The Year's Best

CLASSICAL. Gershwin: Porgy and Bess (RCA, 3 LPs). The Houston Opera production, a hit on Broadway, is now the best Porgy on records. Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies (Deutsche Grammophon, 8 LPs). Herbert von Karajan, the Berlin Philharmonic and Beethoven, at their best. Schubert: Symphony No. 9 (Philips). Bernard Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra produce the finest modern version of this noble epic. Beethoven: "Waldstein" Sonata; "Eroica" Variations (RCA). At 28, Emanuel Ax comes of age as a master of the classical style. Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov (Angel, 4 LPs). Mussorgsky's original version on records for the first time, lovingly interpreted by Conductor Jerzy Semkow.

POP. Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (Warner Bros.). Soft, rocking, love-gone-wrong songs turn out right on a tasteful album that not only earned critical praise but became the bestselling album of the year. Jimmy Buffett: Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes (ABC). Countrified Caribbean and laid-back Southern rock blended together like a well-mixed Margarita. Waylon Jennings: Ol' Waylon (RCA). Country music's amiably gruff outlaw puts heart into honky-tonk--and Luckenbach, Texas, squarely on the map. The Phil Woods Six (RCA, 2 LPs). A master saxman and his friends hotfinger their way through familiar jazz standards and lively originals. James Taylor: JT (Columbia). Sweet Baby James shows the old homespun ease and comes up with a Handy Man delight.

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