Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 11 (1929-08)

August, 1929 The Phonograph Monthly Review 387 movement less. It lacks something of assurance and also of tenderness. The performance is not without feeling by any means, but it misses the magical brooding quality of Bach’s slow movements at their best. But for the rest the work is both stimulating and ad- mirable, one to be commended on its own merits of vigorous life and well-planned balance, as w r ell as the first electrical release of an authentic masterpiece. Best of all, it is complete. The recording is rather hard, but effective. One may well anticipate the future releases of these admirably paired violinists. French Odeon 170,032-3 (2 D12s) Bizet: Patrie—Over- ture, played by G. Cloez and the Grand Symphony Or- chestra. (Available through the American Importers.) Bizet’s overture to Sardou’s play, “Patrie,” was perhaps his first work to make a decided success. His later triumphs have obscured it, at least as far as this country is con- cerned : it is seldom played here. The work is bright and vivacious, but Bizet displays only a promise of his later orchestral ingenuity, particularly in the lack of variation in the accompaniment figures. Cloez gives a fair per- formance ; it is never dull, but never actually fiery. The recording is ineffective and the orchestral tone has a curiously pinched and wizened quality. French Odeon 171,076-7 (2 D12s) Renie: Concert in C minor for harp and orchestra, played by Henriette Renie and the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by G. Cloez. (Available through the American Importers.) Mile. Henriette Renie is one of the foremost French harpists and a sound musician by evidence of these disks as well as by repute. A harp concerto is at best a piece d’occasion, but Mile, Renie has constructed hers very deftly indeed. The music is by no means profound, but it is neatly turned, fluent, and pleasant to listen to. The per- formance is brisk or lyrical as the music demands, and the solo part is flayed with assurance and spirit. The record- ing is much superior to that of the Bizet Overture and the balance between harp and orchestra is good. The harp tone is decidedly metallic in the more energetic passages, but in the songful second movement its resonance is effec- ively recorded. Is there not a third movement to the work? A finale is needed. R.D.D. Victor’s Educational List No. 6 The Victor Educational Department has not only been working overtime in supervising the production of appro- priate records in Camden, but it has also been busily en- gaged in searching for significant works in the catalogues of the Victor Company’s foreign affiliations. The Special List No. 6 (the second this year) makes exciting reading for every earnest phonophile. Scarcely an item in the list fails to promise interest for the record-buying music lover, over and above its purely educational value. This is sound planning on the part of the Educational Department, for surely records which measure up to high standards of general artistic appeal and merit, and still possess pertinent, direct educational worth, will be of the greatest good in educational work. The majority of the works here avoid both the austerity which deadens appeal and the super- ficiality which does not educate, and thus escapes the twin pitfalls of educative music. On account of the general interest of many of the records, particularly those performed by celebrity artists, they are given separate review ini the appropriate classifications (“Orchestral,” “Vocal,” etc.) elsewhere in this issue. In this inclusive review they are given less detailed mention. Album Set M-55 tops the list with Haydn’s familiar but never hackneyed “Surprise” symphony given superlatively fine performance by the ^Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky. Pasternack’s black label recording of this work was a favorite in the old acoustic catalogue, but now it is recorded without cuts and in a virtuoso perfor- mance that ranks with if not above the most effective recorded symphonies the phonograph has yet given us. Franz Schalk and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra are represented by the second and third movements of Beetho- ven’s Eighth Symphony, the popular menuetto and metro- nomic Allegretto Scherzando. This disk (9342) is from Schalk’s excellent recording of the entire Eighth, reviewed in this magazine from the imported pressings some months ago. I regret that the Educational Department was not able to give us the complete set (three records), but it deserves our gratitude for making at least a part of it available. There are three other orchestral works : Saint-Saens’ sym- phonic poem, Omphrale’s Spinning Wheel, in the faultless recorded performance of Mengelberg and the New York Philharmonic-Symphony (7006, also released in this month’s general Victor supplement) ; a vigorous reading of Weber’s Euryanthe Overture by Dr. Leo Blech and the Berlin State Opera Orchestra (9398, the first electrical recording of this overture to be issued here) ; and Albert Coates’ brilliant performance of Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration. The last work is in three records (9402-4), without an album. The Strauss work occupies five record sides, and part 6 is given to a grand Handel Overture in D minor, orchestrated by Elgar, and magnificently played by Coates and the London Symphony Orchestra. Opera is represented by two Mozart arias, Voi che sapete from Le Nozze di Figaro and Batti, batti from Don Gio- vanni, delightfully sung by Elisabeth Schumann, one of the finest German sopranos, particularly skilful in Mozartian roles (7076). There are three other vocal disks, two of “pattern songs” with the accompaniment repeated. On 21949 Raymond Dixon, tenor, sings Home Sweet Home and Sweet and Low, and on 21950 Ralph Crane, baritone, sings Dixie and Old Folks at Home. After one or two verses by the soloist, the orchestra plays alone so that the records may be used to good effect for group singing to phono- graphic accompaniment. The arrangements are simple and effective, and the accompaniments are smoothly and dis- creetly played. Mr. Crane’s singing is particularly pleasing: its frank, manly simplicity is an excellent model for students as well as highly enjoyable in itself. The third vocal record is a ten-inch Red Seal, No. 4124, whereon Elsie Baker sings very smooth and rich contralto versions of Gilchrist’s Sweet is True Love (words from Tennyson’s Idyls of the King), and the Thaxter-Vannah Good Bye, Sweet Day. A long section is devoted to “Symphonic Band” record- ings of selections from the Ditson “School and Community Band Series” edited by Messrs. Russell Morgan, Harry Clarke, and Osbourne McConathy. Mr. McConathy him- self conducts the Victor Symphonic Band in these perfor- mances. The recording is good and the playing clear and free from affectation. These disks should serve excellently their purpose of patterns for school symphonic bands, but their lack of marked brilliance and sonority prevents their being of unusual general interest. An exception might be made for 21935, which couples the Wake-Up and Battle- ship Connecticut Marches. There are two twelve-inch disks, 35967 and 35968. The former contains the War March of the Priests from Mendelssohn’s Athalia, and on the other side excerpts from Keler-Bela’s Lustspiel Overture and Ziehrer’s Wiener Burger Waltz. The latter contains the Coronation March from Kretschmer’s Die Folkunger, Coerne’s Exaltation, and the Minuet from Mozart’s Sym- phony in E flat. There are five ten-inch records of well known pieces in brief versions. Old Hundred, Adeste Fideles, Onward Christian Soldiers, Now the Day is Over, Awake My Soul (Handel), Forsaken (Koschat), and Fare- well to the Forest (Mendelssohn) are combined on 21936. O Tender Moon (Faust), Quintette (Martha), On Billows Rocking and Silent Heroes (Chimes of Normandv) are contained on 21937. The Skaters Waltz, Don Juan Minuet, Amaryllis Gavotte, Brahms Waltz in A flat, Stars of the Summer Night, and Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms are contained on 21938. 22013 is devoted to a Patriotic March Medley (Hail Columbia, Battle Cry of Freedom, Kingdom Coming, Tramp Tramp Tramp, Bat-