Classic and Choice for Christmas

By William Bender

Wagner, Die Meistersinger: Baritone Norman Bailey, Tenor Rene Kollo, Soprano Hannelore Bode; Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna State Opera Chorus, Sir Georg Solti conducting (5 LPs, London). Baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Tenor Placido Domingo, Soprano Catarina Ligendza; Chorus and Orchestra of the German Opera, Berlin, Eugen Jochum conducting (5 LPs, Deutsche Grammophon). Here are two performances--one extraordinary, one merely excellent--of an operatic marvel that over the years has proved difficult to commit to disc. The Solti is the more spacious and relaxed of the two; because of London's typically distant engineering, it also has a more homogenized sound. The Jochum is recorded very close up, too much so at one or two points, but the compensation is the thorough delineation of Wagner's ingenious contrapuntal writing. What gives Solti the edge is the way his sweeping overall view of the work is laced with the tenderest of vocal and instrumental touches. He also has the better Sachs. As fine an artist as is Fischer-Dieskau, he cannot match the residue of obvious stage experience that Britain's Norman Bailey brings to his wise, warm and passionate cobbler.

Schubert, Symphony No. 9 in C; Debussy, Iberia and La Mer; Berlioz, Queen Mab Scherzo; Respighi, Feste Romane; Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night's Dream; Strauss, Death and Transfiguration; Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique): The Philadelphia Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini conducting (5 LPs, RCA). When Toscanini made these recordings in 1941-42 with the orchestra Leopold Stokowski had built, it was astonishing, then as now, to note how readily the musicians yielded their lush sound and fat phrasing to the brilliant, transparent, sharply contoured style that Toscanini favored. The resulting interpretations are still splendid to hear--spacious, virtuosic, imbued with an exceptional inner calm.

How is it then that of these recordings only the Schubert has ever been released before? Originally the entire project was considered a total loss. According to Producer John Pfeiffer, the masters were damaged because some zealot scrubbed the original metal molds with a wire brush. His apparent purpose was to eliminate discoloration in the metal. What he accomplished was the scarring of the record grooves. For this release, the original recordings were converted to tape, then edited (snipping out offensive clicks and pops took hundreds of hours). Though some of the old surface noise is still to be heard, it is tolerable, and the release must rank as a minor miracle of sound restoration.

Handel, Messiah: Soprano Elly Ameling, Contralto Anna Reynolds, Tenor Philip Langridge, Bass Gwynne Howell; Academy and Chorus of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner conducting (3 LPs, Argo). This is a masterly lesson in the art of making a familiar classic sound fresh and spontaneous. Marriner's authentically baroque phrasings, rhythms and instrumentations have much to do with that. So does his seemingly effortless ability simply to make music sing.

Concert of the Century: (2 LPs, Columbia). Some may regard the title of this album as a trifle boastful. On the other hand, when you have Vladimir Horowitz partnering Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau eloquently in Schumann's Dichterliebe, why not flaunt it! The album is a live recording of the benefit concert in New York's Carnegie Hall last May that raised $1 million for the 85-year-old hall's endowment fund. Bach, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Handel can also be heard, and the other solo participants include Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Bernstein and Yehudi Menuhin.

Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor: Berlin Philharmonic, Wilhelm Furtwaengler conducting (Deutsche Grammophon). Few of Furtwaengler's recordings capture as well as this one the overwhelming mixture of dreaminess and intensity he could often bring to the music of Brahms. Never before released, it was made at a live performance in Berlin in 1952 and should be greeted warmly by devotees of the conductor's work, as well as those who see Brahms as a free spirit.

Music of the Gothic Era: The Early Music Consort of London, David Munrow conducting (3 LPs, Archiv). For the early music buff who has everything, or thinks he does, this is a fascinating look and listen at how medieval music developed in France from plain song into the elaborate contrapuntal motet. The intricate plaints of the 14th century's Machaut, no less than the spare organum duplum (two-part chant) of the 12th century's Leonin, take listening to get used to but reward the effort. The late David Munrow brings the music to life with both scrupulous scholarship and interpretive imagination.

Haydn, Piano Music, Vol. 2 Sonatas Hob. XVI, Nos. 19, 37 and 44; Variations in F minor: Gilbert Kalish pianist (Nonesuch). Though generally less well known than his symphonies and string quartets, Haydn's works for solo piano include some of his noblest music. The Variations, for example, is one of the finest products of his later years--tenderly melodic, colorful, dramatically powerful. Kalish's playing is firm, eloquent and exciting.

Beethoven, The Nine Symphonies: London Philharmonic, Bernard Haitink conducting (7 LPs, Philips). As sorted orchestras, Rafael Kubelik conducting (8 LPs, Deutsche Grammophon). Given the expense of recording a set like this, not to mention the existing competition by everybody from Toscanini and Walter to Solti and Karajan, a special gimmick is almost de rigueur these days. Kubelik's is that each symphony is recorded with a different orchestra--the Eroica with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Fifth with the Boston and Ninth with his own Bavarian Radio Symphony. Whether these trips on Kubelik's part were really necessary, the performances are astonishingly good, a blend of exuberance and continence. Haitink's gimmick, or anti-gimmick, is an apotheosized kind of objectivity that produces lean, swift, immensely satisfying performances.

Aside from a curious rushing of the opening motifs of the Fifth, these interpretations are nigh perfect. Though the old Toscanini set remains the best word on the subject, no one will go wrong with either of these sets.

Elgar, Enigma Variations, Op. 36; Schoenberg, Variations, Op. 31: The Chicago Symphony, Sir Georg Solti conducting (London). Solti's reading of the Elgar classic is wonderful to have. But it is the Schoenberg that really distinguishes the album. This twelve-tone orchestral venture is formidable stuff, and not many conductors today can unravel its rhythmic and harmonic complexities. That Solti can turn the trick helps explain why he is as respected by the composing fraternity as he is by the public. How refreshing for once to hear a virtuoso orchestra dig into this music, how welcome the result!

Gershwin Plays Gershwin: (RCA Victrola). No part of the current Gershwin vogue -- long may it last--is as gratifying as the reissue of these long-out-of-print recordings featuring George himself at the keyboard. Here is the Rhapsody in Blue he made with Paul Whiteman shortly after the 1924 premiere. What vitality and happiness he brought to his piano playing! It can also be heard in his interpretations of his Three Preludes and eight songs from Oh, Kay! and Tip-Toes. As Gershwin him self once put it, " 'S wonderful."

Luciano Pavarotti, O Holy Night:

National Philharmonic, Kurt Herbert Adler conducting (London). As a tree-trimming alternative to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Bing Crosby's White Christmas, try this collection of carols and other sacred works by one of the world's great tenors. The album also affords the rare chance to hear Pavarotti's exquisite styling of the haunting solo tenor music from the Sanctus of Berlioz's Requiem.

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