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THE PROPHET OUTCAST: Trotsky 1929-
1940, by Isac Deutscer, London Ox-
ford University Press, 1963, $9.50,
543 pages.
THE THIRD PART of Deutscher's tri-
logy on the life of Trotsky, "The Pro-
phet Outcast" completes a work that,
both in terms of its scholarship and its
relevancy to contemporary world affairs,
may well prove to be a classic. Deutscher
brings to his task both a sensitivity for
detail and an appreciation for the scope
of the events with which he deals that
seems especially fitting in a biography of
a man of Trotsky's character.'
Of the works included in the trilogy
- "The Prophet Armed," "The Prophet
Unarmed," "The Prophet Outcast" - the
last is by far the most intellectually and
scholastically adventurous. While a final
evaluation of many of the subtler points
in the present volume must await the
opening of the "closed" portion of Trot-
sky's archives (the portion of Trotsky's
archives which deals with the period in
question were closed, by a provision in
Trotsky's will, until 1980. Deutscher
gained special access to them), Deutsch-
er's scholarship seems to be both strik-
ingly methodical and faithful. Much of
the public knowledge we have as to the
activities of the Trotskyist Opposition
tends to support the conclusions reached
by the author.
Although Deutscher, in the manner of
a good storyteller, drifts into anecdote
fairly frequently, he is not primarily con-
cerned with the flotsam and jetsam of
Trotsky's experiences as an individual.
Even in the present study, in which he
seeks an intimacy with his subject that
appears infrequently in the other two
volumes, Deutscher is primarily concern-
ed with creating, in as succinct a manner
as possible, an intellectual and social his-
tory of the Russian Communist move-
ment and Trotsky's role in it.
Deutscher's treatment of many over-
whelmingly personal aspects of Trotsky's
life, seems strangely superficial when
contrasted with the elaborate structure
of background material, side comment,
documentation and the like, which he
brings to bear upon more public aspects
of Trotsky's life.
Most importantly, in the "Prophet Out-
cast," Deutscher succeeds in conveying to
his reader _the sense of tragedy which
surrounds Trotsky's role in the Russian
Marxist movement. He presents what is,
essentially, the chronicle of a man who
watches the loss of a sense of responsibil-
ity and ethics by the movement he helped
create, through vehicles he, as perhaps
the most poignant of its spokesmen, help-
ed to erect. Trotsky is, thus, a victim of
his own logic.
Moreover, the trilogy - and especially
"The Prophet Outcast" -- tells us some-
thing about the history, not only of the
anti-Stalinist opposition, but also of all
such movements: the factional disputes,
leadership conflicts, jealousies, group
paranoia and so on.
In detailing the history of political
conflicts, there seems to be a fairly com-
mon tendency on the part of biographers
to glamorize the loser. All things being
considered, Deutscher seems to have
avoided this error remarkably well. His
specific perspectives - Judgments as to
the period in question - thus, retain
only tangential importance to the work
as a whole.
world, and he questions the relation this
bears to schooling. Growing up into a
worthwhile world? - today's youth arei
passing to joblessness, and today's Jobless
are without world. Anomie, the sociol-
ogists call it.
What skill, what -art is taught in the
school, Goodman asks: skill at doing
what you are told? the art of answering
test questions?
Is the training that the schools do give
needed for citizenly activity? Probably
not: Goodman is not even sure about the
necessity of universal literacy, now that
mass communications are primarily oral
and pictorial.
Is it needed for future work? Decidedly
not.
Then why give it? - to everyone, by
compulsion, at public expense?
The separate essays in the book, origi-
nally written for individual conferences
or publications, cover the American edu-
cational system from elementary school
to college. They are not fair, as Good-
man himself says in his preface, but
demonstrate a good eye for failures.
They are impressionistic, rather than
statistical, but Goodman's experience is
long and his sight clear, while statistics
are notoriously expensive and ambiguous.
The book is a needed barb for anyone in
education: prospective teachers should
be made to read it. Others interested in
the problems of growing up in America
will probably find it interesting.
The combination of anger and despair
in the essays keeps them from being more
than a start in a program of change, or
even redesign, for education in this coun-
try. But it is a start; others must go on
and design new systems.
-Robert Farrell
MASSEN ET: "Herodiade" (excerpts)
with Regine Crespin, soprano; Rita
Gorr, mezzo-soprano; Albert Lance,
tenor; Michel Dens, baritone; and
Jacques Mars, bass. L'Orchestre du
Theatre National de l'opera-George -
Pretre, conductor. Angel Stereo
S 36145.
MASSENET'S "HERODIADE" h a s
shared the same fate in the inter-
national repertoire with Paisiello's "I
Barbiere di Seviglia," Rossini's "Otello"
and Leoncavallo's "La Boheme": they
have all been supplanted by later and
more popular musical settings of the
same stories.
The more neurotic characters of Rich-
ard Strauss' "Salome" have displaced
Massenet's gentler and more melodic de-
lineations. There is also a switch in vocal
ranges; in "Herodiade," Herod is a bari-
tone, while in "Salome" he is a tenor.
John the Baptist is a tenor for Massenet
and a baritone for Strauss.
The emphases of the composers' char-
acterizations also differ. Herodiade is
made much more prominent by the
Frenchman, and Herod is not the drunk-
enly depraved character of Strauss' op-
era; he is just a man who is tired of his
nagging wife and is interested in a new-
er model, i.e. Salome.
Musically, judging from these excerpts,
the work exhibits Massenet's usual
trademarks -suave, charming, sensous
and often sentimental melodies (evident-
ly much appreciated by the French).
The performance is generally on a high
level, with artistic honours going to
Michel Dens, whose interpretation of
Herod is superbly conceived and intelli-
gently executed.
Regine Crespin, the "widely acclaimed"
soprano, has not sounded this good either
at the Metropolitan, the Chicago Lyric
Opera, or on her previous recordings.
Perhaps she is more at home in the
French repertoire than in the Strauss,
Wagner and various Italian roles she has
performed.
Georges Pretre leads the orchestra in
fine style. We should be grateful to An-
gel for bringing us these highlights from
the French operatic repertoire, so seldom
(if ever) head on this side of the Atlantic.
-O Ranieri di Sorbelo
LISZT: "A Faust Symphony;" "Les Pre-
ludes."-Leonard Bernstein conducting.
the New York Philharmonic. Charles
Bressler, tenor; The Choral Arts So-
ciety directed by William Jonsoi.
Columbia Monaural M2L 299, $9.96
(Stereo M2S 699, $11.96).
LISZT'S "A FAUST SYMPHONY" is an
interesting work if for no other reason
than that its first thirteen notes contain
a twelve-tone row. In addition, the first
movement contains sections of whole
tone harmonies, in which a strong feeling
of home key is all but lost. All this in
1854!
This symphony does not tell a story,
but is a series of character sketches of
the main characters of Goethe's "Faust:"
Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles.
"A Faust Symphony" contains a
wealth of wonderful musical thoughts
and shows good composing imagination,
especially in the outer movements. But
sometimes mechanical repetitions of cer-
tain parts bog the musical motion down.
Leonard Bernstein and the New York
Philharmonic dig right in and deliver a
sonorous performance of high calibre.
The Columbia engineers have not slight-
ed them in the duties of capturing the
sound orgies in which the orchestra par-
takes.
Bernstein maintains the taut control
necessary to retain this work's foreward
\ momentum - a quality which can make
or break its performance.
Tenor Charles Bressler and the Choral
Art Society directed by William Jonson
produce a moving epilogue to this 70-
minute symphony.
The fourth side of this two-record set
contains thet same performance of Liszt's
"Les Preludes" which backs up the Andre
Watts/Leonard Bernstein performance of
the same composer's Piano Concerto No.
1. Here the sound engineers have done
their part, but the orchestra is not as
shimmering and glowing as in the sym-
phony.
This album shows Bernstein's "Faust"
to be strong competition for the highly-
praised Beecham version.
-Jeffrey K. Chase
JACQUES OFFENBACH: "Gaite Pari.
sienne." GEORGES BIZET: "L'Arle-
sienne," Suites One and Two. Eu-
gene Ormandy conducting the Phila-
delphia Orchestra. COLUMBIA ML
5946, $4.98 (stereo MS 6546, $5.98)
IT IS ABOUT TIME that someone ex-
posed the "Gaite Parisienne" ruse once
and for all. One may buy a version of
this. frothy Offenbach melange which
takes up only one side of a record, and
get another 25 minutes or so of music on
the other side into the bargain. That's
the way Antal Dorati (Mercury) (to
name one example) recorded it, and
that's the way Ormandy's going it for
Columbia. But the buyer who goes for
the extra side of music ends up getting
rooked after all; for "Gaite Parisienne"
is actually about 35 minutes in length,
necessitating that some cuts be made to
fit most - but not all - of it on one
record side.
If you want a superlative performance
of the complete ballet, waste no more
time considering Ormandy's truncated
version but head for the splendid version
by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops
(RCA Victor), the gayety of which comes
as a 'breath of fresh air after Ormandy's
somewhat heavy-handed treatment of
those parts of the score he does condes-
cend to offer us.
The Bizet suites on the other side are
given a reading which varies from a bit
too fast to just about right. But Orman-
dy apparently wasn't working from the
score when he thought about questions of
orchestral balance: for example, in the
openingmeasures of the prelude to the
first suite, the fortissimo strings all but
drown out the two clarinets, two bas-
soons, four horns, English horn and alto
saxophone which are also supposed to be
playing fortissimo.
On the whole, I wouldn't call Orman-
dy's reading of the Bizet suites a bad one
- indeed, in many spots it is quite ad-
mirably done.
Columbia's sound is brilliant, but the
competing versions have sound which is
generally just as good, if not better.
-Steven Haller
BRAHMS: "Variations on a Theme by
Haydn," "Academic Festival Over-
ture." The Philharmonia Orchestra,
Josef Krips conducting. Angel Stereo
S 36170, $5.98 (Monaural 36170,
$4.98).
THIS RECORDING, I am especially
fond of Krips's reading of the Varia-
tions. His result combines the lush sound
of the Bruno Walter recording with the
clarity of line of the Toscanini. Krips
must have a very fine ear for balance be-
cause he is able to make so many simul-
taneous lines be distinctly heard at one
time.
Krips, too, is very conscious of instru-
mental color. The brass have a warm,
mellow tone; the strings are not too
"stringy"; the winds are rich and clear.
In vertical sonorities, Krips emphasizes
certain tone colors in such a way that
the -sound is just a little different from
what is usually heard. This factor, slight
as it may seem, if done with care, adds
much vitality to a performance.
The only disappointment isin the pas-
sacaglia finale. The sound of the tri-
angle, which is not used until then,
sounds more like a "muted" cymbal than
the clear, bright, ringing tone it should
be.
Brahms composed the "Academic Festi-
val Overture" for his honorary degree of
doctor of philosophy at Breslau Univer-
sity in 1880. He wrote to his publisher,
"I have written a very jolly 'Academic
Festival Overture' with a 'Gaudeamus'
and all sorts of things; at the same time,
I could not deny my melancholy turn of
mind and have also composed a 'Tragic
Overture'." So it is that Brahms' only
two concert overtures were written at al-
most the same time.
Here Kripscaptures the jollity of the
"academic festival" and the somberness
of the "tragic." Melodic clarity and fine
tonal balance again are characteristic of
Krips' performance., The long, singing
line is Krips' main concern and he is suc-
cessful in its projection.
The sound on this disc is equally as
fine as the performances and in itself
does much to recommend this excellent
recording.
MAGAIE
Vol. V1,; No.. 1Sunday, September' 20, 1964