New Records

The recording of complete operas continued to be the big record news--as it has been since LP provided the ideal medium for it. Most notable:

Mozart: The Magic Flute (Wilma Lipp and Irmgard Seefried, sopranos; Anton Dermota, tenor; Erich Kunz, baritone; Ludwig Weber, bass; chorus of the Society of Friends of Music, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan conducting; Columbia, 6 sides LP). The kind of crack performance, with its own unique Gemuetlichkeit, that makes music lovers trek to Salzburg every summer. A new Marriage of Figaro, with the same orchestra and conductor and some of the same cast, offers more of the same happy spirit. Both recordings: excellent.

Gershwin: Porgy and Bess (Lawrence Winters, baritone; Camilla Williams, soprano; Inez Matthews, soprano; Warren Coleman, baritone; Avon Long, tenor; orchestra and chorus conducted by Lehman Engel; Columbia, 6 sides LP). The first complete recording of Gershwin's jazz classic reveals that the work does not add up to the sum of its memorable parts. Summertime, I Got Plenty o' Nuttin', It Ain't Necessarily So still sparkle like diamonds, but in an ocean of dross. Recording: excellent.

Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Richard Tucker, tenor; Lucine Amara, soprano; Giuseppe Valdengo, baritone; orchestra and chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, Fausto Cleva conducting; Columbia, 4 sides LP). More proof that Met performances are usually better to listen to than to look at--and that Richard Tucker is one of the notable tenors of the day.

Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (Margarete Baeumer and Ursula Richter, sopranos; Tiana Lemnitz, mezzo-soprano; Kurt Boehme, bass; chorus of the Dresden State Opera, the Saxonian State Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe conducting; Urania Records, sides LP). Soprano Baeumer (The Marschallin) has an unpleasant tremolo and Boehme (Ochs) is too growly and guttural; otherwise a middling-good performance. Recording: good.

Verdi: La Traviata (Licia Albanese, soprano; Jan Peerce, tenor; Robert Merrill, baritone); the NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini conducting; Victor, 4 sides LP). The recording loses a little of the fervor of the splendid 1946 broadcast.

Other new records:

Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (Kathleen Ferrier, contralto; the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruno Walter conducting; Columbia, 2 sides LP). Mahler set to music these five poems written by Friedrich Rueckert just after the death of his child. They are eloquently direct--the more so as sung by expressive Contralto Ferrier. Recording: excellent.

Schubert: Die Winterreise (Hans Hot-;er, baritone; Michael Raucheisen, piano; Decca, 4 sides LP). Baritone Hotter sings Schubert's mournful cycle of a winter journey in good voice, but he fails to take command of the songs. Recording: good.

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