Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 2, No. 7 (1928-04)

244 The Phonograph Monthly Review April 1928 ceedingly annoying both to them and to us. We beg to warn the public that any authorized rep- resentative of the magazine is supplied with full identification. As the last issue was going to press, a small announcement was inserted requesting that all musical and phonographic enquiries be addressed to the Correspondence Column rather than to me personally. Our office mail has reached large proportions and it has become impossible to write personal replies to such enquiries, especially as there are often three or four dealing with the same topic, which might be answered in the Cor- respondence Columns with much time saved by us, while at the same time this would give all our readers the benefit of the information imparted. Of course we are happy to hear from all our friends at anytime, and to help them as far as we can, but I regret that it is necessary to take this step. On page 262 of this issue I beg to call atten- tion to the advertisement announcing the opening of The Gramophone Shop by Messrs. William H. Tyler and Joseph F. Brogan, a most welcome entry into the field. Now we have at least three reliable importers through which the ever-grow- ing demand for foreign records may be filled. Of special interest is The Gramophone Shop’s an- nouncement that it will carry a full stock of National ‘ Gramophonic Society records. The letter with which The Gramophone Shop an- nounced to the public its opening may well be reprinted here as a statement of its aims and policies: “Our official opening is scheduled for April 1st. In the meantime a number of unusual and long-waited-for works have been received and we felt that our old friends should not be kept waiting for another two weeks. We enclose a more detailed description of these master compositions. “The Gramophone Shop is a little store located one block from the Grand Central Station, specializing in imported records and devoting its principles entirely to the music lover and record enthusiast. We plan to make every worth while European record available in this country at the earliest possible date after release and at the most reason- able prices, as well as all interesting American releases. We will also carry a stock of Orthophonic Victrolas and Columbia Kolster and Viva-Tonal Instruments. “Our special catalogue of imported records is in prep- aration and you will be mailed one as soon as it is off the press. This little catalogue, we believe, is the most interest- ing ever issued in this country, inasmuch as it contains over 500 compositions not listed in any catalogue issue by the phonograph companies of the United States. “We cordially invite you to call and see our little shop, and ask for a demonstration of these superb Master Sets. Yours for the best Record Service ever, THE GRAMOPHONE SHOP.” This surely is another convincing proof of the ever-growing interest in the phonograph and fine recorded music! There’s No Accounting For Tastes! By HAROLD C. BRAINERD “The phonograph companies are just catching up with the more popular of ordinary concert programs.” — B. H. Haggin in “The Nation”, Feb. 8, 1928. T HOSE of us who find that the opportunity to have in our homes the inspiration of great music greatly performed makes life more satisfying, have gone about of late in a rosy haze compounded of joy and self-congratulation and pride. Personally believe we are entitled to. More than that, I think we have a good laugh coming to us. First, however, a bad quarter of an hour. The quotation at the head of this article isn’t the half of it. Most of our gramophiles (thank you, Compton Mackenzie, for that excellent word) have, I fear, little conception of the amount of prejudice against the phonograph still entertained in this country by the very people who should be en- joying it. For a long time the phonograph was, quite rightly, laughed at as an amusing though perhaps pleasing toy. Now that electrical re- cording and the new reproducing instruments have compelled even the die-hards to admit that music today is reproduced “with amazing veri- similitude,” the attact has taken a new direction. It had to. No longer is it directed against the machine, but against its repertory. Now our business as practicing gramophiles, it seems to me, is to convert that large class of intelligent, cultured people who for one reason and another still think poorly of the phonograph and recorded music. For if that class be won over there is no limit to what with their support the phonograph movement might attain. Hence it is our job to refute unfair criticism, to correct misinformation wherever met with; since the first step in this campaign to win over our dissenting friends must be the clearing away of misconception and the establishment of a favorable state of mind. Whatever one may think of the political and economic opinions of The Nation , its literary, dramatic, and musical criticism is everywhere admitted to be authoritative. From Mr. Haggin’s article then, entilted “Democracy and Music,” I have selected the following, perhaps the severest criticism: “It is only two or three years since the phono- graph companies began to list recordings of en- tire symphonies and quartets. Before that a few