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completely absurd, and tremendously
funny .that "Candy" emerges as a signi-
ficant satire on our times.
Because 'Candy" is a great parody, it
is likely that it will endure long after
the best pornography (or worst, depend-
ing on your point of view) has been in-
cinerated.
However objectionable pornography
may be, it is definitely fair game for a
literary satire such as Southern and Hof-
fenberger have written. In "Candy," they
are not trying to emulate pornographers
whose motive is "to arouse sexual desire;"
they are trying to evoke laughter over the
all-too-familiar sexual encounters and
dialogues found in pornography.
More important, Southern (who co-
authored the script for Dr. Strangelove)
and Hoffenberger use Candy's encounters
as the framework from which they
branch out to broader satire.
For proof, consider all the individuals
and subjects satirized in the book: col-
lege professors (Mephesto), parents (Mr.
Christian), television (Aunt Livia), psy-
chiatry (Dr. Krankeit and Dunlap), Jew-
ish mothers (Mrs. Sylvia Semite), bohem-
ians (Derek), gynecologists (Dr. Johns),
Quakers (Pete Upsy), mystics (Grindle
and his exercise No. 4) Zen Buddhism
(Eastern Holy Man) as well as police,
hospitals, love letters, grades, pseudo-
intellectualism, and yoga. As a satire on
life, Candy is definitely dandy.
-Roger Rapoport
CANNONBALL ADDERLEY PLAYS THE
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Nat Adder-
derley, alto saxophone; Charles Lloyd,
tenor saxophone, flute; Joe Zawinul,
piano; Sam Jones, bass; Louis Hayes,
drums. Capitol 2216.
WHEN A JAZZ GROUP confronts a
Broadway score, one of two things
usually happens: either the group dis-
penses with the tunes in short order,
getting right down to blowing or it gets
so hung up in the material that there is
practically no blowing at all. It is a rare
jazz album (the Miles Davis-Gil Evans
"Porgy and Bess" collaboration of 1959
is a sterling example) which succeeds in
integrating jazz and other idioms.
Here, that exuberant altoist Julian
Adderley has managed to skirt the issue.
On "Fiddler," a few of the tracks are
jazz vehicles and the rest are limited to
ensemble work and short, close-to-the-
melody solos. The title tune is the only
track which comes off as an exciting jazz
vehicle for the sextet, with all soloists
digging into the Eastern tinged harmony
and pushing the performance with the
ensemble passages. Despite the shortcom-
ings of the format, the playing does have
its high points and the ensemble work is
often interesting.
The tricky material forces Cannonball
to put a little more thought into his
work which is often a mere dazzling
display of technical prowess. On "Sewing
Machine" he is particularly inventive and
even meaningful, and brother Nat's
muted outing on "To Life" is a delightful
bit of relaxed cornet work.
Reedman Lloyd, a recent acquisition
rom the Chico Hamilton group, is one
Df the only reedman on the scene to use
the Coltrane approach to his own
original advantage. His work on the
ballad "Do You Love Me?" is probably
the best solo on the album.
Pianist Zawinul is the weakest per-
former in the sextet. His solos usually
provide a letdown from whatever the
group manages to get going. However
his rhythm section mates, Jones and
Hayes, after nearly six years together
are as tight a team as there is to be
found in jazz today. On "Matchmaker,"
they handle the triple meter in a smooth
flowing manner which nudges the soloists
rather than pushing them around.
Y On the whole, "Fiddler on the Roof" is
an excellent album for Adderley fans or
"Fiddler" fiends-unless it's a solid jazz
album you're after.
-David B. Berson
HAYDN: String Quartets: Op. 33 No. 2,
"The Joke"; Op. 3 No. 5, "The Seren-
ade"; Op. 76 No. 2, "Quinten." The
Janacek Quartet. London Stereo CS
6385, $5.98 (M on a u r aI CM 9385
$4.98).
THE DAYS ARE gone when critics
could say-as some have of this re-
lease-that it fills in several great gaps
in the Haydn quartet discography. One
complete integral recording is available
(Haydn Society); another is being made
(Vox) and there are dozens of single re-
cordings representing, no doubt, nearly
all of the best quartets. The Op. 3 has
been done by the Amadeus Quartet, the
Op. 33 by the Budapest and the Op. 76
by many excellent groups, e.g., the Buda-
;>est and the Vienna Konzerthaus. Accord-
ingly it is no faint praise to say that the
Janacek Quartet's disc earns a high place
in this competitive field; the perform-
ances are as good or better than I have
heard on records, with only one excep-
tion.
The Quartet, Op. 33 No. 2, is famous
for its Adante cantabile movement. Com-
pared to this London version, that of
the Amadeus Quartet (Westminster W
9033) sounds rushed and somewhat
forced. The same is true of the first
movement.
The Janacek Quartet, in all three of
these quartets, takes an expansive, easy
approach to Haydn, and the result in
Op. 3 No. 5 seems just right. In the Op.
33 No. 2, this approach again produces a
warm, graceful reading. The Budapest
version is perhaps out of the running for
>conomic reasons - coupled w i t h the
Brahms quartets, it lists for $9.96-but
;his London disc should satisfy any lis-
ener. The humorous conclusion is car-
ried off with perfect finesse (and no tape
miss to give away the joke).
Only in the "Quinten," Op. 76 No. 2,
does the Janacek recording suffer by
,omparison with another, that of the
Vienna Konzerthaus (Westminster W
9030). There is little to choose between
these in the first two movements (not to
:ention the Budapest Quartet version,
Columbia ML 4922, which has the richest
string tone of any). However, the third
movements of the Janacek and the Bud-
apest, while played at a brisk enough
empo, lack the incisiveness, the dia-
bolical quality, of the Vienna Konzer-
thaus recording.
In the fourth movement, "Vivace
assai," my preference is clearly for the
Westminster version, which makes the
music very dramatically exciting. For
some listeners, however, this interpreta-
tion may seem an imposition on the nat-
ural sense of the music; and the more
easy-going Janacek version may seem
mnore appropriate. In any case, both per-
formances are very fine in their own
vays.
The only technical fault of the Jan-
zcek Quartet (previously available main-
ly on imports) is that the first violin's
tone is not as smooth as that of some
thersquartets; but in the "Serenade,"
which is certainly a test of tone quality,
the flaw seems quite minor.. This intel-
ligent playing has been rewarded by
Decca/London with fine sound; the
stereo is particularly effective.
-Peter Bickelmann
HAYDN: Symphony No. 101 in D
("Clock") and Symphony No. 95 in C
minor. Fritz Reiner conducting the
Symphony Orchestra. RCA Victor
Stereo LSC-2742, $5.98 (Monaural,
LM-2742, $4.98).
IT IS THE MUSIC of Haydn which
prompted Mrs. Schroeter, one of his
London admirers, to write to him in
1792:
I can not close my eyes to sleep
till I have returned you ten thou-
sand thanks for the inexpressible
delight I have received f.'om your
ever enchanting compositions . . .
Indeed . . . no tongue can express
the gratitude I feel for the infinite
pleasure your Music has given me:
accept then my repeated thanks for
it; and let me also assure you, with
heartfelt affection, that I shall ever
consider the happiness of your
acquaintance as one of the chief
Blessings of my life. . .
Quite assuredly Haydn would be
pleased with the readings Fritz Reiner
and the Symphony Orchestra give to
these symphonies.
The clarity of line, preciseness of en-
semble, solidity of tone and frienliness
of spirit exhibited here are probably just
what Haydn himself had hoped to
achieve with the all too frequently
shoddy and ill-prepared orchestras of
his day which found his objectives im-
possible to meet. But that's the preroga-
tive of the composer: to be ahead of the
practical possibilities of his time.
The unfortunate slightly fnzzy sound
which mars the excellent work of the
orchestra on this disc is, no doubt, the
fault of the recording engineers and not
of the orchestra or its conductor. Re-
gardless, the music shines through.
An added inclusion with this album is
an informative and illustrated booklet
giving the highlights of Reiner's life,
showing pictures taken of him at his
last recording session when he was tap-
ing these performances two months be-
fore his death in 1963, and containing
the text of the eulogy by William Schu-
man, composer and president of the
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts,
given at Reiner's funeral.
BEETHOVEN: Sonatas for Piano No. 1 in
F minor, Op. 2 No. 1; No. 5 in C
minor, Op. 10 No. 1; No. 6 in F
major, Op. 10 No. 2; No. 7 in D
major, Op. 10 No. 3. Wilhelm Back-
haus, pianist. London Stereo CS 6389,
$5.98 (Monaural CM 9389, $4.98).
THEGREATEST VIRTUE of this
recording of four Beethoven piano
sonatas is the feeling of spontaneity
which the pianist achieves in his playing.
It sounds, especially in the developmental
sections, like Backhaus is actually im-
provising upon the themes.
The octogenarian pianist retains most
of his rhythmic vitality, essential to the
Beethoven spark. But occasionally he
loses rhythmic control and seems to in-
sert, unintensionally short, uneven ri-
tards or accelerandos.
Backhaus plays Beethoven like the last
generation of pianists did, with fairly lib-
eral use of ritards and emphatic pauses
to set off the structure of the music or to
assist in achieving a climax. But Back-
haus is not as bad as most of the others
were. His additions sometimes seem to fit
the music and sometimes brake the fore-
ward motion of the line. This is the way
many people like it.
Occasionally, too, Backhaus seems un-
able to control the extent of an accent
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 8 in
B Minor ("Unfinished"); Overtures -
Fierrabras, Des Teufels Lustschloss, In
the Italian Style (in C Major). Istvan
Kertesz conducting the Vienna Phil-
harmonic Orchestra. LONDON stereo
CS 6382, $5.98 (monaural CM 9382,
$4.98).
WITH ALMOST 25 recordings of the
"Unfinished Symphony" now in the
catalogue, the buyer's reaction to this
new Kertesz version will probably depend
upon whether or not he already has at
least one recording of the symphony in
his collection. If he does, I am sure that
his initial feeling will be one of resent-
ment over having to take the symphony
in order to get the three overtures, which
are otherwise unavailable as far as the
current Schwann catalogue goes.
Even if you already have enough re-
cordings of the "Unfinished Symphony"
however, this new release is highly rec-
commended.
First, the overtures in question, while
not the masterpieces the program notes
would imply, are nevertheless certainly
worth having. The Overture in the Ital-
ian Style used to be available on Epic
(with Antal Dorati and the Concertge-
>ouw), and it can currently be found on
an MGM disc with several other Schubert
overtures; but Kertesz's vigorous (if a
bit slowly paced) readings of the other,
more dramatic "Des Teufels Lustschloss"
and "Fierrabras" curtain-raisers are
without competition.
The second reason for praising this
record is the excellent performance of the
symphony itself. Of the best available
stereo versions (Walter on Columbia,
Szell on Epic, Reiner on RCA Victor and
Steinberg on Command, along with Ker-
tesz), Kertesz is the only one to repeat
the exposition in the first movement (a
practice which may seem unnecessary
for a two-movement work but which adds
greatly to the overall structure of what is
really the torso of a four-movement
symphony). While not slighting other
important orchestral voices, Kertesz
emphasizes the brass and tympani and
produces a tightly dramatic rendition of
the first movement; the second move-
ment is unrushed and songful under his
baton.
Aided by fine sound which only be-
comes a bit harsh at the end of each
side, Kertesz' readings of these Schubert
works certainly deserve to be heard.
JEAN SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 1 in E
Minor; Karelia Suite: Lorin Maazel
conducting the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra. LONDON stereo CS 6375,
$5.98 (monaural CM 9375, $4.98).
SIBELIUS' FIRST SYMPHONY has
been represented with good perform-
ances right along (Beecham, Kletzki and
Collins all do well by this stirring score),
but one need no longer forego stereo per-
formances of this work. Recent record-
ings by Barbirolli and Maazel join the al-
ready-available Ormandy version to
make up an interesting triumvirate.
Each of these three renditions has its
advantages. But the scherzo in the Bar-
birolli recording just limps along with no
vitality at all, while the Ormandy is
gushy and more Tchaikovskyan than
need be the case.
For a strong, vital performance of this
symphony, neither stereo competitor can
approach Maazel. While I must reproach
him (or is it London's fault?) for failing
to bring out the harp in the last move-
ment in particular, I must commend the
way in which the Vienna brass and tym-
pani emerge with telling effect (com-
pared, for example, to the way in which
the lack of vivid tympani presence mars
the scherzo in Beecham's otherwise fine
performance).
Adding to the desirability of this album
is a fine performance of the Karelia
Suite, without significant current com-
petition (unless Gibson's deleted RCA
Victor performance is re-released on Vic-
trola in the future).
London's stereo sound is excellent, al-
though the surfaces could be quieter.
Maazel's is the record to have for both of
these compositions - and it is the only
record to offer anything besides the sym-
phony.
-Steven Haler
THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE
MAGAZyINE
Vol. VI, No. 5 Sunday, January 31, 19
965
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and makes it too obvious, almost like a
sudden, out-of-place jerk.
On the whole, however, he has a good
grasp of the sonatas and how they should
sound. It is unfortunate that the boosted
piano bass sometimes tends to obscure a
pedal effort, harmonic blend or melodic
line Backhaus tries so hard to project.
-Jeffrey K. Chase
".-, ..-
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