Word: lps
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Less rare than any of these items, but never before recorded in full, is Das Rheingold, Wagner's thunder-throated masterpiece, presented by London (3 LPs, mono and stereo) in a superb performance. Conductor Georg Solti leads the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with anvil-stroking power; Kirsten Flagstad sings with serene beauty; and George London's Wotan towers with granitic strength. The majestically rolling accompaniment of the gods' procession to Valhalla is sure to lift almost any listener out of his seat...
Capriccio had its premiere in the war-scarred Munich of 1942 and has only rarely been seen outside since. Now in a complete recording (Angel, 3 LPs) for the first time, it proves to be one of Strauss's most fascinating works. Too static for the stage, it is studded with passages of surpassing orchestral and vocal beauty: the sweetly melancholy string sextet that serves as an overture; the delicately interlaced trio in which Musician, Poet and Countess comment on the Poet's sonnet; the Countess' hushed mirror monologue at the close, with its spun-silver vocal...
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (Victoria de los Angeles, Tito Gobbi. Giuseppe Cam-pora, Boris Christoff; Rome Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Gabriele Santini; Capitol-EMI, 3 LPs). Verdi constructed his stately, somber-hued monument to paternal love and loyalty midway in his career, saw it fail at the box office and later agreed with the public that it was a "monotonous and cold'' work. Nevertheless, he returned to it after 25 years and extensively revised it. Not often performed, the revised Boccanegra is a fascinating melange of early Verdian flamboyance and late Verdian depth. In this...
Puccini: Madame Butterfly (Anna Moffo, Cesare Valletti, Rosalind Elias, Renato Cesari. Fernando Corena; Rome Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf; RCA Victor, 3 LPs). A young cast attempts to filter the turgid dramatic tars so often found in Puccini's graceful "thread of smoke." as he called it. The result is a bright and bracing version, full of rarely realized charms. Soprano Moffo's Cio-Cio-San is vocally arresting, more woman than Japanese doll...
Haydn: The Salomon Symphonies, Vol. I (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham; Capitol-EMI, 3 LPs). The first six of the twelve famous symphonies Haydn wrote under the sponsorship of London Impresario J. P. Salomon in the late years of his life. Conductor Beecham gives them a fine, forthright reading that underscores their coltish exuberance, plays down their romantic charms...