Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 10 (1927-07)

430 The Phonograph Monthly Review The Editor does not accept any responsibility jor opinions expressed by correspondents. No notice will be taken oj un- signed letters, but only initials or a pseudonym will be printed ij the writer so desires. Contnbutions oj general interest to our readers are welcomed. They shoxdd be brief and writ- ten on one side oj the paper only. Address all letters, to CORRESPONDENCE COLUMN, Editorial Department, The Phonograph Monthly Review, 64 Hyde Park Avenue, Boston, Mass. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review : Reading some of the reviews published in your magazine, I became very much interested in the foreign releases of the various recording companies and have followed their monthly issues very closely. I quite agree with your reviewer in his praise of some of the “novelty” records of several months ago, but of recent months the standard seems to have dropped terrifically. Take the Victor Mexican list, for example, some time ago every month releases were sure to contain four or five unusually interesting or excellent recordings. Lately, it has been a good month when there is one record that is even worth re-hearing! It would seem as though the best records were put out early in the season and were expected to carry the succeeding poor ones on, their reputation. The Companies can put our splen- did things in the foreign catalogue, as they have all proved in the past, but they should be severely criticized when they allow the general average to fall as low as it has done recently. Mention should also be made of the necessity of obtaining more adequate artists for these foreign records—especially where the Scandinavian ones are concerned. There the vari- ous nationalities are represented by “artists” who probably would not be given a thought at home! Araldo Lindi for Columbia is a pleasing exception to this error. I have also felt some disappointment in the recent issues of the International Orchestra, one of which is almost the same as the other. Mr. Shilkret has always been a master in the art of securing variety and interest in the past. Is he falling into the danger of repeating himself? Sacramento, Calif. B. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review : Mingled with our gratitude to the recording companies who are issuing so many fine works today is a bit of resentment over the method in which the actual releasing is done. Repre- senting, I believe, the average phonograph enthusiast with a reasonable sum set aside for records each month, I am sure that I must express the feeling of many record buyers when I protest against the wholesale issue of large-size works in one month. One month there are scores of fine things begging to be bought; the next there is practically nothing. The Columbia Company has always tried my temper sorely in this respect from the very beginning of their splendid Mas- terworks Series. Every so often they would release several fine sets and either leave me broke for the month or dis- gruntled at the thought of th.ngs being out I was unable to buy. Of course, it isn’t fair for us enthusiasts to cry for major works to be recorded and then lament over the cost when they do come out. The very expensive set of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto played by Kreisler ($15.00) is worth every cent that must be paid for it. I “dug down” cheerfully for it. But what a pity that the Schubert and three other major works should be issued in the same lot. I couldn’t get them and the Concerto too and so I must wait until next month, with the possibility of having my attention distracted else- where. A similar story can be related about the Columbia Beethoven recordings. May I suggest that instead of issuing a batch of important sets every three months or so, they be distributed so that every month will see at least one or two announced for release. I am confident that not only would the sale be bet- ter, but the enthusiasm of buyers would be kept much fresher, their pocket-books more alert and generous, while the works themselves could be far more effectively advertised. Would jazz records sell as well as they do, if a hundred or so were issued one month and no more until three months later? Think it over, Mr. Manufacturer! Brooklyn, N. Y. An Average Enthusiast. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: In Mr. Appel’s article in the April number on Beethoven’s quartets he gave a list of the available recordings and indi- cated that there was none of Opus 127. I happen to have this quartet done by the Virtuoso Quartet on H.M.V., records Dl 183-7. This is an electrical recording and is, I think, the best set of chamber music records, barring the Schubert Trio (B flat, Opus 99), that I have yet heard. It seems to me although I am not a very good judge of such things that the Virtuoso sounds infinitely better than the Lener. Also Mr. Britzius in his letter in the same issue overlooks an electric recording of the A minor quartet, Opus 132, played by the Amar quartet on Polydor. I don’t know the numbers of these records, but they were highly recommended in a recent issue of the Gramophone. Chicago, 111. Harry J. Lowenbach. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: Some compositions that might be suitable for the first recording are the obscurer Beethoven Overtures. The “Weihe des Hauses,” the “Namensfeier” and the “Fidelio” are rarely heard today and would have especial appeal at this time. It is strange the recording companies have recorded so little Schubert. Out of his innumerable compositions only one overture, one symphony, and three of his compositions in the chamber music form are recorded. Why not add his “En- chanted Harp” and “Fierabras” overtures to the contest. Let us hope the manufacturers respond to his Centennial as they have to Beethoven’s and the November of 1928 finds us with the “Tragic” and “Gasteineo” symphonies and all of his chamber music recorded. Is there a biography of Schubert available of the same excellence as Bekker’s “Beethoven,” that gives a detailed analyses of all his instrumental music? Has anyone ever attempted the completion of Schubert’s Sixth or Beethoven’s Tenth Symphonies? Have Beethoven’s “Battle Symphony” or the one dis- covered at Jera in 1910, or the “Men of Prometheus” ballet ever been recorded? The Columbia Phonograph Co., a few years ago, was offer- ing to make records and matrices for about $750 a thousand without the artists. We phonograph enthusiasts might be able to record some works for less than the usual price. Are there dealers that care enough about the customers that buy the best music to engage people with a knowledge of catalogues, composers and musical history? It seems im- possible to one accustomed to western phonograph dealers. Delver, Col. A Schubert Fan. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: I quite agree with Mr. Harry L. Anderson in his letter in your June issue that some company should have Gabrilowitsch do Brahms B flat Concerto. Grainger the Grieg. Hofmann the Beethoven G major, Rosenthal the Chopin and Liszt, but in addition, Grainger do the Grieg Sonata in E minor, Op. 7,— not at present available on any recording although at one time done for H.M.V. by Una Bourne. It is surely an out- standing Sonata and most popular with students. I wonder why some company does not do the “Romeo and Juliet” overture by Tschaikowsky. In my letter to you published in the same issue I was amused to find that your type setter had quoted me as saying that my library contained records from the most scientific to the hisrhest,”—the last word should have been lightest (popular class) in fact every department, practically complete. Philadelphia, Pa. William Hatton Green. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: Dear Sir: Among several letters printed in your magazine recently there seems to be a common under-current of thought concerning a certain phase of the enjoyment of music in general. The letters I have in mind touch on various topics, but, reading between the lines, I seem to sense certain un- expressed thoughts in the minds of these people. The sum and substance of these thoughts are admirably set forth in the letter of Mr. K. Robdon on page 392 of your June issue. Everyone should turn to this letter and re-read it. It contains much true talk.