Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 8 (1927-05)

338 The Phonograph Monthly Review It is hardly necessary to mention the several concertos listed under the Halle Orchestra; all excellent examples of perfection in accompanying, worthy of the man who in his early years in London made a name for himself as one of the finest accompanists. His recording of Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture should be singled out for special mention; one looks forward to an electrical recording of it that will preserve his reading and give a more adequate idea of the orchestra itself, which has to struggle against the handicaps of the old process. Nor should the delightful Handel Water-Music be forgotten; a work heard all too infrequently in the concert hall today. Sir Hamilton and his orchestra are now at the heights of their powers and music lovers may well anticipate their future works. We all have had much to thank them for in the past, as the following list shows, and we hope to have more of their splendid recordings before long. The progress they have made is truly remarkable and today they well deserve the sincere tribute we give here to their achievements. RECORDINGS BY SIR HAMILTON HARTY AND THE HALLE ORCHESTRA (Exclusive Columbia Artists) (Electrically recorded) Masterworks Set No. 47—Beethoven: Fourth Symphony. Masterworks Set No. 42—Mozart: Symphony No. 35. Masterworks Set No. 44—Saint-Saens: Violoncello Concerto. Op. 33, (W. H. Squire, soloist). English Columbia L 1822-3—Harty: With the Wild Geese. English Columbia L 1824-6—Mozart:Bassoon Concerto. (Archie Camden, Soloist). (Acoustically recorded) Masterworks Set No. 16—Strauss: Le Bourgois Gentilhomme. Masterworks Set No. 3—Dvorak: From the New World Symphony. Mastenvorks Set No. 17—Saint-Saens: Le Carneval des Ani- maux. Masterworks Set No. 13—Bach: Concerto for Two Violins and Suite in B minor for Flute and Strings (Violinists: Catterall and Bridge; Flutist: Robert Murcie). Masterworks Set No. 30—Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1. (Albert Sammons, soloist). Masterworks Set No. 14—Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole (Leo Strockoff, solist). Masterworks Set No. 11—Mozart: Violin Concerto in A major (Catterall, soloist). 67087-D—Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture. 67085-D—Brahms: Academic Festival Overture. 67015-6-D—Wagner: Parsival Good Friday Spell (3 parts) and Tristan’s Vision from Tristan and Isolde. 67083-D—Mozart: Marriage of Figaro Overture. 67053-D—Debussy: Prelude—L’Apres Midi d’un Faune and Moussorgsky: Prelude to Khovanstchina. 67054-D—Rimsky-Korsakow: Coq d’Or—Introduction and Cor- tege des Noces. 7099-M—Handel: Water-Music Suite (Arr. Harty). 7077-M—The Londonderry Air. English Columbia L 1405—Berlioz: Rakoczy March and De- bussy: Prelude L’Apres Midi d’un Faune. L 1418—Ravel: Mother Goose Suite (Empress of the Pagodas and Fairy Garden). L 1428—Rossini: Overture to Barber of Seville and Villiers- Stanford: Overture to Shamus O’Brien. L 1434—Exposito: Irish Suite. L 1522—Wagner: Siegfried’s Doath Music. Sir Hamilton Harty and Arthur Catterall Masterworks Set No. 25—Mozart: Sonata No. 17 in A for Violin and Piano. Gilbert and Sullivan on the Phonograph By ISAAC GOLDBERG Y OU LIKE them or you don’t; the fondness comes first and the reasons afterward. If you have received a training that is too orthodox,—if you cherish the notion that only “heavy” music can be good, then you may have to cast about for academic justification. If, on the other hand, you are not fettered by solemn text-books and owlish pedagogues, the likelihood is that you will take to Gilbert and Sullivan at first hearing. I don’t say that you will become a “fan”. The Gilbert and Sullivan “fan”—and I’m a dyed-in-the-wool specimen myself—is not altogether reasonable when his favorite subject comes up for discussion. He is not, on this par- ticular topic, altogether sane; neither is he altogether mad. He knows the books of the operettas from cover to cover; he knows Sul- livan’s score as thoroughly as he knows the faults of his friends. Long experience has taught him that Gilbert can be as dull on occasion as Wagner the would-be dramatist, and that Sulli- van trying to do the big bow-wow often comes a cropper. But that experience has taught him, too, that these two English gentlemen are the finest pair in the history of operetta,—that, what- ever their shortcomings, they are not surpassed for their special type of light entertainment. I don’t say, then, that you’ll become a “fan”; but I’d never be surprised to hear that you had. Gil- bert and Sullivan are the incarnation of a gaiety that wins the head and warms the heart. There is a finish, an ease, a refinement, a dexterity to their operettas that has kept them alive for half a century. Today, indeed, in both their native England and the United States, a rebirth of in- terest is going on that has all the signs of a true renaissance. All the more reason, then, why we should have these operettas complete on the phonograph. The radio has done yeoman service in acquainting young America with these glories of their elders. In tabloid form, at least half of the Gilbert and Sullivan pieces have been heard over a large net-