Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 4 (1930-01)

January, 1930 The Phonograph Monthly Review 111 and Arensky’s Serenade in G, and Harold Bauer and Ossip Gabrilowitsch make their record debut as paired pianists in Schiitt’s Rococco and Aren- sky’s Valse for two pianos. But perhaps most interesting of all is the release of two acoustical recordings made by Caruso on his last visit to the Victor Laboratories before his death, and now after nearly ten years given release for the first time. The two disks are of special sentimental value in that they are announced to be the very last of the Caruso recordings, all of which have now been made available to the public. Among the black label records are Dudley Buck’s Festival Te Deum sung by the Trinity Choir, two remark- able examples of virtuoso cornet playing by Del Staigers with Goldman’s Band, radio theme pieces by the Victor Salon Orchestra, and two spirituals by the Utica Institute Jubilee Singers. In addition to the regular domestic supplement there is a sixth series of special Educational records, and again the attention of our readers should be called to the many unusual and valua- ble “finds” to be discovered in these releases. The list is reviewed in detail elsewhere in this issue; no record buyer should let it pass by un- noticed. The popular and dance disks from all four leading companies receive comment from “Ru- fus” among the regular reviews. The Columbia “foreign” supplement monthly becomes more interesting to the general record buyer, on the look-out for “finds” among the long lists of disks, most of which are of course of special value only to the various nationalities for whom they are intended.- This month one should not overlook; the Norma duet sung by Arangi-Lombardi and Stignani, the Medley of Neapolitan Melodies by the Columbia Orchestra, choral records by the Staats und Domchor and the Sieber Choir, Loewe ballads sung by Richard Tauber, the Florentiner and Feuert Los marches by the Grand Parlophone Orchestra, the Carmen prelude played by the Milan Symphony Orches- tra, Rigoletto and Barber of Seville arias by Borgioli, and Italian marches by the Banda Italiana Columbia. The following works are out- standing in the Victor “foreign” supplement: Lohengrin arias by Pertile, Tellini, and Fanelli; arias from Tannhauser and The Barber of Seville sung by Apollo Granforte; a Pagliacci Fantasy by Marek Weber’s Orchestra; two symphonic marches by Creatore’s Band; a Tiefland Fantasy conducted by Viebig; A Might Fortress and 0 Sacred Head sung by the St. Olaf Male Quartet; Der Lindenbaum and Heimkehr sung by the Nebe Quartet; two pieces by Dohnanyi conducted by the composer; and a new series of French records by artists of various Parisian music halls. The Brunswick foreign department concentrates in the Italian and Spanish-American fields—the latter list is invariably extensive and noteworthy. The Odeon leaders are songs by Emanuel List, Die Miihle im Schwarzwald and Das erste Herzklopfen played by the Grosses Streichorches- ter, and a series of very good Norwegian songs by Erling Krogh. On account of our advanced press date and the seasonal delay in the mails from abroad, it is impossible to give the usual complete list of European record releases. Those about which we have information are led by the titanic com- plete recording of Bach’s B minor Mass (H. M. V.), on nineteen records The soloists are Eliza- beth Schumann, Friedrich Schorr, Walter Wid- dop, and Margaret Balfour, with the Philhar- monic Choir of London and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Albert Coates. Every- thing else pales into comparative insignificance beside this tremendous and eagerly awaited work, but there are a number of other releases of more than average importance: Ravel’s Span- ish Rhapsody conducted by Coppola (French H. M. V.), Roussel’s Festin de l’Araignee—an in- sect ballet—played by Le Trigentuor Lyonnais (French H. M. V.), Brahms’ Double Concerto for violin and ’cello played by Thibaud and Casas under the direction of Albert Cortot, heard on records for the first time as a conductor (H. M. V.), Liszt’s First Hungarian Rhapsody con- ducted by Dr. Blech (H. M. V.), a new version of Mozart’s E flat symphony conducted by Knappertsbusch (Parlophone), a new version of Beethoven’s “Pastoral” symphony conducted by Dr. Max von Schillings (Parlophone), the pre- lude and Serenata from Schillings’ Mona Lisa conducted by the composer (Parlophone), Mous- sorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain conducted by Wolff (Polydor) and Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream overture conducted by Furtwangl- er (German H. M. V.). Among the other releases are Chopin’s E minor Waltz and Brahms C major Intermezzo played by Moiseivitch (H. M. V.), songs from Noel Coward’s Bitter Sweet sung by the com- poser (H. M V.), Weber’s Ocean Thou Mighty Monster sung by Maria Nemeth under the direc- tion of Karl Alwin (H. M. V.), excerpts from Lehar’s Das Land des Lachelns sung by Richard Tauber and Vera Schwarz under the direction of the composer (Parlophone), records of Die Fledermaus in the German H. M. V. short opera series, a two-part excerpt from Mozart’s Re- quiem sung by the Chorus of St. Guillaume de Strasbourg (French Odeon), further excerpts from Brahms’ Requiem under the direction of Georg Schumann (German H. M. V.), Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E minor played by Louis Vierne on the Notre-Dame Cathedral Organ (French Odeon), and Ravel’s Vallee des Cloches and Oiseaux tristes played by Zurfluh-Tenroc (French H M. V.). Our custom of the past two years is continued in this issue with the publication of a special Christmas article written by the Reverend Her- bert B. Satcher, of Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. We trust that we may be able to maintain this pleasing tradition for many years to come. Not all of our advertisers were aware of our