Monteverdi: ”Vespers of the Blessed Virgin” (1610) (Sarah Beatty, Karen Brunssen, Cynthia Anderson, Kurt R. Hansen, Jan Jarvis, Darrell Rowader, Willard Thomen, Richard Cohn, Jeffrey Horvath and William F. Walker, vocal soloists; St. Luke`s Choir of Men and Boys, Music of the Baroque Chorus and Orchestra, Thomas Wikman, conductor; Music of the Baroque, 2 CDs).
Conductor Thomas Wikman owns the Chicago patent on Monteverdi`s glorious sacred masterpiece, ”Vespro della beata Vergine,” having given the city`s first complete performances in 1976 with his Music of the Baroque, repeating that achievement in 1979 and 1983. It is from this final sequence of performances that the present release is drawn-specifically, a concert performance in Techny`s Divine Word Chapel on May 4, 1983. It marks the group`s first appearance on compact disc, and a most impressive achievement it is.
The ”Vespers” represent an elaborate summa of ancient musical practice that also points forward to the virtuoso vocal and instrumental writing of the Baroque. Wikman makes no apologies for the modern stylistic stance of his reading. While recent recordings of the Vespers have employed scaled-down ensembles of original instruments (often used one per part) and small choruses of men and boys, Wikman uses a 35-voice mixed chorus augmented by a smaller choir for the antiphons and chants, with a modern-instruments orchestra of comparable size and weight.
This is very much a ”choral” approach, with instruments used to support the vocal texture and prominence given the nonliturgical concerti (or motets) that are inserted among the Marian psalms, hymn and Magnificat.
All this Wikman puts together with his usual combination of sound scholarship, impeccable taste and red-blooded dramatic instincts. Everyone performs with great commitment and fervor: One might single out for special praise the chorus tenors in the murderously high tessitura of the Magnificat. The CD box includes notes (in tiny type) plus separate cues for each musical section, 40 in all. Playing time is 59:05 for the first CD, but only 38:02 for the second; a pity that some extra Monteverdi could not have been found to round out the set.
The two-CD set is priced at $29.98 (there is a $2.50 shipping and handling charge) and is available directly from Music of the Baroque, 343 S. Dearborn St., Suite 1716, Chicago 60604; phone 461-9541. The cassette version is $19.98. The release is not available on LP. (Reviewed on CD.) SOURCE: John Von Rhein.
LEVANT PLAYS GERSHWIN (OSCAR LEVANT, PIANO; CBS).
There never has been a shortage of fine Gershwin pianists, but Levant, who was one of Gershwin`s closest friends, remains unrivaled. Even Gershwin`s own recordings, which show the composer`s unusually facile technique, don`t match Levant`s for drive, energy and brilliance of tone. This reissue, on CD and LP, offers several definitive performances. Gershwin`s Concerto in F was Levant`s signature piece (he played it in the movie ”An American in Paris,”) and his recording with the New York Philharmonic led by Andre Kostelanetz is audacious in tempo and commanding in technique. Levant`s account of ”Rhapsody in Blue,” with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, strips away the standard cliches; in the Second Rhapsody (with Morton Gould conducting his orchestra), Levant turns sweet lyric phrases; and his reading of the three Preludes for Piano is impeccable. One reservation: These performances have been digitally remastered, and they lack some of the snarl and bite of Levant`s piano playing, as captured in the original analog recordings. Nevertheless, this is Gershwin interpretation at its best. The CD version sounds far more clear, clean and vibrant than the LP. SOURCE: Howard Reich.
BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 7 (VIENNA PHILHARMONIC, CARLO MARIA GIULINI, CONDUCTOR; DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON, 67:52).
Giulini`s recorded performances lack the ultimate degree of rapture, and so it is here with the fourth Bruckner symphony to enter his repertory. Still, the recording preserves more magic than his version of the Eighth, and the sound is not as hard. Tempi are measured but reasonable, except in the third movement, where intensity cannot compensate for a loss of animal vitality. The single other shortcoming occurs in the finale, which sounds marginally more fragmented, owing to an absence of the electricity generated whenever Giulini works before a live audience. Without a clear first choice in modern sound, one would do well to investigate the live 1949 performance by Hans
Knappertsbusch (Music & Arts). (Reviewed on CD.) SOURCE: Alan G. Artner.
BEETHOVEN: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4, 32 VARIATIONS ON AN ORIGINAL THEME IN C MINOR (CLAUDIO ARRAU, STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN, COLIN
DAVIS CONDUCTING; PHILIPS, 49:11).
Short measure for a compact disc, but no admirer of Arrau`s pianism is likely to complain. Although the Concerto, which was recorded in 1984, when Arrau was 81, does not receive a note-perfect performance, the melancholic nobility of his conception (in which Davis and the Staatskapelle Dresden are full participants) makes this an overwhelming musical experience. Listen, for example, to the immense dramatic tension with which Arrau invests the arpeggios of the Andante con moto second movement, as though the pianist were pleading for the release that the final movement will bring. Arrau`s approach, in which each phrase seems to be meditated upon as well as played, will not please all tastes, but its power cannot be denied. (Reviewed on CD.) SOURCE: Larry Kart.
PRESENTING MICHAEL WEISS, (MICHAEL WEISS QUINTET, CRISS CROSS).
Bebop lives in the hands of pianist Michael Weiss, even though neither he nor the rest of his young quintet were present during the heyday of Bud Powell and Charlie Parker. Weiss` trumpeter, Tom Fitzpatrick, owes a considerable debt to the late Kenny Dorham, and tenor saxophonist Ralph LaLama recalls Dexter Gordon. But those influences have been fully assimilated, while the leader (currently a sideman with Johnny Griffin) has blended Powell, Al Haig and Horace Silver and come up with a delicate, personal style. (Reviewed on LP.)
SOURCE: Larry Kart.
HALFWAY TO SANITY (THE RAMONES, SIRE RECORDS).
During the punk/New Wave era of the late `70s, the Ramones rode to relative prominence on their blitzkrieg-assault style of playing and lyrics that were both utterly mindless and a lot of fun. A decade or so later, they are still playing mile-a-minute punkish numbers-four of them-on this LP. But there are also eight songs with a less-frenetic style that borrows from both hard-rock and New Wave genres, and there is even a car song. While some of the lyrics exhibit the brainless bent of yore (a chorus of ”Weasel face/weasel face/weasel face”), others achieve a semblance of literacy. None of the material, however, matches the sense of exuberant spirits found on earlier Ramones recordings. There`s a definite going-by-rote feeling permeating the album, almost as though the band was marking time while trying to figure out just how it fits into a pop scene where punk/New Wave has long since been supplanted as the dominant sound.
SOURCE: Tom Popson.
LIVE, LOVE, LARF & LOAF (FRENCH FRITH KAISER THOMPSON, RHINO RECORDS).
Two diehard rock experimentalists (Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser), a former Captain Beefheart drummer (John French) and an ex-Fairport Convention member and cult hero (Richard Thompson) team up for a lively, lovable, funny, but never lazy, new album. Thompson, true to form, contributes some brooding English folk-rock numbers that easily rank with the best of his work. The avant/global musical influences and spectacular playing that have
characterized the past efforts of all these musicians are here in abundance. Add oddities such as the ”goon squad” version of ”Surfin` U.S.A.” or a bouncy traditional Okinawan melody, and you`ve got one of the most charmingly eccentric and satisfying records any of this quartet has ever produced.
(Reviewed on LP). SOURCE: Chris Heim.
A MAN CALLED HOSS (WAYLON JENNINGS, MCA).
One of the year`s more unusual concept LPs, this one is a musical attempt to sketch the eventful life of Jennings, one of country music`s most legendary stars. After a prologue that quietly and briefly explains what each song is about, the album opens dramatically with ”Littlefield,” a musical profile of Jennings` Texas hometown. The record runs chronologically to the present, using country-blues, country-rock, western swing and other forms to commemorate Jennings` obsessions with Texas, women, country music, rowdyism, drugs, Jessi Colter (his wife of nearly 20 years), the imperfect past and the uncertain future. All the songs were written by Jennings and Nashville songwriter Roger Murrah; while some are more impressive than others, most display Jennings` old cutting-edge vocal style.
SOURCE: Jack Hurst.
