Music: Classical Records

• Share

Strauss: Die Fledermaus (Hilde Gueden, Erika Köth, Regina Resnik, Giuseppe Zampiere; the Vienna Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan; London, 3 LPs). This otherwise fine recording of the imperishable operetta classic offers a strange side effect. One moment, the listener is tapping his feet to the most tap-pable of old Viennese waltzes; the next, he is caught up in the English rhymes of I Could Have Danced All Night, sung by Birgit Nilsson, of all people, in ponderous and chesty style. In the midst of the second act party scene, the producers have inserted anachronistic "entertainments" sung by some of opera's grandest names—Giulietta Simionato and Ettore Bastianini wander through Anything You Can Do, Leontyne Price sings Summertime from Porgy and Bess. "Gershwin?" quips the introductory dialogue. "But Gershwin isn't even born yet." The gag, unfortunately, dies with the first listening.

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 (London Symphony, under Sir Malcolm Sargent; Everest). A first stereo recording of one of the most ebullient, eccentric and delightful of Shostakovich's works. When the composer's orchestra—raucous, slapdash and happy—moves into battle, the effect is of a regiment under fluttering pennons posting to the attack.

Frank Glazer Plays Musical Autographs (Concert-Disc). The musical calling cards of the great composers as they were inscribed in various souvenir albums. Included are Mozart's Marche Funebre del Signor Maestro Contrapunto (Funeral March of Master Counterpoint), a mock-heroic exercise for his pupil, Babette Ployer; Beethoven's graceful and pensive Bagatelle for Therese Malfatti, the 18-year-old niece of his doctor; Wagner's Ankunft bei den Schwarzen Schwänen (Arrival at the Black Swans), which sounds a little like Tristan und Isolde as written by Frédéric Chopin.

Brahms: Concerto No. 2 (Sviatoslav Richter, piano; the Chicago Symphony under Erich Leinsdorf; RCA Victor). In this first Richter recording made in the U.S., the great Russian pianist gives a performance as taut as a bent bow. At the end of the session, Richter turned to Conductor Leinsdorf and said: "Please explain to the orchestra that I could do no better." Nor could anyone.

Paisiello: The Barber of Seville (Grazielli Sciutti, Nicola Monti, Rolando Panerai, Renato Capecchi; Virtuosi di Roma, conducted by Renato Fasano; Mercury, 2 LPs). "He has received the homage of his age and has assured to himself that of posterity." Thus Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) paid tribute to himself in a contemporary dictionary. Unfortunately for his prediction, a rival named Rossini later wrote his own Barber of Seville and drove the older work from the stage. In this recording, Paisiello's Barber emerges as a smaller-scaled work than Rossini's but with a gay, quicksilvery score, some limpidly graceful airs, and several scenes of truly inspired buffoonery. Soprano Sciutti, fresh-voiced and fanciful, makes Rosina seem one of the most appealing heroines in opera.