Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1928-10)

October, 1928 The Phonograph Monthly Review 15 Phonographic Echoes Mengelberg to Perform Prize Symphony Kurt Atterberg's prize-winning Symphony in the Schubert Centennial Contest will receive its world-premiere during Schubert Week, Novem- ber 18th to 25th, when Willem Mengelberg will conduct the work with the Philharmonic Sym- phony Orchestra of New York. The Symphony is now being recorded by the Columbia Phonograph Company and will be widely used in the ceremonies of Schubert Week. Other performances of the $10,000 prize work are being negotiated with the symphony orches- tras in Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, and other leading musical centers. Plans for Schubert Week With the slogan “Back to Melody,” the Ad- visory Body for Schubert Week, under the chair- manship of Otto H. Kahn, is now publicizing its plans for the American Centennial Celebration in honor of Franz Schubert, who died November 19, 1828. 1288 cities have been formed into a network of civic units, enabling industry as well as art, religion, and education to hold a cycle of celebrations November 18th to 25th, thus sup- plementing the efforts of professional musicians and bringing into thousands of communities re- mote from orchestras the opportunity of hearing the masterworks of “the most prolific, the most human, and the most lyrical of composers.” In New York there will be impressive Schu- bert tributes by the Society of the Friends of Music, the Beethoven Association, the Philhar- monic Symphony Orchestra, the Juillard School, and a large group of civic and fraternal orders. In other communities throughout the country the organization of Schubert Week will take the fol- lowing form: A local Committee is formed with a city official and representatives of the church, schools, musical organizations, art societies, in- dustrial groups, and the constituents of the Na- tional Federation of Music Clubs and the General Federation of Women's Clubs. Through an ac- tive secretary this committee arranges the Schu- bert Centennial concert with the co-operation of the National Headquarters of the Schubert Cen- tennial. Lectures will be given and moving pic- tures shown; there will be Schubert radio hours, all these activities to culminate in a great civic tribute. Hibbard Solves Pitch Variation Problem Mr. Charles L. Hibbard, Chief Recording En- gineer of the Okeh Phonograph Corporation, has added to his long list of recording triumphs the solution of the pitch variation problem resulting from the hitherto tendency of the recording in- struments occasionally to fluctuate in speed. Mr. Hibbard has not only designed a recording ma- chine that is a marked improvement in both sim- plification and efficiency over the complicated ma- Charles L . Hibbard chines of the past, but by an ingenious device he has also eliminated all possibility of fluctuation in the speed of the original wax disk, and conse- quent pitch variation in the master record which is made from it. Through the courtesy of the inventor we have the privilege of publishing a picture of Mr. Hib- bard's new apparatus which has been installed not only in the Okeh Corporation's laboratory, but also in the Columbia, Odeon, Parlophone, and affiliated companies' laboratories all over the world. Mr. Hibbard is at present traveling in Europe, combining a well-deserved vacation with giving his personal attention to instaling the recording machine and processes he has perfected in vari- ous foreign studios.