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THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ENTIRE WORLD AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF COLE PORTER REVISITED simmers with campy humor, and the bewitchers who stir the broth include a loony (Elmarie Wendel), a lovely (Carmen Alvarez), and a larky clown (Kaye Ballard). The little-known Porter songs are basted in wit.
JUDITH. Rosemary Harris is superb as the beautiful Jewess who saved her people by killing an Assyrian conqueror. Jean Giraudoux's skeptical version of the apocryphal story reveals a Judith more womanly than saintly, driven not so much by piety as by a desire for personal glory.
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE has the compassion and sensitivity of early Arthur Miller at its best. The tragedy brought by a Brooklyn longshoreman to himself and his family is powerfully depicted by a fine cast.
RECORDS
Choral and Song
BRAHMS: GERMAN REQUIEM (Deutsche Grammophon; 2 LPs). "Blessed are they that mourn," softly sings the chorus, and soon the sad saraband begins ("For all flesh is as grass"). At length the black solemnity is relieved by the soaring soprano voice of Gundula Janowitz singing "I will see you again." A powerful, rhythmically relentless performance by Herbert von Karajan, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Singverein.
FAREWELL RECITAL (RCA Victor). Barred because of race from Washington's Constitution Hall 26 years ago, Marian Anderson was cheered by nearly 4,000 devoted fans last fall when she opened her farewell tour in the big auditorium. Much of the luster and steadiness are gone from her voice, but she still sings Negro spirituals and Schubert Lieder with touching directness and passages of beauty.
LEOŠ JANÁČEK: GLAGOLITIC MASS (Deutsche Grammophon). The late Czech composer wrote his only mass at 72, insisting, however, that he was "no believer?till I see for myself." The work is wildly dramatic, the bold musical motives deriving partly from the sounds of the ancient Church Slavonic language ("Glagolitic" is the name given to its written form). From the first brassy fanfare, Czech Conductor Rafael Kubelik leads the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and Chorus in a rousing performance, with brilliant singing by Soprano Evelyn Lear and Tenor Ernst Haefliger.
TELEMANN: THE PASSION OF JESUS ACCORDING TO MARK (Philips; 2 LPs). Telemann was the most prolific member of the 18th century avantgarde, showing in his thousand-odd works a radical tendency to abandon Bach-type counterpoint in favor of melody and accompanying harmony. His Passion is given its first recording by the Lausanne Youth Choir and the Munich Pro Arte Orchestra, led by Kurt Redel, who has made a distinguished specialty of baroque music.
MOZART: MASS IN C MINOR (Angel). Written for his bride, who sang the coloratura soprano role in its first performance, this was Mozart's last Mass before the Requiem. Wolfgang Gönnenwein conducts the South German Madrigal Choir and Southwest German Chamber Orchestra in this spacious performance, with Edith Mathis exquisitely singing the eight-minute bel canto solo, Et Incarnatus Est.