New Records

Music of Bulgaria (Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic conducted by Philippe Koutev; Angel). Untamed and even frightening music, only occasionally tempered by sweetness. The instruments are twangy strings, bagpipes, flutes, drums. Recorded during the troupe's visit to Paris last year, this is a fascinating record.

Copland: Piano Concerto (Leo Smit, piano, Radio Rome Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer; Concert Hall). Sometimes called the "Jazz Concerto," this was written in 1926 (three years after Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue) and went far to establish Copland as a characteristically "American" composer. It is a fairly lurid work, with emphatic syncopations and jazz-age atmosphere; it still works, but it has become pretty corny.

Dallapiccola: Canti di Prigionia (St. Cecilia Academy Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Igor Markevich; Angel). Italy's most important composer, Luigi Dallapiccola, admires both Schoenberg's twelve-tone system and Palestrina's pure, polished polyphony, and these long, suppliant "songs of prison" combine some interesting aspects of both.

Lament for April 15 and Other Modern American Madrigals (Randolph Singers; Composers Recordings, Inc.). Thirteen songs for five a cappella voices, composed by such U.S. composers as Ulysses Kay, Kurt List, Charles Mills, some funny, some atmospheric. The title song is Avery Claflin's setting to music of portions of the federal income-tax instructions (TIME, Aug. 22).

Mozart: The Magic Flute (RIAS Symphony Orchestra, chorus and soloists conducted by Ferenc Fricsay; Decca, 3 LPs). Despite its slightly studied style and rather tubby sound, this is the finest recording yet to appear of the 165-year-old masterpiece. Soprano Maria Stader makes Pamina a joy to the ear; Rita Streich is awesomely secure in the Queen of the Night's sky-high aerobatics, while the two leading men, Tenor Ernst Haefliger and Baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, use their handsome voices with distinction.

Mozart: A Musical Joke (Members of the NBC Symphony conducted by Fritz Reiner; Victor). A rustic but often appealing suite composed in Mozart's most sophisticated period, designed to illustrate some of the musical pitfalls he so consistently avoided. Many of them are too subtle for untrained ears, but when two French horns sail into a strange key and bump unceremoniously, it is quite clear their music has been incorrectly transposed. Just what pitfalls Mozart had in mind for the brief but cacophonous end is not clear--perhaps all of them blended into one.

Prokofiev: Suite from The Love for Three Oranges (London Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Artur Rodzinski; Westminster). A luscious performance of some of the late master's wittiest notes, including the pompous march (ironically made famous by its use as the theme for radio's FBI in Peace and War). One of Westminster's plush "Laboratory Series," it comes in a heavy-plastic zipper envelope and is premium-priced. The sound is very good indeed.

Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Abbey Simon, piano; The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Willem van Otterloo; Epic). One of the most gifted of the middle-young U.S. pianists, Abbey Simon, 35, revels in this still-romantic score, is equally fluent at turning the ripe melodies and rippling he intricate passagework.

Rostropovich Plays Bach (Vanguard). The latest Soviet musician to reach U.S. concert stages in his first LP. Like his predecessors (Pianist Emil Gilels and Violinist David Oistrakh), Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich has flawless technique and a dedication to the music that casts a spell. The cello is hardly a wieldy instrument, but he makes it nimble.

Other noteworthy new records : Bartok's String Quartets 1 & 2, played by the Vegh Quartet (Angel); Verdi's Forza del Destino, with Mario Del Monaco, Renata Tebaldi and Cesare Siepi (London, 4 LPs); Verdi's Rigoletto, with Maria Meneghini Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi (Angel, 3 LPs); Caruso, an anthology of the tenor's records from 1902 through 1920 (Victor, 3 LPs).

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