Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 3 (1928-12)

December, 1928 The Phonograph Monthly Review 75 three new album sets in their Musical Master- piece Series. Set M-31 is Abendroth’s celebrated performance of the Brahms Fourth Symphony, and M-37 is a Muck album including his great recording of the Meistersinger Overture, Parsival Prelude, etc., which have been previously re- viewed separately from the imported pressings. The third set is the long awaited Franck piano quintet, played by Cortot and the International String Quartet (M-38), and taking a place of honor beside Victor’s noted recordings of the quintets by Brahms and Schumann. (The delay- ed reviews of the Brahms Violin Concerto and the complete set of La Boheme appear in this issue together with those of the new albums.) The only other orchestral work in the list is a four-part recording of Liszt’s Les Preludes, a release which has been long called for and eager- ly anticipated. But for once it can hardly be claimed that Dr. Herz quite lives up to our ex- pectations, especially when we compare his per- formance of Les Preludes with the memorable old one by Mengelberg. There is no release from Bourdon and the Vic- tor Symphony this month, but the Victor Light Opera Company continues its “Gems” series with an Aida disk of unusual excellence. The grand opera series is continued with a very brilliant performance of the Finale of La Forza del Des- tino sung by Rosa Ponselle, Martinelli, and Pinza. For vocal disks there are Spanish songs by Lu- crezia Bori, a re-issue of two of Chaliapin’s cele- brated performances of arias from Prince Igor and Sadko, and a disk by the popular stage star, Irene Bordoni. Instrumentals include a very beautiful Christmas coupling by the Flonzaley Quartet (Adeste Fideles and The First Nowell), Casals’ performances of a Popper Mazurka and a Bach Musette, and re-recordings of Fritz Kreisler’s Tambourin Chinois and Meditations from Thais. For special Christmas release is a fine record by the Temple Choir of favorite Christmas Hymns and Carols, and also a number of choral works issued in the foreign supplement and referred to later. From the Okeh Corporation come noteworthy additions to the regular series by von Schillings, Dr. Weissmann, Dajos Bela, and Edith Lorand. Schillings’ performance of the Finale of G^tter- dammerung (Briinhildes Tod) is one of the very best of his many excellent Wagnerian readings. No Wagnerite should miss it. Dr. Weissmann is brilliant in the Overture to La Forza del Destino; Edith Lorand contributes pleasant Waltz Dream and Cavalleria Rusticana Selections; Dajos Bela plays the Gypsy Love and April Roses Waltzes; and the Grand Odeon Orchestra is less effective with the Radetzky and Fredericus Rex marches. First on the Columbia list is the Centennial Symphony, Kurt Atterberg’s Symphony, in C ma- jor whicn won the International ten thousand dollar grand prize for the best composition writ- ten in tribute to Schubert. The performance is by Beecham and needless to say the brilliance and vigor of the work itself find able expression in his hands. Grieg’s Piano Concerto, played by Friedman and the Paris Conservatory Orchestra (Set No. 98), is perhaps the most brilliant piece of piano recording I have yet heard. No longer can it be said that Columbia cannot give us a piano concerto. Left over from the Schubert sets is the Quartet in E flat (Set No. 96), played by the Musical Art Quartet; an interesting little work, but hardly as significant as some of the other Schubert recordings. In the non-album set Masterwork series are a number of excellent or- chestral works, most of which have already been mentioned in this magazine from the imported pressings: Christian Bach’s Sinfonia, perhaps Mengelberg’s best record; Delius’ On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and the Walk to the Para- dise Garden, played by Beecham; Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel brilliantly played by Defauw and the Brussels’ Conservatory Orchestra; and De- bussy’s Nocturnes—Nuages and Fetes, played by Gaubert and the Paris Conservatory Orchestra. The remaining orchestrals are Dajos Bela’s fine Traviata Selection (previously released un- der the Odeon label), the Columbia Symphony’s coupling of the popular Cavalleria Rusticana In- termezzo and Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoff- man, and Johann Strauss’ excellent record of Selections from his father’s Fledermaus, by far the best work in his series of Strauss recordings. The leading vocal releases are the Christmas songs by the Columbia Chorus; two disks intro- ducing Eva Turner, a current sensation in the British operatic and gramophonic world, to Am- erican music lovers; and a re-recording of Charles Hackett’s performances of Tosca and Martha arias. For instrumentals there are Beethoven’s Fidelio Overture played by the Guarde Republicaine Band, two twelve-inch Whiteman Concert disks, and commendable ten- inch records by Felix Salmond and Myra Hess. Taken as a whole this month’s Columbia release is exceptionally lengthy and interesting. The Brunswick Company also does well, fea- turing particularly two ten-inch disks from Soko- loff and the Cleveland Orchestra, heard in a color- ful performance of the Polovtsian Dances from Borodin’s Prince Igor. Elisabeth Rethberg sings Schumann’s Der Nussbaum and Schubert’s Ave Maria with remarkable tonal beauty,— a little disk that no lover of fine lieder singing should overlook. John Charles Thomas is heard in re- sonant versions of At Dawning and In the Gloam- ing, and a promising Karin Branzell coupling of Faust excerpts is promised for early release. _ I should like to call my readers’ special attention to the condensed mention elsewhere of the Bruns- wick release for December 8th, the records of which have not yet reached the Studio. When they do so, they will be reviewed of course, but in the meantime many record buyers will like to know what is in store for them in this exception- ally interesting Christmas release which features two Gilbert and Sullivan albums, orchestral works by the Cleveland Symphony and Bruns- wick Concert Orchestra, another band record by the U. S. Military Academy Band, a piano disk by Ignace Hilsberg, and vocals by Onegin, Reth- berg, Morrisey, Chamlee, and Beddoe. An examination of the foreign supplements for