Recordings
David L. Smith
Ricardo Muti is a responsive exponent of Tchaikovsky's music in his masterly account of the Manfred Symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Angel DS-37752). Here is playing with real muscle, nobility, and fire—all in the right proportions.
Listeners will be stirred in a different way by The Tango Project (Nonesuch D-79030), a homage to the Latin American dance that had its heyday in the first half of this century. Visions of Vernon and Irene Castle and of Rudolph Valentine are summoned up by this baker's dozen collection, of which "Jalousie" is the most familiar item. Michael Sahl, who arranged the music, fronts an ensemble consisting of strings, piano, and accordian.
The waltz is one of the oldest and most durable dance forms, and it's celebrated in the first of a series of LP's entitled Famous Waltzes (Philips 6514 067). Featured are composers familiar—Lanner, von Weber, and Josef Strauss—and unfamiliar—Ivanovici, Komzak, and Ziehrer—played to perfection by the Orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper led by Franz Bauer-Theussl.
