Ramon Arguello asks me how I'd compare the Flanders/Fielding/Marriner
version of Facade with the Ashcroft/Irons/Chailly.

I don't compare what I've never heard.  But I can say what I admire
about the former.  The instrumental ensemble is spot on, virtuosic
(especially in "Mariner Man"), the attacks are electrifying, and the
textures are clear.  The speakers are not only rhythmically precise, but
dramatically various.  I love the sound of Fielding's voice - she sounds
like she's enjoying really good toffee.  Something I haven't liked much
about the Scofield/Ashcroft performance is that neither one of them are
particularly musical.  Perhaps Ashcroft has gotten better.  The recitation
is as much an instrumental part as a vocal one, and it's precisely there
where most speakers fail, including, I'm afraid, Edith Sitwell herself in
the Prausnitz recording.

There is also a fascinating disc which I haven't heard yet on Hyperion with
Facade absolutely, positively complete - all 44 numbers.  I don't know who
the performers are, but that one fact is enough to put that CD on my wish
list.

Steve Schwartz