New Records

BartOk: Concerto for Orchestra (the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner conducting; Columbia, 12 sides). The last to be recorded and possibly the finest of the late Bela Bartok's last great works. Fritz Reiner makes the wait worthwhile. Recording: good.

Beethoven: Symphony No. I (the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York, Bruno Walter conducting; Columbia, 8 sides). When Beethoven wrote his first symphony at 29, he was beginning to shake loose the shackles of Haydn and Mozart, to hurl thunder on his own. Conductor Walter doesn't miss a clap--or any of the symphony's considerable charm. Recording: good.

Brahms: Quartet No. 3, Op. 60 (Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano; Alexander Schneider, violin; Milton Katims, viola; Frank Miller, cello; Mercury, 7 sides). Mercury could hardly have gotten together a finer ensemble (Schneider is a Budapest Quartet alumnus; Katims and Miller are both first chair men in Toscanini's NBC Symphony) to bring this grimly powerful Brahms quartet back on the record shelves. Performance and recording : excellent.

Haydn: Quartet in C Major, Op. 33, No. 3 (the Griller String Quartet; English Decca, 4 sides). The Griller players add a little unbecoming weight to "The Bird," one of Haydn's best string quartets, but it still flies gayly and engagingly. Recording: good.

Mahler: Songs of a Wayfarer (Eugenia Zareska, contralto, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Eduard van Beinum conducting; English Decca, 4 sides). A good place to start piercing some of the more heavily veiled mysteries of Mahler. The London Philharmonic is led by Amsterdam's highly capable Conductor van Beinum. Recording: good.

Hindemith: Quartet in E Flat (the Budapest String Quartet; Columbia, 6 sides). Yale's Composer-Professor Paul Hindemith wrote this heavy quartet in 1943. Dreary in its slow movements, it even has a note of gloom in its bright ones. Performance and recording: good.

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