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

116 The Phonograph Monthly Review January, 1930 learning it was composed by Rimsky-Korsakow, exclaimed “Now there’s a couple of clever East Side boys for you!” The Rachmaninoff prelude and the 1812 overture soon came to be taken with as little seriousness as they deserved; Borodin, Moussorgsky, and later Strawinski were glimpsed in their true stature. The concert repertory of today owes much of its color and not a few of its supremely great works to Russian composers and the phonograph has followed faithfully— lagging rather far behind at times, to be sure— in paying due honor to the wealth of Russian music. Beginning a survey of this particular section of phonographic literature, I started out to in- clude nearly all the leading disks and soon dis- covered that my list of “Some Russian Records” was developing into a fledgling booklet, and that even then what I had was at best a catalogue with an occasional brief phrase of comment thro\vn in. Now, The Grarrtophone Shop’s Encyclopedia, eked out by a glance at the latest record supple- ments and copies of the P. M. R. provide lists that are extensive enough to satisfy the needs of most collectors. And in addition complete lists of the recorded works of the leading com- posers appear from time to time in these pages. So I have used my first draft only as a source of material. For the purposes of this survey it will be sufficient to select the more significant and representative records, indicating the possible directions for further study on the part of those specially interested. The Russian catalogues issued by the foreign departments of the various leading record manu- facturers are to be recommended warmly. That from the Victor Company is particularly rich in vocal recordings of excerpts from Russian operas (and not merely the better known works) sung by native artists. This list is too extensive for me to mention many specific disks under their various composers, but it most certainly should be referred to by those who wish to augment their record libraries with capable, authentic ex- amples of the rich Russian operatic repertory. Record numbers of other disks mentioned will be given only when the work is of foreign or special release, and not easily located in the in- dicated company’s general catalogue. All records are electrical unless specifically designated acoustical. The best record to represent Glinka, the fountain-head of the true Russian school, is the Russian and Ludmilla overture (Victor). -Al- though Dr. Stock and the Chicago Orchestra miss a great deal of the piece’s essential vivacity, their performance is straight-forward and well record- ed, and the music itself is wholly delightful. There is a one-part recording of a Summer Night in Madrid by the International Orchestra (Brunswick 77014), but versions of both this and Kamarinskaya played by full symphony orches- tras would be welcome For smaller pieces there are a song—Midnight Review, sung by Chaliapin (Victor) ; a violin piece—Persian Song, played by Zimbalist (Victor) ; a piano transcription of L’Alouette, played by Lamond (H. M. V. D- 1275) ; and two choruses—Hymn of the Cheru- bim, sung by the Russian Symphonic Choir (Vic- tor 20358), and the Introduction to A Life for the Tsar, sung by the Kedroff Quartet (Columbia 139-M). On the foundation laid by Glinka and Dar- gominsky the National Russian School was defi- nitely established by the group known as “The Five”—Balikirew, Borodin, Moussorgsky, Rim- sky-Korsakow, and Cui. Cui, the critic and propagandist of the group, was the least signi- ficant as a composer. Only a few of his salon pieces are often heard today, led of course by the popular Orientale from the set of violin pieces—Kaleidoscope—recorded by Zimbalist (Columbia), Elman (Victor), Fradkin (Bruns- wick), etc. Elman also plays an original ar- rangement of Cui’s Lettre d’Amour (Victor). Balikirew’s compositions are less important in themselves than the works of Moussorgsky, Borodin, and Rimsky, but his personal influence upon the others was inestimable. Of the two works which remain in the concert repertory, Thamar—an orchestral poem—is unrecorded, but Islamey—an amazingly virtuoso piano fantasy— is available both in its original version, played by Arrau on Polydor 95113, and in Casella’s orchestration, played by Goossens and the Holly- wood Bowl Orchestra (Victor—in album M-40). Both performances are thoroughly commendable. Borodin’s works have lagged behind those of the others in popular favor, but in recent years they have been gradually coming into their own. The phonograph likewise has been tardy in its recognition and the lack of a version of the B minor symphony is one of the most serious gaps in the row of recorded symphonies. The brief symphonic sketch, On the Steppes of Central Asia, is out in a number of good versions: con- ducted by Gaubert and the Paris Conservatory Orchestra (Columbia), Pierne and the Concerts Colonne (French Odeon, 123576), Wolff and the Concerts Lamoureux (Polydor 566005), etc. From his magnum opus, Prince Igor, we have the overture (arranged by Rimsky) conducted by Coates (Victor) ; the March conducted by Beecham (Columbia) ; and a variety of versions of the ballet music of Polovetskian Dances. The two performances with chorus (conducted by Coates for Victor, and by Inghelbrecht for French Pathe-Art) are to be preferred. Sokoloff’s Brunswick version contains some material (part 1) not usually played in concert or in any of the other recorded performances. The others in- clude versions by Beecham (Columbia), Cloez (French Odeon), Defosse (Edison-Bell), etc. iAmong the recorded vocal excerpts an uncon- tested gold medal goes to Nina Koshetz’ superb performance of Jaroslavna’s Ariosa (Victor). Chaliapin sings the arias of Prince Galitzky and Khan Kontchak (Victor), and there are other excerpts by Knijnikoff, et al, in the Victor Rus- sian list. Borodin’s instrumental pieces are represented only by the popular Nocturne from the string quartet in D, played by the Budapest String Quartet (H. M. V. D-1441).