Whatever virtues this recording may have, for me everything is overshadowed by the fact that all the singers have been instructed to pronounce the Latin diphthongs as actual diphthongs: thus, OYdipus, OYdipodis, etc. Oy veh! It's absolutely excruciating! Salonen's conducting doesn't help much: it's rather lifeless and lack-luster, with tempos a notch too slow in many places. Yet I almost feel that the recording is worth getting only for Vinson Cole's ravishing performance of "Invidia fortunam odit, the best I've heard. Anne-Sophie Von Otter gives a lively, colorful and musical reading of Jocasta. But overall I would recommend the Orpheus recording with Colin Davis, Thomas Moser, and Jessye Norman.

Here are two subtleties in 12 ANGRY MEN which I don't know if anyone else has remarked on. At the end of the movie, as Henry Fonda leaves the empty jury room, he looks back at the table and an odd "laughing" or braying motif plays in the music. Is Fonda inwardly "laughing" at the eleven people whom he has "put one over" on? Then he steps out of the room with a rather sinister or secretive air, looking rather like - get this - like someone LEAVING THE SCENE OF A CRIME! I believe the movie is posing the question: "Who is the real criminal, here?" Maybe that's is a little farfetched, but I think there is a reason for everything is a work of art, especially in this very subtle and psychological film.

My second observation: in the opening moments of the film, we see a series of people walking by outside the jury room. First, a young man with a suitcase and the air of a stranger, then a scholarly looking fellow, then a jovial young man congratulating a bunch of people on the happy outcome of a case, and finally a guard trying to quiet the people down. I believe that these figures are meant as types or mirror-images of Henry Fonda, E.G. Marshall, Robert Webber, and Martin Balsam.

THE LOST EPISODES, VOLUME 1 (4 cassettes) is a must-have for any Bob and Ray enthusiast. Here you can enjoy dozens of choice cuts from the great comedic duo's live radio work on station WOR in (I believe) the 1970's, many of which show them at top form. The highlight is the episodes of their mock soap opera "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife". Join "America's favorite family of the footlights" as they tour New England towns with their Broadway show, WESTCHESTER FURIOSO, the centerpiece of which is "In Your Hat" - an appallingly bad production number worthy of "Springtime for Hitler". There are also such delightful nuggets as The Trophy Train, Charles the Poet, "The Gathering Dusk", "Elmer W. Litzinger, Spy", and more. Bob and Ray spoofed the snail's-pace of soap operas to perfection. Their wizardry with voices, sound effects, and music is enthralling. Bob and Ray INHABITED their characters, imbuing them with layers of reality and with interior lives - witness the wonderful Studio Talk bits. This is radio at its best. Buy these tapes and travel to dizzying heights of laughter!

Gioacchino Rossini wrote two kinds of comic opera. First there was the manic, almost farcial "opera buffa" (eg. THE BARBER OF SEVILLE). Then there was a kind of serio-comedy akin to the "dramma giocoso" of Mozart. IL TURCO IN ITALIA (1816) definitely falls in the latter category (as does LA CENERENTOLA). This little-known opera is a real gem. It is about a Muslim prince (Selim, sung by Michele Pertusi in fine voice) from Turkey and the comedy and conflict that ensue when he visits Italy. It's a clash of cultures as the polygamous Selim tries to steal Don Geronio's young wife, Fiorilla (mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, singing a role written for soprano). While the opera does not have as many memorable melodies or outstanding individual numbers as THE BARBER or CENERENTOLA, it is still a funny, compassionate comedy with some of Rossini's best music. The opera is surprisingly contemporary in feel, especially in the character of the Poet, who "writes" the opera as it unfolds. Bartoli, Pertusi, and Vargas are all excellent, but for me the stand-out is Alessandro Corbelli, who portrays the henpecked husband Geronio with musicality and sympathy. Just about any opera set with Corbelli on it is worth getting, as he is an extremely fine singing-actor in the Mozart/Rossini repertoire.

Let me begin by saying that THE RAKE'S PROGRESS is not only one of my favorite operas, but one of my favorite works of music. This may seem strange, as Stravinsky's neoclassical operatic morality fable is considered by many to be a cold, cerebral work. But quite on the contrary, THE RAKE is a jewel-like score full of lyricism, warmth, wit, and crystaline beauty - all of which Gardiner and his forces bring out marvelously in this recording. Listen to the exquisite Trio in Act II Scene 2 - perhaps the most beautiful number in the opera - and you'll see what I mean. Ian Bostridge and Deborah York's voices are an extraordinary match: both have very "pure" tones and a clear sense of line. Bryn Terfel's vivid, boisterous Nick Shadow and Anne-Sophie Von Otter's subtly witty Baba complete the cast. THE RAKE falls into the class of what I might call "private favorites" - works that are not universally "popular" but hold an extraordinary attraction for me personally. Both the Auden/Kallman libretto and Stravinsky's music are endlessly fascinating, and this CD has become one of my most prized recordings.

Any lover of American theater should own the original cast recording of THE MUSIC MAN. For me, the high point of this recording is Preston's intoxicating performance of the speak-song number, "Trouble". His performance here is cool and rhythmically precise, unlike his "white hot", vitriolic performance in the 1962 movie. But the whole CD is a lot of fun. Enjoy!

Tame's analysis of 20th-century classical music is completely one-sided, with examples carefully selected to support his point of view. Here's his view briefly summed up: All 20th-century music is a heap of unholy garbage. The problem is that he focuses only on the most avant-garde and radical composers (Schoenberg, Cage etc.) Where do composers such as Bartok, Prokofiev, or Messiaen fit in his analysis? They receive no mention. For Tame, the 20th century was simply a diabolical parade starting with Debussy and ending with cacophonous rock. I agree completely with Tame that atonality and other radical developments are unhealthy and anti-musical; but there is more to 20th-century music than the ten most avant-garde composers! He places the avant-gardists on one hand, and on the other hand such traditionalists as Rachmaninoff and Vaughan Williams, whom he absolutely adores.

Many of Tame's conclusions are utterly bogus, and some I find positively offensive. For example, his assertion that Stravinsky had a lot in common with the rock and roll culture because of "degenerate" lifestyle. EXCUSE ME?!! Can we have some evidence to back up this assertion? Again, Tame concentrates only on Stravinsky's most avant-garde work: THE RITE OF SPRING. Like many simpletons, Tame seems to think that this is the only thing Stravinsky wrote. What about an assessment of Stravinsky's later music, which shows a strain of conservatism and a concern for the musical values which Tame upholds? Tame's statement that Stravinsky touched virtually all of the "New Music" styles is very misleading; to my knowledge, he did not turn late in life to computer music! Stravinsky's religious faith gets no mention. Oh, and I think anyone who thinks that OEDIPUS REX is a degenerate work of music should have his head examined. Can anyone take this author seriously?

I think we have serious reason to doubt the musical expertise of a writer who writes the following phrase: "[The music of THE RITE OF SPRING] reaches such a crescendo of hedonistic abandonment..." Anyone with a high school education and an elementary musical training knows that a crescendo is a climax, not the building to a climax! Please, savor that marvelous little sentence. It tells us a lot about the author.

1776 has generated both positive and negative criticism. Some have said that the songs are corny. I actually think that the songs are much better than they are often given credit for. They are quite marvelous little numbers, tuneful and cleverly crafted, and they deliver a lot of historical background in a diverting manner. (Okay, I think "The Egg" seriously needs a few rewrites, but apart from that the score is wonderful.) The composer was able to absorb a little 18th-century sound as well, and this adds to the period flavor. It is interesting that in this musical the songs, with one or two exceptions, do not move the plot forward but rather function as a kind of respite from the intense debate scenes. I believe the show could work well without the songs as a straight play. But the creators of this show understood that dramatic tension cannot be sustained forever. You must have a respite - some music, something lighter, some comic relief, perhaps. I consider the best songs to be the rousing introductory number "Sit down, John", "Mama, look sharp" (a very touching kind of frontier folk song), and the Tory Dickinson's brilliant satirical number "Cool, cool considerate men". I am infuriated that they deleted the latter song from the movie version of 1776. What were they thinking? This is the best thing in the show!

Anyway, now I must get down to talking about the performances, and in several cases they are not satisfactory. I suppose the vocal quality of the actors playing Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, and Dickinson are about what you might expect from Broadway performers who can't sing and whom nobody expects to be able to sing. But wouldn't it be nice to assemble a cast that actually had good singing voices? I saw a community theater production where the actor playing Dickinson was a trained singer and had a voice A HUNDRED times superior to the fellow on this recording. The two women, the actor playing Richard Henry Lee, and the soloist in "Momma, look sharp" are the good singers in the batch. But the other guys - why anyone would actually want to listen to these guys croak these songs out is beyond me. I'd be interested in hearing the 1997 revival recording.

This is my second review of this movie, and I have found that I have a few more observations. Has anyone noticed how wooden and mechanical Broderick's performance is? At times he sounds like he's reading cue cards, and at others his movements resemble those of a puppet, marionette, or wind-up toy. I kept looking during "76 Trombones" to see if he had any visible strings attached. And that blank face of his shows almost no emotion. It's really a shame that casting Broderick ruined the whole movie, because the production has so many good points. The period small-town atmosphere is superb, Kristen Chenoweth is great, the staging in many of the musical numbers (eg. "Iowa Stubborn", "Marian the Librarian" "The Wells Fargo Wagon") is brilliant. The cast radiates YOUTH and vitality, unlike the original 1962 version, whose shopworn cast looks like its been hanging around on the set for too long. But believe me - as far as Harold Hill is concerned, Broderick isn't worthy to shine Robert Preston's marching boots. Whereas previously we had a MUSIC MAN with superlative Harold Hill and a weak production, now the situation is reversed. So again I say, what a shame.

One final point: "Trouble" looks and sounds all wrong. Hill is here assuming the mantle of an itinerant revivalist preacher; his mesmerizing patter is like a fiery sermon. He is cataloguing rather scandalous behavior for the time, and the townspeople should be reacting with shock. Here, instead of preaching Broderick dances around like an idiot, while the people just stand there. Tell you what, Disney, why not just get a new Harold Hill and run all the scenes with him in it all over again?

I got this book when I was in high school and became instantly hooked on it. Even long after I had chosen my college, I still read all the entries in it for pure enjoyment, they were so entertaining! The reviews of the various colleges are positively
hilarious at times. Yes, this guide is from a decidedly right-wing perspective, and that's why I found it so refreshing and delightful. I believe that liberals have every right to cultivate their idea of higher education. But thank goodness we conservatives have books like this to guide us away from the
deadwood. So be warned - this is definitely a conservative book, though the title doesn't indicate it. I hope that these editors
continue to put out editions of this book every year to help guide all the young people searching for colleges.