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CLASSICAL Record Reviews

orchestration in many placcs. Whilc nor-mally I deplore such practices. I fecl that Manfredis improvcd by Toscanini's edit-ing.

A Briiish collcague. reviewing sev-cral recordings of Strauss‘s AIso sprach Zarathustra. w rotę that Bernard Hai-tink alone gave the impression of ac-tually having read Nietz.sche*s book. So it appears with regard to Bvron's poem: Haitink delivers a broad. impassioned reading. uncut and unamended. which captures perfectly the brooding atmo-sphere of the opening and similar pages. He is tenderlv sensitive in the manv

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muted string passages and handles the delicately Mendelssohnian (and Ber-liozian) scherzo most deftlv. Haitink is pcrhaps too eivilized to extract the last ounce of demonie fury from the baccha-nalc (not in Byron, by the way). but it is still verv exciting. He brings to the entire score the hitherto unheard elements of dignity and nobility. which ncver lapse into dullness or pomposity. The Con-certgcbouw Orchestra plays superbly. aided by a magnificently vivid. wide-ranging recording: the bass-drum thwacks will set vour shelves and furni-turę rattling. If after hearing this version you still don't like Manfred, you prob-

ablv never will. Unfortunatelv. the sur-

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faces arc not entirely sileni; et ta. Philips?

Michael Tilson Thomas conducts a conscientious and musical performance, compiele and unretouchcd. yet one that sounds tamę and halfhearted at limes. He convevs admirablv the excitement of

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the finale’s orgy. but elsewhere the melodie lines often lack tension when played by the strings. and the mercurial scherzo would benefit from a lighter to uch.

Ashkenazy also plays the score as written. Of all recent versions. his and Haitink’s come closcst to Toscanini in conveying the overall sweep and passion of the score. as well as its de!icacv. and

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they arc my first choices among modern recordings. I would not want to be with-out either. The New Philharmonia and Concertgebouw play with grealer com-mitment than the London Symphony and are also better recorded. both Philips and Decca/London providinga morę integrated orchestral sound than CBS. where the strings seem a trifle under-nourished.    j.c.

TP.LF.MANN: Instrumental Works—Sec page 62.

WAGNER: Das Rheingold.

casi :

Preia    Marita Napier(s)

Woglinde    Lucia Popp(s)

Wellgunde    UtaPriew(s)

Fricka    Yvonne Minton(nis)

F.rda    Orlrun Wenkel (a)

Flosshilde    Hanna Schwarz (a)

Froh    F.hcrhard Buchner(t)

Loge    Peter Schrcier(t)

Mime    Christian Vogel (t)

Alberich    Siegmund Nimsgern (b)

Donner    Karl-Hcinz Stryczek (b)

Wolan    Theo Adam (bs-b)

Fasoli    Roland Brachi(bs)

Fafner    Maili Salminen (bs)

Dresden Stale Orchestra. Marek Janowski. cond. [Helmut Hanusch and Oskar Waldeck. prod.) Pi rooisc 301 137. S35.94 (digitul recording; three dises. manuał se-quence). Tape: 501 137. $35.94 (three cas-settes). (Distributed bv Tioch Productions. Inc.. 65 W. 55th St.. Suitę 9F.. New York. N.Y. 10019.)

F.urodisCs new Rheingold from Dresden. harbinger of a complete cycle recorded digilally. has but iwo names in common w-ith the previous recorded Rings: Theo Adam. whose Wotan figured so prominently in the 1966-67 Bohm/Bayreuth cycle (Philips, now' out of print). and Lucia Popp. w ho sang the top Rhinemaiden in Solii's Gótterddm-merung (lhough not in his Rheingold). Otherwise. we havc a new generation of singers. quite distinct from the Wagne-rians of the '50s and ’60s who in various configurations populated the Furtwang-ler. Solti, Bohm. and Karajan sets. And although the łasi of those. recorded in the lale 1960s. represented a conscious efTort at casting from a “new generation.” it’s particularly striking that nonę of its singers are to be found in the Pu-rodisc set. or among the principals of the fortheoming Boulez/Bayreuth cycle on Philips.

Morę than any other Ring opera. Rheingold is an ensemble work. Although Wolan. Alberich. and Loge are the most extensive roles. ncarly everv-body. at some point or other. bears a considerable load of structural and dra-matic import. The Rhinemaidens. indi-viduallv and in trio. have to establish a crcdible balance to Alberich. as do the two giants to Wolan and his colleagues. Mime has an cxtended narrative about the plight of the Nibelungs: if he does not hołd our attention. the bonom mav

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drop out of Scene 3. Prda*s brief inter-

vention is a dramatic crux. not onłv for

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this prologue. but for the entire cycle: to register as such. it must be sung with enormous authoritv of tonę and dec-lamation. Donner and his weather fac-tory. Froh and his rainbow bridge are both part of brilliantly conceived orchestral textures. which- at the least—thev must not spoił. On Fricka and Freia. therc is less structural emphasis. but they. too. havc important lines.

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