Word: lps
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book (Verve, 2 LPs). Thirty-two sophisticated songs, sweet, hot and tough, sung with the utmost simplicity by the queen of popular singers. The Fitzgerald method, in her own words, is to "just sing," and at least half of her poignance comes from the fact that she sings right in the heart of the note (instrumentalists like to say they tune up to her notes). Strangely enough, she can breathe right in the middle of a phrase and get away with it-a nice way of suggesting that she is not so sophisticated...
Other recent jazz LPs...
Mozart: The Magic Flute (RIAS Symphony Orchestra, chorus and soloists conducted by Ferenc Fricsay; Decca, 3 LPs). Despite its slightly studied style and rather tubby sound, this is the finest recording yet to appear of the 165-year-old masterpiece. Soprano Maria Stader makes Pamina a joy to the ear; Rita Streich is awesomely secure in the Queen of the Night's sky-high aerobatics, while the two leading men, Tenor Ernst Häfliger and Baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, use their handsome voices with distinction...
Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band (Victor 5 LPs). A whopping album of eye-misting nostalgia for any veteran of jitterbugging in Europe, short-waving in the Pacific, or lonely stargazing at home during World War II. The 57 numbers contain productions large and small of favorite tunes of the day, broadcast by one of the silkiest bands ever collected...
Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos (Irmgard Seefried, Rita Streich, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf; Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan; Angel, 3 LPs). One of Strauss's important operas, handicapped by a confused libretto, but abetted by some soaringly lyrical music. Even when the score is less than inspired, the cast's three unbeatable leading sopranos melt the listener...