Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 2, No. 3 (1927-12)

88 The Phonograph Monthly Review December, 1927 that’s terrible. Give me some more bass, or 1 want less of those soprano saxes in that 2nd chorus, and after we have picked out all the faulty spots we start on another test. This time after re-arranging the position of a few instru- ments we strike a perfect balance and can pro- ceed for our Master Wax Record. We make from 5 to 6 of these masters so as to pick one out with the least imperfection. These waxes are handled with the greatest of care being placed in wooden containers and ship- ped to our Bridgeport Factory by special mes- senger. Then comes the process of Electro plating the wax masters and putting them through many other channels which would take more time than I am allowed for my article to fully explain. But nevertheless in a few days we have our samples returned of the finished product. These samples are then played and the best is chosen by the judgment of our Musical & Recording Dept, from a mechanical as well as musical standpoint. The order is then given to press this record for manu- facture and the public may then go to their near- est dealer and buy said record which we have taken so much pains to make Okeh. Peter P. Decker, Assistant Recording Engineer . Recorded Symphony Programs By ROBERT DONALDSON DARRELL A S the concert season gets into its stride, it becomes increasingly evident that this is to be a year of strongly predominate modernism. Whether the Centennial last year resulted in a little too much even of Beethoven or whether Strawinsky, Prokoffieff, and their merry men have suddenly taken the conservative camp by being not too disrespectful for several years, or whether the erstwhile inconoclasts are being called upon for assistance against the attacks of still younger and more audacious barbarians, would be hard to decide. Among some of the unrecorded violin concertos played are the following: Szymanowski's Con- certo Op. 85 (Kochanski, and the Cleveland Or- chestra—Sokoloff, Conductor, November 3) ; Bach's Concerto in A minor (Kochanski, Cleve- land, November 3) ; Prokoffieff's Concerto (Szi- geti, and the Philadelphia Symphony, Reiner, guest conductor, November 11) ; Brahms' Con- certo in D (Spalding, and the New York Sym- phony, Fritz Busch, October 27). The two re- corded violin concertos are those of Beethoven and Mendelssohn; the former scheduled for Gus- tav Tinlot with the Rochester Philharmonic (Goossens) for December 8; the latter for Al- bert Sammons with the Halle Orchestra (Harty) for November 24. Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D. Recordings: ^Victor Music Arts Set M-13 (11) Kreisler and the Berlin S. O. H. orchestra under Dr. Leo Blech; Polydor 69789-93 (10) Wolfsthal and Berlin S. O. H.; H. M. V. D-767-71 (10) Menges and R. A. H. (The Kreisler version is reviewed on page 359 of the May, 1927 issue, where the price is erroneous: the price with album included should read $15.00. The two acoustic sets are both good, but of course, they stand no chance of comparison with the superlatively fine Kreisler one.) Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor. Recordings: ^Victor Music Arts Set M-19 (7) Kreisler and the Berlin S. O. H. under Dr. Blech; Parlophone E- 10175 (7) Eddy Brown and the Berlin S. O. H. (There are several single records of excerpts, including a current Edison disk (80884—by Vasa Prihoda) of cut versions of the movements. The supreme Kreisler version is reviewed on page 477 of the August issue and mentioned again on page 70 of the November issue—on the occasion of its American release.) Last of the violin concertos to be mentioned is that of TchaiJcowsky , (played by Mischa Mischa- koff with the Philadelphians on November 18), one of the strangest omissions in recorded litera- ture. Possibly a disk or two of snippets has been issued, but never the complete work. Consider- ing its concert hall popularity, this neglect is quite inexplicable. Taking the modern works for first mention among the works performed which are unre- corded, there are: Respighi’s Pines of Rome (Verbrugghen—Minneapolis, October 28; Goos- sens—Rochester, December 1), and the same composer’s Symphonic Impressions, “Stained Glass Windows” (de Sabata—Cincinnati, Octo- ber 28) ; Saminsky’s Symphony of the Seas (Busch—New York Symphony, November 3) ; Vaughn-Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Tallis (Sokoloff—Cleveland, November 10) ; Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony (Koussevitzky—Boston, No- vember 11) ; Casella’s Italia (Reiner—Philadel- phia, November 11) ; Honegger’s Horace Vic- torieux (Busch—N. Y. Symphony, November 11), and incidental music to Phedre (Kousse- vitzky—Boston, October 28) ; Rieti’s Noah’s Ark Suite (Reiner—Philadelphia, November 11) ; Hanson’s Heroic Elegy (Rochester—Hanson, guest conductor, December 1) ; de Sabata’s Ju- ventus (de Sabata—Cincinnati, November 4) ; Bloch’s Jewish Poems (Koussevitzky—Boston, November 18) ; and Josef Hofmann’s Chromati- con (Hofmann with the Cleveland orchestra, No- vember 10). From these the works to be singled out for possible recording are those by Respighi, Vaughan-Williams, Casella, Sibelius, and Bloch. Italia and Pines of Rome have already received considerable mention; the gravely beautiful Tal- lis Fantasia of Vaughn-Williams, and the acrid, masculine Sibelius Symphony and Bloch Poems deserve appreciative attention. Some of the unrecorded works in the older repertory are: Borodin’s In the Steppes of Cen- tral Asia (de Sabata—Cincinnati, October 28) ; Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F minor (Eunice Norton with the Cleveland Symphony, October 28) ; Glazounow’s Fourth Symphony (Harty- Halle, December 8) ; Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Haydn (Koussevitzky—Boston, No- vember 12; Reiner—Philadelphia, November 25;