Word: lps
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...anyone that his music was way ahead of its day. "My time will come," he said. And now it has. Today the record companies lavish the kind of attention on him that they used to reserve for Beethoven and Brahms. Some choice items from a recent batch of LPs...
BILLY BUDD (London: 3 LPs). Benjamin Britten's music is filled with a mystic intensity that illuminates rather than beclouds the libretto, which was beautifully crafted by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier from Melville's tale of an innocent's execution. The album has been meticulously produced with a cast that includes Peter Glossop as Billy and Peter Pears as Captain Vere: Britten himself conducts...
LUCIA Dl LAMMERMOOR (Seraphim: 2 LPs). Recognition first came to Maria Callas for her voice, and her voice alone. This reissue of a recording made at the 1953 Florence Festival documents the origin of her reputation as one of the finest dramatic sopranos in opera history. Her voice then had an almost unbelievable poignancy and precision, reinforced by an intelligence that makes most other singers' version of the mad scene seem like inane twittering. Tenor Giuseppi Di Stefano, Baritone Tito Gobbi and Conductor Tullio Serafin provide rousingly good support...
MEDEA (London: 3 LPs). Despite its powerful theme-the myth of the murdering mother-this 'opera has been infrequently performed since its composition 171 years ago. One reason is Cherubini's static, pedantic score. Another is the sadistic vocal demands of Medea, the lead role. In this album Gwyneth Jones lamentably fails to match her magnificent voice to the emotional exigencies of Medea, and Lamberto Gardelli's conducting is scandalously lethargic. The Callas version of Medea, released by Mercury in 1958, is an infinitely better listener's choice...
...underground early this year, soon captivated a following in Britain that combines the commercial weight of a mass audience with the intensity of an avant-garde cult. "I feel like I'm in a cathedral," said one awed fan at a performance. The last two of their four LPs have been top-ten bestsellers, and their concert tours sell out from London to Liverpool...