January Records

Some phonograph records are musical events. Each month TIME will note the noteworthy.

Opera:

AIDA, made in Italy by Italian singers, the Scala Chorus and the Milan Symphony under Conductor Lorenzo Molajoli

(Columbia, $27*)--Eighteen excellent double-face records with arias, choruses and ballet complete. Soprano Giannina Aranji-Lombardi null and Tenor Arnoldo Lindi (Radames) are among Italy's best.

AIDA, PUR TI RIVEGGO and LATRA FORESTI VERGINI (Victor, $2.50)--For those limited to a single record, this version of the Nile duet has the advantage of better singing by Famed Soprano Elisabeth Rethberg and Famed Tenor Giacomo Lauri-Volpi.

TANNHAUSER OVERTURE, by the Minneapolis Symphony under Henri Verbrugghen (Brunswick, 2 records, $1 each) -- A Belgian gives a substantial, homespun reading of the German masterpiece.

Symphonic:

MOZART'S SYMPHONY No. 34 by Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic (Columbia, $4.50)--Sir Thomas again shows his deftness at finding and following happy, graceful detail.

DVORAK'S SYMPHONY No. 4 by Basil Cameron and Symphony Orchestra (Brunswick, $4)--Whereby the great Czech will prove to many that he wrote other symphonies than the New World. His Fourth has Czech folk themes, skillfully woven variations.

BIZET'S L'ARLESIENNE, excerpts by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra (Victor, $6.50)--The warm, instantly appealing music made for Daudet's play. Conductor Stokowski plays it brilliantly. Operagoers will recognize bits borrowed to make the Carmen ballet.

DE FALLA'S EL AMOR BRUJO, by the London Chamber Orchestra (Brunswick, 2 records, $1 each) -- Strange colors, strange rhythms mixed in a seething mass. Many will recognize the Fire Music as that to which La Argentina does her famed dance.

Chamber:

HAYDN'S QUARTET IN D MAJOR, by the Lener String Quartet of Budapest (Co- lumbia, $4.50)--The Leners play particularly the Largo with surpassing tenderness.

MOZART'S QUINTET IN A MAJOR, by the Lener String Quartet and Clarinetist Charles Draper (Columbia, $6)--This makes 27 Lener albums available. The Leners' recent U. S. tour (TIME, Dec. 2) was sponsored by Columbia as a selling device.

SMETANA'S QUARTET IN E MINOR, by the Flonzaley Quartet (Victor, $6.50)-- The Flonzaleys exist now only on records. The Smetana is neatly balanced, its moods, gay and foreboding, clearly defined.

Songs

WHY WAS I BORN? and DON'T EVER LEAVE ME (Victor)--Helen Morgan sings these as she does in Sweet Adeline, thinly, quaveringly, with all but the legs showing.

SINGING IN THE BATHTUB and LADY LUCK (Brunswick)--Dick Robertson sings the first with life-like abandon.

FRANKIE AND JOHNNY and EVERYBODY DOES IT IN HAWAII (Victor)--For those who like Jimmie Rodgers, his yodeling and guitar.

Dance Records:

WHY WAS I BORN? and HERE AM I (Victor)--Jazz that is also music, written by Jerome Kern for Sweet Adeline. Leo Reisman's version has smooth saxophones, smooth violins.

WHY WAS I BORN? and HERE AM I (Brunswick)--Roger Wolfe Kahn starts Here Am I with a snatch from Tristan.

DON'T EVER LEAVE ME and TWAS NOT SO LONG AGO (Victor)--Second-best tunes from Sweet Adeline, well played by Nat Shilkret.

GREAT DAY and WITHOUT A SONG (Columbia)--Paul Whiteman goes jubilant in the fadded Negro way.

WHY? and IT'S YOU I LOVE (Victor)-- Victor Arden and Phil Ohian, the two-piano comedians, lend their band to two good tunes.

A LITTLE KISS EACH MORNING and I'LL BE REMINDED OF YOU (Victor)--Rudy Vallee's velvet tonsils emitting hits from his cinema, The Vagabond Lover.

MY FATE IS IN YOUR HANDS and LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME (Brunswick) --Meyer Davis plays the first with orthodox sentiment. The other side should be a hit in Los Angeles where Earl Burtnett and his men play.

MY FATE IS IN YOUR HANDS and A LITTLE Kiss EACH MORNING (Columbia) --Guy Lombardo generously combines two of the most popular.

Other good dance tunes: MY SWEETER THAN SWEET and A YEAR FROM TODAY (Victor), Lucky Me--Lovable You and Love Ain't Nothin' But the Blues (Brunswick), Climbing the Stairs and Congratulations (Brunswick), If He Cared and The Shepherd's Serenade (Brunswick), Through and Why Do You Suppose? (Victor).

*Prices listed are for entire albums which in-clude several records. Where the price is not given, it is 75-c-, standard rate for popular 10-inch records.

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