Word: lps
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Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies (Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan conductor, Deutsche Grammophon; 8 LPs). His third recording of the Beethoven symphonies reaffirms the impression that Karajan, 69, is a man surcharged with new energy, and ever more confident of his powers. As one would expect from this conductor, there is no arbitrary tampering with tempos, or other excesses marching under the banner of personal insight. Karajan accepts the boundary lines and then plays the game for all he is worth. His Eroica, for example, is a shade faster than before, his Fourth broader, darker, more ruminative. But what really sets...
Puccini: Tosca (Soprano Montserrat Caballé, Tenor José Carreras, Baritone Ingvar Wixell, orchestra and chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis conductor, Philips; 2 LPs). This interpretation of Tosca is nothing if not eccentric. Davis' reading of the florid score is rich and clear but systematically undramatic. As the idealistic painter Cavaradossi, Carreras gives a properly ardent performance, but it seems lost on this particular Tosca. The elegant Caballé can no more be made into the hot-blooded actress than the eyes of Cavaradossi's Mary Magdalen can be changed from blue...
Albeniz: Iberia (complete); Navarra. (Michel Block pianist, Connoisseur Society; 2 LPs.) Enrique Fernandez Arbos' glittering orchestrations helped make El Puerto, Triana and the ten other pieces in Iberia popular throughout the world. But, as Alicia de Larrocha has proved over the years in three recordings of the suite, the piano originals are as atmospherically Spanish as one could wish and, in the end, preferable. Here is a recording by the French American Michel Block that not only challenges De Larrocha's supremacy, but topples it. Block's playing has an earthy swagger and poetic sweep that...
...Phil Woods Six (RCA, 2 LPs...
Chick Corea: My Spanish Heart (Polydor, 2 LPs). Armando Anthony ("Chick") Corea ranks among the most adventurous and dexterous jazz pianist-composers. Since parting with Miles Davis in 1970, Corea has built an ever-increasing following, largely through the rock-oriented stylings of his group, Return to Forever. Here, Corea steps adroitly through an assortment of Spanish dance rhythms and folk tunes (with some Latin and African thrown in) and produces a tour de force that the pop-music lover should enjoy as much as the jazz buff...