Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 5 (1927-02)

The Phonograph Monthly Review 215 VOCAL My Dreams and Parted (Mario Chamlee) Brunswick 10230. DIO SI.50 Trees and By the Waters of Minnetonka (Schumann- Heink) Victor 1198. DIO 1.50 Caro Mio Ben and Lascia ch’io pianga (Elsa Alsen, Soprano) Columbia 5065-M. D12 1.25 Mad Scene, Lucia di Lammermoor (Toti dal Monte) Victor 6611. D12 2.00 Is est doux, il est bon and Adieu, forets (Jeritza) Victor 6604. D12 2.00 Arias from La Juive and Le Cid (Charles Hackett) Columbia 9029-M. D12 2.00 $10.25 CONCERTOS Schumann: Piano Concerto (Cortot) Victor Music Arts Library. 4 D12s A1 $8.50 Saint-Saens Violoncello Concerto (Squire) Columbia Masterworks Set No. 44. 3 D12s. A1 4.50 $13.00 “RE-REVIEWS” Franck: Symphony (Wood — New Queen’s Hall) Col- umbia Masterworks Set. No. 10. 4 D12s. A1 $6.00 Schreker: Schatzgraber, Intermezzo and Night Song (Schreker — Berlin State Opera House Orch.) Polydor 65924-5 and 65921. 3 D12s 4.50 $10.50 CHAMBER MUSIC Mendelssohn: Trio C minor (Sammons, Tertis, Mur- doch) Columbia Masterworks Set No. 43. 4 D12s A1 $6.00 Beethoven: Kreutzer Sonata (Menges and de Greef) Victor Music Arts Library. 4 D12s. A1 6.50 *Strawinsky: Concertino and Krenek: Waltz: (Amar- Hindemith String Quaret) Polydor 12049-L. D12 1.50 $14.00 EDISON Ernst: Elegie and Bohm Cavatina (Carl Flesch, Violin) Edison 82348 , $2.00 Only a Rose and Night of Love (Anna Case, Soprano) Edison 80872 1.50 Valeeta and Rye Waltzes (Henry Fords Old-Time Dance Orch.) Edison 51705 1.00 $4.50 Minuet in G and Souvenir (Kinsley, Organ) Edison 80857 SL50 Dawes: Melody and Rubinstein-Wieniawski: Romance (Carl Flesch, Violin) Edison 82346 2.00 Lolita (Mojica, Tenor) Edison 82344 2.00 $5.50 Whatever I may say here, let it be understood, is of a purely personal nature, reflective of an individual taste. And so, I beg you, let what- ever there be of criticism or disagreement, fall upon my head and mine alone. No one is re- sponsible for the ideas except myself and, as a rule, I speak from no other authority than my own. A great trio is back together again—one of the greatest that the world has ever seen. Cortot, Casals, Thibaud. When three such artists get together the result can not help but fall into that class that we call perfection. They are well known in Europe for their really remarkable ensemble playing. I well remember, some years ago when I was in Paris, they were giving a concert in the afternoon, and argue as I would I could not convince the ticket seller that they were not sold out. Dejected and much disappointed, I took myself to a movie to sleep. When I arrived at my pension that night I discovered that a friend had been kind enough to send me a ticket! That was the last chance I had of hearing them together. But now the H.M.V. have given the chance to anyone who may have the desire and the small amount of money necessary to have that trio as a permanent house fixture. The charming Schubert Trio, Op. 99, gives them a really remarkable medium for their first set, so charming and so delightful is it, a set that I can strongly recommend to anyone just starting a collection. The news of the twenty-four Chopin Preludes made for H.M.V. by Cortot is something to have. Although I have not at the present writing heard the records my order is, I hope, on the way from my London dealer. I am more than ever anxious to hear them, for not only are they one of the most interesting things musically that has come out in some time, but the comparison with the two very fine Columbia made Sonatas will be most interesting. So far, in my opinion, Columbia leads the field in piano recording. It is my earnest wish and hope that we will soon find the Victor Company pressing the H.M.V. recordings almost as soon as they are released. According to Mr. Boris de Schloezer, the eminent Paris critic, Moussorgsky’s Boris Godounov and Debussy’s “Pelleas and Melisande” are the two most interesting operas written since Wagner. But, if we are to believe the seasonal lists from the opera companies, they are not the most popular. Boris is given once where Tosca is given five times. On the other hand these two operas are better represented on the phonograph than any other (with, of course, the exception of Wagner). There are some sixteen records from Pelleas and, I am sure, almost twenty from Boris. Can this be an indication of the taste of the record buyer as compared to that of the opera goer? Dealers, manufacturers, my friends, in short almost anyone who knows that I am a collector and is not himself one, will come to me, stop me on the street, and say, “Have you heard the latest record made by Schipa? It’s a wow!” or, say, “If you want to hear a real chorus just listen to the record made by the tenth Baptist Choir” or “I want very much to have you hear the new organ record made in the Chicago movie. That’s a real organ, now I don’t blame you for not liking the Radio.” And my answer to them always is. “Yes, yes, I know; but what have they made?” A thing that they cannot seem to realize is that I have no interest in a record as such— I do not care how fine it may be—how faithful it is to the sound that it is supposed to represent, so long as it does not give me music that I want to hear and music that is for me interesting. Mr. Poliak’s talk on the songs of Hugo Wolf and records devoted to his work was of such merit that the Chicago Gramophone Society will be glad to send a copy of the speech to anyone interested. Along the lines of the Wolf records, Dr. Britzius and I started a few years ago to make lists of the recorded music of various composers, I believe I made one for Strauss, he sent me one for Brahms, and then from Tulsa, Okla. came one from Bruce Goff for Debussy. Naturally they must be constantly added to, but for one interested in starting a collection they are most valuable. Of course, the proper place for such lists is in the hands of the dealers, but it is not impossible for the Phonograph to have them on file so that one could, for a small sum, get a list of the available recorded works of Beethoven. Just a suggestion, of course. V()RIES.