Television: Apr. 5, 1968

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COPLAND: SYMPHONY FOR ORGAN AND ORCHESTRA (Columbia). Brooklyn-born Aaron Copland was finishing his composition studies in Paris in 1924 when he wrote this big, loose-jointed work, first cousin to a concerto. The organ does not contrast with the orchestra but stirs it up and then masses forces with it. Considered shocking at the time ("If a young man at the age of 23 can write a symphony like that, in five years he will be ready to commit murder!" declared Con ductor Walter Damroseh), the work has never been recorded until now. The New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein conducting, provides a gentle-to-jazzy buildup for Organist E. Power Biggs.

BUSONI: CONCERTO FOR PIANO, ORCHESTRA AND MALE CHORUS (Angel; 2 LPs). A first recording of a huge, seldom heard work that dates in time to 1904 and in style to a still earlier romantic era. Ferruccio Busoni was a pianist in the tradition of Liszt. He was a teacher who boasted disciples rather than pupils (among them, Kurt Weill) and he was also a composer of grandiose notions and mixed talents, which are illuminated by English Pianist John Ogdon and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in this 70-minute work The introductory movement seems to be all stately facade, but once inside the musical structure, the listener has a merry whirl, particularly in the carnival atmosphere of the Tarantella.

CINEMA

NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY. Playing murder and mental illness strictly for laughs, Actor Rod Steiger (as a homicidal schizo with a closetful of disguises) and George Segal (as a callow New York cop) turn this bizarre suspense story into a telling black comedy.

THE QUEENS. Italy seems to make a cinematic specialty out of confecting De-cameron-]ike clusters of shorts from spun-out risque jokes. This is one of the better examples of the genre—with feral Monica Vitti, delectable Claudia Cardinale and regal Capucine.

UP THE JUNCTION. Another London slum saga, based on a novel by Nell Dunn (Poor Cow), is saved from its pulpy sociology by Director Peter Collinson's feeling for the locale, and Actress Suzy Kendall's widening range of talent.

THE TWO OF US. Writer-Director Claude Berri tells a simple tale of the love of a small Jewish boy and an old anti-Semitic Frenchman without jerking a tear, hoking a climax, or ringing in the alarums that a World War II setting has ready at hand.

THE PRODUCERS. Two shyster impresarios (Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder) set out to make a killing on Broadway in this first film by Comedian-Writer Mel Brooks, which offers, albeit fitfully, some of the best cinema comedy in years.

BOOKS

CAESAR AT THE RUBICON: A PLAY ABOUT POLITICS, by Theodore H. White. A fine political journalist turns to ancient history for an engaging study of "the way men use other men to reach their goals."

HISTOIRE, by Claude Simon. Thought patterns of a man recalling his family history are woven with imagination by one of France's leading New Novelists.

THE SELECTED WORKS OF CESARE PAVESE. Four short novels by the life-shy but acutely observant Piedmontese who, since his suicide jn 1950 at 42, has become postwar Italy's most honored writer.

RICHARD WRIGHT, by Constance Webb. Using previously unpublished material. Miss Webb, a close friend of the late Negro novelist, tracks Wright's career from poverty in Mississippi to fame and prestige in Paris.