Word: sung
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...gentle music. Yet the results probably fall short of Monteverdi's intentions. In his day, singers, not composers or conductors, were kings; and no modern revival can ever recapture their singular contributions to a performance. For instance, two major roles in Poppea, scored for castrato voices, are sung in this recording by a countertenor and tenor, who provide earnest but ghostly approximations of the old score. The album, however, gives fine hints of how early Italian baroque opera sounded: intimate, civilized, and a trifle boring to modern ears...
...Russian phonography, is disappointing. As the wife, Niconora Andreyeva has spirited dramatic presence, but vocally she is insecure. Tenor Vyascheslav Radzievsky, as her husband, has a thin, weary voice, possibly because he forces it at top volume no matter what the circumstances. The many supporting roles are also sung unevenly, with the emphasis on dramatic display rather than well-placed singing...
...invite reverie in Dickinson's crystalline verses, and Copland's music shades from an impressionistic to a literal approach. Macabre chords open the song I Felt a Funeral in My Brain; a fast-rising whir of melody introduces the line "There came a Wind like a Bugle." Sung by Soprano Adele Addison with the composer at the piano...
HANDEL: THE MESSIAH (Angel; 3 LPs). There are fine readings of Handel's greatest work for every taste, most recently the beautifully sung, small-scale version conducted by Colin Davis, who scrupulously observed the spirit of baroque musical convention. Nevertheless, this newest entry is even more faithful to the composer and serves as a good introduction to the sensitive baton of Charles Mackerass, an Australian-trained conductor steeped in 18th century lore. His soloists (including Janet Baker and Elizabeth Harwood) do not equal those of the Davis recording; but this is a wonderfully stirring performance, astringent with a heavy...
...behind the actions is North Korea's shrewd Premier Kim II Sung, 55, Korea's World War II resistance hero against the Japanese. Kim took full party power in 1955 and, through intrigue, murder, imprisonment and character assassination, managed to wipe out every shred of political opposition. A ruthless strategist and master manipulator, he holds onto power by the old Stalinist tactic of periodic purges. The most recent came last October when he shuffled the Central Committee, sacking three key officials and longtime associates...