CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITICMark Swed’Ring’ in the new...

CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC

Mark Swed

‘Ring’ in the new year

OK, it sounds corny, but 2006 is going to be a year of nonstop “Ringing.” Wagner’s epic operatic tetralogy shows up this spring in Copenhagen and Paris (a Robert Wilson production). Bayreuth mounts a new production in the summer. In the fall, the cycle opens a new opera house in Toronto, and the Kirov’s “Ring” comes to Costa Mesa from St. Petersburg around the same time. Gift tickets and trips for any of those would surely make a Wagnerite ecstatic and set you back thousands of dollars. A more reasonable option, though, is Long Beach Opera’s innovative mini-”Ring” next month. This will be an abridged chamber version of the cycle given over a weekend. For a more material “Ring,” Deutsche Grammophon has reissued the DVD of Patrice Chereau’s provocative yet plausible 1970s Bayreuth production brilliantly conducted by Pierre Boulez.

Richard Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, $350 to $600, Jan. 14-15 and Jan. 21-22. Long Beach Opera, Center Theater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. (562) 439-2580, www.longbeachopera.org.

“Der Ring des Nibelungen” on DVD, Deutsche Grammophon, $159.98, www.deutschegrammophon.com.

Treasures unearthed, explained

“The Penguin Companion to Classical Music” is one man’s take on the field. That man is the quirky, illuminating writer Paul Griffiths, a former music critic of the London Times, New Yorker and New York Times. In this 900-page paperback encyclopedia, he offers relatively straightforward, concise and informative descriptions of composers, performers and works, along with explanations of musical topics and terms. But often Griffiths condenses great complexities to a profound haiku-like simplicity and elegance. And his personality comes out strikingly in offbeat entries. Turn to “listen,” for instance, where he notes that listening “implies active attention, which may lapse from time to time through a piece that is unfamiliar or over-familiar, through a mediocre performance.” This is a treasure trove, much of it buried.

“The Penguin Companion to Classical Music,” Penguin, $25, www.penguinputnam.com.

Masterful compositions

Mozart’s 250th birthday and Steve Reich’s 70th birthday will take up a lot of 2006’s musical oxygen, and welcome they are to it. Richard Goode’s latest Mozart Nonesuch disc -- with two sonatas and four short pieces -- is about as glowingly exquisite as Mozart piano playing gets. On the other hand, French modernist pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard makes three Mozart concertos (early, middle and late) sound startlingly novel in a dazzling new Warner Classics CD.

As for Reich, turn to “You Are (Variations),” a modern masterpiece by a composer with a downright Mozartean command of Minimalism. He wrote the piece in 2004 for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which has recorded it for Nonesuch. It begins with a text by a Jewish mystic -- “You are wherever your thoughts are” -- which, like this exciting music, cuts through the holiday season hooey like a knife through soft butter.

“Mozart,” Richard Goode (Nonesuch), $16.98. “Mozart: Piano Concertos 6, 15 & 27,” Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Warner Classics), $16.98. “You Are (Variations),” Steve Reich (Nonesuch), $18.98. www.nonesuch.com, www.warnerclassics.com.

DANCE CRITIC

Lewis Segal

Revisiting famed dancers

Stars old and new make recent DVD releases great gifts for balletomanes. Using studio and TV footage shot from 1958 to 1985, “Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina Assoluta” includes glimpses of Alonso’s most famous roles (Giselle and Carmen), as well as a number of rarities, starting with “Oedipus Rex.” Her most frequent partner here is Azari Plisetsky (brother of famed Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya). Two all-star performances of “Le Pas de Quatre” pair Alonso with beloved Cuban ballerinas as well as fabled American and European dancers.

Carla Fracci and Rudolf Nureyev each taped “Giselle” with other partners, but their teaming in a live 1980 Rome Opera Ballet performance reveals different facets of their celebrated interpretations. In her prime, Fracci was a peerless Giselle, and even if Nureyev’s dancing looks awfully labored here, his intensity makes the Italians scream for more.

Stars most often seen in Europe are featured in “Great Dancers of Our Time.” Japan’s Kiyoko Kimura and Spain’s Lucia Lacarra will be happy discoveries for local audiences (though Lacarra did dance in San Francisco Ballet for a time). More familiar: Russia’s Vladimir Malakhov and Diana Vishneva, incendiary together in a duet from “Manon.”

“Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina Assoluta,” Video Artists International, $34.95. “Giselle,” Hardy Classic Video, $39.95, (available from VAI). www.vaimusic.com.

“Great Dancers of Our Time,” EuroArts, $24.99, www.naxos.com.

‘Nutcracker’ in a nutshell

All year long, music from “The Nutcracker” can be heard on cellphones and pagers, answering machines and, of course, elevators -- but at Improvementscatalog.com, you can find the ultimate gizmo for sugarplum addicts: a foot-long wooden music box shaped like a toy theater that plays eight Tchaikovsky tunes while showing dance episodes from the Christmas classic.

The party at Clara’s house, the snow scene, the festivities in Candyland: They’re all here, with three sets of endearing miniature dancers ready to perform. Even the czars never had it so good.

“Nutcracker Suite” musical box, $159.99, www.improvementscatalog.com.

Designs on a fairy-tale classic

The ultimate dance gift this year might be a rare volume of 54 mounted color plates showing Leon Bakst’s sumptuous set and costume designs for the historic 1921 London staging of “The Sleeping Princess” (a.k.a. “The Sleeping Beauty”) by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

The production nearly bankrupted Diaghilev, but at $3,000, the book itself (Golden Legend bookshop has No. 120 of 500 copies, in the original papier-mache box and signed by Bakst) is such a bargain that you might consider picking up some additional Bakst souvenirs as stocking stuffers.

“The Sleeping Princess” book, $3,000, Golden Legend, 211 S. Beverly Drive, Suite No. 114, Beverly Hills, (310) 385-1903, www.goldenlegend.com.

JAZZ/WORLD MUSIC WRITER

Don Heckman

Bowls to lift the spirits

The use of singing bowls for relaxation, meditation and enlightenment reaches back to 500 BC. Today, their embracing, natural harmonic sounds continue to be used for all of the above, as well as stress reduction, holistic healing and chakra balancing. At the very least, they are remarkably effective at tuning out the monkey chatter of everyday stress.

The Bodhisattva Trading Co. offers a large, diverse collection. The Meditation Starter Package -- a hand-forged, contemporary 5-inch singing bowl, padded mallet, cushion and incense sticks -- is a good place to start. The Old Soul Meditation Package is similar but includes a 4 1/2 -inch antique bowl. The Sound Healing package includes a 7-inch antique bowl, a prayer flag set and the book “The Healing Power of Sound.” At higher levels, there are superb 15th and 16th century Mani bowls.

Meditation Starter Package, $75; Old Soul Meditation Package, $99; Sound Healing package, $250; antique Mani bowls, $1,400 to $1,600. Bodhisattva Trading Co., (800) 588-5350, www.bodhisattva.com.

A melodious elixir

Percussionist Greg Ellis, who has performed in contexts as diverse as the world group Vas, the music of Mickey Hart and the soundtracks for the second and third “Matrix” films, is a firm believer in the transformative qualities of rhythm. Toward that end, he has created “Rhythmtonics” -- live recordings of improvised nontraditional percussion “to be aurally ingested for a feeling of well being ... intended to invigorate optimal functioning of one’s inner pharmacy.”

The seven-CD boxed set, recorded in real time, is centered on a set of seven musical tonics: focus, nourishment, energy, growth, calm, balance and inner voyage.

The instruments employed include (among dozens of others) the Egyptian rik, South Indian gatham, Balinese bamboo flute and South Pacific conch shell. Ellis’ instruction on how to listen to the CDs: “Open your ears and say, ‘Ahhhh....’ ”

“Rhythmtonics,” $116, www.rhythmpharm.com, natural food stores and yoga studios.

Memorabilia and all that jazz

Jazz collectibles generally take the form of ancient Bix Beiderbecke 78s, un-reissued LPs and bootleg concert tapes. Autographed photos and music scores have only recently surfaced as significant collectible items. All of which means that there are still some intriguing bargains around. Larry Rafferty, who calls himself Mr. Bebop and runs Larry’s Books and Autographs in the Bay Area, is an important source for autographed classic jazz collectibles worthy of a proud position on any jazz fan’s wall.

Among his current gems: A signed drawing of Coleman Hawkins, $575; a signed Dizzy Gillespie photo book, $75; a Louis Armstrong program signed “Satchmo” on the cover, with inside signatures by Barney Bigard, Cozy Cole and Russ Phillips, $425; a Benny Goodman signed photo, $150; and an 8-by-10 Ella Fitzgerald signed photo from the early ‘40s of Ella with the Four Keys, $375. Rafferty, who also has items that are not listed on his site, invites buyers to send their want lists.

Larry’s Books and Autographs, P.O. Box 1018, Lafayette, CA 94549. (925) 934-5356, www.mrbebop.com.