Pick of the New IPs

Bach: Cantatas, Vol. 1, Nos. 1 to 4; Vol. 2, Nos. 5 to 8 (Telefunken/ Das Alte Werk; 2 LPs each; $11.90). The start of something big--a project to record all 200 (or is it 247, or 295?) of Bach's cantatas by the eve of his tricentennial in 1985. The New York mail-order house Musical Heritage Society is already embarked on a similar project. It will have to go some to surpass these Telefunken performers--Vienna's Concentus Musicus (Nos. 1-6) and Amsterdam's (Gustav) Leonhardt-Consort (7-8). The approach here is enthusiastically scholarly, using boys for the soprano parts and such authentic instruments as the wooden flauto traverso and the five-stringed violone. The albums even include photographic reproductions of the Bach-Gesellschaft scores of the cantatas. But in the mighty No. 4 (Christ lag in Todesbanderi), one would gladly swap the authenticity for some of the interpretive sweep of, say, Karl Richter and the Munich Bach Choir (DGG/Archive).

Gliere: Symphony No. 3 (Ilya Murometz) (RCA; $5.98). Scheherazade got you down? Bored with the Nutcracker Suite? Try this Ilya for a good, unashamed wallow in exotic Russian romanticism. Though a musical reactionary, Gliere (1875-1956) was a first-rate melodist and a master of the bold orchestral stroke. Both gifts are amply documented by this sonic dazzler from Conductor Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Callas by Request (Angel; $5.98). A new collection of arias by Maria Callas? Yes and no. There are six previously unreleased performances--five arias by Verdi, one by Bellini--but they are not really new. La Callas recorded them in 1960 and 1964, then withheld their release. Listening to the wobbly state of her top notes, one can guess the reason. Listening to the overwhelming expressive power of Imogene's dream narrative in Bellini's Il Pirata or Aida's Ritorna vincitor, one knows why she changed her mind.

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Philips; $5.98); Schumann, Grieg Concertos (Philips; $5.98). As suggested by their 1970 version of Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto and confirmed by these new performances, Pianist Stephen Bishop and Conductor Colin Davis now rank as the team to beat in the already star-studded fields of the classic and romantic concerto. As always, Davis displays his knack of making the music sound fresh without resorting to anything radical. As for Bishop, it is hard to imagine even his teacher Myra Hess playing the Schumann more tenderly, or his idol Schnabel playing the Beethoven First more manfully.

Schoenberg, Berg, Webern: Complete String Quartets (La Salle Quartet, Deutsche Grammophon; 5 LPs; $34.90). A landmark of recorded chamber music that ought to take some of the sting out of the three A's of atonalism--Arnold, Alban and Anton. The set also ought to demonstrate to open-minded listeners that the so-called Second Viennese School, which comprises these three composers, was hardly more revolutionary than the first (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven), especially considering what the string quartet form was when Haydn took it up (elementary) and when Beethoven laid it down (uncanny). The La Salles play as if they had never heard that these scores were supposed to be intimidating and arcane--with the result that they are not. Rather, they are simply what Schoenberg himself hoped they would be: music for enjoyment.

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