New Records

Bartok: Concerto for Violin & Orchestra (Yehudi Menuhin, with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati conducting; Victor, 10 sides). Further proof that Bela Bartok, despite a fearsome reputation for arid dissonance, was actually writing fresh and melodic works in his last years. Even with passages that seem to be fiddling for fiddling's sake, Bartok's lone major work for violin should add to his tardy fame. Recording: excellent.

Bach: Toccata (Adagio & Fugue) in C Major (Alexander Borovsky, piano; Vox, 4 sides). One of Bach's great and frequently transcribed organ works, here played somewhat murkily on the piano. Recording: good.

Britten: Introduction & Rondo alla Burlesca and Mazurka Elegiaca (Clifford Curzon and Benjamin Britten, pianists; Decca Record Co. Ltd., 4 sides); Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings (Boyd Neel String Orchestra, Benjamin Britten conducting; 6 sides). The first recordings of Britain's wonder-boy composer to reach the U.S. His two-piano music is written in a pure, archaic style reminiscent of Britain's 17th Century great, Henry Purcell, though Britten adds harmonic twists of his own. The Serenade, done in a more contemporary vein, consists of poems by Blake, Keats, Tennyson and others, set to music that is artful and dramatic.

Menotti: Sebastian Ballet Suite (Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos conducting; Columbia, 4 sides). Delightful, polished, contemporary ballet music, with plenty of Puccini-like melody. Performance: excellent.

Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements (New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky conducting; Columbia, 6 sides). Stravinsky, whose real dish is ballet, again demonstrates both his rhythmic fecundity and his thematic sterility. Performance: excellent.

Thomson: The Plow That Broke the Plains (Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting; Victor, 4 sides). Unlike most movie music, this still breathes after being separated from its celluloid twin, a documentary film by Pare Lorentz. Manhattan's fastidious Composer-Critic Virgil Thomson, an expatriate from Kansas City, Mo., makes his folk material sound as authentic as Midwestern prairie wheat, but his handling of jazz smacks more of corn. Recording: excellent.

Louis Armstrong--Paris, 1934 (vox, 6 sides). The hot-jazz cultists insist that the Armstrong of the '20s is the true Armstrong, but he was going strong when he made these records with a mediocre, hastily assembled crew. What counts is Satchelmouth's relaxed singing and trumpeting of such classics as Tiger Rag, On the Sunny Side of the Street, St. Louis Blues. Recording: good.

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