New Records

Czech Composer Leos Janacek (Jenufa) was fascinated by Dostoevsky's autobiographical novel. From the House of the Dead, about life in a Siberian prison camp. In 1928, in the last year of his life but still at the peak of his powers. Janacek used the Dostoevsky work as the basis of a three-act opera. It had one of its rare performances last summer at the Holland Festival, where it was recorded by Phillips, and last week Aus Einem Totenhaus was released in the U.S. on two Epic LPs.

The opera is a daring work from many points of view: it has no plot, but consists of a series of gloom-ridden episodes, recollections, even a bleak little prison play in pantomime; 16 of its 17 singing roles are men; it contains a minimum of tunes and some very strange harmonic goings-on indeed. And yet it is a strong work from overture to the final hymn to freedom, and is even gripping in three long narratives by the prisoners against a background of unnerving orchestral fantasy. Over all hangs an eerie, Kafka-like haze that results partly from the use of exotic folk idiom, partly from acoustical theories that led Janacek to dispense with accepted harmonic transitions. Because of its static quality, Aus Einem Totenhaus has had few performances in the opera house. On records it is the score that counts, and the result is well worth a hearing.

Other new records:

Bartok: Piano Concerto No. 3 (Monique Haas; Berlin's RIAS Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ferenc Fricsay; Decca). Bartok was racing death when he composed this strongly appealing work, because he wanted to leave his pianist-wife something to play for her living. (He died in 1945 with the last few bars uncompleted.) French Pianist Haas is up against some stiff competition from other recorded versions, but, perhaps because the concerto was written for a woman, her delicately imaginative performance is hard to beat.

Cowell: Symphony No. 11 (Louisville Orchestra conducted by Robert Whitney; Columbia). One of the most prolific of U.S. composers in a fine, strong work that is worth every penny of Louisville's $1,000 commission (TIME, Jan. 24). Subtitled Seven Rituals of Music, it moves from a wispy, tender "music for a child asleep" into a too-thunderous "ritual of work," a syncopated "dance and play" movement with a xylophone that sounds as if it were made of china, to a movement of whispering magic and a fugal finale.

Dallapiccola: Tartiniana (Ruth Posselt, violin; Columbia Symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein; Columbia). Italy's most famed modernist in a mellow mood. Two of the four movements start with themes by 18th century Violinist-Composer Tartini, then gradually, smoothly warm up to entrancing modernity. All of the movements seem to weave Tartini's melodies serenely for a while, then get involved in the implications of their own patterns; at other times the old tunes appear in a kind of bas-relief against a background of alien dissonance. A fascinating composition.

Debussy: Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien (Suzanne Danco, soprano; Union Chorale de la Tour-de-Peilz; Suisse-Romande Orchestra conducted by Ernest Ansermet; London). Debussy's incidental music to D'Annunzio's mystery play of 1911. Its five scenes: Court of Lilies, the Magic Chamber, Council of the False Gods, the Stricken Laurel and Paradise. Debussy's vaporous music is ideal for the eerie atmosphere of miracles and superstition, and there are some exquisite songs sung in Danco's exquisite soprano.

Mozart: Rondo in A Minor, K. 511 (Guiomar Novaes, piano; Vox). One of the remarkable compositions of Mozart's last years, this rondo spaces out a pretty, parlor-music theme with unusual interludes of poignance and even tragedy. Brazilian Pianist Novaes plays it (and three sonatas) with warmth and strength.

Mussorgsky: Sunless Cycle (Maria Kurenko; soprano, Vsevolod Pastukhoff, piano; Capitol). Unlike Mozart, Mussorgsky poured out his unhappiness in music. These songs reflect some of the composer's passionate frustration at the savage critical reaction to Boris Godunov. Soprano Kurenko sings them with sympathy and insight.

Also noteworthy:

Schubert. Brahms and Strauss songs, sung by Soprano Kirsten Flagstad (Victor) ; Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, played by members of the Vienna Octet (London) ; Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, narrated by 13-year-old Brandon (Member of the Wedding) de Wilde (Vox).

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.