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

224 The Phonograph Monthly Review April, 1929 in this country may by a stretch of the imagination be said to come under our classification closely enough to deserve at least passing mention here. First, by all means, is Karl Muck, conductor of the Boston Symphony 1906-1908 and 1912-1918. His two acoustical disks made for Victor with the Boston Symphony are too well-known to require further comment (they are discussed in detail in the Bos- ton Symphony article in the January 1929 issue; the date given there of their issue is erroneous, and Mr. Ulysses J. Walsh gives December 1917 as correct). Those who wish may find an ironic not$ in the fact that Dr. Muck s name is conspicuously missing from the labels of these disks, al- though it occupies an honored position on the recent (electrical) Victor records of Wagnerian works played with the Berlin State Opera House Orchestra. Dr. Muck is also heard with the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra in several disks in the Columbia Bayreuth Album. Several conductors and guest conductors with the former New York Symphony are represented by European re- cordings. Otto Klemperer made a number of works for Polydor; more recently he has been heard under the Parlo- phone label. His electrical Polydor recordings are: Beethoven’s Eighth; 66463, Ravel’s Alborado del Gracioso; and 66464-5, Debussy’s Nuages and Fetes. Unfortunately these works are products of the early Polydor electrical process, and in consequence are mechanically inferior. Klemperer conducted acoustical Polydor versions of Beetho- ven’s First and Eighth, Schubert’s “Unfinished/’ and the slow movement of Bruckner’s Eighth. The English Parlo- phone Company has just announced the release of a Brahms First conducted by Klemperer. All of these are with the Berlin State Opera House Orchestra. Fritz Busch, like Klemperer, is represented by old and new Polydor disks and a single Parlophone electrical release. The Parlophone work—excerpts from Strauss’ Egyptian Helen— is reviewed elsewhere in this issue. Busch’s electrical Polydor releases are 66430-1, excerpts from La Forza del Destino and Turandot, played with the Dresden State Opera House Or- chestra. The old Polydor catalogue contained a long list of short works played with the Dresden and Wiirttemberg Opera House Orchestras. Enrique Fernandez Arbos, con- ductor of the Madrid Symphony and recently guest with the New York Symphony and other American orchestras, is now recording with his own orchestra for the Columbia Com- pany. British release has been given to his own Noche de Arabia, three pieces from Albeniz’s Iberia (Triana, El Corpus en Sevilla, and El Puerto, all orchestrated by Arbos), and Granados’ Spanish Dance No. 6. Oskar Fried, also heard with the New York Symphony, is represented by a long series of acoustical and a shorter series of electrical Polydor recordings—many of which have been discussed in consid- erable detail in these pages. Has Ernst von Dohnanyi appeared in this country as a conductor? He is well-known here as a pianist, of course. He also records for Columbia and is now represented by several works with the Budapest Philharmonic: Mozart’s Piano Concerto in G, No. 17 (with Dohnanyi conducting from the piano), Liszt’s First Hungarian Rhapsody, and Berlioz’ Hungarian March. None of these works has yet been heard at the Studio. Undoubtedly they are the first of an extended series. Carl Schuricht, one of the guest conductors with the St. Louis Symphony a season ago, has directed a number of recordings for the Homocord Company in Germany with the Berlin Symphony, among which are Tod und Verkla- rung and Die Moldau. Wilhelm Furtwangler, formerly one of the conductors of the New York Philharmonic, is represented by two electrical works—the Polydor-Brunswick Beethoven’s Fifth and a Polydor two-part version of Der Freischiitz overture, both played with the Berlin Philharmonic. Did Furtwangler ever make any other records? We should hear more from him. His Fifth is by far the most interesting conception of this over-familiar masterpiece. Unfortunately his performance is marred by inferior recording. With present day record- ing excellence he should give us a series of works of the highest calibre. Surely one of the German manufacturers will be quick to profit by his presence in Berlin. Thomas Beecham’s Columbia recordings are too familiar to need any further discussion here. Molinari, Monteux, and de Sabata have never recorded, as far as I am aware. The first is probably the greatest living conductor as yet unrecorded, now that Koussevitzky has joined the phonographic ranks. All three are needed by the phonograph. Monteux’ particular forte is ballet music and it is strange that some enterprising company has not snapped him up to record with (say) the Russian Ballet Orchestra in a series of modern ballet works, particu- lar those by French, Russian, and Spanish composers. Besides Dr. Muck, three former conductors of the Bos- ton Symphony have played for recording. Georg Henschel, the first conductor of the Boston organization, is still very much alive, musically as well as physically: witness his electrical recording of Beethoven’s First for Columbia and a disk of Schubert songs sung to his own accompaniment (English Columbia) and made in his seventy-eighth year! Arthur Nikisch made several acoustical recordings before his death. The H. M. V. historical list contains the fol- lowing works: D-89-92 Beethoven’s Fifth (with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1913; D-815-6, Liszt’s First Hungarian Rhap- sody and the Marriage of Figaro overture; D-814, Egmont overture; D-817, Der Freischiitz overture, and D-818, Obe- ron overture (all these with the London Symphony, made in 1914). In the old Polydor catalogue are also: 65906-7, Liszt’s First Hungarian Rhapsody, and 65908, Berlioz’ Ro- man Carnival overture. The four-part Polydor version of the Liszt rhapsody was issued in this country on the old red Vocalion records; as a performance it has yet to be surpassed. Henri Rabaud has recently conducted his own Procession Nocturne and Marouf Ballet for French Colum- bia. Gericke, Paur, and Max Fiedler never recorded, I believe. There remains still a large number of America conductors unrepresented phonographically, among whom Fritz Reiner, conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra and guest with the Philadelphia Symphony and other organizations, is perhaps the most noteworthy. Close beside him are Willem von Hoogstraten, of the New York Philharmonic Stadium con- certs and the Portland, Oregon, Symphony; Polacco, of the Chicago Civic Opera Company; Sandor Harmati, the talent- ed young conductor of the Omaha, Nebraska, Symphony, (heard last summer at the Festival in Frankfort); Georges Zaslawsky, formerly conductor of the New York Beetho- en Symphony; Emil Oberhofer, founder of the Minneapolis Symphony and guest with the St. Louis orchestra; Alfredo Casella, of the Boston Symphony “Pops” and the Holly- wood Bowl concerts; Albert Stoessel, one of the most promising of our strictly native conductors; Agide Jacchia, formerly of the Boston Symphony “Pops”; Nathaniel Fins- ton, musical director of the “Publix” theatre chain; Howard Barlow, heard frequently in broadcast; Arthur Shepard, assistant-conductor of the Cleveland Symphony; Hans Lange, assistant-conductor of the New York Philharmonic Symphony; George Barrere of “Little Symphony” fame; etc. The list is of course susceptible to considerable ex- tension. THE H. ROYER SMITH CO. “The World’s Record Shop” Announcing our 1929 General Catalogue of Imported Recordings. Price 15c postpaid throughout the world. Biographies of over 90 composers. One of the most interesting catalogues every issued.