Word: lps
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Rossini: Stabat Mater (Maria Stader, Marianna Radev, Ernst Häfliger, Kim Borg; RIAS Symphony conducted by Ferenc Fricsay; Decca, 2 LPs). The composer who was once advised by Beethoven to stick to comic opera, here turns up in a churchly (if not always churchlike) mood. The chorus sings some lofty and properly devotional counter point, but the lovely solo voices have arias that bounce and flow with the joyfulness of the Barber of Seville. Performance: elegant...
Some of the newest jazz styles are bouncing out of some of the oldest countries and vice versa, at least in Angel's six LPs of transoceanic combos. From among the historic ruins comes Italian Jazz Stars, with its display of long, contrapuntal lines and cool U.S. flavors. Among the stars: Oscar Valdambrini and his neat, confident trumpeting (in La barca del sogni); Roberto Nicolosi and his hip orchestra (in something called C collaboration). Out of the newest culture of all comes Inside Jazz Down Under, with Graeme Bell and his jazz band, and the style is pure...
Meanwhile, some of Sessions' early compositions, e.g., the "modernist symphony" and The Black Maskers (1923), have already passed from the realm of the fiendishly difficult to the comparatively easy, and seven of his works, including Symphony No. 2, are on LPs. He would not mind if the process continued. "Of course I would like my music to be liked by a great many people," he says. "It just doesn't work out that...
...emphasis on suave clarinet murmurings, massed brasses in swing-band style and ingratiating melodies. The disk is Vol. I of Decca's New Directions in Music and Sound. Debussy: Pelleas and Mélisande (Janine Micheau, Camille Maurane; chorus and Lamoureux Orchestra conducted by Jean Fournet; Epic, 3 LPs). Maurice Maeterlinck's dewy drama of innocent love and death made luminous by Debussy's timeless score. The performance is excellent, and the recording has a presence that lends impact to the vaporous score. Prokofiev: Semyon Kotko Suite (Radio Berlin Symphony conducted by Rolf Kleinert; Urania). Eight orchestral...
Rossini: L'ltaliana in Algeri (Giulletta Simionato, Cesare Valletti; La Scala Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini; Angel, 2 LPs). A gay, foolish romp through romantic North Africa, featuring a harem, a love-bored bey and a high-spirited Italian girl. Hardly an ounce of musical passion, but plenty of pretty coloratura parts and some elegant singing by the principals...