Word: sopranoes
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...more conventional--some Tompkins and Morley, sounding boxy and if it needed a chorus one quarter the size of the tour group, some incongrously Western-sounding "Asian" songs, and choruses from La Reine Indigo, by Johann Strauss, Jr. The saving grace of these choruses were some absurdly ornate soprano solos, masterfully executed by Carlotta Wilsen. Like the other successful pieces on the program, the Strauss was impressive primarily for its animation and coherence; when Asian Tour 1967 achieves these qualities more consistently it will be a fine performing group...
STOCKHAUSEN: MOMENTE (Nonesuch). Karlheinz Stockhausen, the loudest noise in German electronic music, temporarily puts aside his tape recorder for something a bit-but just a bit-less far out. This time he turns on Soprano Martina Arroyo, backed by 13 instrumentalists and four choral groups equipped with sticks and boxes. The resulting hour-long piece is wild stuff all right; at times it sounds like a crowd clapping and hissing at a madwoman who jabbers and trills like a bird. The accompanying explanatory notes, formulas and diagrams are most scholarly...
Leonard Bernstein, in a guest appearance with the Vienna Philharmonic (London), gives a turbulent interpretation that shows his affinity for Mahler. But Tenor James King sounds a bit forced, and the second soloist is a baritone instead of the usual, complementary mezzo-soprano. However, that baritone is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and his 30-minute Farewell is a perfect fusion of poetry and song...
Otto Klemperer's version, with the Philharmonia and New Philharmonia orchestras (Angel; 2 LPs), has superb soloists, Mezzo-Soprano Christa Ludwig and Tenor Fritz Wunderlich, whose promise was cut short by his accidental death last summer at 35. The orchestra sounds wonderfully clear and portentous, as though this were the last music to be played on the day of doom. Although Klemperer's playing time is actually shorter than Bernstein's, Angel chose to record the piece on three LP sides, filling the fourth with five Mahler songs...
...Dickinson's crystalline verses, and Copland's music shades from an impressionistic to a literal approach. Macabre chords open the song I Felt a Funeral in My Brain; a fast-rising whir of melody introduces the line "There came a Wind like a Bugle." Sung by Soprano Adele Addison with the composer at the piano...