WEST SIDE GLORY Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story. Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano; Jose Carreras, tenor; Tatiana Troyanos, mezzosoprano; Kurt Ollmann, tenor; Marilyn Home, mezzo-soprano; Leonard Bernstein conducting. On the Waterfront. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein conducting. Deutsche Grammophon DG 415 2532, two -disc set.
Leonard Bernstein's new recording of West Side Story sizzles and pops with all the extroverted energy that characterizes Broadway musicals. The unusual twist is his use of operatic voices. But why not? After all, this is one of the greatest of all American operas, masquerading as musical theater. Or is it the other way around? Jose Carreras and Kiri Te Kanawa make an outstanding Tony and Maria, projecting the qualities of youthful innocence convincingly. Carreras gives Tony's first song, "Something's Coming," an aching, searching quality that captures a teenager's outlook on life.
His treatment of "Maria" is both tender and strongly affirmative.
The balcony scene is especially moving. Carreras and Te Kanawa respond to each other musically and dramatically so well you forget the performance and are absorbed by the story and the music.
In "I Feel Pretty," Bernstein's tempo is slower than is customary in stage presentations. Originally, he conceived it as a lyrical, elegant song, rather than the excited, up -tempo version used in the theater. After ending the first act with two dead bodies on stage, directors want something bright and cheerful to open Act Two. But for a recording, the original conception is perfect.
Kiri Te Kanawa sings it with the peaceful contentment of a young princess aglow with the joy of new-found love.
The girls mock her "delusion" with gentle teasing rather than the sarcasm created by a faster tempo. It works beautifully.
Kurt Ollmann is not well known to American audiences, but his portrayal of Riff should help to correct that. Listen to his macho, streetwise singing in the "Jet Song" and "Cool" and his unmistakably powerful, confident leadership of the Jets in the "Tonight" ensemble.
Anyone who has been through music school will recognize all the academic devices Bernstein cleverly turned into highly expressive musical ideas. Throughout the score, the forbidden melodic interval of the tritone (augmented fourth) is important.
Known as the "devil's leap" because it is difficult to sing, it becomes the germinal motive of Tony's big solo, "Maria." The Jets' street signal motive is a tritone leap, too. The device also figures prominently in the harmonic structures, and is responsible for those ghostly chords at the end of the second act.
Rhythms are another challenge for the singers. Riff's "Jet Song" has passages where the melody is slightly off the beat for an entire phrase at a time-not easy to perform. In " America" the medieval rhythmic device called hemiola becomes, strangely, a jazz reference. You can hear it on the word America. The previous bar has the normal grouping (for 6/8 meter) of two beats with three subdivisions ( 1-2-3, 1-2-3). But the second bar is the surprise: Three beats, each with two subdivisions (1-2, 1-2, 1-2). Every time the word America occurs, so does this unexpected syncopation, slashing across the beat.
Just before the rumble scene, the ensemble piece based on "Tonight" features five -part counterpoint. Every character has different expectations about the evening's events, so each one sings about them with different melodies, all intertwined. It's an extraordinary passage musically, but it also succeeds in making an important dramatic point in exactly the right way.
The two comic songs, " America" and "Gee, Officer Krupke," are absolute gems. To hear Kurt Ollmann doing the voice of the social worker in falsetto is hilarious.
The Missing Linc: Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues Sheffield Lab CD -S10.
Missing Linc, Vol. 2, Sheffield's second direct -to -disc recording, was largely responsible for establishing the company as a major factor in high quality sound reproduction.
Now we have the CD recording, which was derived from the analog reference tape that was made simultaneously with the direct disc. Listening to it now, it is easy to perceive why its musical and sonic values caused such a stir. Tape hiss reminds you of its analog origin but it is not at all obtrusive, and the many high-level passages mask it completely.
I compared my original Missing Linc direct -to -disc recording with this CD. I'm bound to say that while the CD's sound is quite clean, the LP sounded
Near the end, the duet between Anita and Maria ("A Boy Like That" and "I Have a Love") is one of the most intense moments of the Broadway stage. By combining the two songs contrapuntally, Bernstein expresses the dramatic conflict between Anita and Maria with soul -shattering power.
Tatiana Troyanos (Anita) sings with bitter, vitriolic feelings against Te Kanawa's gently innocent pleading.
When they reconcile their feelings at the end, I feel my eyes watering.
John McClure, a long-time friend and associate of Bernstein, produced this recording. It is multi-miked and multi -tracked, and is an outstanding example of how good that production style can be. This recording is so clear and detailed that you don't need to follow the score-everything in it is audible. (In the BBC documentary on the sessions, shown here on PBS, you can see Bernstein actively participating in the mix-downs.) By turns passionate. introspective, lyrical and energetic, this recording of West Side Story bubbles over with a great deal of good, old-fashioned American energy.
A bonus for CD listeners is the inclusion of Bernstein's symphonic suite from On the Waterfront performed by the Israel Philharmonic. It's a powerful, imaginative score from an outstanding film. Steve Birchall cleaner still, in spite of its wear, with better transient response, more (and better defined) bass, and a more extended high -frequency response.
Nonetheless, for those who can't afford the $450(!) being asked for a mint condition, unused Missing Linc direct disc, the CD will serve quite well to explain its landmark significance.
Bert Whyte Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms; Poulenc: Gloria. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Robert Shaw; Sylvia McNair, soprano. Telarc CD -80105.
Serene and glowing, this new recording of Stravinsky's "Symphony of Psalms" is an excellent addition to the CD repertoire. Coupled with it is Poulenc's "Gloria." Both works are Robert Shaw specialties, and these new performances admirably reflect his long association with them. For instance, in the "Symphony of Psalms" the intricately woven lines of the second movement's double fugue have a clarity and definition I have never heard in a recording before. The room quality is reverberant without covering up the detail.
If you have the impression that the highs are missing, remember that Stravinsky omitted violins, violas, and clarinets from the orchestra. He wanted a less bright sound for this work. The beginning sounds especially dull because Stravinsky wanted to plant that sonic character in the listener's mind.
Robert Shaw reveals the rhythmic momentum of the "Symphony of Psalms" in just the right ways. Choral accents and slight spaces between notes help to give the music an almost danceable lift and forward motion. In the last movement, these accents give the effect of large tolling bells overlapping each other.
Shaw's chorus sings the words laudate and alleluia in the last movement with beautiful control, creating the peaceful, tranquil effect Stravinsky wanted. Every nuance of tone quality and phrasing seems exactly right. The movement opens with a crescendo/diminuendo effect, accomplished mainly through Stravinsky's calculated orchestration, but also by the Atlanta Symphony's good playing. The chorus answers it with a perfectly controlled dynamic swell, a sudden drop in volume, and a final tapering -off (on the word alleluia). Near the end, Stravinsky's glowing choral/orchestral chords, with their widely spaced intervals, are balanced to perfection.
The Poulenc "Gloria" receives a lively, playful performance. Shaw and the Atlantans obviously enjoy this work and their enthusiasm makes the performance memorable. Soprano Sylvia McNair sings with elegance and clear, ringing tones.
The "Gloria" benefits from a more successful recording than the "Symphony of Psalms." The pickup seems to be a little closer, and more like other Telarc recordings with the Atlanta Symphony. The sound quality in the Stravinsky is a bit unsettling in isolated places, possibly because of a mike placement that didn't quite work.
Everything sounds fine until the level goes up; then the chorus begins to sound harsh. Also, the chorus covers up certain instruments in the tuttis just enough to confuse the ear into perceiving the combined sound as distortion.
Perhaps strong and slightly out -of phase reflections from the room boundaries interfered with the direct sound at the mikes, causing this distortion. But even if Telarc didn't quite hit the mark, the sound is still good, and the performances are beautiful.
Steve Birchall Tunnel is utterly clean, with sound that is highly defined and transients that are razor sharp.
Flim & The BB's Tunnel: Flim & The BB's Digital Music Products CD -447. (Available from Digital Music Products, Rockefeller Center Station, P.O. Box 2317, New York, N.Y. 10185.
This CD is another stunning example of recording engineer Tom Jung's digital wizardry.
Tom worked with the multi -talented Flim & The BB's on the great Tricycle recording. And way back in his Sound 80 studio days in Minneapolis, Tom made a pioneering digital recording with this same group.
There are 11 original compositions on this CD, ranging from hard, driving rock to expressive, less athletic, elaborately scored pieces. In all of them, Flim & The BB's display great virtuosity, and they create an astonishingly big sound considering that the group consists of just four musicians. The arrangements are complex and brilliant, and the sonorities-produced from synthesizers, saxes, flute, clarinet, piccolo, Fender Rhodes guitar, acoustic piano, and electric bass-plus tympani and an elaborate percussion battery, are of breathtaking realism.
This group has been recording in the digital format for a long time, and they have learned to use the medium in their music making. A case in point is their exploitation of dynamic range, which in this case is extremely wide.
The synthesizers explore subterranean bass and, along with piccolo and high percussion, the stratospheric extremes of high frequencies.
All is utterly clean, clothed in clever and selective reverberation, with a highly defined sound and razor-sharp transients. Even if you have amplifiers and speakers that can handle sound of enormous energy, this recording will tax them to their limits.
Bert Whyte Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E Major. The Staatskapelle Dresden, Herbert Blomstedt. Denon 38C37-7286.
Bruckner's monumental Seventh Symphony is given a quite convincing performance by Herbert Blomstedt conducting the excellent Staatskapelle Dresden.
The recording was made in the spacious acoustics of the Lucaskirche in Dresden, with a pair of overall spaced omni mikes plus a minimum number of discrete sweetener mikes. The sound exhibits a distant perspective but still maintains good detail. First violins are fairly smooth, brass is properly massive and well projected, and percussion is quite clean with good impact.
The fine Staatskapelle Dresden and the splendid acoustics of the Lucaskirche provide a quite compelling musical experience. Blomstedt does not attain the level of inspiration of a von Karajan in this great music, but his performance is more than adequate.
Bert Whyte
Ravel: Orchestral Works. Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Charles Dutoit. London 410 254-2.
All of the Charles Dutoit/Montreal Symphony Orchestra recordings are marvelous, but this CD's rendition of Ravel's wondrously orchestrated "Mother Goose" ballet is a masterpiece-a near miracle.
Every element that contributes to a great recording is here in abundance on the "Mother Goose" (and also on the other Ravel works, which are equally well played and superbly recorded). Dutoit's performance is quite simply the best I have ever heard, and he has his Montreal orchestra playing like a world -class ensemble.
The sound is ravishing. If ever there was a recorded sound to completely document and delineate the advantages of the digital recording process, this is it! Even with an anti -digital bias, no rational, open-minded person with normal hearing acuity could possibly fault this recording.
On a recent trip to London, I was a guest at the Decca Records complex and had the pleasure of meeting John Dunkerley, the engineer who records these superb Montreal performances.
He told me that the St. Eustache Church, the recording locale between Montreal and Quebec City, has a virtually ideal interior balance of stone and wood which gives the sound its wonderfully natural warmth and character.
Make no mistake: Played back on an audio system of the highest quality, this recording imparts a realism to the music that can be bettered only in live performance. This CD is an absolute must! Bert Whyte Serge Prokofiev: Concertos for Violin and Orchestra, No. 1 in D Major and No. 2 in G Minor. The BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky; Itzhak Perlman, violin. EMI CDC 7 47025-2.
From the start, Prokofiev's mordant and angular writing has tended to dominate his brooding lyricism. The "Concerto No. 1 in D Major" was premiered in 1923, and it probably was his first large work in which the lyric strain was dominant. It was composed at the same time as the advanced (and often noisy) "Scythian Suite" and "Chout" ballet. The outer movements are slow, and the wistfulness of the violin writing seems to have been matched only by Walton, in his violin concerto of 1939. The middle movement, a contrasting scherzo, is the ideal tonic.
Perlman is probably the best romantic player among today's younger violinists, and his efforts are perfectly complemented by Rozhdestvensky and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
The violin sound is burnished and the orchestra well balanced.
The second concerto on this disc dates from the mid -'30s and reflects the advancing times. The movements are in the more usual fast -slow -fast plan, with lyricism a lesser ingredient.
A beautiful CD, and highly recommended.
John M. Eargle
Berlioz: Hungarian March; Ravel: Pavanne for a Dead Princess; Dukas: Sorcerer's Apprentice; Saint Saëns: Danse Macabre; Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun; Chabrier: Joyeuse Marche. Academy of St. Martin -in -the -Fields, Neville Marriner. Philips 412 131-2.
Neville Marriner and his splendid Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields have given new life to this potpourri of tired old warhorses. All the selections receive brisk, spirited performances, without any slighting of their lyrical elements.
This is a multi -mike recording that offers a big, clean sound with plenty of power, couched in a fairly spacious acoustic ambience. Recorded a bit close up, it has plenty of detail, and an outsized bass drum has great impact in the highly dynamic climaxes. If you like these works, this fine recording will delight you. Bert Whyte Chopin: The Nocturnes, Volumes 1 and 2. Artur Rubinstein, piano. RCA RCCD 106 and 107, import.
These are legendary performances recorded in the RCA Italiana studios in the mid -'60s. Little needs to be said about Rubinstein's playing, except that he performs these works as well as anybody possibly could.
What does need to be said is that the recording quality is absolutely stunning. During the bulk of the '60s, RCA's classical activities centered on three -channel recording at 30 ips. After a brief bout with Ampex Master Equalization (AME) in the late '50s, RCA's recording department developed their own playback curve for the higher speed, and they beefed up the record stages of their tape recorders.
The results were master recordings of exemplary quality with excellent time base stability and quite low noise. Only when multi -track recording came in did RCA convert to Dolby A. In making the digital transfers, producer Max Wilcox went back to the original half -inch masters and rebalanced them, mixing in a little less of the center channel than in the earlier issues of these recordings. The result is a sense of greater space, with a little more left/right delineation. What is utterly surprising is how quiet everything is; you have to listen at higher than normal levels to hear any tape hiss.
They really had their technical act together back then.
John M. Eargle
Sibelius: Violin Concerto; SaintSaëns: Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. The Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy; Dylana Jenson, violin. RCA RCD14548.
Dylana Jenson, a violin virtuoso, made quite a splash when, at the age of 17, she won the Silver Medal at the 1978 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. She was also acclaimed for her 1980 performance of the Sibelius "Violin Concerto" with Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since then, she has performed widely here and abroad. In spite of this promising launch to her career, she has not made the impact nor gained the prestige of other violin Wunderkinds of the Tchaikovsky Competitions.
More is the pity, for on this CD, documenting her 1980 appearance, it is clear why her performance of the Sibelius "Violin Concerto" was such a triumph. Not only has she a formidable technical armamentarium, but she plays with great expression and lyricism, with a lovely, smooth, sweet tone that is captured perfectly here.
My former RCA colleague, Paul Goodman, knows how to cope with the acoustics of the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Philadelphia. He has struck just the right balance between orchestral detail and the hall reverb. He has Miss Jenson ideally placed just in front of the orchestra, and her violin sound is always completely articulate. The late Eugene Ormandy always had a way with the music of Sibelius, and his accompaniment is entirely sympathetic.
Needless to say, the Philadelphia Orchestra plays with its usual élan.
Smooth, clean sound in general marks this as one of RCA's better CDs.
The Saint-Saëns piece is a pleasant, well-played filler.
Bert Whyte
(adapted from Audio magazine)
Also see:
Compact Discs -- Telarc Treat (July 1983)
London/Polygram ADRM compact discs (ad, May 1986)
Remasters of Living Stereo (Aug. 1993)
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