oxed

Boxed set bonanza #3: The
Specialty Stuff Part 1

third and final in-

# YW stallment of our
mini-series about specially
priced boxed sets as sugges-

-tions’for deceptively eco-
nomical Christmas gifts,

Each set we've laoked at is a
great value at under $30 for four
or five CDs and they offer a-wide -
variety of music styles to-suit
almost every taste. This week
we're looking at two packages that

- specialize in the works of a single
composer. SO
~ Bach Celebration, Philips (4 CDs)
_ What can you say about Bach?
_ Johann Sebastian that is. ©
Everybody knows him. Everybody
_ loves him. But not everybody's
~.prepared to mortgage the family
home forthe sake of even ap-
roaching a complete collection of
is roughly one billion works. So,
except where it's genuinely neces-
sary to buy specific CDs of specific
pieces because they’re so... um ...
well ... significant (eg. Die Kunst
der Fugue or The Brandenburg

_ Ross MacDonald

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Concertos), boxed sets are the best
way to go. ; ‘
This is a particularly good one
because the four CDs each contain
examples of Bach’s works ina
specific musical genre. The first +
CD concentrates on orchestral
music and the second on choral
and vocal. The third gives’'us
keyboard music and the fourth
chamber and solo instrumentals, .”
There are 21 pieces in all, most of
which are complete and unabridg-
ed. "
Of course, there's also variety on

each CD — the keyboard disc, for °

example, offers up solo harp-
sichord, four harpsichords (!) and
two organ works. And there’s
enough of the familiar as well as -
the unfamiliar throughout the en-’,

tire set to keep even the ardent
Bach-o-phile interested,
Performances are by various ar-
tists but the bulk of the orchestral
stuff falls to Sir Nev, who remains
with St. Martin as well as the
English Chamber Orchestra under

the batons of Raymond Leppard or

Barry Rose. Vocalists include Elly

Ameling, Kirt Te Kanawa and Nan-

" cy Argenta, while Blandine Verlet,
Daniel Chorzempa and Gidon
Kremer demonstrate mastery over

_ their various instruments,

Despite copyrights ranging from
1967 to 1985, this set is very well
produced, consistently reliable’
and will be. much appreciated by
anyone with even a measured pal-
ate for baroque.or. for Bach.in par-

“ticular, a
The Tchaikovsky Experience,
London (5 CDs) - -

This is the latest in the “Experi-

ence’’ series from Polygrara which
has already issued sets of baroque
anthology, classical anthology,

. Mozart, and Strauss (and probably

. others that {tn not aware of). This

.time around we get six full hours

of music from a composer.who,
“unlike Bach, was economical *.
enough in terms: of output that we
have become comfortably familiar

composer

with large quantities of the total,

Tchaikovsky's a funny guy that
way because most people seem to
love The Nutcracker, Swan Lake
and Romeo and Juliet, and at least
admit to nodding acquaintance
with The 1812 Overture — yet
they shun any monetary cutlay
toward putting him in their collec-
tions,

Perhaps it’s because we were
musically weaned on The Nut-
cracker and 1812 Overture in
school, or maybe because every
ballet scene in movies and TV
depicts Swan Lake. Whatever the
reason, we seem to have come to

think of Tchaikovsky as already
well represented around the house
even when he isn’t. ‘
Well, here’s an economical cure
for that syndrome. Everything
mentianed above is here as well as
the complete Symphonic Patheti-
que, a smidgen of Sleeping Beauty
and many other favorites. ‘
Federalists should be appeasect
by the performances of Charles
Dutoit’s Orchestre symphonique
de Montreal, one of which — ©
Romeo and Juliet — is brand new
this year. Inclusion of The Nut-
cracker even lends this set a -
Christmas flavor.

A DIVISION OF VIPER ENTERPRISES INC.

2 500

per person

CAROL SHIP
CRUISES |
Dec. 10-Dec. 21°

PARROTHEAD CHARTERS 230-8671.

> Spirit of
~ public art
. Captured |

From pige 34

nature of all art: in their approach ° :

. to the issues encompassed by this
exhibit, Eugenio Dittborn, Panya
Clark and Stan Douglas are, in

many respects, diametric counter-

. parts to the above artists.

"Their works all bring a pro-
nounced sense of social awareness
to bear, laying particular emphasis
on concrete details and events, -
even when — and perhaps, then,

“tprecisely because — they are’

‘totally fabricated. ‘

Chilean artist Eugenio Dittborn’s

. Airmail Paintings, which consist
essentially of large and often inter-

"related works resembling giant
pages torn at random froma
gargantuan book, are probably the
most forthright and outwardly po-
litical of the works on display.

Vancouver artist Stan Douglas’
“silent’’-cinema reconstruction of
a hypothetical ‘‘racial crime’’ in
Ruskin, B.C., derives its plot struc-
ture, its title and possibly even its
origin, from the roughly syn-
chronous conjunction of a number
of improbable historical events —
not the least important of which is
Arnold Schoenberg's composition
in 1929 of Pursuit, Fear, Catastro-
phe, an orchestral accompaniment
for an unspecified silent fiim.

Panya Clark’s reconstructions of
objects found in the venerated
pages of National Geographic are,
on the surface, little more than
highly competent examples of the
model-makers’ craft placed in jux-
taposition to their source material
in order to arouse suspicions of
authenticity in the minds of their
viewers,

in the end, this work, Research
& Discovery, seems a mere
preparation for Clark's rnajor opus
in the exhibit, the full-scale
reconstruction of her artist grand-
mother's living room.

It should not be inappropriate to
observe, in the wake of the
“public art as public issues” fias-
co of Artropolis “93, that the
VAG’s Out of Place exhibit has —
without even trying ~ come
closer to capturing the real spirit of
public art.

Bundle up the entire family, . .. friends and neighbors... pick a favorite night and join in the
revelry as residents and visitors alike marvel at the CAROL SHIP PARADE OF LIGHTS.
Festivities can include a variety of entertainment and visua! exjeriences ranging from choirs
and carollers singing traditional holiday songs, to street ¢<\.eriainment; from the lighting of
Christmas trees and candles, flashlights and bonfires.

Atalil locations, donations of new toys and food are gratefully accepted on behalf of the
Nortli Vancouver Christmas Bureau and the West Vancouver Santa Claus Fund.

RE

CHRISTMAS
FESTIVAL.
SLIGHTS

Presented by

The City of North Vancouver, The District of North Vancouver and

the District Parks Department,

The District of West Vancouver, North Vancouver Recreation Commission,
Ambleside Tiddlycove Lions Club

BCTE.
fa

PST

VANCOUVER