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The Establishment. Britannia used to rule the waves; nowadays it can scarcely hold the tongues of its 20-year-olds. It's mock mock mock all night long as this freshman three-man, two-woman revue team tries to match the varsity players of Beyond the Fringe.
The Tiger and The Typists. Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson are in two clever one-acters; the first concerns two self-appointed nonconformists who eat their i own cliches, the second a pair of drab office workers whose entire lives drain away from 9 to 5.
RECORDS
Liszt: Concerto No. 1, Les Preludes (New York Philharmonic. Leonard Bernstein, conductor; Andre Watts, pianist; Columbia) confirms the astonishing first impression that 16-year-old Pianist Watts made in his New York debut in January. Watts and Bernstein are in rapport in a fluent and subtle performance.
Bruckner: Mass No. 3 in F Minor (Berlin Symphony, St. Hedwig's Cathedral Choir, Karl Forster conducting; Pilar Lorengar, soprano, Christa Ludwig, alto, Josef Traxel, tenor, Walter Berry, bass; Angel) is a majestic work. Forster matches the full voice of his orchestra to the choral glories of the Mass, and only Soprano Lorengar's obvious struggling brings him down to earth again,
Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle (Mercury) is a worthy love offering by the friends of the late Bela Bartok. It is an all-Hungarian recording of Bartok's only opera, with Old Friend Basso Mihaly Szekely singing the lead, and Old Friend Antal Dorati conducting. The performances are more devoted than the music justifies: the opera remains a penny poem.
Nielsen: Symphony No. 5 (New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, conductor; Columbia) is an excited reading of the seldom-heard work of the late Danish composer Carl Nielsen. Nielsen's melodious, strongly rhythmed music sounds like a primer to Shostakovich, and Bernstein makes the most of all its frenzied drama. It is, above all, a showcase for the Philharmonic's superb percussionists.
Purcell: Come Ye Sons of Art (Alfred Deller, countertenor; Vanguard) is a happy new appearance of Purcell's birthday music for Queen Mary, this time with Deller and his countertenor son, Mark, sharing the sublime duet.
Vivaldi: Gloria (Roger Wagner Chorale; Angel) is a rendition of Vivaldi at his festive best. The choir gets a bit thick at times, but the soloists are excellent and the recording is rich and sonorous.
Oistrakh (Monitor) presents David Oistrakh and his son, Igor, in a good collection of works for virtuosi violins: Haydn's Duo in B Flat, Prokofiev's Sonata for Two Violins, Honegger's Sonatina, and Louis Spohr's Duetto II in D Major. The Oistrakhs play magnificently.
BOOKS
Best Reading
Lawd Today, by Richard Wright. Writ ten before Native Son, but now published for the first time (three years after Wright's death), this novel of a brutalized Chicago Negro in the 1930s is a grim reminder of a time, not long ago, when the pain caused by race prejudice was mainly economic.
The Conservative Enemy, by C.A.R.
Crosland. A hard-minded British socialist hits out at fossilized economic thinking not only in his Tory enemies but by wel fare-state dogmatists in his own party.