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Show VALLEY &ottte 7H c Hatty. TVvuten, oy There is nothing of which men are so fond, and withal so careless, as life. - - La Bruyere. We see Wagner sitting it looks like, on a tree stump. His clothing is century fashion, Abraham Lincoln style, with A baton is in his right hand and a music a black bow tie. score In his left hand. On the grass near him is a violin and bow with music sheets. Aside from Wagners majestic stature as a musician, he is in a class by himself in the versatility of his genius and the scope of his energies. Apostle of what he called the art work of the future, he refused allegiance to set forms MAURICE A BRA VANE L or musical conventions, merging in himself the functions of composer, producer, and on occasion stage manager, director, or conductor as well. To him the music NEW CARDINAL LABEL drama must be a closely knit whole resulting from a perfect balance and integration of music, words, and action. Dramatic This release on Vanguards fitness was his first essential. Master of orchestration, he new Cardinal label is truly an knew how to give expression to his ideas through his musical astonishing one. From the technical point of view alone it score, with a power, originality, and vitality which must be granted even by those who bitterly dislike his music and disrepresents a substantial and exagree with his theories of art. The extent to which Wagner's citing step for ward. The use works still live (and cause controversy) furnishes a conof the Dolby noise reduction vincing tribute to the unique and magnificent genuis of the man, system has no doubt contributed to his overwhelming Importance in the history and developsomething to this result, byfac-ilitatiment of music. So historians record. the achievement of a poet-libretti- st, ng range enbracing like the whipser of a summer breeze and fortissimos that may make even your neighbors think the Day of Judgment has arrived. But even more impressive Is the verisimilitude of balance and perspective that can only come from a really mature recording philosophy, which concentrates on musical effect rather than on mere brute sensationalism. In this recording instruments do not suddenly jump out at you. They are simply there, in their righful place in the orchestra. The strings are captured with ideal warmth and clarity, the woodwinds are properly differentiated In timbre and weights, the horns are rich and resonant, the heavy brass and percussion have an almost frightening Impact, and every note of the timpani tells as a note and not as a vague noise. In the chorale sections of the Finale a more vivid fortissimo could sometimes be desired - parBereite dich, ticular at where the tenors and basses sound a little weak - but even this is the defect of a virtue, because the chorus actually seems to be where it should be: behind the orchestra. In two or three usually problematical passages the balance dynamic Richard Wilhelm Wagner, composer and author was born in Leipzig, Germany, May 22, 1813. His father was a clerk in a police court, later he accepted an appointment as Chief of Police. During the french occupation of Leipzig, the elder Wagner died when Richard was six months old. His mother was left a widow with seven children. She married nine months later Lugwig Geyer, a well known actor, playwright and portrait painter, as well as a tenor. His appearances at the opera in Dresden, where he lived, gave young Richard opportunity to become familiar with the operas then in vogue. Richard dallied with music, but had little success because he hated practicing. He did enjoy playing opera scores. It was not until he attended the university in Leipzig he began taking his music more seriously. At 20 he became an orchestra conductor. When 23 years of age, while serving as conductor of an orchestra in Konigsberg, he married Minna Planer, an actress, first of the three loves which made his emotional life almost as famous as his opera career. After three years in the Russian town of Riga, he travelled to London, Boulogne, and finally to Paris. He had the opportunity of meeting Meyerbeer, Liszt, Berlioz, but financial difficulties kept him from concentrating on the operas he had hoped to compose. The Flying Dutchman, first of Wagners operas was produced in 1842, with little success. However in 1843 it was to foreshadow his greatness. He introduced a suggest-- f ion of musical revolution. He earned his living by writing articles and making ar- -' rangements for other composers, which left him little time of his own. He got involved in politics at age 30 and was accused of revolutionary activities at age 36, and was forced to flee from With a passport procured for him by Liszt, he esSaxony. to Weimar, where he visited for a time at Liszts home caped before moving to the safety of Zurich, Switzerland. Wagners ten years in Zurich were filled with creative He turned out theatrical and beautiful writings. activity. MKl He made his home at a villa provided for he and his wife Minna, by a friend Wesendonck. It is recorded here he found a new love, Mathilde Wesendonck, poetess and wife of the friend who housed him. At age 48 he divorced Minna, visited Vienna and Paris. Wagner received forgiveness from Germany which left him free to return. Once more monetary troubles beset him and he was rescued by King Ludwig 11 of Bavaria, in 1864. While Richard Wagner was In Munich, he found his last and greatest love. Cosima, daughter of his friend Franz Liszt and wife of anotherfriend, Han von Bulow. This . love affair ended in Cosima becoming the mother of his daughter Isolde in 1865, and of his son Siegfried in 1869. The following husband to year 1870 Cosima divorced her conductor-piani- between the soprano and alto soloists and the chorus has been perfectly judged, and the final peroration is overwhelming in its grandeur. I have spoken at length about the recorded sound because that is what first strikes one. But the performance too is a breathtaking one. Abravanels previous Mahler releases (the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies) were powerful, sensitive and musical without ever quite scaling the heights of sublimity. Now he has thrown caution to the winds and produced an interpretatio of awesome, inspired magnificence. Discretion and a sense of proportion, however, have not deserted him, and it is these virtues -quite apart from the quality of the recording - that seem to me to give him the edge over Solti, whose performance on London was my previous recommendation and who indeed remains a strong competitor. In Soltis performance, isolated dramatic events are often more impressive in themselves, but the total effect of Abravanels reading is greater, because, not feeling the need to play every detail for all it is worth, he subordinates the parts more convincingly to the whole. Yet, when the shattering moments do come they are every bit as powerful as Soltis: the seemingly endless crescendo at Figure 14 in the Finale and the as ensuing march (where, Mahler once put it, The earth quakes, the graves burst open, the dead arise and stream on in endless procession) . . . here Abravanel had me leaping out of my ror. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1967 VIEW NEWS successfully challenges parison with the London comSym- phony in top form. When I first played these records, there was a quality about the performance I couldnt exactly define. Subsequent listening has shown me what it is: here, for the first time, Mahlers Second Symphony sounds easy to play. There is a mastery of execution, a crispness of ensemble that PogeS speaks of an entirely adequate rehearsal schedule. For these players, it would seem the Symphony is a repertoire work. Apart from a minor point or two, Beverly Sills sings the solo soprano part beautifully, and Florence Kopleff achieves greater intensity than I have heard from her before: her rich contralto is ideally suited to the music. 1 v HAftDiE Six generations of care. Care in following Beams famous formula. 172-year-o- ld All here in the half gallon size. We put a handle on it. And just for good measure: a built-i- n pouring spout. The taste is distinctive. I lVK1 The Purin8 is easy. jk The Bourbon is Sim Beam. Worlds finest Bourbon since 1795. f chair in veritable ter- At the Kraftig section four pages later and at one or two places in the first movement Solti may possibly be preferred, but in my view ly over all effect ' justified his playing down of an occasional detail. And when the Last Trump Itself is heard, with groups of horns ' Ab-ravan- com-plee- and trumpets sound ing and re- sounding In a limitless space that recalls the receding planes of Rubens; Chateau of Steen, conductor and engineers between them have achieved a moment so intense as for once to justify the use, in its fullest sense , of the word, sensational. No praise could be too high for the work of the Utah Symphony, which on this occasion REMEMBER HIM BIG WITH BEAMS HALF GALLON-JU- NE 18th FATHERS DAY. 88 PROOF KENTUCKY STRAIGHT THE BOURBON JAMES B. BEAM DISTILLING WHISKEY CO., CLERMONT, DISTILLED BUM, AND B0TTLE0 BY KENTUCKY Happiness is an i Electric Dryer 3 st become Wagners wife. Richard made his home in Bayreuth, where on his 59th birthday, his vision of a great musical center became a reality. Not long after this premiere he went to Venice to spend the winter and died there suddenly in 1883 at the age of 70. Gardez Blen.Mercy, dont overdue your friendships, but do enjoy the music to the fullest. t - for command of the new AMF activities. in winter exciting winter adventure. Puts new thrills Take Sno-Sco- Variable speed automaUc transmission. Positive disc brake. chassis. Rugged 10 hp. 247 cc engine, carburetion. Speeds up to 35 mpb. ai Dual How many loads of clothes do you put in the dryer each week? Four? Six? Ten loads? Lets say you dry 10 loads a week. Thats the average. If you do, you can save enough on the purchase price of an electric dryer to operate your dryer free for Snowmobile Adventure! 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