New Records

Except for a single concert in Honolulu last spring (TIME, June 2), Pianist Walter Gieseking has not attempted to play in the U.S. since the unseemly hassle over his Manhattan appearance in 1949. But he is still available on records, as Columbia emphasized last week with a release of six Gieseking LPs.

Gieseking, a German who plays the French impressionists better than most Frenchmen, devotes four sides to all 24 of the Preludes of Debussy (Girl with the Flaxen Hair, Sunken Cathedral, General La-vine--eccentric, etc.). Their delicate, pastel coloration, slippery sonorities, puckish humor and technical perfection make these four sides the best of the lot. When Gieseking comes to the otherworldly slow movement of Mozart's Concerto in A Major (K. 488), he sounds rather heartless; his Beethoven G-Major Concerto is appropriately intimate, but could do with more drive and more clarity of detail.

Other new records:

Bartok: 44 Violin Duets (Victor Aitay and Michael Kuttner; Bartok). Two fine violinists collaborating on some gemlike musical vignettes. Composed partly of authentic folklore (Bartok combed pre-World War I Hungary for native music), partly out of the composer's unerring inventiveness, each brief work has the effect of completeness.

Beethoven: Concerto No. 4 in G Major (Badura-Skoda; Vienna Opera Orchestra, Hermann Scherchen conducting; Westminster). Young (25) Viennese Pianist Paul Badura-Skoda plays with the energy and precision that Gieseking lacks in this middle-period Beethoven (it was written in the same year as the Fifth Symphony). The recording favors the piano here, but the orchestra sounds full-bodied and well balanced.

Harp Music (Nicanor Zabaleta; Esoteric). Sixteenth century Spanish music of musical as well as archaic charm, and modern French and Spanish pieces, all composed originally for the harp. Zabaleta is a rarity in the flamboyant field of harpists, a miniaturist who specializes in neatness and detail. Recording: lifelike.

Kabalevsky: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 41 (David Oistrakh; State Orchestra of the U.S.S.R., the composer conducting; Vanguard). The best chance yet to hear one of the world's finest fiddlers; his tone has the warmth (but not the sentimentality) of Elman, his technique shades Heifetz. The music bubbles with effortless melody and humor. Recording : clear and immediate.

Mozart: "Coronation" Concerto (K. 537) (Gina Bachauer, New London Orchestra, Alec Sherman conducting; Victor). A composition that has some of Beethoven's grandeur and relentlessness, which is fully realized by Pianist Bachauer. Recording: clear.

Schumann: Dichterliebe: Wolf: Four Songs (Gerard Souzay; Jacqueline Bonneau, pianist; London). Souzay's melting baritone blends intimate crooning and masculine vigor in performances of firm conviction. Recording: mellow.

Schumann: Symphonic Etudes (Edward Kilenyi; Remington). The romantic variations are played rather wilfully, but in the grand manner. The record is engineered well enough to put low-priced Remington in direct competition with more expensive labels.

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