Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 12 (1929-09)

398 The Phonograph Monthly Review September, 1929 Sabajno, who conducts in masterly fashion. Re- cording and performance are remarkably good throughout the entire work. Dr. Hertz and the San Francisco Orchestra provide the first complete electrical recording of the Ballet from Massenet’s Cid to be issued in this country. The performance is a colorful one, re- minding me of his memorable Capriccio Espagnol records. The leading vocal release is Bach’s Kom Siisser Tod and Brahms’ Wiegenlied and Sapphische Ode sung by Hulda Lashanska and chorus, followed by two Neapolitan songs by Tito Schipa, familiar arias from Trovatore and Sam- son et Dalila by Louise Homer, and arias from Faust and Traviata by Giuseppe De Luca. Harold Bauer plays Grieg’s Album Leaf in A and Brahms’ B minor Capriccio, Fritz Kreisler re- records his well-known versions of Dvorak’s Slav- onic Dance No. 1 and Songs My Mother Taught Me, the Republican Guard Band plays La Mar- seillaise and Marche Lorraine, Bourdon and the Victor Concert Band are heard in two novelty pieces (Patrol Comique and a Hunting Scene), and the Victor Light Opera Company offers Gems from the popular operettas “Follow Thru” and “Hold Everything.” Columbia’s list is unusually extensive this month, containing three album, sets in addition to the Chopin Piano Sonata by Percy Grainger which was announced in these pages last month but which was not received in time for review then. The second release in the Columbia Oper- atic series is Traviata in a complete recording by artists and chorus of La Scala, accompanied by the Milan Symphony Orchestra under Lorenzo Molajoli. The performance is crisp and very spirited, and the recording is strikingly realistic. A feature of the set is the accompanying libretto containing Mr. Comlpton Mackenzie’s English prose translation especially written for the Col- umbia Company. The other two sets are both Brahms works, one the lovely quintet for clarinet and strings, played by Charles Draper and the Lener String Quartet, and the other the Violin Concerto in a very dashing performance by Joseph Szigeti and the Halle Orchestra under Sir Hamilton Harty. This is not the only treat for collectors of violin records, for in addition are disks by Georges Enesco, the noted Roumanian composer-conductor-violinist, Zimbalist, and Yelly D’Aranyi, all of which are highly meritous. Or- chestral records include Weber’s Preciosa Over- ture conducted by Dr. Weissmann, intermezzos from Cavalleria Rusticana and Amico Fritz con- ducted by Molajoli, Grofe’s Mississippi suite play- ed by Jack Payne’s British Broadcasting Com- pany Concert Orchestra, and Weber’s Invitation to the Dance conducted by Felix Weingartner. Alexander Kipnis sings familiar arias from Lohengrin and Tannhauser, Grainger plays his fantasy on Rosenkavalier melodies, Quentin Mac- lean plays familiar Ketelbey pieces on the Comp- ton Theatre Organ, Edith Lorand plays Love’s Dream After the Ball and Linke’s Indra Waltz, A. Pini plays ’cello versions of Rubinstein’s Mel- ody in F and Foulds’ Keltic Lament, Fraser Gange sings Invictus and The Blind Ploughman, and the Columbia band has two records of pa- triotic songs and state marches. All this in ad- dition to the usual long dance and popular lists. Among the “foreign” supplements that from Victor is unusually rich in “finds.” Special men- tion goes to Johann Strauss’ Radetzky March and Perpetuum Mobile conducted by Dr. Blech, and the same composer’s Freut’ Euch des Leben con- ducted by Knapppertsbusch, arias from Madame Butterfly by Margaret Sheridan, arias from La Gioconda and Forza del Destino by Aureliano Pertile, a Tosca Fantasy by the Royal Italian Marine Band, Spanish songs by Jose Mojica, two records of national music by Dohnanyi and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, and a noyelty bird record by nightingales in the Reich Aviary, Bremen. Comment on the Radetzky March rec- ord was made here sometime ago when the im- ported pressing was heard at the Studio, but again I advise everyone to hear this remark- able little record. The features of the Odeon foreign lists are Tauber’s record of songs by Er- win and Lehar, waltzes by Dajos Bela’s Orches- tra, marches by the Becker Military Band and the Grosses Odeon Orchester, choral selections by the Stockholms Studentsangareforbund, and a Vogelhandler Potpourri by the Grosses Streich- orchester. Columbia features a zither record of Viennese waltzes, two brilliant marches by the Milan Symphony Orchestra, and Portuguese marches by the Banda da Guarda Republicana do Porto. Brunswick concentrates as usual in the Italian and Spanish-Mexican fields, issuing a long series of commendable disks in each classification. Through the kindness of Mr. P. Pickering, Gen- eral Manager of the Edison Bell Company of Lon- don, we have been sent a shipment of Edison Bell “foreign” records among which there are many works of general significance. The reviews have had to be postponed until next month on account of lack of space. This month we are glad to welcome a newcomer to the ranks of American importers, the Inter- national Records Agency, of Bellerose Manor, New York, conducted by Mr. A. J. Franck, and specializing particularly in the less familiar makes of foreign records. Among the importa- tions received from the various importers this month are Grieg’s Piano Concerto and other piano pieces by Maurice Cole (Broadcast Twelve), the English Columbia set of Aida, Dr. Muck’s superb version of the Tannhauser Overture (Ger- man H. M. V.), Dr. Blech’s performance of the Second Liszt Polonaise, an album of Spanish re- ligious music, “Semana Santa en Sevilla” (Span- ish H. M. V.), Ravel’s Harp Septet (H. M. V.), and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14 played by Mark Hambourg. The features of this month’s European releases are two long-awaited major works: Strawinski’s Sacre du Printemps and Delius’ Sea Drift. The former is issued by the French H. M. V. (four records) and played by the Continental Sym- phony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Monteux,