Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 6 (1927-03)

The Phonograph Monthly Review 261 *311 chorus off-stage if he wishes. I’m sure that if he did so, he would have an excellent reason, and the result would be well worth hearing. I have had considerable experience with the finest music lovers of all—children — and one and all they listen to and like the very performances that the professors call “unduly dramatic,” “exaggerated,” etc. Such performances may not be “good” ones, but they certainly are alive. T. It. Cook. Montreal, Canada. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review : For a good many years I have sat back and waited for a magazine like the Phonograph Monthly Review. When my fellow phonograph enthusiasts raved and tore their hair over conditions in America, I merely put on another record and smiled. “Someday,” I thought, “‘somebody is going to stop talking and do something!” That day has definitely arrived. You have started something and to me the most valuable contribution which you are giving the enthusiasts of Amer- ica is not so much the magazine itself, enjoyable and valu- able as it is, but the interest, even excitement you are stirring up in the phonograph world. I should like to add a few words of my own regarding the discussions now raging concerning the letter in the January “General Re- view” and the attitude of the dealers toward good music. Taking the latter first, I must present my little testimony concerning the dealers’ knowledge of their own business and the companies’ inadequate publicity and distribution of their best releases. Some time ago, when asking for the Colum- bia Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, I had a dealer tell me quite seriously that there was some mistake about the album of that symphony. Picking it up, he counted over the number of records. “You see, there’s only four here; that No. 8 must be a misprint.” Knowing it would be useless to ex- plain matters to him. I said, “I’ll take it anyway. If the other four records ever come in, please send them out to me!” He’s probably still waiting for them ! Then for Odeon records. I know there are such records because I own a few, but it is easier to import records from Bolshevist Russia than to obtain Odeons. I wrote at least twice to the Okeh Company for “Till Eulenspiegel,” after of course trying unsuccessfully for it at all the dealers, and have never received even so much as a reply. A friend of mine in New York tells me that she tried at least a dozen Odeon dealers for the “Eroica” Symphony. Not only was she unsuccessful in obtaining it, but she was unsuccessful in finding more than one dealer in the whole group (selected from the Okeh Company’s own list in their advertisement in your magazine) who had ever heard of such a work. At the company’s headquarters, where she finally went, she was told they were temporarily out of stock but that one would be sent her. After two months she is still waiting for it! Now for a few words for the Victor Company! I recently tried to get Ganz’s Fingal Cave Overture of Mendelssohn and Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Spanish Caprice, reviewed in last month’s issue. The dealers had never heard of them! As I had done previously in the case of the Franck Sonata and the Mozart Jupiter Symphony in the Music Arts Library, I controlled my temper and asked the dealer to look through his complete lists again. Sure enough, the records were there, listed in a foot-note to special extra supplement issued secretly some time or other, with instructions printed upon it: ‘“Do not read, but hide away!”—if one may judge from the trouble the dealer had in finding the works I wanted. And so the farce goes on; the manufacturer apparently doesn’t know what he issues, the dealer doesn’t either know or care, and the luckless buyer, unless he is in the market for high-grade misinformation, can have a lovely time read- ing reviews and envying the only people in this country who actually hear these wonderful new things. Nor are the im- porters any more satisfactory, at least judging from Mr. Mai of Polydor fame, who treated a letter of mine with a silence as complete as that of the Okeh Company. (Please don’t think that I’m “kicking.” On the contrary, I enjoy all of it. It makes a regular game out of the whole thing! “Record, record, who’s got the record?”) Now to come to the letter from the Editor’s friend which seems likely to stir up considerable discussion. I cannot agree with “J, O. B.” who thinks the subject of Creative vs. Interpretative Artist long since given up as impossible to 313V answer. It may be impossible to answer, but it certainly should not be given up. The very fact that it is being dis- cussed is a sign of lusty health in the phono-musical world. The thing I like more than anything else in England is the way in which everybody pitches in and shows some life and interest in the problems of their world. Take Mr. Bal- main, for example, or the Vocation Company (and by the way, when, how, and where are we ever going to be able to "get some of its excellent recordings?)—both are truly interested in the progress of phonograph enthusiasm and participate in the march of events. What a wonderful thing it would be if the American dealers and manufactur- ing companies’ officials would take such an interest, would participate in the movement for better and better recorded music—for music, not alone for business’ sake—and would start or join in discussions such as the ones now going on in these pages. That day is coming—companies and all are go- ing to be on the band wagon sooner or later, just as I pre- dicted to my friends many years ago. They laughed at me then, but the changes the Phonograph Society Movement and the magazine have wrought have already convinced them that my prophecy will not be long in being filled. As to the question of brilliant vs. authentic interpreta- tions, it is interesting to argue about even if every one has his own conclusion already marked out in advance. Per- sonally, I like either and both. I enjoy Harty’s version of the “New World” for Dvorak and I enjoy Stokowski’s for Stokowski. And there you are! But I must admit that it is the brilliant “knock-out” recordings (if I may be per- mitted to call them such) that are doing perhaps the most good today. They make people sit up and take notice. Then they become interested, read the magazine, perhaps join a society. They start arguing and discussing and experiment- ing. They cry ‘“Why can’t we have this and why can’t we have that!” They disturb the poor old dealers from their jazzified lethargy and the fun is well begun. Result : An- other phonograph enthusiast. If people will do something, even if it’s only writing in- dignant letters, they are interested. And where there’s in- terest, there’s life, and where there’s life, there’s hope! That’s why I look forward so anxiously for representatives of the manufacturing companies to dive in—for after all, the water is fine. I’m not angry at the Okeh Company or the Victor Com- pany of Mr. Mai for not helping me to get what I want, for I know they’re not dead, they’re only napping! And as for the dealers, I’m really sorry for them, because one fine day they’re going to wake up and find they’re where they be- long—peddling tin-ware from house to house. The kettle is boiling now and this is a case where too many cooks cannot spoil the broth. Some are going to get scalded, but the rest are going to enjoy a fine meal! Harry Volkmann. Washington, D. C. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review : Congratulations! To the heretofore bewildered enthusiast of phonograph music you have brought what he needed most, namely, an honest review. Your magazine is more, it is that “rara avis,” a readable music monthly. May you maintain its high standard! Recorded music has always interested me greatly and my right-thinking friends have long held me in suspect. With the advent of the new recording process and the improved instruments, the battle, in fact, has waxed, hot, but the cause of civilization is not lost. I know of two apparent incorrigi- bles who have actually scrapped their radios and capitulated to the Orthophonic. Another radio connoisseur even sat still while I played him the entire Ninth Symphony on the phonograph and conceded that it sounded “dandy!” I am interested in the Boston Gramophone Society and would appreciate your advising me how I can become a member. In regard to the recording of great orchestral works I hope that some day some enterprising company will attempt Scriabine’s “The Divine Poem.” It seems to me that a com- petent recording of a mellow, sensuous reading of it, say by the estimable Koussevitzky, would strike an immediate response. The work has a strange and powerful appeal not only to the music congnoscenti but to the congenitally tone- deaf. I prophesy that the company making such a record- ing would not only achieve lasting fame, but reap a financial harvest. Furthermore it is not beyond the realm of possi- bility that one of our enlightened Fundamentalist States