Word: conductor
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Mozart: The Wind Concertos (various soloists, the Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan conductor; Angel, 3 LPs, $17.98). An exquisitely executed anthology for the Mozartean who has everything-or thinks he does. The selections range from what might be called the camaraderie concertos, the Sinfonia Concertante, K. 297b (featuring oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn) and the Flute and Harp Concerto, K. 299, to the solo works for bassoon (K. 191), flute (K. 313), oboe (K. 314) and clarinet (K. 622). Von Karajan's soloists, drawn from the Berlin Philharmonic, are superb...
Mozart: The Four Horn Concertos (Barry Tuckwell soloist, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner conductor; Angel, $5.98). As a solo instrument, the French horn lacks the innate variety of the piano or violin. That is a fact to be noted, then forgotten, while listening to this ravishing LP. Tuckwell plays the concertos as though they were as emphatically profound as anything Mozart ever wrote-which in the case of Nos. 3 (K. 447) and 4 (K. 495) is not too far from the truth...
Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364, Symphony No. 32 (Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner conductor; Argo, $5.95). Whether accompanying French-horn players (see above) or reinterpreting the Baroque repertory (the Bach orchestral Suites, the Handel Concerti Grossi, Op. 6), Neville Marriner is one of the best and busiest maestros on the London recording scene. His Mozart, an artful shading of sinew, sensuousness and sonority, is as good as anything he does. Indeed, Nachtmusik is the freshest, rosiest reading of that serenade to come along in years...
...late Igor Stravinsky's life was the best documented of any composer's since Beethoven. Why? Largely because of a bespectacled, quizzical-looking musician named Robert Craft, 48. For the last 23 years of Stravinsky's life, Craft served the old master as rehearsal conductor, aide, intellectual catalyst, amanuensis and surrogate son. Moreover, Craft worked with Stravinsky on innumerable magazine articles and six semi-autobiographical books-a series that is supplemented this week by the publication of Craft's Stravinsky: Chronicle of a Friendship 1948/1971 (Knopf...
Libman's charges have set off one of the liveliest feuds the music world has seen in decades. Among her supporters is Composer-Conductor Pierre Boulez, an authority on Stravinsky and his music, who accuses Craft of "a great falsification of the image of Stravinsky." The New York Times, the initial forum for Libman's charges, has also divulged what might be called the crayfish caper. In 1966, a story appeared in the Times under Craft's byline describing a visit by Stravinsky to Strasbourg, France. According to Craft: "After unpacking [Stravinsky] sped to the roof restaurant...