New Records

Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D Major (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner conducting; Columbia, 8 sides; Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral) in F (New York City Symphony, Leopold Stokowski conducting; Victor, 10 sides). Pittsburgh's Reiner is generally content to play Beethoven the way Beethoven wrote it; Stokowski, who still feels a call to improve on the composer, lushes up the Pastoral. Orchestral performance of both: good.

Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major (Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York, Bruno Walter conducting; with Desi Halban, soprano; Columbia, 12 sides). The man who is the greatest interpreter of his fellow Viennese, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), conducts the first recording of a long, brooding and sometimes lyrically eloquent score. Performance: excellent.

Glinka:'Russian and Ludmilla (soloists, chorus and orchestra of the Moscow State Theater of the U.S.S.R.; Disc, 4 sides). One of Russia's oldest operas (1842) released on records for the first time in the U.S. by Moe Asch's new firm (TIME, Feb. 25). The Russians sing vigorously and loud. Performance: good.

Paul White: Sea Chanty for Harp and Strings (Harpist Edna Phillips with string quintet, Eugene Ormandy conducting; Columbia, 4 sides). Blow the Man Down, Tommy's Gone Forever and When Johnny Comes Down to Hilo saltily done. Performance: excellent.

Debussy: Preludes, Book I (1910) (E. Robert Schmitz, pianist; Victor, 14 sides). The shimmering Voiles (Sails) and eerie La Cathedrale Engloutie (The Engulfed Cathedral) are not as sensitively played as the Nazis' star Pianist Walter Gieseking played them in 1939 for Columbia, but the recording is better. Performance: good.

Bizet: Symphony in C Major (Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York, Artur Rodzinski conducting; Columbia, 7 sides). The composer of Carmen was 17 when he wrote his only symphony, and obviously a student of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Rossini, all of whom have their innings in the score. Performance: fair.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.