Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 4 (1927-01)

The Phonograph Monthly Review 167 below the original key note you will strike the fourth tone of the scale, except that it is an octave lower. Modulations to the sub-dominant are also very common. And as in the case of the dominant, acoustical facts determine the reason for the importance of the sub-dominant. The three degrees of the scale thus far discussed —tonic, sub-dominant, dominant—form a trinity of paramount importance in understanding the elementary principles of harmony. (To Be Continued in the Next Issue) cMusic ‘Through ^Records By HENRI PRUNIERES I T was only a few years ago that musicians used to grow indignant when they heard it said that the day would come when the phonograph would no longer be a detestable ap- paratus for ridiculous nasality, offending their ears by its stupid refrains, but would become a faithful servant of the Muses, allowing us to hear moving transcripts of the greatest masterworks of music. This prediction, then believed daring, is al- ready an accomplished fact. The newer gramo- phone models, both in Europe and America, bear only the most distant likeness to those which were current before the war. Tonal values are reproduced today with an equality and homogene- ity quite perfect, and the nasal qualities have disappeared. Just as photography offers us a glimpse in black and white of the visible universe, so the phonograph gives us an impression in sounds not precisely those which the ear might catch. The machine distorts them ever so slightly. As the eye forgets to look for color in the procession of images on the motion picture screen, so the ear quickly learns to submit to the illusion of hearing the human voice or actual in- struments. The phonograph, under these conditions, be- comes a precious companion for music lovers. Of course, there are more people who use it to dance to than there are who take the opportunity of listening to masterpieces, but I know many amateurs who, comfortably seated in an arm- chair, are wont to follow a score as the records of a symphony, a sonata, or an opera wind off. The French Gramophone Company (Com- pagnie Frangaise du Gramaphone) has under- taken a sustained artistic effort these past few months. Thanks to the work of their excellent orchestral director, Piero Coppola, they have suc- ceeded in recording music of the rarest quality. I would cite as foremost example their series of discs of the “Pelleas and Melisande” of Debussy. The vocal interpretation is of the highest order. M. Panzera is doubtless the most perfect Pelleas we have yet heard, and his voice comports admirably with the requirements of the gramo- phone. I should be tempted to say as much of M. Vanni-Marcoux, a superb Golaud, whose mor- dant voice accommodates itself marvellously to the mechanical requirements. Mile. Brotheier is an excellent Melisande, and M. Willy Tubiana an Arkel of merit. The orchestra does justice to all the details of this precious score. The attempt to record “Pelleas and Melisande” was a particularly difficult one, since it is recog- nized that the orchestral music of Debussy, filled as it is by fugitive and delicate nuances, lends itself ill to mechanical reproduction. The result in this instance, however, is magnificent. One should hear all the interludes, the scene at the fountain, that of the tower, the love duo, and Golaud’s recitatives in the second and fourth acts, in order to appreciate to the full the beauty of these discs. The innate lyricism of this music, its freedom from grandiloquence or rhetoric move a listener in a quiet room with much more force than in the playhouse. But it is regrettable that the necessity of separating the most signifi- cant passages within the enforced limits of single discs obliges the operator to make very consider- able cuts. At the moment, however, it is scarcely possible to plan a complete audition of “Pelleas” for the records; and it is part compensation to be able to have at one’s disposal the finest scenes from this masterpiece. M. Piero Coppola has also recorded “The Fire Bird” and the “Petrouchka” of Stravinsky. The thick and incoherent orchestration of “The Fire Bird” meets the requirements of the phonograph less ably than that of “Petruchka.” These latter records are among the most beautiful I have heard. The orchestra of “Petruchka,” with its clear timbres opposed to each other in bold con- trapuntal patterns, and with the interwoven piano part, preserve for the gramophone an ex- traordinary color and brilliance. Let us hope that this bold initiative will be appreciated by the public, and that other publish- ers of discs will stand ready, like the Gramophone Company (Compagne du Gramaphone), to mix in with their recordings of fox-trots and blues a few masterpieces of modern music. (See page 192 for information about M. Prunihes and the above article.)