New Records

RCA Victor was as surprised as anyone when Enrico Caruso (in reissues) proved to be the company's No. 2 bestselling classical artist last year (No. 1: Mario Lanza). Quickly recovering from its surprise, Victor has reached into the treasury for more. In one LP, labeled Caruso In Opera and Song, the great tenor can be heard in ten arias, including familiar ones from Il Trovatore, Tosca and La Boheme. Famous Duets includes Caruso and Alma Gluck in La Traviata, and Caruso and Geraldine Farrar in the soaring first-act duet of Madame Butterfly. The quality of recording varies, since some of the originals were waxed as early as 1908.

Other new records:

Bartok: Viola Concerto (William Primrose, viola; the New Symphony Orchestra of London, Tibor Serly conducting; Bartok Records, 2 sides LP). Bartok sums up his own distinctive chromatic and rhapsodic language in this, one of his last compositions. A magnificent first recording of the concerto by the violist who commissioned it and the composer-conductor who completed it after Bartok's death in 1945.

Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (the Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan conducting; Columbia, 2 sides LP). Bartok's best work attains one of the marks of a classic: varying interpretations. Karajan distorts the slow movement; in another performance Rafael Kubelik, conducting the Chicago Symphony (Mercury, 1 side LP), is overly fussy with the dynamics. The first recording by Harold Byrns and the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony (Capitol) is still the best. All recordings are good.

Beethoven: Sonatas No. 8, Op. 13; No. 32, Op. 111 (Solomon, pianist; Victor, 2 sides LP). Except for some affected stretching of the opening phrases of the "Pathetique," British Pianist Solomon's performances are just about perfect. Recording: good.

Dello Joio: Psalm of David (Crane Orchestra and Chorus of the Potsdam (N.Y.) Teachers College, Helen M. Hosmer conducting; Concert Hall Society, 2 sides LP). Talented, 39-year-old Norman Dello Joio (TIME, May 22, 1950) describes this first oratorio as "a 20th century treatment of early French and Italian music." His treatment is skillful, freshly contemporary without being harsh or clashing, altogether distinctly beautiful. Performance and recording: good.

Haydn: Six Quartets, Op. 17 (the Schneider Quartet; Haydn Society, 6 sides LP). These lively quartets are among the first three dozen of the 85 Haydn wrote. The performances are straightforward and sometimes brusque, short on nuance and beauty of tone. Recording: good.

Shostakovich: Song of the Forests (Combined Choirs and State Orchestra of the U.S.S.R., Eugene Mravinsky conducting; Vanguard, 2 sides LP). This oratorio, composed in 1949, won back for Shostakovich the Kremlin favor he lost in 1948. The reason is evident in this first recording to reach the U.S. Strictly old shapka, it sounds more like Glinka in an off-moment than the dissonantly powerful Shostakovich of Symphony No. 5. The performance is rousing, the recording fair.

Verdi: Luisa Miller (Lucy Kelston, soprano; Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, tenor; Giacomo Vaghi, bass; Scipione Colombo, baritone; orchestra and chorus of Radio Italiana, Mario Rossi conducting; Cetra-Soria, 6 sides LP). Verdi's 14th opera is seldom performed, mainly because Rigoletto (his 15th) and Traviata, which it vaguely resembles musically and dramatically, are both better. Brooklyn-born Soprano Kelston has power and pathos in her voice, though it is steely on top. One surprise is that old Tenor Lauri-Volpi, 57, who sang in the Met premiere of Luisa in 1929, is as good as he is. Performance and recording: good.

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