Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 8 (1929-05)

282 The Phonograph Monthly Review May, 1929 difference in price between the two sets is to Lortat’s ad- vantage, however. Victor 1373 (DIO, $1.50) Bach: Chorale, and Chopin: Impromptu in A flat, Op. 29, played by Harold Bauer. Is not the Bach piece a chorale-prelude rather than a strict chorale? It is doubly mellifluous in Bauer’s warm per- formance. The recording of the impromptu is no less mel- low; Bauer’s playing is admirable as always, but somewhat lacking in conviction. The piece is not a great one—despite the vicarious fame du Maurier gave it—but more can be made of it than Bauer does here. However, that is not to say that this is not a disk of interest and merit. ORGAN Columbia 1758-9-D (2 D10,s 75c each) Coleridge-Taylor: Petite Suite de Concert, played by Quentin M. MacLean, on the Shepherds Bush Pavilion Compton Theatre Organ. A salon suite made up of four pieces, one to a record side: Nanette’s Caprice, Question and Answer, Love Sonnet, and Lively Tarentella. The names give an accurate index to their nature—extremely light selections in highly senti- mental style. The recording is fair; the performances typical theatre organ playing. A few rungs higher on the musical ladder than the movie organ rhapsodies prevalent on disks. VIOLIN Columbia 50133-D (D12, $1.00) Schubert: Ave Maria, and Achron: Hebrew Melody, played by Toscha Seidel, with piano accompaniments. The first release from Seidel for many months, this disk does not rebound greatly to his credit as his peculiarly ripe tone is not recorded) too felicitously: at times it is pleasantly penetrating. There are already a number of good recordings of the Ave Maria: the Hebrew Melody is the more interesting performance. Victor 6951 (D12, $2.00) Saenger: Scotch Pastorale, Op. 130, Mo. 2, and Handel-Flesch: Prayer (from Te Deum), played by Yehudi Menuhin, with piano accompaniments by Louis Persinger. Young Menuhin’s third release confirms the promise of his previous disks. Again we have the same broad tone, the same grave unaffected playing, if not matured, at least strongly un-juvenile. Apart from these merits the work is not exceptionally interesting in itself. Columbia 1774-D (D10, 75c) Dittersdorf-Kreisler: Scherzo, and Desplanes-Nachez: Intrada, played by Yelly D’Aranyi, with piano accompaniments. The D’Aranyi releases are rather few and far between; more would be welcome. The two pieces played here pleas- antly unhackneyed. The Scherzo is played with becoming deftness and the more serious Intrada with silken tone and restrained feeling. The accompaniments are neatly turned and the recording commendable. Altogether a welcome little disk. TRIO Brunswick 4228 (D10, 75c) Sandby: Dalvisa (Song of the Dale—Swedish Folksong), and Chaminade: Pierrette (Air de Ballet), played by the Hermann Trio. Herman Sandby is a Danish composer known in this country only by an occasional performance of one of his works—usually for strings—by his enthusiastic champion, Percy Grainger. The Swedish folksong he has arranged here is a nostalgic and subtly appealing mood-poem. The Hermann Trio, which is quite the finest of “Popular Con- cert” trios to be heard on records, gives it a sympathetic and moving performance. The Chaminade confection on the other is of little musical interest, but it is given intel- ligent performance. A little record of modest merits, but one that is not to be lost entirely from mind. Odeon 3248 (D12, $1.00) Kreisler: Marche Miniature Viennese, and Rubinstein: Melody in F, played by the Edith Lorand Trio. The playing is lively rather than polished. The recording is somewhat course. A fair record irT its class, but not one of unusual musical interest. Special Victor Concert Series Album C-3 (4 D12s, Alb., $7.00) Schubert Melodies, by John McCormack, the Victor Salon Group, and the Victor Salon Orchestra, under the direction of Nathaniel Shilkret. Part 1. Serenade (McCormack and Salon Group). Part 2. Ave Maria (McCormack and Salon Group). Part 3. The Hurdy-Gurdy Man (McCormack) ; Impa- tience (orchestra); Farewell (McCormack). Part 4. Moments Musicaux Nos. 1, 2, and 4. Part 5. Vienna Waltzes (Soirees de Vienne). Part 6. Rosamunde Ballet Music and Entr’acte. Part 7. Medley of German Waltzes. Part 8. Menuetto in B minor; Marche Militaire. Shilkret’s third album in the Victor “Concert” series is his most ambitious, and on the whole his most successful. I presume that the orchestrations and arrangements are largely his own; it would be hard not to believe so, for the humming passages for chorus in the accompaniments of the Serenade and Ave Maria, and an occasional passage for wind instruments in the orchestral pieces are a dead give- away of the “salon” technique that is so characteristically Shilkret’s own. However, he never goes as far as in the Foster album, to the benefit of both Schubert and him- self ; yet, even so, I wonder what Franz would say to it all. Whatever his reactions would be to the humming, I am sure he would like the exceeding deftness of the two sets of waltzes—the high points of the collection. Here a small orchestra, with piano, is used to uncommonly good effect. Schubert’s pieces sound surprisingly “popular.” They are good tunes, well treated, and their popularity is genuinely deserved. The songs leave me rather apathetic. McCormack is in better voice than in many recent moons, and his clean-cut, effortless enunciation is a model of its kind. Yet, except in The Hurdy-Gurdy Man, his performances are insensi- tively matter-of-fact, with little to recommend them except the familiar McCormack manner. The singing is in English throughout. The more energetic instrumental pieces fare far better than their more lyric brethren. The Rosamunde Ballet Music doesn’t come off very well (perhaps Stokowski’s magical performance is too close at mind), and the En- tr’acte is positively lugubrious. The F minor Moment Musical is not nearly buoyant enough. (And by the way, why should the Moments Musicaux be labelled Moments Musicals?) But the two sets of waltzes, the menuetto, and the Marche Militaire are given performances that are spirited and felicitous. The march is played more happily here than in the recorded versions by symphony orchestras; the trio is particularly pleasing. Although a trifle late for the Schubert Centennial, this album of “Melodies” is much better “late than never.” It will reach a public untouched by many of the. great Schu- bert recordings available today. And there is very little “playing down” to the public. The selections are cleverly chosen to embrace both the essential favorites and less hackneyed pieces. A clever piece of work and one that deserves to become a best seller. For those who already own sizable Schubert libraries I should recommend the last disk (9308), containing the German waltzes on one side and the Menuetto in B minor and the Marche Militaire on the other. R. O. B. Vocal Brunswick 15146 (D10, 75c) Griffes: By a Lonely Forest Pathway, and Densmore: A Spring Fancy, sung by Elisa- beth Rethberg, with piano accompaniments by Frederic Persson. If Miss Rethberg were to record merely some unac- companied scale exercises, her disk would still be one of the month’s starred releases. No matter how slight or how