New Records

It is 50 years since the Victor Talking Machine Co. (now RCA Victor) released its first record (a recitation titled Limburger Cheese), and the company wanted to do something special for the anniversary. After burrowing deep in the bottom of the files, company connoisseurs surfaced with 120 performances that no other record company in the world could match. By last week, Victor had transferred them on to twelve separate LP discs as A Treasury of Immortal Performances. A few performances (because of the foggy recording of early days) are simply curios for collectors. But more of them, astonishingly faithful and bright, come close to deserving the tag "immortal."

The earliest goes back to 1904: Tenor Francesco Tamagno, Verdi's first Otello, singing the Death of Otello. On the same disc: Caruso's Recondita armonia from Tosca (cried Puccini, after auditioning Caruso in the aria: "Who sent you to me? God!"); the ex-Metropolitan Opera manager and tenor, Edward Johnson, singing a bit from Louise (in 1928); Maria Jeritza's famous Vissi d'arte from Tosca; Soprano Geraldine Farrar, the most renowned Madame Butterfly of all time, singing her entrance aria (1907). Outstanding discs: "Chaliapin as Boris"; "Golden Duets" (Caruso-Scotti, Caruso-Farrar, Bori-McCormack, Ponselle-Martinelli, Gigli-Ruffo); "Wagner" (Schumann-Heink, Rethberg, Lotte Lehmann, Gadski, Schorr); "Golden Age Ensembles," and one disc labeled simply "Caruso."

Other new records:

Bach: B Minor Mass (the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Akademie Chamber Chorus and soloists conducted by Herman Scherchen; Westminster, 6 sides LP). Bach probably never heard his mammoth (almost three hours) work sung as a whole. Here the monumental masterpiece gets a deserving performance; orchestra, chorus and soloists are all excellent, and so is the recording.

Bartok: Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin (London New Symphony Orchestra, Tibor Serly conducting; Bartok Records, 2 sides LP). Bartok composed the score for this fantastic, bloodcurdling ballet in 1919; although the ballet has never been danced in the U.S., the suite here recorded is occasionally heard in concert. It is one of Bartok's most vivid and powerful. Performance and recording: excellent.

Mozart: Sonata in C Minor, K. 457 (Rudolf Firkusny, pianist; Columbia, 2 sides LP). One of the more tragic--and most beautiful--of Mozart's 17 solo piano sonatas, played with impeccable taste and technique. The C Minor Fantasias, K. 396 and K. 475, fill out the remaining record space. Recording: good.

Songs of Rachmaninoff (JennieTourel, mezzo-soprano; Erich Itor Kahn, pianist; Columbia, 1 side LP). Some of the famed pianist-composer's most interesting and intimate music. Singing in Russian, Jennie Tourel gives them rich flavor and warmth. Recording: good.

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