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Music: December Records

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TIME

William Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast

(Huddersfield Choir and Liverpool Philharmonic, conducted by the composer; Victor; 10 sides). Composer Walton’s barbaric, explosive Old-Testament oratorio (words arranged by Osbert Sitwell) is probably the most important British score in a generation. Performance and recording: excellent.

Dvorak: In Nature’s Realm, Op. 91 (Chicago Symphony, Frederick Stock conducting; Victor; 4 sides). A charming bit of nostalgic Czech musical landscape painting. Performance and recording: good.

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (London Philharmonic, Antal Dorati conducting; Columbia; 8 sides). Not the Swan Lake score familiar to U.S. ballet audiences, but a somewhat different selection of items from Tchaikovsky’s original ballet which once enthralled St. Petersburg balletomanes and is now the favorite of Muscovites. Suave, tuneful Tchaikovsky. Performance: excellent. Recording: good.

Christmas Hymns (victor Chorale, Robert Shaw conducting; Victor; 4 sides). Gifted Choral Conductor Shaw (TIME, Jan. 25, 1943) gives distinction as well as fervor to an anthology of oldtime choruses like Adeste Fideles and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Recording: good.

Shostakovich: Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 40 (Gregor Piatigorsky and Valentin Pavlovsky; Columbia; 6 sides). Rambling, facile, second-rate Shostakovich. Performance and recording: good.

Southern Slav Songs (Zinka Milanov, soprano; Sonart; 6 sides). Ingratiating melodies that sound Russian, Italian, Hungarian and Viennese in turn, sung in Serbo-Croatian. Recording: excellent.

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