Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 3 (1929-12)

December, 1929 The Phonograph Monthly Review 77 the succeeding web of sustained and delicately rapturous melody. In all music there is nothing comparable with the intensity, the compassion of these few but infinitely moving measures. Beecham’s performances with some of the leading native orchestras were an Open Sesame to a new world for many American concert goers. Many of them spoke of its idiom as Wagnerian, but the term is only seemingly applicable. The har- monic schemes and the superb singing eloquence of every instrument do remind us of the Master Sorcerer of Bayreuth, but for all his persuasive and epic power Wagner never achieved a musical texture of the purity and virginal tenderness of Delius’. Compare this intermezzo with the nightscene and lovesong from the second act of Tristan (Odeon 5160) and the radical divergence in the two musical natures is made unmistakably clear. The love music of Isolde and Tristan is feverish, luxuriant, heavy with the hothouse fragrance of orchids; that of Vrenchen and Sali is no less ecstatic, but through it blows the fresh air of the countryside. In one is the apotheosis of sensual sting, in the other the heart ache of simple, inarticulate folk. Beecham’s performance of the intermezzo, as expressive and eloquent as the music itself has been irreproachably recorded, and this record, Columbia 67474-D, is the phonographic port of embarkation for Delius’ world. We are indebted to the same conductor for disks of the lyrics for small orchestra, On Hear- ing the First Cuckoo in Spring (Columbia 67475-D) and Summer Night on the River (Columbia 17017-D), that also approach perfec- tion more closely than onq has any right to expect in an imperfect world. The loveliness of these miniatures is refracted unblurred and un- smirched, as delicate in tonal coloring as in the nuances of musical feeling. As is true of all his works there is no tone painting; the music is neither programmatic nor impressionistic. _ As N. C. writes of In a Summer Garden, these pieces give us “not the scene but the mind and heart of the artist in the scene, or rather after the scene and the hour have passed for ever.” Spring and its revitalization of the world, the brimming flow of the river, do not bring exuberance and joy, rather a stabbing memory of past springs and midsummers, flaming their brief moment—the almost unbearably poignant nostalgia of the sensitive and solitary soul (Delius, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Proust) to whom the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. On Hearing the First Cuckoo is the better known of the two and the better suited for first acquaintance. The companion piece is even more unworldly and introspective. The layman is like- ly to find it less “tuneful,” for it does not possess the regular folksong lilt of the other, although like all Delius it is profoundly melodic. There is another recording of the first piece, conducted by Geoffrey Toye on H. M. V. E-505, a ten-inch disk. I have not heard it, but Toye has thorough understanding of Delius’ music; and this—like his other records—is endorsed by the composer him- self. The other record of Summer Night , con- ducted by John Barbirolli on N. G. S. 72 gave an inadequate, not to say false, impression of the piece. There were acoustical disks of On Hearing the First Cuckoo , Goossens’ abbreviated version on the odd side of his Brigg Fair records was more successful than Stanley Chappie’s complete one (British Vocalion K-05181), for the latter had to hasten the tempo unduly to get to complete version on one record side. Charming as these pieces are they represent some of the essential Delius qualities in miniature only. Excellent records are available of two works of similar nature but mich larger in sweep Both Toye and Beecham have conducted versions of Brigg Fair , the former on H. M. V. D-1442-3 and the latter on English Columbia L-2294-5. Toye’s performance is marked by reserve and in- sight and it is approved by the composer, but to my mind there is a lack of sufficient vivacity and dramatic emphasis. Beecham’s records were issued in England only last month, but I run no risk in recommending them unheard. Unquestion- ably they will soon be made available here. From comment in the British press I gather that his version suffers from no absence of dramatic in- tensity and breadth. In a Summer Garden is perhaps the simplest and best of Delius’ larger orchestral works for first acquaintance. Toye con- ducts it on H.M.V. D-1696-7; on the fourth side Barbirolli conducts A Song Before Sunrise . The latter is a delicious and sprightly bit; it makes me think of left-over sketches from Brigg Fair fused together into a new and individual piece. These last records have just been issued in England and have been well received. Toye’s is the first recording of the Summer Garden (probably a Beecham version will soon follow), but there were acoustical versions of the others: Goossens’ Brigg Fair on H. M. V. D-799-800 was a fine piece of wtork and Chappie did well with the Song Before Sunrise on British Vocalion K-05181, but of course the recording was inadequate in both. Brigg Fair is aptly subtitled “An English Rhapsody” and with the exception only of some Elizabethan music I know of no work that is more truly and wholly English. (Yet Delius is generally considered a cosmopolitan composer; he was first given recognition in Germany; an excellent Russian musician to whom I once played Brigg Fair thought the opening measures “oriental”!) The reminiscent pastoral introduc- tion (highly typical of Delius’ scoring for solo rhapsodical wood wind voices against a shifting background of blendid strings) evokes a quiet Lincolnshire countryside as a setting for the glorious metamorphoses of a quaint and unfor- gettable folktune: Unto Brigg Fair I did repair For Love I was inclined. In a Summer Garden , as N. C. points out, gives a “good notion of those traits in his style which are the most important, the most original. A