>From time to time I review CDs I've bought and post the articles to the
list.  I do this mainly so that I don't merely collect CDs, but really
listen to them.  I am over 100 CDs behind, and it occurs to me that many
of these discs will disappear before I get to them.  Two of my main sources
for cheap CDs are Berkshire Record Outlet (which I never review, because
they're almost by definition out of print if they're sold by this company)
and the BMG club.  I've decided to review them both, but not nearly in
the detail I normally work in.  So indulge me my raves and rants for the
following from BMG.  Numbers at the end of each review indicate the BMG
catalogue number.

Duke.  Dawn Upshaw Sings Vernon Duke.  Upshaw, Hersch (pno), Pizzarelli
(vocals+guitar)/Stern.  Dawn Upshaw is obviously drawn to the classic
American popular song, but at first she really hadn't a handle on the
style or how to communicate the emotion of such gems.  She has, however,
improved.  Duke (born Vladimir Dukelsky in Russia) was a classical composer
of neo-classic leanings.  He actually had a ballet produced by Diaghilev.
The stuff I've heard has not lingered in the memory.  On the other hand,
he is one of the great American songwriters, with "Autumn in New York"
and "April in Paris" just two jewels in a small output of great quality.
Upshaw sings for once as if she actually understands what the lyrics are
about, although she's still a bit stiff with the music.  D128421

Schubert.  String Quartets 8 and 13.  Lindsay String Quartet.  Schubert's
late string quartets are amazing.  Late Beethoven freed up the string
quartet.  Schubert took advantage.  The Lindsays do a decent job.  D126590

Moore.  The Ballad of Baby Doe.  Sills (Baby Doe), Cassel (Horace Tabor),
Bible (Augusta Tabor); New York City Opera Orchestra & Chorus/Emerson
Buckley.  Douglas Moore, who made an enviable career as a composer (he was,
among other things, President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters)
has just about fallen off the face of the earth, as far as his music is
concerned.  Baby Doe, however, gives every indication of sticking around,
and so it should.  Moore is a superb melodist, drawing on turns of Stephen
Foster and parlor ballads of the 19th century, and a musician of sufficient
technique and sophistication that he pulls off the miracle of raising such
ephemera to a high artistic level.  The opera is as tuneful as a Broadway
show (much better, by the way, than Carlyle Floyd's dreary Susannah), and
the libretto, by John LaTouche, probably one of the best of the century.
Moore's "Willow Song" (surely an inside joke) is a favorite with sopranos
looking to include something beyond the standard rep in their programs.
Beverly Sills sings it so sweetly that you understand the genuine sentiment
behind the sentimentality of the Western frontier.  A friend of mine called
this opera the American "Carmen," for its great set of hits and adult
approach to drama.  D228550

A Robert Shaw Christmas: Angels on High.  Robert Shaw Chamber
Singers/Robert Shaw.  Wonderful.  Shaw in his late career was maddeningly
inconsistent.  A superb recording like his Poulenc album would be followed
by something horrible like his awful, uncomprehending Elijah.  The group
known as the Robert Shaw Festival Singers had more misses than hits (it was
something you paid, as well as auditioned, to get into, with a guarantee of
a recording).  Shaw apparently scrapped it and formed this group, probably
his best ensemble since the glory days of the Robert Shaw Chorale.  The
program is first-class, with arrangements by Shaw, Alice Parker, Healy
Willan, and others, as well as works by Britten, Howells, Bach, and Randall
Thompson.  The choral singing is glorious, with Shaw's patented rich,
strong sound.  Highlights of the CD include a recording of Britten's
Ceremony of Carols, as good, I think, as Shaw's earlier recording for RCA
(also available through BMG), and Randall Thompson's Alleluia - an American
classic finally recorded by America's greatest choral conductor.  D123588

Shostakovich.  From Jewish Folk Poetry.  Concertino. Antiformal
Rayock.  Zilberquit (pno), Mochalov (bass), Kurpe (tenor), et al.  Moscow
Choir Theatre, Moscow Virtuosi/Vladimir Spivakov.  Antiformal Rayock is
probably hilarious if you know Russian.  I don't and was pretty bored.
The Concertino, originally (I think) for two pianos, is heard here in
Ziblerquit's orchestration for piano and strings.  It's not bad, but I
prefer the original.  The standout on the disc is From Jewish Folk Poetry
- a masterpiece from a master composer.  The performance is okay, although
I have heard better.  If you don't already have this work, you might
consider the disc.  D121532

Schuman.  Symphony 3.  Symphony for Strings (No. 5); Symphony 8.  New
York Philharmonic/Bernstein.  Part of Sony's "Bernstein Century" series.
Bernstein was probably the most influential promoter of American music of
his day.  These are three classic recordings of works by one of our finest
symphonists.  After studying with Roy Harris, Schuman struck out on his
own, creating an exciting and original symphonic rhetoric which owes little
to Copland, Piston, Thomson, or Harris - four of the major influences on
American music which tried to sound American, between the wars.  As far
as I'm concerned, classic recordings.  D121953

Goldschmidt.  Cello Concerto.  Clarinet Concerto*.  Violin Concerto**.
Ma (cello), Meyer (clarinet), Juillet (violin).  Orchestre symphonique
de Montreal/Dutoit.  Orchester der Komischen Oper, Berlin/Kreizberg*.
Philharmonia Orchestra/Goldschmidt**.  Part of London's "Entartete Musik"
series, dedicated to those composers suppressed, uprooted, or killed by
the Nazis.  I had heard Goldschmidt's opera Die gewaltige Hahnrei ("The
Magnificent Cuckold"), a silly, nasty story unredeemed by the music, which
struck me as nothing special - just what I would have expected from a
student of Franz Schrecker.  On the other hand, this CD interested me far
more and the performances seem first-rate.  However, there's yet another
album in this series of Goldschmidt's instrumental music which is even
better.  That one I want to give more space to.  D121377

That's all for now.  There's lots more to come.  Stay tuned.

Steve Schwartz