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SYMPHONY NO. 5, BRUNO WALTER AND THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC and KINDERTOTENLIEDER, KATHLEEN FERRIER WITH WALTER AND THE VIENNA PHILHARMONIC (Odyssey, two LPs). Two more stereo re-channelings of early Walter recordings. The symphony is especially notable for the gemutlich rendition of the adagietto. This is the movement that Leonard Bernstein conducted at Senator Robert F. Kennedy's funeral in Manhattan's St. Patrick's Cathedral. The Kindertotenlieder is one of the last—and one of the best—recordings made by English Contralto Kathleen Ferrier before her death in 1953.
SYMPHONY NO. 6, SIR JOHN BARBIROLLI AND THE NEW PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA (Angel, two LPs). The tragic beauty and power of this score can scarcely be matched anywhere. "It is the sum of all the suffering I have been compelled to endure at the hands of life," said Mahler. Barbirolli drains every ounce of Angst from the music, and the recording itself is superbly engineered.
DES KNABEN WUNDERHORN, ELISABETH SCHWARZKOPF, DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU, GEORGE SZELL CONDUCTING THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Angel). Though not a happy composer, Mahler could be light-hearted when he turned to folk poetry. In these twelve songs—drawn from the German folk anthology The Youth's Magic Horn—he conjures up an impish world of humorous saints, sorrowful drummer boys, cuckoos and nightingales. As one would expect from such a line-up of talent, this version abounds with interpretive delights. It does not, however, outclass Angel's previous recording by Janet Baker, Geraint Evans and Conductor Wyn Morris with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which some may prefer for its lighter, wittier style.
CINEMA
THE FIXER is a relentless parable of a modern Job, based on Bernard Malamud's prize-winning novel. Under the inventive and often brilliant direction of John Frankenheimer, the actors—especially Alan Bates and Dirk Bogarde—bring to the film a truly Dostoevskian resonance and moral force.
THE FIREMEN'S BALL. From a slight and funny anecdote about a group of firemen who stage a party in honor of their retiring chief, Director Miloś Forman (Loves of a Blonde) has fashioned a delightful parody-fable of Communist bureaucracy in pre-Dubćek Czechoslovakia.
OLIVER! A gleaming, steaming, rum plum pudding of a musical. Dickens' sociological sting is gone, but in its place is a Christmas package of breathtaking sets, period costumes, and a full-throated, joyous score by Lionel Bart. Best of a twinkling cast are Ron Moody as Fagin and a Toby jug of a boy named Jack Wild as The Artful Dodger.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. An epic film about the history and future of man, brilliantly directed by Stanley Kubrick. The special effects are mind-blowing.
YELLOW SUBMARINE. The Beatles appear in cartoon form as the stars of this eclectic animated film about a voyage to Pepperland on a yellow submarine. The real star of the trip, however, is Animator Heinz Edelmann, whose visual puns and graphic artistry dazzle the eye.
PRETTY POISON. Murder for laughs is the subject of this tidy little satire, which features highly professional performances by Tony Perkins and Tuesday Weld, and excellent direction by Noel Black, 31, a newcomer to Hollywood.