New Records

Phonograph albums--like books, lithographs and neckties--were on sale last week in limited editions. A new company called Concert Hall Society, Inc. announced that it would turn out only 2,000 copies of its albums. For $105, Concert Hall promised twelve albums of previously unrecorded music by Henry Purcell, Beethoven (Scottish Songs, sung by Balladeer Richard Dyer-Bennet), Brahms, Stravinsky, Bela Bartok and others.

Concert Hall cuts directly from "masters," eliminating the "mother" and "stamper" discs used for mass production of commercial records. Concert Hall Society's first releases--Prokofiev's Second String Quartet by the Gordon String Quartet, and Aaron Copland's Piano Sonata and Our Town Suite by Leo Smit--were high quality recordings, but nothing to make other record companies change their ways. Concert Hall's virtue was its decision to record unfamiliar music.

Other new records :

Mozart: Concerto In E Flat Major for two pianos and orchestra (Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos conducting; Columbia, 6 sides). Mozart composed this bright piece for his two-piano concerts with Josepha Aurnhammer (of whom he wrote: "The young lady is a fright but plays enchantingly"). Performance: excellent.

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 (Pathetique) in C Minor (Erno Balogh, Vox, 4 sides; Rudolf Serkin, Columbia, 6 sides). Two versions of a much-needed recording. Balogh plays with grace, Serkin with passion. Performance of both: good.

Brahms: Second Sonata in E Flat for Clarinet and Piano (Benny Goodman and Nadia Reisenberg; Columbia, 6 sides). Brahms at his banal worst; Goodman at his technical best.

Kreisler: Concerto in C in the style of Vivaldi (Fritz Kreisler, with the Victor String Orchestra, Donald Voorhees conducting; Victor, 4 sides). For 30 years Fiddler Kreisler credited this lyrical score to the 18th Century composer Vivaldi, but finally admitted writing it himself. Performance: good.

Richard Strauss: Songs (Lotte Lehmann, soprano, accompanied by Paul Ulanowsky, pianist; Columbia, 4 sides). The great lieder singer's first album of Strauss songs. Included are the haunting Allerseelen and the popular Morgen. Performance: excellent.

Milhaud: Suite Franchise (New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Darius Milhaud conducting; Columbia, 4 sides). Light-hearted folk tunes from five French provinces which homesick Exile Milhaud first put together during the war for Edwin Franko Goldman's brass band. Performance: good.

Bernstein: Fancy Free (Ballet Theatre Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein conducting, with Billie Holiday; Decca, 8 sides). The jaunty, jazzy ballet score with inappropriate lyrics sung-by blue-voiced Billie Holiday. Performance: fair.

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