Evening star., 1955-11-20
TURNTABLE TALK
BY JAMES G. DEANE

Admirers Of Strauss, of
whichever camp. can congrat-
ulate themselves this month.
Angel has supplied sparkling
recording Of q masterwork by
each-Richard's "Ariadne auf
Naxos" and Johann's die
F1edermaus."
Richard Strauss still Is
mainly known to the public
for '.Rosenkavalier," his noisy
earlier operas, "Salome" and
'Elektra." and his tone poems.
This IL unfortunate. for 1t il
almost certain that his future
fame VIII rest on the more
controlled. lyrical form Of ex-
preston exemplified In his
later operas.
"Ariadne." which dates In
It's original form from two
years after "Rosenkavalier"
(I9I0), was written initially
to be performed in conjunc-
tion with Moliere's lie
Bourgeois Gentilhomme," for
which Strauss wrote his or
chestral music Of the same
title. This proved too long. so
that Strauss and his hbrettist,
Won Hofmannsthal. substituted
a vocal prologue for the play.
1t is the revised version. the
opera within an opera. which
Is heard on the recording.
Angel has done beautifully by
1t. Short Of a Lehmann-
Schumann combine. it would
be difficult to imagine q
worthier singing roster than
that headed by Elisabeth
Schwarzkopf and Irmgard
Seefried. The album also
brings TO prominence a So
prano named Rita Stretch who
seems able to manage the
stupendous coloratura require
ments Of Zerbinetta with
dazzling ease. This should so
down as one Of the choice
recordings Of the year.
"Fledermaus" has previously
been available in an anglicized
Metropolitan version, to me
only slightly persuasive. and
q fiavorful Viennese perform
ance led by Q top-rank Straus-
stan, the late Clemens Krauss,
which was one Of the first LIP
favorites. Unfortunately the
latter version, issued by Lon
don, was substantially abridged.
The new recording. without
requiring any additional discs.
not only includes what Ions
don's omitted tmostly dia-
logue) but unfolds the whole
delightful, nonsensical affair
with such tantalizing effer-
vescence that 1t is impossible
to imagine how anyone could
do without 1t. It also proves
that the boundary between
Strauss, r., and Strauss. j..
is not q significantly impass-
able one, for Schwarzkopf and
Stretch lead the cast in this
case, too, and Herbert Won
Karajan conducts in both.
This is my first contact, ]
believe, with Won Karajan as
q conductor Of recorded Strauss
of either sort. One gathers.
from the verve Of the proceed
ings, that both must be per-
sonaI enthusiasts, and the
Philharmonic Orchestra re-
spends with the same sort OF
alertness and apprehension of
nuance that 1t demonstrated
recently in concert here.
#%k
HI-FI, ZIPPERED
Westminster is one record
ing company which apparent
| " does not intend to take the
high-fidelity business lightly.
It has devised q special Tab
oratory SERIES" the records OF
which are made ESQ Westmin-
ster says) to be even more
realistic than normal. The
series can be readily recog-
nized, for each disc is encased
In two sheets Of plastic Gone
zippered), In addition to card
board. 1t is also recognizable
by the price. which is substan-
| TALLY higher than usual,
The most noticeable feature
Of these discs is that each has
only about half as much music
on it as normal. In playing
time, that Is, q l2-inch side
runs Is minutes or so. instead
Of rs or 30. The purpose Is
to allow the grooves to be
spaced more widely and to
keep from cutting them In
too far toward the center. be-