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- MUSIC, Page 100BEST OF '88
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-
- Pop
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- RUBEN BLADES: NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (Elektra). The
- Panamanian-born singer-songwriter's first album in English:
- definitive proof that great music has no language problem.
-
- TONI CHILDS: UNION (A&M). In a year of auspicious
- breakthroughs for women writer-performers, Childs' was the
- standout.
-
- JARVIS: WHATEVER WORKS (MCA). Jazz, rock, pop, country and
- New Age smoothly reconciled by an adept keyboardist with a
- knack for graceful melody.
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- LYLE LOVETT: PONTIAC (MCA). Quirky, haunting roadhouse tunes
- with an underhanded comic flair.
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- RANDY NEWMAN: LAND OF DREAMS (Reprise). Lacerating spiritual
- autobiography and unsparing social wit. Pretty good whorehouse
- piano too.
-
- THE O'KANES: TIRED OF THE RUNNIN' (Columbia). Revisionist
- country music, featuring unassuming instrumental virtuosity and a
- spiritual affinity for the sounds of the distant hills.
-
- THE TRAVELING WILBURYS: TRAVELING WILBURYS, VOLUME ONE
- (Wilbury). In transparent disguise, some rock heavyweights --
- including Bob Dylan, George Harrison and the lamented Roy
- Orbison -- turn out the most infectious lightweight pop of the
- year.
-
- U2: RATTLE AND HUM (Island). A diary of the band's discovery
- of a mythical musical America. A concert album like no other.
-
- THE WATERBOYS: FISHERMAN'S BLUES (Chrysalis). Watch your
- backs: it's another Irish rock band, poised for greatness.
-
- BRIAN WILSON: BRIAN WILSON (Sire). Anthems from 'round the
- bend and supernal pop craftsmanship.
-
- Classical
-
- JOHN ADAMS: NIXON IN CHINA (Nonesuch). A waltz across the
- Great Wall with Dick, Pat, Henry and Mao: the year's best new
- opera recording.
-
- BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONIES NOS. 1 AND 6 (EMI). Roger Norrington
- and the London Classical Players re-create on original
- instruments the lusty sounds of Beethoven's time.
-
- GERSHWIN: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, RHAPSODY IN BLUE, CONCERTO
- IN F (Arabesque). A player in Gershwin's 1934 band, Mitch Miller
- conducts with love and gusto.
-
- HANDEL: MESSIAH (Archiv). A definitive performance from
- Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert. Hallelujah!
-
- KERN: SHOW BOAT (EMI). The landmark American musical just
- keeps on rollin' along in a bravura operatic version with
- Frederica von Stade and Teresa Stratas.
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- MOZART: THE COMPLETE PIANO SONATAS (Philips). Crisp, elegant
- pianism from Japanese-born Mitsuko Uchida.
-
- MICHAEL NYMAN: THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT (CBS).
- The first neurological opera, a dazzling minimalist display
- based on a case history from the Oliver Sacks best seller.
-
- RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: THREE SYMPHONIES, CAPRICCIO ESPAGNOL,
- RUSSIAN EASTER FESTIVAL OVERTURE (DG). There is much more to
- Rimsky than Scheherazade, as Neemi Jarvi and the Gothenburg
- Symphony prove.
-
- SONGS OF AMERICA (Nonesuch). From Foster and Ives to Copland
- and Carter, a tour de force by mezzo Jan DeGaetani and pianist
- Gilbert Kalish.
-
- WAGNER: DIE WALKURE (DG). With Hildegard Behrens, James
- Morris and James Levine, the Met's new Ring cycle is off to a
- rousing start.
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