Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 7 (1929-04)

222 The Phonograph Monthly Review April, 1929 Recording Conductors By ROBERT DONALDSON DARRELL Some American Conductors; Conclusion. B ESIDES Bodanzky two other conductors of the Metropolitan Opera House are well represented by recordings : Gennaro Papi and Giulio Setti. The lat- ter is the conductor of the Victor series of records by the Metropolitan Opera House Chorus and by Gigli, Pinza and others as soloists with the Metropolitan Orchestra. I am not aware that he is represented by any acoustical disks made before the current Victor series, or that he has conducted any purely orchestral performance for re- cording. It is somewhat difficult to trace his works, as the Victor catalogue makes no mention of him whatsoever, although of course his name is given on the labels of the disks for which he has conducted. The Victor Company is rather uncharitable in thus denying catalogue credit to an extremely competent operatic conductor, a man whose work is invariably distinguished by straightforward musical virtues. I do not imagine that Setti would be highly suc- cessful as a concert conductor: his work lacks an infusion of personality for all its vitality, but in his chosen field he is firmly established as a musician of genuine talent and remarkable evenness of accomplishment. Judging by his records, one would say that he is a man hard to fluster. If the nature of the works he performs are not such as to permit the display of superlative interpretative qualities, they are such as to permit—indeed encourage—a slackening of musical standards and a looseness of artistic fibre. Setti —be it to his credit—holds himself and the artists under his baton too well in hand ever to allow departures from the strict canons of musical technique. Never a musical Messiah, he is never a mere stick-wielder. The con- tinuation of his Victor series is be closely followed by everyone interested in operatic performance of the first rank. Among his present releases I might mention as particularly noteworthy: Victor 9150, choruses from Cav- alleria Rusticana; 4027, choruses from Die Zauberflote and Pagliacci; 8110, duet from Norma with Rosa Ponselle and Marion Telva; 8096, arias from Lucia with Gigli and Pinza; 8103, excerpts from The King’s Henchmann with Tibbett; 6876, arias from La Traviata and Lucia with Gigli; and 8091, arias from Carmen with Jeritza. Unlike Setti, Papi is represented almost entirely by acoustical recordings. There is only one of his disks, as far as I know, that is electrical, Brunswick 15106, the Entr’actes from Acts III and IV of Carmen, played by the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra. Papi’s most notable phonographic achievements go back to the days of the old Vocalion (red) records. Several disks in his remarkable series with the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra are retained in the 1927- 1928 “Vocalion” catalogue, now issued by the Brunswick Company: 35022, Zampa overture; 35032, Barber of Seville overture; 35046, Aida and La Boheme selections; 35038, the intermezzo from Goyescas and In a Monastery Garden; and 35025, Massenet’s Angelus and an intermezzo from Jewels of the Madonna. The two over- tures were particularly good; in fact, Papi’s readings are seldom surpassed even today. I remember also a very fine coupling of the Ride of the Valkyries and Berlioz’ Hun- garian March, long since out of print. Phonographic litera- ture is unfortunate that it is unable to boast an electrical series of overtures and operatic excerpts conducted by Papi. Henry Hadley, formerly assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, is represented by two series of acous- tical recordings, one for the Okeh Corporation and the other for Ginn and Company’s Music Educational Series. The disks listed in the 1926 Okeh catalogue are: 6010, Herbert’s A1 Fresco and an excerpt—Heather—from Hadley’s own Ballet of the Flowers suite; 6008, Mignon overture; 5004, the scherzo from Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream music and the Hymn and Triumphal March from Aida; 5001, Merry Wives of Windsor overture and Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda; and 6005, an intermezzo from Jewels of the Madonna and the Malaguena from the little known opera Boabdil by Searblle. These were all made with an organization knowns as “Henry Hadley’s Symphony Orchestra,” probably largely composed of New ork Philharmonic men. All these records are now out of print; they were very badly recorded, even by acoustical standards. More recently Hadley and a small orchestra of New York Philharmonic men recorded all the orchestral works in the Music Education Series, of which might be mentioned: G-57, Ruy Bias overture; G-55, Tchaikowsky’s Andante cantabile (strings alone) ; G-53, Pique Dame over- ture: G-52, excerpts from Goldmark’s Rustic Wedding sym- phony: G-50, Moskowski’s Bolero and Brahms’ Sixth Hun- garian Dance: G-51-2, Peer Gynt suite; G-30-1, Nutcracker suite; etc., etc. In time these will probably be replaced by electrical versions. Hadley is representd by other rcorded works than those made for the phonograph. I refer to his performances for the Vitaphone, for which he was the first conductor of prominence to record. His Tanhauser over- ture was probably the first major work to be given public performance via the “talking movies.” Perhaps in time we shall have synchronized films to accompany the recordings of all the leading symphonic conductors. Already the prin- cipal jazz orchestras have made their Vitaphonic and Movietonal debut. Victor Herbert achieved renown on the conductor’s plat* form as well as a composer and violoncellist. His long series of works with an orchestra of his own was one of the glories of the old Victor catalogue. All of these were acoustically recorded and only one is retained in the current catalogue: 55049, the wedding marches by Wagner and Mendelssohn. Among the more significant of the others were: 55200, Indian Summer and Dagger Dance (Natouma) ; 5104, Badinage and Military Ball (Babes in Toyland) ; 55094, Liszt’s Liebestraum (orchestrated by Herbert) and Madame Butterfly selection; 55054, Intermezzo (Marietta) and March of the Toys (Babes in Toyland) ; 45187, To a Wild Rose and To an Old Trysting Place (Macdowell’s Woodland Sketches) and The Rosary; etc., etc. Fabien Sevitzky is a new name among recorded conduc- tors. He is a nephew of Koussevitzky and the conductor of the Philadelphia Chamber String Simfonietta. with which organization he has made two records for Victor, 4002 and 9129, playing Bossi’s Prelude, Minuet, and Burlesca, and Grieg’s Heart Wounds and Last Spring. The series might well be extended for there are a number of works written for strings alone that could be added advantageously to recorded literature. From his records one would judge Sevitzky to be alert and competent. The extent of his talents is of course as yet impossible to gauge. The next two conductors are better known by their re- cordings than by their concert appearances, although both are fully capable of filling the post of leadership of any prominent symphony orchestra. Becoming identified with a recording company early in their careers, the fruit of their labors is the long and distinguished series of releases by the Victor Symphony and Concert orchestras, some of which bear the name of Josef Pasternack or Rosario Bourdon, but many of which are modestly silent concerning the conductor. The phonograph’s gain is the concert hall’s loss, for had the labors of these men been devoted less assiduously to the recording studios, their general fame would be assured today. Yet if their fame is less widespread, it is none the less surely founded on their recordings. Pasternack’s particular forte is accompanying, and indeed it would hardly be exaggeration to say that the prestige won by Victor’s vocal records during the pioneer days of the phonograph was due to the standard Pasternack set in his accompaniments no less than to the talents of the