Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 2, No. 5 (1928-02)

February, 1928 The Phonograph Monthly Review 167 bussy Toccata and Clair de Lune, Guion’s Goat and Sheep, Chopin’s C minor Etude and his own Molly on the Shore; Rachmaninoff: Liszt’s Dance of the Gnomes, Strauss and Chopin waltzes, Mendelssohn etudes, Bach Sarabande, and Moussorgsky Hopak; Paderewski: Debussy’s Reflets dans Veau and Schelling’s Nocturne a Raguze; Cortot's Chopin C sharp minor Waltz, Berceuse, Handel’s Harmonious Blacksmith,. and Chopin’s G minor Ballade; Friedman: Chopin A flat Ballade, Mazurkas, and Etudes; Godowsky: Chopin A flat Polonaise and Tchaikowsky Bar- carolle; Szreter Soiree de Vienne and Waltzes; Leginska: Rachmaninoff Preludes and Liszt Rhapsody. Harpsichord records by Lewis Richards for Brunswick, Landowska for Victor, and Friedman for Columbia should not be passed by unpraised. The leading violin records have been from Szigeti: Bloch’s Nigun and the Franceour- Kreisler Siciliano; Spalding: Brahms’ A major waltz and Chopin: G major Nocturne; Heifetz: Zapateado and two Debussy pieces; Seidel: Slavonic and Hungarian Dances; Thibaud: Beethoven’s Romance in F; Kreisler: de Falla’s Cancion populaire and Brahms' 7th Hungarian Dance. Violoncello: Casals: Bach’s Adagio and miscellaneous pieces; Salmond: Adagietto from L'Arlesienne suite. In the Choral group masterpieces are met with immediately: the Blech Meistersinger Kirchen- choral, the Odeon Cavalleria Rusticana and Aida records, and the Russian Symphonic Choir’s Lord Have Mercy and Song of the Cherubim take precedence. Following come the new Met- ropolitan Chorus releases from Victor, the earl- ier records of the La Scala Chorus, the Russian Art Choir’s Columbia releases, the German Liederkranz’s earlier records, the Mormom Tab- ernacle and the St. Olaf Choirs, the Royal Choral Society’s and the Sheffield Choir’s Messiah ex- cerpts, the Dayton Westminster Choir (in the Victor Educational List), Berlin Liedertafel (Homochord), and finally the Staats und Dom- chor in the Victor German list. The Brunswick series of College Glee Clubs deserves mention. In the vocal group it is still more difficult to select a limited number of outstanding works. First come the Kipnis record of Wotan's Fare- well, Elena Gerhardt’s Brahms’ lieder, and Emmy Bettendorf’s Du Ring an meinem Finger. A hasty resume of the others reveals: Elsa Alsen: Traum durch die Dammerung and Er der herr- lichsten von alien; Onegin: Sapphic Ode, Carmen arias; Lawrence Tibbett: Pagliacci Prologue; Chaliapin: excerpts from Boris and the Finale of Don Quichotte; Mary Garden; Depuis le jour; Paul Robeson: Negro Spirituals; Bori: Little Damozel, II bacio, and Tales from the Vienna Woods; Rethberg: Return Conqueror and Tann- hduser excerpts; Gigli-de Luca: duets; Schipa: de Falla’s Jota and Quiereme Muncho; Martinelli: Turiddu's Farewell; Melba: Farewell; Tauber: Ay-Ay-Ay; Graveure: Bandolero; Braslau: Mali- piero-Bassani Cantata; Jeritza: Agathe's Prayer, Mirror Song, Farewell ye Mountains, Erlking, and My Little Nest; Edith Mason: Faust Jewel Song; Bohnen: Mephistophele's Serenade; Cham- lee: Tosca—E lucevan le stelle; Isa Kremer: Rus- sian folk songs; Ponselle and Martinelli: Aida - Finale; Journet: Leporello's Aeia; Galeffi: Er- nani—O Noble Carlos; Danise: Panis Angelicus and Even Bravest Heart; de Gogorza: In Old Madrid, My Little Teresa, and El Relicario; Lindi: Otello excerpts; Stracciari: Vile Race of Courtiers; Leoni: Bell Song; Bonelli: The Palms; Stabile: Otello — Brindisi; Master E. Lough: Oh, for the Wings of a Dove. Light orchestral and salon recordings have gone rapidly ahead during the last year, both in numbers and quality. Shilkret and his salon or- chestra, and the orchestras of Marek Weber, Dajos Bela, Ferdy Kaufmann, and Edith Lorand have made the major contributions. Shilkret’s sensational In a Persian Market has yet to be surpassed in this class. Band recordings are dominated by the magic name of Creatore, whose series beginning with Pagliacci and Traviata Selections and running through the Carmen Fantasy and S emir amide Overture has set a new high mark in band per- formance and reproduction. Releases by the Am- erican Legion, Sousa’s, Pryor’s, and United States Marine Bands have also been noteworthy. It would be impossible to catalogue even the leading popular, dance, and novelty releases with any degree of justice. Mention should be made of The Two Black Crows—known to everybody by this time, the race and hot jazz records of Okeh, and the Brunswick dance disks. One of the features of the past year and a half is the rapidity and efficiency with which the dif- ficult task of re-recording acoustical works has gone forward. Within another year acoustical records will be found only in the historical sec- tions of the leading companies’ catalogues. A concise table of the principle orchestral re-re- cordings may be of value. The new versions are given on the left, the old the right. SYMPHONIES Beethoven: First: Weissmann, Klemperer Henschel Second : Weissmann, Fried Beecham Eroica: Weissmann, Fried, Wood ...Coates, Weingartner Fourth: Weissmann, Pfitzner Harty Fifth: Nikisch, Weissmann, Seidler-Winkler, Wood Ronald, Weingartner, Furtwangler Pastoral: Weissmann, Pfitzner Weingartner, Pfitzner Seventh: Morike, Wohllebe, Weingartner, Coates Stokowski, Weingartner, Strauss Eighth: Weissmann, Klemperer, Weingartner Weingartner Ninth: Seidler-Winkler, Coates, Weissmann Weingartner, Coates Brahms—First: Weingartner, Fried Stokowski Berlioz—Fantastic: Rhene-Baton, Weissmann Weingartner Tchaikowsky—Pathetique : Wood, Ronald, Walter Weissmann Coates Dvorak—New World: Harty, Ronald Harty, Stokowski, Ronald Franck—D minor: Wood, Concerts Pasdeloup. Stokowski Schumann—Fourth: Pfitzner ...Pfitzner Schubert—Unfinished : Morike, Blech, Stokowski,