New Records

Bartok: Quartet No. 6 (Gertler String Quartet; English Decca, 7 sides). Bartok's six quartets are possibly the most impressive since Beethoven; in the finer moments of this last quartet (1939), as in Beethoven's last, the great breadth and depth of the composer is revealed clearly and simply. Performance and recording: good.

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 (Boyd Neel Orchestra, Boyd Neel conducting; English Decca, 6 sides). Not the most inspired of the six Brandenburgs, but here given an inspiring performance. Recording: good.

Beethoven: Sonata No. 3, Op. 69 (Pierre Fournier, cello; Artur Schnabel, piano; Victor, 6 sides). French Cellist Fournier made a hit two seasons ago at the Edinburgh Festival with Pianist Schnabel, Violinist Joseph Szigeti, and Violist William Primrose (TIME, Sept. 22, 1947). Here, in his U.S. record debut with Schnabel (and Beethoven), he succeeds again. Recording: excellent.

Trio No. 4 in D Major, Op. 70 (Adolf Busch, violin; Hermann Busch, cello; Rudolf Serkin, piano; Columbia, 6 sides). This trio ("The Ghost") is of lesser nobility-- except for its fine misterioso slow movement --than his Trio No. 6, Op. 97 ("The Archduke"), but here it is splendidly performed. Recording: excellent.

'Haydn: Violin Concerto No. 1 in C (Isaac Stern, violinist, with string orchestra; Columbia, 6 sides). One of the most delightful, if not the most profound, of all fiddle concertos; cleanly, clearly and delightfully played. Recording: good. Symphony No. 88 (Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting; Columbia, 6 sides). Also one of Haydn's most charming, but in the slow movement Conductor Ormandy drags where he should be warm and graceful. Recording: good.

Mozart: Symphony No. 39, K. 543 (Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell conducting; Columbia, 6 sides). Conductor Szell rides one of Mozart's finest and most spirited blue bloods with too tight a rein. Recording: good.

Thompson: Quartet No. 1 (Guilet String Quartet; Concert Hall Society, 6 sides). A good quartet; Harvard's Randall Thompson is full of the flavor and drive of the U.S. -- but also owes a little to his teacher, Ernest Bloch. Performance and recording (on Vinylite): excellent.

Four American Landscapes (Janssen Symphony of Los Angeles, Werner Janssen conducting; Artist Records, 8 sides). Includes music by Henry Cowell, Aaron Copland and Henry F. Gilbert, but chiefly worthwhile for Charles Ives's remarkable, polytonically placid Housatonic at Stockbridge, from his Three Places in New Eng land (TIME, Feb. 23, 1948). Performance and recording: fair.

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