Meeting Venus provides compact treat Meeting Venus: Music from the Original Soundtrack (excerpts from Tannhauser by Richard Wagner) New release from Warner Music on the Teldec label. CD #2292-46336-20 Kiri Te Kanawa - Elisabeth Rene Kollo - Tannhauser Hakan Hagegard - Wolfram Waltraud Meier - Venus The Ambresian Singers The Philharmonia Orchestra - Marek Janowski conductor ANCOUVER CRITIC Ray Chatelin once remarked that movie soundtracks ‘“‘occupy a niche near the bottom of the music-lover’s snob guide’; a well founded observation when applied to the majority of re- corded film scores. Ross MacDonald CLASSICAL CLASS Too often they constitute little more than an extended cash-grab added to already outrageous box office prices. With Meeting Venus we are given considerably more, howev- er, in a recording that stands up exceptionally well even without its celluloid affiliation. It turns out that this quality works in our favor because, though it-hasn’t yet made it to Vancouver theatres, reliable reports from Toronto tell me that the movie just isn’t up to scratch. Starring Glenn Close and Niels Arestrup, we are given the backstage hijinx of an operatic MV ABITIBI VALENTINE'S DANCE & CRUISE FRIDAY, FEB. 14TH, 1992 8 PM TO MIDNIGHT FUVVVVEFTUY $20.00 Fetson $38.00 Eounle +G.S.T. Includes LUSCIOUS DESSERTS VVVIIVIVED Licensed Cash Bar No Minors Can. Steamship Certified 681-2915 For Reservations 40- 60% OFF Rossignol Salomon Dynastar Fischer Atomic Kastle ALL GOGGLES 40-50% OFF Smith-Scott-Carrera When you want the occasion to be unforgettable — come to a place where memories are made! Paden 926-8922 445-13th Street, West Vancouver & mn i troupe preparing a production of Wagner's Tannhauser at the Pacis Opera. Those of us familiar with the plot of Tannhauser are expected to note the parallels between the typ- ically egomaniacal songsters with their inevitable hormonal liaisons and the characters they portray in the opera. But, fortunately, none of that comes to bear on this fine re- cording which amounts to a com- pact distillation of highlights from what is arguably the best of Wagner's early operas. Producers Renate Kupfer and Wolfgang Mohr have not only en- sured a finely engineered and well structured CD, but have managed, for the most part, to avoid that most annoying habit of slashing longer pieces into pesky little soundbites. 10-60% OFF Descente — Kaelin Nevica — North Face Schneider — Fera Spyder — Concept Schoffel — Asics ALL JUNIOR CLOTHING SPECIAL PURCHASE ae SERAC SKI WEAR Here were are given the full 13% minutes of Wagner's grandly lyrical Overture as well as a goodly portion of the action via nine other selections. Terse cropping at the end of Elisabeth’s Dich, teure Halle, gruss ich wieder is the only detectable editing flaw in an otherwise perfect job. And that near perfection carries over to the performers too, which is not surprising considering their calibre. Kiri Te Kanawa takes diva honors as Elisabeth, the princess simultaneously wooed by Rene Kollo’s lustful Tannhauser and Hakan Hagegard’s more poetically inclined Wolfram. Kollo is no stranger to the titular role and conveys — even in the brief 11 minutes he gets here — a unique grasp of the character Nordica Lange Dachstein Saiomon Koflach Rossignol JUNIGR SKIS & BOOTS Aue SASS wath OF who, as Alan Rich once put it, “‘is so easily made boring’’ by others. Rounded out by The Ambrosian Singers and the always reliable Philharmonia Orchestra under Marek Janowski, the entire cast pools its substantial resources to produce a compact treat for those who don’t have time for a total Tannhauser. Of course, if yours is a life of leisure, you might be tempied to forgo this delightful CD in favor of a Tannhauser vollstandig (possibly Kollo’s earlier offering on Lon- don/Decca). But there are two things to recommend Meeting Venus beyond any other Tannhauser you might encounter — Te Kanawa and Kollo, together ... and some nice pictures of Glenn Close too — in case you're that way inclin- “ON SALE! Nitro Burton Scott-Kerma Rossignol-Leki 7 a ‘4 Derren cena ecen TRENT