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

The Phonograph Monthly Review 186 one of Mengelberg’s recordings are distinctively fine. One of the most discriminative experts in re- corded music on a visit to the Studio some time ago made the statement that, “Any one of Men- gelberg’s releases can be bought unheard!” His name on the label gives definite assurance of their worth—a worth which is always outstanding. Mengelberg has recorded one work with the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a complete Marche Slave, the first of the Brunswick “longer- playing” records. It is a very brilliant and power- ful interpretation and has become very popular already. The Overture to Egmont, the first of what we hope to be a series of records with the Concert- gebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, has just been issued by Columbia this month and is reviewed elsewhere in this number of the magazine. Mengelberg’s concert performances have made him as famous in America as he is abroad. His recordings, every one of them, can only add to his fame and serve as examples of recorded music at its best. RECORDED WORKS BY WILLEM MENGELBERG COLUMBIA 67220 D. Beethoven: Overture to Egmont (The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam). COLUMBIA (English) Wagner: Overture to Tanhauser (The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam). BRUNSWICK 50072 Tchaikowsky: Marche Slave (The New York Philharmonic). VICTOR 6464 Mendelssohn: War March of the Priests from Athalia and Halvorsen: Festival March of the Boyars (The New York Philharmonic). (All the Victor recordings are with the New York Philharmonic.) 6223 Beethoven: Coriolanus Overture. 6547 Wagner: Flying Dutchman Overture. 6224 Weber: Oberon Overture. 989 Saint-Saens Omphale’s Spinning Wheel. 6225 and 6373 Liszt: Les Preludes. 6479 Schubert: Rosamunde Overture and Entr’acte. 6374 Tchaikowsky: Sixth Symphony (2nd and 4th Move- ments.) 6427 Strauss: Tales from the Vienna Woods and Tchaikow- sky: Waltz from the Serenade for String Orches- tra. 1127-8 Schelling: A Victory Ball. COLUMBIA Masterworks Set No. 44, Nos. 67216-17-18 D. Saint-Saens: Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, in A minor, 3 D12s Al). Price $4.50, Soloist, W. H. Squire, accompanied by Sir Hamilton Harty and the Halle Or- chestra. Recordings in which the ’cello plays a prominent part have not been very successful or even adequate in the past. The advent of the electrical process of recording of course has changed things entirely for the ’cello, which is now able to exhibit all its best qualities ^ on records. This concerto represents the best ’cello recording heard at the Studio to date. Both for clarity and tone it is virtually perfect. Hamilty Harty provides a discreetly balanced accompaniment, but the principal honors go to the soloist and to the recording director, both of whom exhibit their capabilities without ever making them unduly obtrusive. The finest technique is that which makes one forget all about technique and technical problems, and this is possessed both by Mr. Squire and the Columbia Recording Director and Staff. The work itself is in Saint-Saens’ customary amiable style, neatly constructed, adapted to the idom of the instrument, vigorous and songful as the occasion demands. Moreover, it is a work which will strike home to a great many more people than the usual concerto of this sort or even the usual fine-surfaced, coldly correct compositions from the pen of Saint-Saens. All in all the finest example of a ’cello concerto and of the composer now available on records. And in addition a most vivid and powerful example of the art of modern record- ing at its best. Here is not all the thunderous excitement which is so often sought for. As in the Mozart Symphony No. 35 in D, there is a delicacy, an effortless effectiveness, and a natural realism in this set that make it of unusual value in the cultivation of a musical ear and discrimination of tonal coloring and tonal balance. COLUMBIA No. 67219-D. Debussy: Prelude to The After- noon of a Faun. D12. Price, $1.50. Played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Paul Klenau. The Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun has enjoyed con- sistent popularity as the work which serves as the gate or entrance to the realm of “modern music.” It is easily the best known of Debussy’s works for the orchestra, although of late the Festivals from the Three Nocturnes is becoming a close rival in the concert hall. An electrical recording of the latter work would be most acceptable today, as the only existing version is mechanical and not easily available in this country. The “Afternoon” has already been recorded with excellent effect by the English Vocalion Company and by Dr. Stokow- sky for Victor, the latter a recent issue which has received high praise and which has done notable educational work. The Columbia issue must necessarily be unusually good to succeed and it is unusually good; in clarity especially it is one of the best recordings of the year. The interpretation is beautifully balanced and perhaps more adequately achieves a languorous Debussian effect than that of Stokowski. The orchestral performance is most praiseworthy, but the solo flutist—good as he is—hardly has the limpid tone that the first flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra uses with such ex- quisite effect in the Victor version. The Vocalion version is mechanical and the balance and clarity cannot compare with the others, but in other respects it holds its place with them very easily. No one version can be said to be the best. One is per- fectly safe in buying any or all of them. Of the two avail- able in this country, the Columbia has a slight advantage in the matter of price. The Philadelphia Orchestra, however, cannot be surpassed even by an organization which plays as well as the Royal Philharmonic does here. The interpretations are a matter of personal-preference. R. D. D. Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4, in D major. Victor Album Set of Four Double-sided Records (12 in.) Played by Fritz Kreisler and Orchestra conducted by Sir Landon Ronald. Complete on records 6516, 6517, 6518, 6519. This set of records is an American repressing of a mechani- cally recorded issue made some time ago in England. So far as I am aware (for I have been unable to get a score with which to check up) the recording is without cuts. Not even cadenzas have been sacrificed. The first occasion for praise to the Victor company must come for issuing so big a work. It indicates that the tide is turning in the American record market. Americans knowing Kreisler only from his previous American issues must have a very faulty idea of the great violinist. Those records alone simply indicate his mastery of the technique of the instrument, and his ability to play sentimental pieces and, on occasion, more serious trifles. But of the great artist Kreisler, those disks give very little indication. It is in the larger forms that a violinist has an opportunity to display the artistic stuff of which he is made. And in these records Kreisler shows himself a master. His phrasing—of the utmost importance in Mozart—is superb.