Word: concertos
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STRAVINSKY: VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR (Philips). A rare and rewarding encounter between the neoclassicist Stravinsky and the romantic David Oistrakh. Oistrakh gaily sets off short rhythmic explosions in the Toccata and Capriccio and then lets the melodies pour out in the two calm stretches called arias. Conductor Bernard Haitink and the Lamoureux Orchestra are also attuned to every instantaneous change in the musical weather...
ERNEST BLOCH: CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA (Angel). Bloch was noted for his Jewish music, but in this work he denied having any Hebraic inspiration or intention and referred to the main theme as the "American Indian." The overtones are oriental nevertheless, and the coloring exotic. Yehudi Menuhin, who first played for Bloch when he was six, lends to the work of his late friend a special intensity, as though he were celebrating a mystery...
...MOZART: CONCERTO NO. 17 (RCA Victor). Artur Rubinstein has made long series of Beethoven, Brahms and Chopin recordings, but only in his mid-70s is he turning to Mozart, who did not live long enough to grow old. The best modern Mozart interpretation demands more crispness, but Rubinstein's performance has its own serene and sunny logic. He is accompanied by Alfred Wallenstein and the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra...
MUSIC FOR GLASS HARMONICA (Vox). "Glass music" was long in vogue: Gluck performed a "concerto upon 26 drinking glasses, tuned with spring water": Benjamin Franklin devised a popular "armonica," played by rubbing the edges of glass bowls. Bruno Hoffman has created his own 20th century instrument of tuned glasses to revive the literature and plays here works by Mozart and his contemporaries, setting the distant ethereal sounds adrift above flutes and violins...
...Victrola label to kick off its new line, offers a rich lode of glittering bargains ($2.50 for each mono LP, $3 for stereo). Among them: Puccini's Tosca with Soprano Zinka Milanov; Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" with Pierre Monteux and the Boston Symphony; and Brahms's Concerto No. 2 with Russian Pianist Emil Gilels backed by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony. Vanguard Records' new line, Everyman, includes a fine performance of Haydn's Creation, conducted by Mogens Wo¨ldike...