Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 7 (1927-04)

The Phonograph Monthly Review 312 </3l l ... ■ 1 ' ■■■■i i .... ... . ■ H sv I suggest this, not because I have more money than I know what to do with—in that case I should have the works re- corded for myself!—but because I believe a thing that is really good, that is worth having, is worth having at any reasonable price, even if it is necessary to save up for months to be able to accumulate their purchase price. I can hardly agree with Mr. Alexander in his complaint over the cost of records. To me records like Coates’ Wagner- ian series or Grainger’s large size piano works of Chopin and Brahms are so increditably fine that I should be devoutly grateful to be able to get them at any price! The cost of re- cords is a problem to every music lover, exactly as is the cost of concert tickets. But today, we must admit that there are very few cases when we do not get many times our money’s worth. Gramophile. St. Louis, Mo. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: I read with great sympathy the complaints of people who couldn’t buy Odeon records. I can’t either. It seems that nobody knows what they have or how to get it. I have only so much to spend on records and I like to get at least one thing every week. So, if I can’t get what I hoped for I have to get something else. And the Odeon people have lost a lot of business that way. I like the works by Weiss- mann and Morike as well as your reviewers seem to do, there are so many good things coming out lately that if I can’t get the Odeons I want, I have to get something else. It seems a shame that it is so hard to get these wonderful records. F. B. San Francisco, Calif. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: I am interested in obtaining disks to be used for home recording. At present I am using the Pathe Voice Recorder with aluminum disks. These disks are used with a sapphire point for recording and a fibre needle for reproducing. A friend of mine who is in the phonograph business told me that he had a hard rubber (or semi-hard rubber) record with grooves that he used in recording his voice. The cutting stylus for this hard rubber record was an ordinary steel needle which would also reproduce the voice from this record. He does not remember the name of this record or from whom he purchased it, so I am asking your aid. This hard rubber record was flat and could be played on a Victor, Columbia, or any other phonograph with the ex- ception of the Edison. I would like to have the names and addresses of companies who make home recording devices as I would like to try them all. I also wish to say that I enjoy reading your magazine very much as I am a great lover of music, and your magazine is just the kind which interests me. Benjamin Swetzoff. Boston, Mass.. (Can any reader assist Mr. Swetzofj in his search for home recording records? Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: I am very happy to become a subscriber to The Phono- graph Monthly Review. I am a member of the National Gramophonic Society of London and through the magazine called “Gramophone” issued by the Society, I have known that you started The Phonograph Monthly Review. Re- cently my friend Mr. Fukaya of Kamakura showed me the first number of the Review and I was really astonished by the excellent contents of it. As I enclose herewith a draft of $5.00, will you please forward me the magazine for a year beginning with the first number? I am very glad to expect that my poor musical knowledge may hitherto be greatly cultivated by the wonderful Phonograph Monthly Review. Y. Mizumachi. Tokio, Japan. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: I have received the first two numbers of your excellent journal, and have asked my London bookseller to forward it regularly. “The Gramophone” I have taken from the first number, and have been an enthusiast for over 18 years. I may mention that I am a planter, and that when one is cut off from the musical world, a gramophone is more than a joy, add to which, journals such as yours, the various inex- pensive books on music, both biographical, and for study, and the exciting rapid progress there is being made, both as re- gards recording and reproducing. More can be done, down even to such details as the Shellac used. Mr. Fisher’s article is entertaining, and I would like to suggest too: 1. An orchestral piece of the “Pipes of Desire,” composed by F. Shepard Converse (an opera in one act). 2. Schumann-Heink to record one of the big songs from the Ring of the Nibelungs of Wagner; Alda, the “Elegie” of Massenet, etc. 3. Some of the songs of Rubinstein (Anton), which many consider his best compositions. One would also like to have the 3 big concertos of Chopin, particularly one played by Moritz Rosenthal. I sincerely hope your journal will meet with the success it richly deserves. Again my sincere thanks and heartiest con- gratulations. Selby O. Hanbury. Ceylon, India. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: Columbia deserves hearty applause for their Beethoven Centennial issue. What an astounding list these ninety new Beethoven records present! The man who conceived and carried through this idea for Columbia should be canonized, for such real publishing is new to the phonograph world for- shadowed only by the Victor issue of sixteen Wagner “Ring” records in 1924. Many recording companies will no doubt contribute to this Beethoven landslide, for each one surely wants their own fifth and ninth symphonies and we cannot feel too censorious for their duplicate Moonlights, Pathetiques and Kreutzers. But let us hope that the repetitions go little further. There are many of his masterpieces yet unrecorded. Of the three major approaches to Beethoven, (the symphon- ies, the string quartets, and the pianoforte sonatas), the nine symphonies are now all electrically recorded. The quartets, too, the very essence of his work in each period, are well represented. A list will show the extent of our good fortune. Op. 18, No. 1 in F major—Lener Quartet (electrical). No. 2 in G major—Lener or Flonzaley (electrical). No. 3 in D major—Not complete (deserves electrical) No. 4 in C Minor—Lener Quartet (electrical) No. 5 in A major—Not Complete (deserves electrical). No. 6 in B flat—Lener Quartet (electrical). Op. 59(Rasumovsky)No. 1, F minor—Lener Quartet (electrical) No. 2, E minor—Lener Quartet (electrical) No. 3, C major—Lener Quartet (electrical) Op. 74 (Harp) in E flat—2 accoustical recordings. Op. 95 in F minor—Lener Quartet (electrical). Posthumous group, Op. 127, E flat—None (deserves electrical) Op. 130, B flat--None (deserves electrical; Op. 131, C sharp—3 accoustical (deserves electrical). Op. 132, A minor—1 accoustical. (deserves electrical). Op. 133 Fugue)—None. Op. 135, F major—Lener or Flonzaley (electrical). The duplication of the Op. 135 is unfortunate, especially since we want new recordings of all the other posthumous quartets, for none of the four old recordings mentioned cap- ture the intimate glow of an actual performance. One can sympathize with the various companies in desiring that their own catalogues be as complete as possible, yet surely such a policy will not prevent them from making the as yet unre- corded works first. Beethoven’s most personal instrument of expression was the piano, he created thirty-two sonatas for that instrument. The phonograph companies have scarcely touched them. Of six electrical recordings, four are the Moonlight! Add to these the Pathetique and the Appassionata and our selection is hardly well balanced. We must have some of the early sonatas, by all means the three in Op. 10. These colorful and easy to listen to works each present a different and important quality and our Beethoven will never be complete without them. And what of the magnificent last piano compositions? With the new methods they now can really be adequately re- corded. Especially we want the great “Hammerklavier” and its all-comprehending slow movement, greater music than which cannot be conceived. K. E. Britzius. Minneapolis, Minn.