New Records

"In response to widespread public demand," RCA Victor has been reaching into its vault, doling out items on LP from its "Treasury of Immortal Performances." Last week two "Treasury" releases made record news.

Mozart: Don Giovanni (John Brownlee, baritone; Ina Souez, Audrey Mildmay and Luise Helletsgruber, sopranos; Koloman von Pataky, tenor; Salvatore Baccaloni, bass; the Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra and Chorus, Fritz Busch conducting; 6 sides LP). First released in the U.S. in 1938 in a 78-r.p.m. album, this is still the best performance of the Don on records; no one voice is brilliantly outstanding, but the temper of the ensemble more than makes up for that. The sound, good on shellac, is, if anything, improved on LP.

Debussy: Pelleas and Melisande (Irene Joachim, soprano; Germaine Cernay, contralto; Jacques Jansen, tenor; Paul Cabanel, bass; Etcheverry, baritone; the Yvonne Gouverne Chorus and orchestra, Roger Desormiere conducting; 6 sides LP). This recording grew out of a 40th anniversary performance of Debussy's nebulous nightshade opera at the Paris Opera-Comique in 1942. It is now released for the first time in the U.S., and Pelleas partisans will find it well worth the wait. Recording: excellent.

Other new records:

Beethoven: Concerto No. 4 (Guiomar Novaes, piano, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Otto Klemperer conducting; Vox, 2 sides LP). Even those who prefer the old Schnabel versions will have to concede that Madame Novaes, a pianist in the same grand tradition, has something to say. Recording: somewhat harsh.

Berlioz: The Childhood of Christ (soloists of the Paris Opera, the Raymond St. Paul Chorus, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Andre Cluytens conducting; Vox, 4 sides LP). This interesting and exciting work reveals another facet of the ebullient Berlioz--tenderness without bombast. Performance: good. Recording: fair.

Chopin: Nocturnes (Artur Rubinstein, pianist; Victor, 4 sides LP). Chopin has always been Rubinstein's dish; in this new recording of all 19 nocturnes, he performs memorably. Recording: excellent.

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 (Ilona Stein-gruber, soprano; Hilde Rb'ssi-Majdan, alto; the Akademie Chamber Chorus and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Otto Klemperer conducting; Vox, 4 sides LP). The first of Mahler's king-sized symphonies, the "Resurrection" has moments of power and reverent beauty, and more traces of form than his later ones. The performance is good, the recording harsh.

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux conducting; Victor, 2 sides LP). Retiring San Francisco Symphony Conductor Monteux cuts himself a fitting memorial. He gave this still fierce-sounding work its riotous Paris premiere 37 years ago; here, leading the orchestra with which he began his U.S. symphonic career in 1919, he surely equals the fire and versatility of that first performance. Recording: excellent.

Wagner: Die Walkuere, Act III (Astrid Varnay, soprano; Sigurd Bjorling, baritone; the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Chorus, Herbert von Karajan conducting; Columbia, 4 sides LP). A faithful record --down to the last cough--of what Wagner lovers heard at Bayreuth last summer --most notably the sumptuous soprano of the U.S.'s Astrid Varnay, who can just about pick up Bruennhilde's helmet where Flagstad put it down. The recording, cursed occasionally with sagging pitch, is otherwise excellent.

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