New Records

The Beethoven boom continues. Last year saw the completion of two separate sets of his nine symphonies, all 32 of his piano sonatas. Last week three more complete cycles were on the market: all 16 String Quartets, played by the Budapest Quartet for Columbia (12 LPs) and by the Pascal Quartet for Concert Hall (13 LPs), and all ten Violin Sonatas (five LPs), by Joseph Fuchs and Artur Balsam for Decca.

The sheen of perfection marks the Budapest performances: virtually every note is impeccable, and the teamwork is so good that the four instruments sound almost like one. More tonal contrast marks the Pascal playing: individual instruments sometimes sing out with a fervor that comes close to the composer's own spirit.

Fuchs and Balsam play the sonatas with an energy and selfless dedication that more renowned virtuosi rarely show. Even in such an oft-performed favorite as the Kreutzer Sonata, their version has as deep and clear a musical perspective as any on the market.

Other new records:

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Kathleen Ferrier, contralto; Julius Patzak, tenor; the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Bruno Walter; London). These six songs were intended as Mahler's ninth symphony, but a personal superstition made him forgo the title. The dusky warmth of Ferrier's singing, the bright clarity of Patzak's, and the lurid orchestral colors run the gamut of gaiety and sadness. A definitive recording.

Mozart Bass Arias (Fernando Corena; London). Mozart's writing for basso has never been touched for purity of line and directness of expression, and these six songs (from Figaro, Don Giovanni, Magic Flute) are among his best. Young Basso Corena has a brilliant, resonant tone, gives the music spirited, if not highly polished, interpretations.

Mozart: Requiem (Robert Shaw Chorale conducted by Robert Shaw; RCA Victor Orchestra; Victor). The best recording to date, but for some reason one of the world's most beautiful scores continues to defy recording techniques: too often the chorus overpowers the orchestra when it should float over it, clouds the counterpoint when it should limn it.

Music of Frederick Delius (Concert Arts Orchestra conducted by Felix Slatkin; Capitol). The famous On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and four other pieces in a style whose closest artistic relatives are the misty pastorals of Painters Turner and Corot.

Offenbach: Le Vie Parisienne (Jennie Tourel; Columbia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jean Morel; Columbia). A saucy score culled from several operas, with Tourel's fine mezzo-soprano, gaily modernized scoring and fine acoustics.

"El Pili" Flamenco (Pedro Jimenez, cantador; Mario Escudero, Alberto Velez, guitars; Esoteric). Cantador Jimenez (El Pili) shouts his uninhibited incantations while the guitars, torrid and teasing by turns, strum their gypsy rhythms. Full of authentic Andalusian excitement.

Stravinsky: Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra (Mewton-Wood, piano; members of The Hague's Residentie Orchestra conducted by Walter Goehr; Concert Hall). An incisive performance of one of Stravinsky's most inventive and amusing works (1924). Appealing and even warm in its stylishly static way.

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