Classic and Choice

Ravel: Bolero; Debussy: La Mer; Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un Faune.

(Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti conductor, London.) As one would expect, Solti's Bolero is a knockout. But the real interest here is the Debussy. The years have given Solti a welcome relaxation, and he is now getting around to the swirling softness of French musical impressionism. There are no mists in Solti's Debussy. The sky is clear blue over his La Mer, but how shimmering those eddies of string tone, how thundering the waves of brass. Afternoon of a Faun may just be the most sensual on records.

Dvorak: Symphony No. 7 in D-Minor. (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini conductor, Angel; Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, Colin Davis conductor, Philips.) No other of Dvorak's nine symphonies equals the nobility and deep melancholy of this landscape of rich melody and subtly changing orchestral color. The warm, spacious performance by Giulini would be a winner at almost any time. Right now, however, it comes up against Davis and the Concertgebouw in one of their most electrifying collaborations. The lilting Czech dance rhythms in the Scherzo, for example, have the kind of freedom and spontaneity one would expect from a string quartet.

Bach: Partitas No. 1 in B-Flat and No. 2 in C-Minor. (Igor Kipnis harpsichordist, Angel.) As musical forms go, the Baroque suite or partita was in its old age when Bach decided to have the final word on the subject. He not only included every kind of dance movement previously used (saraband, gigue, minuet) but also introduced some that had not been: capriccio, rondeau and scherzo. The French style of ornamentation, so essential a part of this music, is something Harpsichordist Igor Kipnis has long since mastered. His mordents, appoggiaturas and other embellishments have the ring not of frivolity but, as is proper, indispensability. The overall interpretations have a breadth and power not often encountered in these works.

Albeniz: Iberia (complete); Navarra. (Michel Block pianist, Connoisseur Society; 2 LPs.) Enrique Fernandez Arbos' glittering orchestrations helped make El Puerto, Triana and the ten other pieces in Iberia popular throughout the world. But, as Alicia de Larrocha has proved over the years in three recordings of the suite, the piano originals are as atmospherically Spanish as one could wish and, in the end, preferable. Here is a recording by the French American Michel Block that not only challenges De Larrocha's supremacy, but topples it. Block's playing has an earthy swagger and poetic sweep that the lady from Barcelona cannot match.

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-Minor. (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner conductor, Arthur Rubinstein pianist, RCA.) This performance, recorded in mono in 1954. remains the pianist's grandest reading of the work, and Reiner's surging accompaniment turns it into the most satisfying D-Minor on records. The new reissue is not in mono or in phony stereo, however. Back in 1954, four years before the advent of stereo, RCA was already experimenting with the technique, and taped this performance simultaneously but separately in stereo. The results can stand comparison with many of today's recordings.

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