New Records

With the appearance of LPs, once-bulky record albums became slender. Now major labels are again selling bulk, by releasing records in packages and series. As the winter music season got under way, several large, attractive series were on the counters. Victor released the second two LP volumes of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas, played with unbeatable fire and insight by the late great Artur Schnabel. London completed its own releases of the same series by 70-year-old Wilhelm Backhaus, as well as all seven Symphonies by British Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. Columbia packaged most of the Orchestral Music of Brahms (four records), lovingly played by the Philharmonic-Symphony under Bruno Walter, and all the Beethoven Cello Sonatas (three records), masterfully played by Pablo Casals and Pianist Rudolf Serkin.

Other new records: Bartok: Piano Concertos No. 2 & No. 3 (Edith Farnadi; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, conducted by Hermann Scherchen; Westminster). Hungary's late composer Bartok was happily teaching in Switzerland in 1931 when he set down the slashing, almost barbaric strains of No. 2. He was still 18 bars from the end of No. 3, a comparatively serene but equally intricate work, when he died in 1945 in Manhattan. Both pieces here get superior readings and recordings.

Mozart: Horn Concertos (Dennis Brain; Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Herbert Von Karajan; Angel). Mozart wrote four horn concertos between 1782 and 1786, each one more fun than the last. Britain's Dennis Brain, one of the world masters on the French horn, ripples them off, both elegantly and buoyantly.

Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (Maria Reining, Sena Jurinac, Hilde Gueden, Ludwig Weber; Vienna State Opera Chorus; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Erich Kleiber; London; 4 LPs). Strauss's most melodious score, in a stunning performance. It is dominated by the three brilliant sopranos, whose closing trio is the most affecting part of the opera, but the whole cast is in top form.

Stravinsky: Les Noces (Vienna Chamber Choir, four soloists, four pianos and percussion, conducted by Mario Rossi; Vanguard). The subject is a rustic wedding, and the pagan, mechanistic music (written for the Diaghilev ballet of 1923) is built around folk sources. Memorable qualities: the jabbing momentum in the accompaniment and the jerky rhythms of the chorus, which nevertheless convey the feeling of high good spirits. Fine performance.

Walton: Viola Concerto (William Primrose; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent; Columbia). A work which, after Fac,ade, is William Walton's most renowned, makes its tardy LP debut (it was written in 1929). Although its texture is slightly richer than modern tastes approve, this is a strong composition, ranging from pensive to jazzy to robust.

Stefan Wolpe (Esoteric). If these three pieces were jazz, they would be called "far out," for German-born, U.S.-naturalized Composer Wolpe. 52, has hewed his way to extremes of modernity. Passacaglia (played by David Tudor) was written in the early '30s, is as dissonant and involved as the more recent Violin Sonata (with Frances Magnes and Tudor). Composer Wolpe has taught jazz musicians, and his Quartet for Trumpet (Bob Nagel), Tenor Sax (Al Cohn), Piano (Jack Maxin) and Percussion (Al Howard) has, a barely recognizable jazz flavor. Performances: superb.

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