Short Reviews: Records

Brahms: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1, 2, and 3, (Josef Suk, violin, and Julius Katchen, piano; London CS-6549). Beautiful playing, blight sound, and all three sonatas on one record.

Bononcini: Griselda; Graun: Montezuma, (Joan Sutherland and friends; London OSA-1270: two records). Sutherland’s fluty tones provide an excellent excuse for exhuming two baroque operas, at least in excerpt form. There’s much charm in each, especially Karl Heinrich Claim’s naively delightful depiction of the conquest of Mexico.

Classic American Short Stories, (Readings by Hurd Hatfield, Arthur Luce Klein, Alexander Srourby, Hiram Sherman and others; Spoken Arts SA3001: ten records). Tales by Iiving, Hawthorne, Poe, Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and O. Henry, all delivered with clarity and a fine sense of suspense. Who knows, you may never have to read a book again.

Liszt: A Faust Symphony, (Ansermet conducting L’Orchestic dr la Suisse Romande; London CSA-2221: two records). Ansennet’s contribution is clarity and lightness, but it is made at the cost of dramatic impact. Try Bernstein (Columbia M2S-699).

A John McCormack Collection, (RCA Victrola VIC-1393). Not the Irish salon stuff, but arias and duets from Semele, Pearl Fishers, Daughter of the Regiment, and even Meistersinger. Remarkable singing: something not to be missed.

Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutte, (Price, Troyanos, Raskin, Milnes, Shirley, Flagella, Leinsdorf conducting New Philharmonia; RCA LSC.-6416: four records). Though marred by some lumpish vocal clowning at the start, this set offers warmly beautiful singing, exquisite orchestral playing, and the restoration of several invariably omitted arias. |ust about the best of the modern Così’s.

Francis Planté: The Issued Recordings, (International Piano Library IPL101). Planté was a nineteenth-century French virtuoso famous for his prodigious performances. These recordings were made in 1928 when he was an old man (he died at ninety-five), hut they show plenty of verve and vitality, even when the notes get hashed up, as they occasionally do. Pieces In Gluck, Mendelssohn. Chopin, and others; pretty good sound, all things considered,

Satie: Parade and Other Works, (two versions: Manuel Rosenthal conducting French National Radio Orchestra on Everest 3231, and Louis Auriacombe conducting Paris Conservatoire Orchestra on Angel S-36486). Angel’s sound has more warmth, but Rosenthal’s performance for Everest has incomparably more life and gets far more fun out of the sound effects (typewriter, siren, and so on).

Soler: Six Double Concertos for Two Organs, (E. Power Biggs and Daniel Pinkham; Columbia MS-7174). Gaiety, grace, cheeriness—all are in this eighteenth-century Spanish music. Evidently life occasionally did become lighthearted at the Escorial, where these pieces were originally played. The Biggs-Pinkham team manages to toss them off with brio and bounce.

Strauss: Don Juan; Final Scene From Salome, (Fritz Reiner and Chicago Symphony, Inge Borkh; RCA Victrola VICS-1392). A Reiner sound spectacular, which somehow had to wait a long time for release. It’s worth hearing, though Borkh is a steely Salome rather than a sensuous one.

Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra, (Zubin Mehta and Los Angeles Philharmonic; London CS-6609). Absolutely stunning as sheer sound, especially that 2001: A Spare Odyssey opening.

Stravinsky: Firebird: Suite; Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, (Pierre Boulez and BBC Symphony Orchestra; Columbia MS-7206). Another extraordinary performance by Boulez, this time with a strong rhythmic underpinning lending fresh interest to the two works.

The Unicorn, (Unnamed chorus conducted by Charles R. Grean; RCA Camden CAS-1103). Technically a children’s record, but elders drifting by can find fun in it too. Deft arrangements and straightforward singing of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,”"Horace the Horse,”"Happiness Is,”and similar entertaining diversions.

Verdi: La Traviata, (Highlights in German with Hilde Gueden, Fritz Wunderlich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Bavarian Symphony Orchestra; Heliodor HS-25088). The language, of course, is unsuitable, but the singing is pretty awful too. If this is how Verdi is done in Germany, his popularity there is astounding.

Wolf: String Quartet in D Minor, (Lasalle Quartet; Deutsche Grammophon 139376). Hugo Wolf’s quartet is an early work, with its dullness only occasionally relieved by an original harmonic touch. Fortunately, he shifted to songwriting.