New Records

In case there is any doubt just what a conductor is good for, Columbia has released a fascinating and informative album called The Birth of a Performance. The music is Mozart's "Linz" Symphony (No. 36) and the star is Conductor Bruno Walter, 79. Three of the four sides are devoted to rehearsal (the fourth is the finished performance), with Walter's kindly voice correcting, explaining, singing (off key), completely unaware that he is being recorded.

Unlike tempestuous Arturo Toscanini, Walter does not frighten musicians into playing right; he coaxes them. When, with his mellow German accent, he says, "Come, let's have it again." he might be talking to forgetful children, and when he says, "Once more, letter D," he sounds like a host inviting some guests to have another helping of Sacher Torte. There is endless patience, endless attention to detail. "Aha!" he shouts over the slow movement. "Ssst! Second violins, make a diminuendo ..." The music starts again, and "Right!" shouts the old gentleman vehemently, making the listener jump in his seat. To the horns: "Gentlemen, you should be more accompanying . . . Don't match [the violins]. Keep a little below, you know." Again, sadly: "This could be finer," or "I am not happy with this C sharp." In a spirit of experimentation: "Tell you what we'll do: three notes on one bow--throm, bom, bom . . . Ah, the bowing is much better."

An interested listener, following Conductor Walter's comments with the enclosed score, may discover a world of insight about music from this performance, although the Columbia Symphony Orchestra could use even more of Walter's help than it gets.

Bach: Toccata in D Minor (E. Power Biggs; Columbia). An organ tour of Europe in which-- Organist Biggs plays the same piece on 14 instruments, the oldest dating from the 15th century (Ltuebeck, Germany), the newest from last year (Royal Festival Hall, London). Some of them were undoubtedly used by old Virtuoso Bach himself. Some of the organs are scintillant and percussive, some hoarse with archaic, buzzing tone; some are housed in churches where the echo lasts so long that the sound takes on a luminous vagueness.

Ives: Symphony No. 3 (Baltimore Little Symphony conducted by Reginald Stewart; Vanguard). This imposing work was completed in 1911 when the late U.S. Composer Charles Ives was 37. Its serene and majestic first movement is the most appealing, but its allegro gets involved in a struggle between sprightly and weighty themes. The finale, again, is flowingly introspective. On an Overtone LP, Soprano Helen Boatwright performs Ives's 24 Songs. The selections span nearly the entire period of Ives's creative life. They show him as a romantic in spirit, a modern in terseness and detail.

Orff: Antigonae, Scenes 4 & 5 (Christl Goltz, Hermann Uhde, Vienna Symphony and State Opera Chorus conducted by Heinrich Hollreiser; Columbia). The Sophocles tragedy of the Theban princess doomed by her father, set in a markedly individual style by Germany's popular Composer Carl Orff. Mysterious sounds, fearlessly repeated notes, stark accompaniments, apocalyptic thunderings, all add up to a powerful aural drama. Soprano Goltz tops everything with her soprano.

Respighi: Il Tramonto (Sena Jurinac, Barylli Quartet; Westminster). That subtlest of combinations, soprano and string quartet, is just the thing for Shelley's The Sunset. Respighi gives it all a sweetly-sad intimacy that becomes only moderately assertive in the climaxes ("The maiden found her lover dead and cold . . ."). It is sung with great beauty by Vienna Opera Soprano Jurinac.

Scintillation (Carlos Salzedo, harp; Mercury). Aside from a few angels, nobody has done so much for the harp as Carlos Salzedo. This collection of his compositions and arrangements veers from a twangy Arkansas Traveler to extremes of evanescence in the title piece.

Other notable new records: The sixth complete Aida on LP, starring Zinka Milanov and Jussi Bjoerling with Rome Opera House forces conducted by Jonel Perlea (Victor, 3 LPs); Debussy's Etudes played by Walter Gieseking (Angel); Verdi's Don Carlo, with Boris Christoff, Mario Filippeschi and Tito Gobbi and Rome Opera forces conducted by Gabriele Santini (Victor, 3 LPs); Rossini's Il Turco in Italia, with Maria Callas, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni and La Scala forces conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni (Angel, 2 1/2 LPs).

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