Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1929-10)

6 The Phonograph Monthly Review October, 1929 Set M-40), the Valse-Serenade played by Mengel- berg and the Amsterdam Concertgebow (in Col- umbia Masterworks Set 104) and Gabrilowitsch and the Detroit Symphony (Victor 6835), the waltz from Eugene Onegin played by Goossens and the Royal Opera Orchestra (Victor 9026). The above lists do not pretend to any sort of completeness. They are not intended to form a comprehensive survey of waltz records, for little or no account is taken of the extensive waltz catalogues issued by nearly all the foreign manu- facturers. Its purpose is merely to serve as an introductory guide list to the better known and most easily obtainable records. Since the above was written the Victor Com- pany has brought out two new recordings by Knappertsbusch and the Berlin State Opera Or- chestra: Freut Euch des Lebens (V-50009) and Accelerationen (V-56025), both two-part ver- sions and both deftly played. These two works and the Danube Maiden disk that preceded them have been released within the last three months in the “International” lists, the first of a series of two-part recordings of the less familiar Strauss waltzes. Knappertsbusch is a good “sound” man for the task; his conducting seldom scintillates, but it is accurate, direct, and cpm- mendably free from affectations. His further releases in this series should not be let slip by unnoticed. Dance Poems , Suites, and Ballets From the larger concert waltz works it is but a step to idealized dance pieces, ballets, and suites. National dances have long been a fertile source of material for composers of every rank. Many of the masters of music have tried their hands at them with success (Witness Brahms' Hungarian Dances), and in this form many minor composers have found their happiest ex- pression. The field is far too extensive to be more than scanned here. It would bear detailed ex- ploration, but for the present it will perhaps suf- fice that a few of the more familiar works be singled out for mention. The Brahms Hungarian Dances have been somewhat neglected by the phonograph, at least insofar as orchestral recordings are concerned. The only electrical disks released in this country at present are Victor 1296 and Odeon 5155, each containing the popular Fifth and Sixth dances. The Victor versions are by Dr. Hertz and the San Francisco Orchestra and they are much pre- ferable to the others which represent Dr. Weiss- mann and the Grand Symphony Orchestra of Berlin in a very perverse and uncharacteristic mood. Many of the other dances are available in arrangements for violin and piano, played by Kreisler, Seidel, D'Aranyi, etc. These fall out- side the scope of the present article, but I should like to name one: Kreisler's fine arrangement and performance of No. 17 (Victor 6706). Most of the available Csardas recordings are by native Hungarian Gipsy Orchestras and are to be found in the Hungarian catalogues issued by the Foreign Departments of the various com- panies. For a good concert disk there is Bruns- wick 15199, whereon Henri Verbrugghen and the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra give a highly spirited performance of the Csardas from Johann Strauss' Fledermaus. The most characteristic Bohemian works are of course the Slavonic Dances of Dvorak. A com- plete list was given in the May 1929 issue. Since that time several new disks have been issued by Parlophone and other foreign companies; prob- ably some of these will eventually find American release. Fairly comparable with Dvorak's viva- cious works is the Fairy Tales Dance of Dvorak's pupil Josef Suk, recorded by Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Victor 6649). As Dvorak's G minor Slavonic Dance is the other side and as both pieces are charmingly played, this disk is a first-choice representative of Bo- hemian dance music in concert form. The Scandinavian countries are most frequent- ly—if not best—represented by Grieg and his Norwegian Dances. The entire set of four is played by the Finnish conductor, Georg Schnee- voight, lately with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. These records, however, were made with the Lon- don Symphony (Columbia 7128-9-M). Characteristic English dance pieces are the dances from Nell Gwyn and Henry VIII by Ed- ward German. There were numerous accoustical versions, most of which have been re-recorded in England, but few of which have found their way as yet here. Rudolph Ganz and the St. Louis gives very coarse versions of the Nell Gwyn Dances on Victor 9009; one of the best records of the Henry VIII dances is H. M. V. B-2981 by Malcolm Sar- gent and the New Symphony Orchestra; both sets were available in the acoustical Columbia cata- logue in performances by Eugene Goossens, Sr. Percy Grainger's morris dance settings are fam- iliar. Some of the best recordings are Shepherds Hey by Sokoloff and the Cleveland Symphony Or- chestra (Brunswick 15181), Shepherds Hey and Country Gardens by the Victor Concert Orches- tra (Victor 20802), Shepherds Hey by the com- poser and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Columbia 163-M), Shepherds Hey and Molly on the Shore by Collingwood and the Covent Gar- den Orchestra (H. M. V. B-2641). It is unfor- tunate that Holst's lusty St. Paul's Suite has not yet been re-recorded; the composer's acoustical version has been withdrawn from the English Columbia catalogue. The most characteristic German and French dances are those in the classical dance forms, and are best represented in the ballet suites to be dis- cussed later. One might mention, however, the German Dances of Schubert (in Victor album C-3) and Mozart (Polydor 66739-30). The best Spanish dance poems are to be found in the more elaborate concert works of Albeniz, de Falla, etc. In smaller forms are the dances for La Argentina (Gramophone Shop album 48).