New Records

Mendelssohn: Elijah (Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Huddersfield Choral Society, Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting; with Isobel Baillie, soprano, Gladys Ripley, contralto, James Johnston, tenor, Harold Williams, bass-baritone; Columbia, 32 sides). It was Mendelssohn who revived Bach's great St. Matthew Passion 100 years after it was written. Now, 100 years after Mendelssohn's death, his own choral masterpiece, a work of simplicity and directness, gets an excellent performance on records. Recording: good.

Mozart: Quintet in D Major for Strings, K. 593 (Milton Katims, violist, with the Budapest String Quartet; Columbia, 6 sides). Somber but superb Mozart, superbly played. Recording: fair.

Beethoven: Concerto in D Major (Josef Szigeti, violinist, with the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter conducting; Columbia, 10 sides). The second time Szigeti and Walter have teamed up in Beethoven's only violin concerto, again with happy results. Recording: good.

Beethoven: Quartets Nos. 7, 8 and 9, Op. 59 (Paganini Quartet; Victor, 3 volumes, 26 sides). The new Paganiril Quartet plays the three famed "Rasoumowsky" quartets with competence but without fire. The first one has been done better by the Roth Quartet, and the other two by the Budapest. Recording: good.

Berlioz: Romeo & Juliet Excerpts (NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini conducting; Victor, 6 sides). Berlioz' Romeo & Juliet is the kind of music that in lesser hands can sound merely bombastic; Toscanini gives it the care and excitement it deserves. Recording (on Vinylite): excellent.

Franck: Symphonic Variations (Eileen Joyce, pianist, with 1'Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris, Charles Muench conducting; Decca Record Co. Ltd., 4 sides). Few could excel Walter Gieseking's fine performance of this popular work; Miss Joyce didn't. Recording: good.

Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks Concerto (Dumbarton Oaks Festival Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky conducting; Keynote, 4 sides). Pleasant latter-day Stravinsky, but baked in only the embers of the once-powerful fire that produced Petrouchka and The Firebird. Recording: good.

Operatic Duets (Jan Peerce, tenor, Leonard Warren, baritone, with the RCA-Victor Orchestra, Jean Paul Morel and Erich Leinsdorf conducting; Victor, 4 sides). Peerce and Warren too often sing vocal duels instead of duets. The album includes Solenne in Quest' Ora from Verdi's La Forza del Destino and Ah, Mimi, Tu Piu from Puccini's La Boheme. Recording: good.

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