Word: lps
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PUCCINI: LA BOHÈME (2 LPs; Seraphim). The recording dates from 1956, a wonderful year to catch Soprano Victoria de los Angeles as the purest of Mimis, Tenor Jussi Bjoerling as the most poetic of Rodolfos, and Conductor Sir Thomas Beecham as an expressive Puccinist. The album was produced by the European firm EMI and originally sold by RCA Victor in the U.S. When EMI severed ties with Victor, the album was dropped from Victor's catalogue, only to be resurrected now with its new trademark of little seraphim wings. Mono only...
WAGNER: LOHENGRIN (5 LPs; RCA Victor). An ambitious production by Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony that is only partially successful. Leinsdorf manages crowd scenes like a musical DeMille, so that sequences like the gathering of the clans in the second act are wonderfully exciting. In the title role, Sandor Konya conveys a gentle, human Lohengrin, and William Dooley makes a rich-voiced, menacing Telramund. But the female roles-usually easier to fill-are not nearly so satisfying. Rita Gorr is cruelly miscast as Ortrud, and Lucine Amara's voice is not big enough for the crucial role...
BEETHOVEN: FIDELIO (2 LPs; Nonesuch). A less grandiose effort at another demanding opera is on the whole more satisfying. Beethoven's only opera draws much of its beauty from a succession of duets, trios and quartets; and all hands, under the direction of Carl Bamberger with Hamburg's Norddeutscher Rundfunk Orchestra, are nimble, experienced ensemble singers. As Leonore, Gladys Kuchta reaches everything but the heights of Abscheulicher!; Julius Patzak, who had been singing for 35 years when this record was made, still sounds fresh and sturdy as Florestan; the best performance on the record is Melita Muszely...
...LPs...
...GROSSE HAMBURGER HAFENKONZERT (Polydor). Three LPs of harbor concerts from the port of Hamburg complete with gulls, ships' horns, and a seaworthy selection of North German songs...