`Vocalise` good enough to listen to over and over

Suppose I asked you, "How would you like to hear a recording of the same piece played 13 times in a row?"

I wouldn`t be at all surprised if you answered, "No way!"

Yet, that`s exactly what I`m suggesting as I review the work named above. The piece is Rachmaninoff`s exquisitely romantic song "Vocalise." Its romanticism is clothed in a nostalgia that speaks of the composer`s love of his native land, his love of Russia. It is one of 14 songs that were published as Rachmaninoff`s Opus 34.

Even so, romantic or not, isn`t 76 minutes and 12 seconds a very long time to hear one song over and over and over again?

Ordinarily, yes. This time, no, because this time the song is presented in 13 different versions by various vocalists, instrumentalists, orchestras and conductors.

For those who may not know, "Vocalise" is a song without words. However, it is not a song without the sound of the human voice. It is sung with the voice playing the role of a musical instrument as it repeats, throughout the entire work, the sounds "ah" or "ooh."

That`s one way "Vocalise" is presented, the original way. But there are other ways: through orchestral transcriptions, solo instruments, solo piano and piano duet and even through an arrangement for electronic orchestra.

And, of course, that is what we are listening to on this disc: 13 different versions of the same work.

The performers include some of the greats of the past and some of the greats of today. Rachmaninoff recorded his own orchestration of his work and conducted it with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1929. Stokowski recorded another orchestration of it with soprano Anna Moffo and the American Symphony Orchestra in 1964.

We hear versions for flute (James Galway), solo piano (Evgeny Kissin) and countertenor (Brian Asawa), among others. The disc concludes with the original version sung by soprano Ruth Ann Swenson with Warren Jones, piano.

The recordings were originally made in the `20s, `40s, `60s, `70s, `80s and `90s. They are presented in Mono/AAD/DDD sound. The sound reproduction is splendid, even in the earliest versions.

The total presentation is absolutely captivating. I didn`t find it at all repetitious.

I do admit that, after listening to it 13 times is a row, I couldn`t get the melody out of my head.

But then, who would want to?

TCHAIKOVSKY: "Romeo and Juliet," "Marche slave," "The Tempest," "1812 Overture." Berlin Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado, conductor. Deutsche Grammophon 453 496.

Sometimes you can`t get too much of good things. This is one of those times.

With the exception of "The Tempest" (a work after Shakespeare`s play by the same name), the major melodies of the other works are familiar to everybody who loves great music - and to not a few who don`t realize they do.

With the exception of "The Tempest," the listings of the works in Schwann`s Opus runneth over.

So why do we need new recordings of them?

When the recordings are as good as these, we don`t ask why we might "need" additional ones; we simply recognize that, more of the same or not, we want these. Because these recordings are that good.

It is especially good to have Abbado`s new reading of "The Tempest" (another of his readings, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is still available). It is not really a popular Tchaikovsky work. I have always believed that the reason this is so is that "The Tempest" lacks any of those romantic, easily learned and easily remembered melodies that fill so many of the composer`s works. And if we build our appreciation of the work upon our knowledge and appreciation of Shakespeare`s play, I think we must admit that most of us are far closer to "Romeo and Juliet" than we are to "The Tempest." It`s no trick at all to attach the music of "Romeo and Juliet" to certain scenes in the play; I find it rather difficult to do the same thing with "The Tempest."

However, "The Tempest" has its own value as splendid orchestral music, and Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic offer a most impressive presentation of it.

Romeo and Juliet - there are two dozen recordings of it that can break your heart, as does this one.

The "1812 Overture" is as popular today as it was when it was first played in 1882 in Moscow before a highly patriotic, cheering audience. And doesn`t the audience cheer at nearly all concluding summer symphony orchestra presentations in this country when the program ends with the "1812?" Complete with fireworks?

Abbado and the Berlin do a great job by giving us a real rouser; and that, of course, is what this overture should be - a real rouser.

Even so, with all of the above, I must say that it was Abbado`s reading of "Marche slave" that stirred me in a way the music has never stirred me before. The conductor plumbs the depths of this sometimes-tired old march and reveals a greatness in it that I have not ever fully perceived.

The sound recordings throughout the disc are absolutely first-rate, and if you don`t have these works in your library, I wouldn`t hesitate a moment in recommending these. If you do have them and you feel you want to update or have alternate versions, this disc should fill the bill nicely.

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(c) Copley News Service

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Author: King Durkee