New Records

It used to be mother & father who read to the kids. Now any parent with a phonograph in his home and money in his pocket can have the reading done for him by a professional. There were never so many children's records to choose from. Among the new standouts: Danny Kaye's version of a children's favorite, Tubby the Tuba (Decca); a new volume in Capitol's Bozo the Clown series; Peter Lind Hayes' Genie, the Magic Record (Decca); Sterling Holloway's Uncle Remus Stories (Decca); The Little Engine That Could (Victor); Dinah Shore's Bongo (Columbia). Older kids can hear Lionel Barrymore's reading of Dickens' A Christmas Carol (MGM) or shiver to Basil Rathbone's Oliver Twist (Columbia).

Music for the grownups:

Bach: Cantata No. 140 (RCA Victor Chorale and Orchestra with soloists, Robert Shaw conducting; Victor, 8 sides). Young Robert Shaw gives Bach's powerful Sleepers, Wake! careful and loving treatment. Recording: fair.

Khachaturian: Violin Concerto (Louis Kaufman, violinist, with the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra, Jacques Rachmilovich conducting; Concert Hall Society, 8 sides). This concerto, a favorite in Soviet Russia, won its composer his first Stalin Prize (1940). It is full of furious fiddling, signifying nothing. Performance: good.

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, Love Duet (Helen Traubel, soprano; Torsten Ralf, tenor; Herta Glaz, contralto, with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Busch conducting; Columbia, 4 sides). Traubel & Ralf take the famed love duet faster than Flagstad and Melchior. The result is surprisingly warmer, and the orchestral setting is fuller. Recording: good.

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