The Tanglewood Quintet's concert in Sanders Theatre this Thursday night should be one of the year's best, especially for anyone who thinks that musical pleasure varies as the number and power of the musical ideas in a work and not as the amount of noise produced. The program lists two famous quintets, and at least one very great one; the popular Brahms Quintet opus 34, intricate, solid, sombre, and lyrical, a thoroughly German piece of music with all the best qualities of the German classical tradition.

The other work, the Shostakovitch Quintet, is a newcomer still' very much under dispute. Completed in the fall of '40, it won the fabulous Stalin prize and was called by "Pravda" -- "the greatest musical composition of 1940." On the other hand, Haggin of the "Nation" dubbed it fluent nonsense, so you can take your choice. Whatever its ultimate musical value, it is well worth hearing, and probably easier to grasp at first listening than the Brahms. The Quintet is, on the whole, lighter and less tense than its predecessor, the Fifth Symphony, and it is laced with the familiar Shostakovitch devices of modal harmony, folk melody, and unusual percussive effects. The performers are members of Dr. Koussevitsky's faculty at Tanglewood, with Malcolm Holmes of Pierian fame playing one violin and Sanroma at the piano. The festivities start at 8:30.

On the popular front we have the announcement of "Records for Our Fighting Men," an association of top-flight band leaders, conductors, and soloists, jazz and otherwise, who decided to do something about the pressing need for musical facilities in the music camps. They realized that there is no better way to make life run smoothly within the tight social set-up of the army and navy than by providing opportunities for hearing and making music. Their scheme is to make new, free records for the army out of the scrap materials collected in a nation-wide salvage drive. The organization has already been officially recognized by Roosevelt's Committee on War Relief Agencies, and plans to start collecting on July 17. You don't have to send your old records anywhere, or even cart them to Briggs and Briggs, for the American Legion is going to run a door-to-door campaign. Here is a good way to clean off that closet shelf and do your conscience a good turn at the same time.