Records: Hot Classic

In the thirteen years since the plastic LP era began, no classical record has exhibited the sales allure of such old champions as Enrico Caruso's 78-r.p.m. performance of Vesti la giubba from Pagliacci, which sold well over a million copies. But last week Pianist Van Cliburn joined Caruso and a handful of other 78-r.p.m. giants, became the first artist to sell 1,000,000 classical LPs. His recording: Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, which captured first prize for him in the spring of 1958 in Moscow's International Tchaikovsky Competition and which he recorded two...