegfried re- The present version deletes more than cordings of the Thirties, which had cur- a third of Hagen's score, so that what we These performances, not originally cou- rency here under the Victor label, con- have here is "highlights" from the opera. pled. have just now been restored to the tained a great deal more of the opera There is some lovely stuff among them, catalogue after a brief absence. The big than is crowded onto these four generous such as the soprano arias "Ombre, attraction here is the Scythian Suite, that sides. There were three of these Victor piante" and "Ahi, per che," the beautiful fine piece of early Prokofiev primitivism Siegfried albums: M 83, embracing twen- "Dore sei, tomato sung by bene" (here in a splendid reading tender a conductor ty sides; M 161, embracing twelve; and the baritone), and the tender and affect- who knows his way around a ballet score. M 167, embracing eight and duplicating ing duet "lo t'abbraccio." The best sing- The Symphony gets a rough, driving per- some of the final duet music contained on ing by far is done by Miss Sailer, in the formance whose every detail -good. bad, M 83. All these albums starred Melchior who title role, displays more spirit and or indifferent -is mercilessly exposed in as Siegfried, except that M 83 replaced variety here have heard than I from her the glare of the dry, clear, close sound. him with Rudolf Laubenthal for the final on other occasions. Some of the other Incidentally, the record jacket does not duet with Frida Leider (commencing at soloists sometimes her level. reach The make clear which orchestra plays which "Heil dir, Sonne"). Odeon has taken orchestra is timid. but the sound accept- piece, and the disc label itself incorrectly these three sets and collated them, plac- able. All in all, a case where a sampling credits the Minneapolis with both per- ing all the music in its proper sequence. is better than nothing. The Italian text formances. E.S. It's an admirable plan, except that fairly and an English translation are provided. sizable chunks of the music that was re- N.B. RIMSKY- KORSAKOV: Le Coq d'or: corded have been left out. Suite (A) The following passages from the indi- HAYDN: Seren Last Words of Christ Serenade for Strings, cated 78 sets have been omitted from the tTchaikovsky: Odeon re- in C, Op. 48 (B) pressings: 1) the Prelude ( M Amadeus Quartet. [from Westminster 167); 2) Mime's opening monologue 18055, 1955] London Symphony Orchestra. Antal Do- " Zwang Tolle Plage," up to the point of WESTMINSTER COLLECTORS SERIES W rati, cond. I (A) from Mercury MG Siegfried's entrance (M 161); 3) the Act 9029. LP. $4.98. 50122. 19571; Philharmonia Hungarica. I passage between Mime and Siegfried. Antal Dorati, cond. I (B) from Mercury beginning at "Fiihltest du nie in finst'ren Among the important Haydn works to MG 50200, 19601 Wald," and running to the beginning of have been written on foreign commission MERCURY MG 50344. LP. $4.98. Siegfried's Forging Song; 4) the entire (in this case from Spain), these nine MERCURY SR 90344. SD. $5.98. Erda scene at the opening of Act III, be- movements exist in four different ver- ginning with the orchestral introduction. sions, in vocal, piano, and orchestral The Coq d'or concert suite here is ac- going on through Wotan's "Wache, forms, and the present text for string corded a brilliant performance, enhanced Wald!," Erda's "Stark raft das Lied," and quartet. The latter, I think, is the most by very realistic sound. The Tchaikovsky the ensuing colloquy (M 83). effective. and the present edition has had Serenade appears in one of the very few This adds up to seven or eight 78- the field pretty much to itself for a doz- uncut performances on discs, and the rpm sides, and is easily enough to justify en years. It is eloquent, well recorded, only one I know of that is complete on a third record, particularly when they can and a lesser classic of the LP era. one uninterrupted record side. It is a he acquired separately, as is the case R.C.M. very clean, forthright presentation by a here. The cuts are all real losses, not superior group of strings. I would have merely for the music, but for the per- OFFENBACH: Overtures (5) liked less staccato playing and phrasing formances. Tessmer and Albert Reiss in the third and fourth movements, how- were both splendid Mimes in very dif- London Philharmonic Orchestra. Jean ever. The stereo reproduction is splen- ferent ways. A graver omission is the Martinon. cond. 'from London LL 350, did -fine. clear, and bright. P.A. Wotan /Erda scene, as sung by that ex- 1951 -52] traordinary husband -wife combination, RICHMOND B 19098. LP. $1.98. WAGNER: Siegfried (abridged) Emil Schipper and Maria Olszewska. It opened with a fine, thunderous perform- The once highly praised FFRR recording Florence Easton (s), Brünnhilde; Nora ance of the orchestral introduction to Act now seems somewhat constricted and at Gruhn (s), Forest Bird; Lauritz Melchior III by the Vienna State Opera orchestra times even just a hit tubby, yet it is by (t), Siegfried; Heinrich Tessmer and Al- under Karl Alwin. Schipper was perhaps no means lacking in strength and bright bert Reiss (t). Mime; Friedrich Schorr not a great dramatic baritone-a rung or clarity. What makes this program a and Rudolf Bockelmann (b), The Wan- two below the other Wotans heard here, "must" (at least for everyone who doesn't derer; Eduard Habich (bs), Fafner and Schorr and Bockelmann -but he was a own Scherchen's recent Offenbach Over- Alberich. Symphony Orchestra of Lon- very solid one. and would certainly be a tures from Westminster) is the controlled don and Orchestra of the Royal Opera welcome addition to the current crop. zestfulness of Martinon's performances. House. Covent Garden. Robert Heger And since the retirement of Olszewska, Seldom have the in familiar Orpheus the and Albert Coates. conds. I from RCA there have been only one or two Erdas Underworld, Belle Hélène, and Grande Victor M 83. 1930: M 167. 1933: M 161. (Branzell comes to mind) whose names Duchesse de Gírolstcin been played with- 19401 could properly be mentioned in the sane out any suggestion of either slapdashness ODEON 80744/45. Two LP. $5.98 breath with hers. or sentimentalization; seldom have the each. There might be some question in cer- V less frequently heard Barbe -bleue and tain collectors' minds as to whether or Mariage ants lanternes revealed more There is only one valid criticism of these not the Laubenthal /Leider version of the delectable piquancies and lyricism. For remarkable records, and that is that there duet should not have been included. on sheer listening pleasure, this bet at the is not enough of Siegfried on them. the strength of Leider's contribution. $2.00 window is a sure thing to pay off This fault cannot be entirely, or even Here. though, I think the correct decision with daily -double munificence! R.D.D. largely, blamed on the current powers has been made. To begin with, the Eas- that be in the EMI organization. One ton /Melchior version is complete (nearly of the great pities of recording history twice as much music here as on the PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 5, in date is complete versions of B flat, Op. 100 (A); Scythian Suite, to that all Leider performance). And while Easton Op. 20 (B) the Wagner operas were not inscribed is not quite up to Leider's standard either thirty years ago, when the art of heroic vocally or stylistically. she is extremely Minneapolis Symphony (in the Sym- singing had its most remarkable flower- good; the voice is bright and full and 82 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE www.americanradiohistory.com.