New Records

The record stalls looked as gay as well-appointed nurseries last week; an unprecedented flood of children's albums was ready for the Christmas trade. The newly recorded daydreams and nightmares ranged from Nelson Eddy's bellowing like a whale to Jose Ferrer's reading of Mozart and Schubert biographies with symphonic accompaniment. Best of the lot: a straightforward dramatization of Oscar Wilde's poignant fairy tale, The Happy Prince, starring Bing Crosby and Orson Welles (Decca, 4 sides) and Balladeer Woody Guthrie's original harum-scarum Songs to Grow On--Nursery Days (Disc, 6 sides).

For adults there was some good music:

Tschaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor (Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky conducting; Victor, 12 sides). The best Fifth on records, extraordinarily lyrical and Russian, with characteristic Koussevitzky accents. Performance: excellent.

Rachmaninoff: Songs (Jennie Tourel, accompanied by Erich Itor Kahn; Columbia, 6 sides). Mezzo-Soprano Tourel's eerie interpretation of Pushkin, Alexis Tolstoy and Victor Hugo verses is outstanding in the current rash of Rachmaninoff. Performance: excellent.

Haydn: Symphony No. 97 in C (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham conducting; Victor, 6 sides). Waspish Sir Thomas and his orchestra-men race over the hurdles like steeplechasers. Performance: good.

Bach: Three Part Inventions (Erno Balogh, pianist; Disc, 6 sides). The master's 15 instruction exercises turned into bubbling little masterpieces by a fastidious musician. First U.S. recording. Performance: good.

Chopin: Piano Music (Maryla Jonas; Columbia, 6 sides). Neat, womanly interpretations of mazurkas, nocturnes and waltzes by a Polish artist who zoomed to the top in two recitals (TIME, April 8). Performance: good.

Beethoven: Quintet in C Major (Budapest String Quartet with Milton Katims, viola; Columbia, 8 sides). A Mozartean caprice by a young (31) and untroubled Beethoven. Performance: good.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.