Word: lps
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HAYDN: THE CREATION (2 LPs; Decca). One of the last great works of the skeptical 18th century was this triumphant affirmation of Haydn's faith. Translated from the German and sung clearly in English, the oratorio will seem especially vivid to U.S. listeners because the music so closely fits the words. One hears the tawny lion roar, the insects swarm and the tiger leap for the first time on earth. Frederic Waldman conducts the Musica Aeterna Orchestra and Chorus, and Soprano Judith Raskin, as Gabriel, sings brilliantly, at times eclipsing her more earthbound fellow archangels, Tenor John McCollum...
...LPs...
SHAKESPEARE: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (3 LPs; RCA Victor). In Shakespeare's funniest social comedy, everything depends on the speed and sparkle of the witty duels between Beatrice and Benedick, played here by two fast-rising British stars, Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens, whose voices are whirling kaleidoscopes. That young theatrical iconoclast, Franco Zeffirelli (creator of a successful beatnik Hamlet), directed this National Theater of Britain production, which one critic called as lurid and animated as a Superman comic. The performance on the recording is robust but never bumptious...
...ELIOT: THE FAMILY REUNION (3 LPs; Caedmon). Static and awkward to stage with its philosophic asides and Greek choruses, this poetic play is ideal for recording. One of Eliot's last undertakings was to help choose the excellent cast, which perfectly weaves the shadowy modern drama of sin and expiation. Dame Sybil Thorndike is Amy, the steely dowager who has spent 35 years "designing" her son's life. Paul Scofield plays Harry, the restless, half-mad son who bursts asunder the conventional family gathering, and Flora Robson is Agatha, the all-knowing aunt ("When the loop in time...
SCHOENBERG: GURRELIEDER (2 LPs; Deutsche Grammophon). Gurre is a castle where the maiden Tove and the Danish King Waldemar sing of love and death...