Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 10 (1929-07)

350 The Phonograph Monthly Review July, 1929 Odeon 3533 (DIO, 75c) Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Nos. 8 and 16, played by the Grand Odeon Orchestra. The sixteenth Slavonic Dance is the third of Kreisler’s trio. I believe that this is the first time it has been re- corded in orchestral form. It makes pleasant listening but it is not one of the more striking works in the set. No. 8, however, is one of the best. It fairly glows with vivid energy and bounding life. Fit, healthy music for the vigorous dancing of lithesome peasants. The Odeon Or- chestra (conductor unspecified) plays it as if it enjoyed doing so. This is a second recording of the eighth dance; Stock and the Chicago Symphony did it for Victor a couple of years ago. Recordings of the Slavonic Dances are al- ways welcome. The Okeh Corporation is to be thanked for this pleasing little disk. The orchestra is of very moderate size and the recording just fair, but there is an invigorating snap of this coupling than many a more pretentious work entirely lacks. Victoi* 9327-8 (2 D12s, $1.50 each) Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, Op. 55, played by Eugene Goossens and a Symphony Orchestra. The four pieces making up the second suite drawn from Grieg’s music to Peer Gynt are Ingrid’s Lament, Arabian Dance, The Return of Peer Gynt, and Solvejg’s Song. With the exception of the last they are far less familiar than the pieces in the first suite, but they possess similar qualities, with somewhat less distinction perhaps. Goossens is his usual competent self here, the orchestra is capable, but the recording only fair. A set of mild merits, and no uncommon attractiveness of appeal. Columbia 67578-9-D (2 D12s, $1.50 each) Do Falla: Three-Cornered Hat Dances, played by Enrique Fernandez Arbos and the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. This is the third set of the popular dances from The Three-Cornered Hat ballet. The others are by Dufosse and the Russian Ballet Orchestra for Edison Bell and by Mal- colm Sargent and a Symphony Orchestra for Victor. Arbos’ tempos are slower than those of the others and in con- sequence his version occupies two twelve-inch instead of ten- inch disks. These dances were included in Arbos ’programs in his recent American tours. I enjoyed his performance of them as “guest” of the 1 Boston Symphony, but his playing here hardly seems to have the same fire and dash that I remember he got into the music before. The Madrid Symphony is apparently a good orchestra, but the recording hardly permits it to shine to best advantage here. The string tone is not too smooth and the tuttis lack sonority and sharpness. Perhaps I do the work some injustice, for it has been the object of panegyrical praise abroad. Yet in comparison with Arbos’ concert performance I cannot feel that this recording fully catches conductor or orchestra at their best. The first dance (The Neighbors) fares best; the Miller’s Dance and the Final Dance seem rather in- effectual in their more energetic moments. This is the first set in a series by Senor Arbos and the Madrid Symphony to be given American release. Pre- sumably it will be followed by excerpts from Albeniz’ Iberia (in Arbos’ transcriptions), Turina’s Procession del Rocio, and Arbos’ own Arabian Night. All of these have appeared in England and have been warmly greeted. The Iberia records that I have heard are very good and struck me as being considerably more effective than this de Falla set. Odeon 5165 and 5169 (2 D12s, $1.50 each) Wagner: Die Meistersinger—Prelude to Act I (three parts) and Prelude to Act III (one part), played by Max von Schillings and the Grand Symphony Orchestra. Still another Meistersinger recording—and one of the best. Schillings is one of the truly great Wagnerian con- ductors and in addition he has had long and thorough re- cording experience. I do not remember a single record from his hand that was below the first rank. Invariably he com- bines effectiveness with sound taste. His performances al- ways ring true; usually they are deeply moving. His Pre- lude to Act I of Die Meistersinger is praiseworthy in every respect: his has a fine orchestra and fine recording, and his reading is the thoroughly admirable one we expect from him. Although it lacks some of the super-breadth of Bod- anzky’s version, it can be ranked fairly with the best of the other recordings. What a pity it was not released sooner when it would have enjoyed a greater sale. The performance of the Prelude to Act III is easily the finest I have heard on records. May we have more disks from Schillings heard in works that have not already been re- recorded by several other conductors. Odeon 3257 (D12, $1.25) Lortzing: Ondine—Overture, played by the Grand Odeon Orchestra. The conductor of this novel disk is unspecified, which is rather unfair as he does his work well. The orchestra, des- pite its name, is not very large, but the performance is a first-rate one, particularly in its restraint, rather unusual in a light overture of this kind. The music, little known in this country, is very pleasant indeed. It deserves a place on our “pops” programs. This disk deserves hearing as a worthy addition to the list of lesser known light overtures. Victor (International list) V-50008 (D12, $1.25) Johann Strauss: Danube Maiden Waltz, played by Hans Knap- pertsbusch and the Berlin State Opera House Orchestra. Knappertsbusch made some good acoustical records for Polydor in the old days, but he hardly shows at his best here. However, complete versions of the Strauss waltzes are always welcome, and while Donauweibchen is not among the greatest of them, it makes very pleasant listening. The recording and performance are fair. Columbia 50150-D (D12, $1.25) Gillett: Loin de Bal, and Verdi: Aida—Selection, played by Percy Pitt and the B. B. C. Wireless Symphony Orchestra. The previous releases of the British Broadcasting Com- pany’s orchestra have usually been coarse and over-ampli- fied in the recording and rather haphazard in performance. This is an agreeable surprise. Mr. Pitt plays these familiar selections with intelligence and deftness and the recording is both effective and tonally pleasing. An ex- cellent disk for educational work and a worthy addition to the fast-growing literature of recorded perfomances of light and semi-classical music that measures up to symphonic standards of quality. There never can be too many of them. Odeon 5167 (D12, $1.50) Korngold: Das Wunder der Heliane —Prelude to Act III, played by Dr. Weissmann and the Grand Odeon Orchestra. This work was reviewed from the German pressing last October. It is probably the first recorded example of Korn- gold’s orchestral writing and it represents him to better advantage than the occasional compositions of his that are played in American concert halls. The idiom is Strauss- ian and very turgid, but the playing and recording are high- ly effective. A good disk for Strauss addicts. Imported Polydor 95187-92 (6 D12s) Rimsky-Korsakow: Symphonic Suite—“Scheherazade,” played by Oskar Fried and the Berlin Philharmonic. (Available through the importers.) The phonograph has always fought shy of the opulent splendors of Rimsky’s masterpiece of oriental fantasy. The only large scale recording in the acoustical era was that by Miorike for Odeon and it was not free from cuts. The first electrical release was that by Stokowski for Victor, re- viewed in the January 1928 issue of this magazine. Al- though I have never followed it with the score, I under- stand that it too contains several unimportant cuts. The new version from Polydor is contained on eleven instead of ten sides, so I imagine that it is very likely to be complete. (On the twelfth side Ibololyka Kilzer, violinist, and Michael Racheisen, pianist, play Kreisler’s arrangement of the Chant HindoU from Rimsky’s Sadko.) A third electrical set, played by Cloez and the Opera-Comique Orchestra for the French Odeon Company, is available in France but has not yet been heard here. As I discussed the composition and its musical signifi- cance in considerable detail in the review of Stokowski’s set, it is perhaps sufficient to review Fried’s version on its phonographic qualifies only. Remembering the recent issue of Mazeppa in an astonishingly brilliant recorded