New Records

Arie di Arie di Opere (Ferruccio Tagliavini with the Sinfonica dell' E.I.A.R., Ugo Tansini conducting; Cetra, 6 sides). The new hero of the Met's Italian fans (TIME, Jan. 20) sings arias from six operas (Mignon, Tosca, Rigoletto, The Barber of Seville, Manon, Elisir d'Amore). The Italian tempi are perhaps a little languid for U.S. tastes, but Tagliavini's contralto-like pianissimi are wondrously lyrical. The imported Italian discs (which cost a whopping $3.25 each) are technically as good as most U.S. recordings. Performance: excellent.

Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York, Igor Stravinsky conducting; Columbia, 7 sides). At 64, Stravinsky has rewritten one of his best earlier works. In this 1946 version, his third reworking, Composer Stravinsky adds incidental passages and restores the Adagio and Scherzo of the first 1910 try. The bird's plumage is a little fancier, but it flies no better. Performance: fair.

Mozart: Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord (Alexander Schneider, violin, and Ralph Kirkpatrick, harpsichord; Columbia, 12 sides). A first-rate sonata team making itself at home in the 18th Century. They play Mozart's melodious Sonatas in C Major, B Flat Major and G Major. (Alexander Schneider is an alumnus of the great Budapest String Quartet; brother Mischa still plays in it.) Performance: excellent.

Bach: Arias (Marian Anderson, contralto, with the RCA Victor Chamber Orchestra, Robert Shaw conducting; Victor, 6 sides). The mighty-voiced contralto, holding herself down to a small orchestra, is not at her best. Included are arias from three cantatas, the Christmas Oratorio and the Passion According to St. Matthew. Performance: fair.

Copland: A Lincoln Portrait (Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky conducting, with Melvyn Douglas narrating; Victor, 3 sides). Koussevitzky speeds up Copland's rhythms and Melvyn Douglas reads his lines like a carnival barker. Not so effective as Conductor Artur Rodzinski's 1946 version with the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York, which has Negro Baritone Kenneth Spencer's dignified narration. Performance: fair.

Paganini Recital (Ruggiero Ricci, violin, with Louis Persinger, piano; Vox, 6 sides). A talented 26-year-old, who is soloist with the American Broadcasting Co. String Orchestra, uses these six show pieces of Paganini's to show that he is more nimble-fingered than some of the bigger names. Performance: excellent.

Folk Music of the Central East (Disc, 6 sides). The first album of Moe Asch's ethnological folk music series (TIME, Feb. 25) was recorded in remote southern republics of the U.S.S.R. The result is not Tchaikovsky's Russia but polyglot: in different sections the music sometimes sounds like an Indian powwow, sometimes like a swirl of bagpipes, sometimes like Chinese temple music. Performance: uneven.

Folk Songs and Ballads (Susan Reed, with zither and Irish harp; Victor, 6 sides). Twenty-year-old Susie's voice is sweet, her diction pure and her zither a little flat. A big attraction in Greenwich Village, her ways may be too sophisticated and stylized for plain folks. Performance: good.

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