Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 6 (1929-03)

186 The Phonograph Monthly Review March, 1929 manner. One finds little trace of his characteristic quali- ties in the light Grieg pieces by which he is phonographically represented at present. The dark passionate wind of the north that blows through his major performances is as yet foreign to recorded music. The phonograph suffers by the loss. Ossip Gabrilowitsch established his musical reputation first as a pianist of unusual sincerity and breadth of learn- ing. In establishing hitnself as a conductor he has disdained to make any concessions to the public demand for sensa- tionalism and prima-donna-ism. Yet his unflinching artistic integrity and seriousness of purpose are winning esteem for him in the concert hall no less than in the recital hall. Since 1918 he has conducted the Detroit Orchestra. This season he conducted a number of concerts as “guest” at Philadelphia, and the management of the Philadelphia Symphony has announced him as a regular conductor dur- ing the major part of Stokowski’s absence next season. Gabrilowitsch has recorded for Victor as a pianist and more recently as conductor of his Detroit Symphony. The first of his orchestral records, Chabrier’s Espana and Brahms’ Academic Festival overture, indicate his phono- graphic potentialities. His domain is among the more serious works of the romantic and classical repertory. In Schumann and Brahms he excells. Perhaps it will be some time before we may hear him in a major work, say Schumann’s First, but there is an abundance of smaller works in which he might be heard to advantage: Brahms’ Tragic overture, the third Brandenburg Concerto of Bach or one of the latter’s orchestral suites, Rachmaninoff’s Toteninsel come first to mind. Perhaps we may also have the pleasure of hearing him as soloist in a concerto—a recorded example of his dual roles. Or as conductor of choral works by Brahms or Bach. Whatever may come from his hand we may be sure that recorded music will profit by it. Henri. Verbrugghen, whose picture appears on the front cover of this issue of the magazine, has been 1 doing notable work with the Minneapolis Symphony in the last six or seven years. I am loth to believe that his present few records (Brunswick) are fairly representative of his own and his orchestra’s talents. The works played are slight and mechanically inadequate. The Waiata Poi by the Australian composer, Alfred Hill, is a novel concert mor- ceau, and the Roman Carnival overture is a sound sensible interpretation, but the recording in each case prevents one from getting a very clear idea of the real qualities of con- ductor and orchestra. The Freischutz overture is very shrill. Best of the lot are the introduction to Khowantchina, Verbrugghen’s own arrangement of the Schubert Marche Militaire, and the prelude and mazurka from Delibes’ Coppelia ballet. Until Verbrugghen is given recording of the quality enjoyed by other leading conductors and the opportunity of doing some large and characteristic work, we can hardly arrive at any just estimate of his phono- graphic significance. At present, after making due allow- ances for this, it is difficult to believe that he may be counted upon for major works of unquestioned first rank. However, his possibilities are as yet ungauged. Rudolph Ganz is best known as a pianist, a musician of far-ranging interests and innumerable friends. His several years as conductor of the St. Louis Symphony (a post which he resigned in 1927) bore phonographic fruit in the form of a series of records for Victor. As this list is surprisingly little known today, although the larger part of it is elec- trically recorded, comment may be valuable. There are three acoustical disks, two-part versions of the Euryanthe and Festival (Lassen) overtures, and a ten-inch disk coupling d’Albert’s Improvisator overture and Sinding’s Rustle of Spring. There were also, I understand, a number of other works recorded near the end of the acoustical era that were never released. None of the acoustical disks is listed in the 1928 Victor general catalogue, nor in the historical catalogue. Can they be withdrawn entirely? The electrical recordings are: the Barber of Seville and Fingal’s Cave overtures, three dances from Edward German’s Nell Gwyn, Bolzoni’s Minuet, and Rimsky-Korsakow’s Song of India (the last two coupled on a ten-inch disk). Most of these are extremely shrill and “sharp;” the Rossini overture almost unbearably so. The orchestral playing throughout is decidedly coarse. The best works are the Euryanthe, Festival, and Fingal’s Cave overtures. These are the only recordings of these works to be issued at this writing in this country; the Improvisator overture is not available here in another version, and the Nell Gwyn dances are the only American electrical versions. Ganz’s musical merits would be more effectively illustrated in a series of piano recordings, for despite his sterling qualities, he does not seem gifted with the indefinable conductorial flair. Eugene Goossens has not escaped discussion in these pages, nor should he have, since his recording experience is greater than those of any of the men mentioned here, even though they are all his elders. His picture was pub- lished on the cover of the April 1928 issue, which also contained a note on his career and a list of recordings, the latter considerably augmented in the “Recorded Symphony Programs” in the following issue. Goossens has made records for English Columbia, Edison-Bell, the National Gramophonic Society (as a pianist only), H. M. V. and Victor. Reference should be made to the Correspondence Column elsewhere in this issue wherein one of our readers states the case for Mr. Goossens very neatly indeed. As G. A. points out, Goossens is indubitably a coming man in this country and it will not be long before he will be given greater scope for his talents than that afforded by his present post with the Rochester Philharmonic (where he has conducted since 1923). He has appeared as “guest” with the country’s leading symphony orchestras and the success of his recently recorded Hollywood Bowl Program ensures his early and frequent return to the recording studios of this country as well as those in England. Few conductors have equal phonographic gifts. Goossens is surprisingly versatile, surprisingly free from what G. A. terms “blind sides.” I know of no one better equipped as a repertory conductor, to record familiar concertstiicke and the co-called war-horses. His virtuosity seldom smacks of sensationalism and yet it never misses fire. In Russian music, modern music, ballet music he is particularly happy, but he can bring the fresh breath of life to the most hack- neyed overture. He combines sound musicianship with flexibility, virtuosic fire with restraint and good taste: qualities matchlessly fitted for recording. If the 1812 overture must be played, how could it be done more effect- ively or musicianly than Goossen’s version (Victor) ? His abbreviated version of Scheherazade lacks only complete- ness and a more able orchestra. His old H. M. V. versions (now withdrawn) of Petrouchka, Brigg Fair, and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 were among the great achieve- ments of the acoustical era. Re-recordings would be welcome of Moussorgsky’s Gopak, Liadov’s Eight Russian Folk Songs, and his own exuberant scherzo Tam O’Shanter. Undoubtedly we shall have these and many more works before very long. The recording companies are not likely to let phonographic talents like those of Goossen’s to lie fallow for long. Another man of phonographic destiny is Vladimir Shavitch, the young conductor of the Syracuse Orchestra, who sprang into the limelight with his memorable release of Fabini’s Campo and Isla de los Ceibos, recorded for Victor with a symphony orchestra made up largely of New York Philharmonic players. It is perhaps easy to over- estimate Shavitch’s powers by these works, with which he is closely associated, having given them their premieres (in Montevideo, Uruguay) and having played them frequently since, both in South* America and this country. But even discounting a measure of one’s enthusiasm, it is still evident that these disks reveal a new and individual recording talent of high calibre. Shavitch is a man who will go far. How far is impossible to predict until he has been heard in more familiar works. Yet even were his recording activities con- fined to South American compositions alone, if there is more material like Fabini’s tone poems for him to work with, he would be ensured of a permanent niche in the phonographic Hall of Fame. His South American reper- tory is probably narrowly limited, but surely Fabini has written other works of worth. And are there no other composers on our own sister continent? To Shavitch we must look for the answers to such questions. Having an- swered them he has a large repertory of works of Spanish flavor from the old world to which he may turn his at- tention. One of the latest phonographic successes is no newcomer to the disks. Artur Bodanzky conducted the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra in a series of works for the old Columbia acoustical catalogue. That of 1923 listed some ten releases by that organization but it does not indicate