Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1927-11)

42 The Phonograph Monthly Review *a n . - 1 1 Capiton Zaporojetz, bass, sings Moussorgsky's Song of the Flea and a traditional Russian song Drinking; his voice is said to compare with Chaliapin's! Harold Williams sings two Negro Convict Songs (Water Boy and Gwine Away) ; Eva Leoni, arias from Lakme and Saint-Saens little-known music to Parysatis; Theodore Ritch, arias from Tosca and Manon; Eva Turner, as- sisted by members of the La Scala Chorus, sings the concerted finales to Act II of Aida and Act III of Traviata. Among the remaining releases of note from Columbia are two more records by Johann Strauss (fils) of his father's less hackneyed waltzes (Thousand and One Nights, Freuet Euch Des Lebens, Doctrinen, and When the Lemons Bloom) ; Sir Henry Coward and the Sheffield Choir in anthems by Woodward and Goss; and the usual lists of novelty, popular, and dance records. The H. M. V. is more diversified than usual and contains a remarkable number of records that are out of the ordinary. First comes the Haydn Piano Trio No. 1, in G major, by that incomparable trio, Thibaud, Casals and Cortot; the work is re- corded on two ten-inch.disks, a fact that will en- dear it to those music lovers for whom the Schu- bert Trio by the same artists proved a rather ex- pensive purchase from a financial point of view— invaluable as the work is artistically. For or- chestrals, Siegfried Wagner offers his father's Huldigungs March, and Sir Landon Ronald the Preludes to Acts I and II of Carmen. (The re- cent Herz record of Caprice Viennois and Cop- pelia excerpts is now issued in England; also the coupling of Kammenoi-Ostrov and Liebestraum, on the label of which the Victor Symphony Or- chestra has apparently changed its name to New Light Symphony Orchestra.) Benno Moiseivitch, whose splendid piano records appear so infre- quently, plays four Etudes of Chopin (Nos. 4, 10, and 11 from Op. 10, and No. 3 from Op. 25) ; Kirilloff's Balalaika Orchestra issues a Potpourri of Ukrainian popular songs; Weitz, organist, Liszt's Fantasia and Fugue on the name BACH; and there are vocal records by Apollo Granforte, Mavis Bennett, and Percy Hemming. Among the re-recordings, appear Chaliapin, Schipa, and Martinelli. There are many dance and popular records, and for novelty, a fifteen-record set of French Language lessons, with text and key books, album, etc. As a special issue, there is a “Second List" of H.M.V. German recordings, in- cluding : Overtures to Orpheus in the Underworld, Barber of Seville, Magic Flute, Bartered Bride, Gypsy Baron, Flying Dutchman, Don Giovanni, and the Preludes to Acts I and II of Carmen, all by Dr. Leo Blech and the orchestra of the Berlin State Opera House, who also conducts the Pil- grims' Chorus and Procession of the Guests (Tannhauser) which appeared last month in the Victor German lists, and a two-part Blue Danube iValtz. Besides these orchestrals, Tilly De Garmo sings arias from the Marriage of Figaro; Ursula Van Diemen sings two Schubert songs (To Music and Wanderer's Night Song) ; the November, 1927 — rrsisv State and Cathedral Choir of Berlin sing choral works in Latin by Corsi, Lotti, and de Lasso; Ernst Viebig conducts the Poet and Peasant and Night in Venice Overtures; and Marek Weber plays two excerpts from Lehar's “The Tsare- vitch." From Edison Bell, the Russian Ballet Orches- tra records are followed by another interesting novelty of real musical worth, Mozart's Horn Concerto (K.417), accompanied by the Royal Symphony Orchestra (two records). The Edi- son Bell Company is sending this work to us for review and full details may be expected in our next issue. The English Brunswick Company brings out several notable Polydor works: Debussy's Nuages and Fetes (from the Nocturnes), Max von Schil- lings' versions of the Siegfried Funeral Music and Journey to the Rhine; and Kleiber's Four Ger- man Dances of Mozart. From the American Brunswick Company are pressed Godowsky's re- cent Barcarolle (Tchaikowsky) and Onegin's Erl King (Schubert), in addition of course, to the usual American dance orchestra releases. This month's domestic releases present un- usually difficult problems. There is such a galaxy of fine things that one is hard put to select any one work as definitely outstanding. Looking over the extensive lists the following works stand out, but it would be hard indeed to make any preference among them. The Victor Music Arts Library Set No. 19, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto played by Fritz Kreisler to the accompaniment of the Berlin State Opera House Orchestra under Dr. Leo Blech, has been in the Studio several months in the H. M. V. pressing. The composition has long been a favorite of mine and I have derived a world of enjoyment from Kreisler's great performance. The Odeon choral ’ecords nos. 5127 and 5128, the Aida Triumphal March and the Cavalleria Rusticana Easter Hymn have been highly praised by our foreign corres- pondents and fully live up to that praise. They are a revelation in choral recording and are not to be missed by either high or low brow! By all means, be sure to hear them. Then comes the excellent Columbia piano rec- ord 7134-M on which Percy Grainger plays an odd American folk-piece, a Bach gigue, and the Liszt Liebestraum. Personally I don't like piano records, but when we played it for review in the Studio the other afternoon I had to admit for once that here was one worth listening to. In fact I became so interested that I played about a dozen piano records that evening, among them the excellent Appassionata Sonata recording by Bauer for Victor (6697 and 6698) and Szreter's Soiree de Vienne for Odeon (3208). Coming to the orchestrals, we have the long- heralded Brunswick New Hall of Fame Sym- phony Series Sets Nos. 1 to 6. Ein Heldenleben, and the Fifth and Seventh Beethoven Symphonies were, of course, already in the Studio in the Poly- dor pressings. Perhaps most noteworthy among the ones new to us is the Strauss album of the In- terlude and waltz from Intermezzo, and the waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier. The Intermezzo