May Records

The 35-c- record, through which Decca revolutionized the popular-record business seven years ago, was almost dead and buried. Columbia put its purple Okeh label into storage for the duration. Victor still clung to its Bluebird name, Decca to its standard blue label, but all three moved their top names (e.g., Victor's Glenn Miller, Columbia's Benny Goodman, Decca's Jimmy Dorsey) up to the 50-c- platters. Sole exception: Bing Crosby. This reshuffling was inevitable after the mid-April WPB order, cutting the use of all-important shellac in phonograph records by 70%. Another consequence: manufacturers required from distributors one old record for every three new ones bought. Reason: reclaimed materials stretch virgin shellac three times as far. The man in the street did not yet have to chip in with old records, but many retail shops were angling for them, paying 2 1/2-c- to 3-c- a record.

SYMPHONIC, ETC.

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, in F Minor (NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski; Victor; 10 sides). An unorthodox, exciting reading of the famed Russian's "Fate" Symphony, in which Stokowski uses his fluid-drive conducting, disturbing to conservative musicians, fascinating to most ears.

Brahms: Six Intermezzi and Two Rhapsodies (Artur Rubinstein, pianist; Victor; 8 sides). Gruff, warmhearted Brahms is revealed in these rugged romantic works of small-scale architecture, played with fire, poetry, complete authority.

Schubert: Quintet in C Major (Budapest String Quartet, with Benar Heifetz, cellist; Columbia; 12 sides). This lyric, dark-hued quintet, composed in the last months of Schubert's life, has the "heavenly length" of his Seventh Symphony. Finely, sensitively played.

Encore Album (Gregor Piatigorsky, cellist; Columbia; 6 sides). Six engaging short pieces, ranging from the tried & true Swan of Saint-Saens to Prokofieff's whimsical Masques, played with flawless style, velvet tone.

POPULAR

Wings Over Jordan (Wings Over Jordan choir conducted by Worth Kramer; Columbia; 8 sides). Surging, vibrant singing of eight spirituals without benefit of printed arrangements, forming the first recordings of the Cleveland Negro choir noted for its CBS Sunday broadcasts.

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (Art Jarrett; Victor; Andrews Sisters; Decca). The blithest of the war-inspired songs, now up among the bestsellers.

Moon Mist (Duke Ellington; Victor). Distinctive Ellington treatment of an indigo tune by the bandleader's son, Mercer Ellington, introduced by rhapsodic fiddling from Trumpeter Ray Nance.

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