BartÓk: Concerto for Orchestra (the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner conducting; Columbia, 12 sides). The last to be recorded and possibly the finest of the late Béla Bartók's last great works. Fritz Reiner makes the wait worthwhile. Recording: good.
Beethoven: Symphony No. I (the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York, Bruno Walter conducting; Columbia, 8 sides). When Beethoven wrote his first symphony at 29, he was beginning to shake loose the shackles of Haydn and Mozart, to hurl thunder on his own. Conductor Walter doesn't miss a clapor any of the symphony's considerable charm....
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