Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 12 (1927-09)

v'Sie The Phonograph Monthly Review 495 A Glance at Recorded American Music (Concluded) P OPULAR music, from the encore song and the salon piece, through the sentimental bal- lad, the “nut” song, the latest “hit”, jazz of all varieties, to the best of the light operettas, has figured prominently—although not as exclusively as some people seem to think—among record re- leases and will continue to do so in the future. The only recommendations that might be made are those of increased emphasis on operettas (for which the favor found by recent works like those of Kern and Romberg speaks well) and an at- tempt to give examples of jazz at its best a little better hearing than that afforded only by ten- inch dance records. Many of the leading jazz or- chestras play jazz poems, rhapsodies, and the like in their concert appearances and two-part re- recordings on twelve inch records might well find public favor. It is of course both impossible and unwise to attempt to divorce jazz entirely from the dance, but at its best it can be listened to as well as danced to, as the Rhapsody in Blue so effectively proved. Several of the works in the repertory of Paul Whiteman’s Concert Orchestra might be suggested: Ferdie Grofe’s Mississippi, Eastwood Lane’s Eastern Seas, Deems Taylor’s Circus Day; also W. C. Handy’s Evolution of the Blues and Whithorne’s Pell Street (as played by Vincent Lopez), Shilkret’s New York Suite, and Henry 0. Osgood’s suggestions, suites from Car- penter’s Skyscrapers and Gershwin’s Operatic Sketch One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Street. In the field of composed music (represented as we have seen so inadequately), I cannot see any hope for representative recordings made to any considerable extent for some time to come. Un- fortunate as this is, it must be admitted that the manufacturing companies can hardly be blamed. When the struggle for a mere hearing is so diffi- cult, when a significant work like the Victory Ball achieves but an extremely limited sale, experi- ments in recording contemporary American music must necessarily be rash and entirely altruistic ventures. This of course does not apply to smaller works of the better sort which perhaps will receive increased attention in the future. A few of the logical choices of works mostly in the larger forms may be recapitulated; even their appearance must be extremely problematical: John Powell’s Rhapsody Negre for piano and orchestra; also his violin sonata and suite, In the South. Carpenter’s Perambulator, Infanta, Krazy Kat, and concertino for piano and orchestra. Chadwick’s Symphonic Sketches. Hill’s Stevensonia. Taylor’s Through the Looking Glass. Gilbert’s Comedy Overture and Indian Sketches. Griffe’s Clouds, The White Peacock and Khubla Khan. MacDowell’s Indian Suite, sonatas, concertos. Copland’s Music for the Theatre. Gershwin’s Preludes and Concerto. Sowerby’s Money Musk. Loeffler’s Memories of My Childhood. Bloch’s Solomon and Jewish Poems. Perhaps in time the hearing the English Com- panies have given composers like Elgar, Holst, Vaughn-Williams, and Delius, and to folk music in recording shanties, folk songs and dances, etc., will be duplicated in this country. We have com- posers and folk music here equally deserving, even if for widely differing talents and qualities. The increased attention the younger American com- posers are winning in the concert hall promises much, for the recording companies inevitably follow in the path blazed by concert hall perform- ances. In working toward this objective the recording companies could be of vast assistance in one simple way: that of officially recognizing Ameri- can music by the issue of special catalogues of their American music records and by making some systematic (no matter how small) efforts towards recording representative rather than haphazard American compositions. The Colum- bia Company recently issued a “Wagner Album,” the Victor Company has issued Operetta, Danish, Sacred Albums, etc. Why not an “American Album?” That of the Columbia Company might include Fisk University Negro Spirituals, a re- recording of Skilton’s Indian Suite, some Grain- ger records of pieces like Spoon River, Turkey in the Straw, etc., several American songs, some Gershwin piano pieces (perhaps a recording of he Concerto with Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony!), and one or two outstanding examples of blues and jazz. That of the Victor Company could include the Victory Ball, the Rhapsody in Blue, country dances and Indian music by the Victor Orchestra, songs by American composers (perhaps one of the important ones already discussed), some of the Victor Herbert works which figure so prominently in their cata- logue, Copland’s Dance and other “concert jazz” works to be played by Whiteman’s Orchestra, and perhaps some large orchestral work by the Chi- cago, San Francisco, or Philadelphia Symphonies. The Brunswick Company, long the pioneer in the issue of fine piano records, might issue one of MacDowell’s Sonatas, or have the Cleveland or Minneapolis Symphonies record an American orchestral work. It seems odd that, while all the companies issue monthly “foreign” releases of German, Russian,