December Records

In the factories of the three big disc makers--Victor, Columbia, Decca--record-pressing machines have been stamping out discs 24 hours a day, and not only because of Christmas. Jukeboxes take 40% of their output, and lower record prices (35-c- and up for popular records; $1 for 12-in. concert records, plus 5% tax) have tapped a new market. In spite of the present low grade of popular tunes, recent estimates made 1941 the industry's all-time high year--120,000,000 discs. Current records:

SYMPHONIC, ETC.

Faure: Requiem (Marcelle Denya, soprano, Mack Harrell, baritone, Roland Roy, organist, Les Disciples de Massenet chorus, Montreal Festivals Orchestra conducted by Wilfred Pelletier; Victor; 9 sides). A beautiful, almost overrefined French deathpiece, finely done.

Smetana: Vltava ("The Moldau") (Bruno Walter conducting the New York Philharmonic-Symphony; Columbia; 3 sides). Scenic ride, well recorded, on the Czech river.

Reinhold Gliere: Symphony No. 3 ("Ilya Murometz") (Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra; Victor; 11 sides). A Soviet composer, no modernist, writes rousingly of Ilya Murometz, a mythical Russian resembling Paul Bunyan and the classical, earth-sustained Antaeus. Stokowski gives it the works.

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, Scene 3, Act 3 (Tenor Jan Peerce, Baritone Arthur Kent, with chorus and orchestra conducted by Wilfred Pelletier; Victor; 4 sides). With gutbusting aplomb, the Metropolitan Opera's newest tenor handles the death soliloquies of Lucia's hero.

Chabrier: Trois Valses Romantiques (Robert and Gaby Casadesus on two pianos; Columbia; 4 sides). Pre-Vichy elegance and wit, glitteringly played by a Frenchman and his wife, an ex-pupil.

Franck: Symphony in D Minor (Two recordings: Sir Thomas Beecham and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; Columbia; 10 sides; and Pierre Monteux and the San Francisco Symphony; Victor; 10 sides). Both jobs on this much-played symphony are good; the Victor is larger in scale.

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E Flat Major (Albert Spalding, violinist, William Primrose, violist. New Friends of Music Orchestra conducted by Fritz Stiedry; Victor; 7 sides). Major but rarely played Mozart, in a fine performance.

POPULAR

King Joe (Joe Louis Blues) (Paul Robeson with Count Basie's band; Okeh). "Lord, I hate to see old Joe Louis step down"--words by Richard Wright (Native Son), music by Basie. A haymaker.

Chee Lai (Paul Robeson, Liu Liang-Mo and chorus; Keynote). Songs of Free China, in English and Chinese, including Song of the Guerrillas (Go to the rear of the enemy and kick them in the pants}. Although not tuneful to Western ears, the songs are interesting and authentic examples of China's new mass music. China Aid Council (member of United China Relief) gets part of the proceeds.

Helen Morgan (Victor). Sweet posthumous nostalgia--Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, Body and Soul, four other reprints.

Clementine (Bing Crosby; Decca). Part straight, part swing, with gags.

Limehouse Blues and If I Had You (Benny Goodman Sextet; Okeh). A new combination--Benny. Trombonist Lou McGarity, Pianist Mel Powell, three rhythm men.

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