Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 5 (1930-02)

170 The Phonograph Monthly Review February, 1930 Brunswick Album No. 15 (4 D12s, Alb., $6.00) Dvorak: Symphony No. 4 in G ("London''), Op. 88, played by Basil Cameron and a Symphony Orchestra. These records are probably already known to many American collectors through the British Brunswick press- ings, but their issue under the American labels should make a larger public available for them. I haven't seen the program notes by Dr. Borowski that accompany the album, but Dr. Jar.. E. S. Vojan, an authority in Bohemian music, wrote a detailed and highly interesting annotation on this symphony for our June 1929 issue (page 316). His notes are well worth digging into one's files. It is refresh- ing to hear Dvorak's symphonic writing represented by something beside the inevitable "New World,” in spite of the fact that the E minor work is unquestionably his most successfully essay in the larger orchestral forms. I heard Monteux conduct a symphony in F (the third, I think) one time and enjoyed it, much as I do the fourth here recorded, for its unashamed warmth of sentiment, its exuberance and engaging unsophistication. There is much of Schubert’s spontaneity; few of Schubert’s depths are touched, but the humor is more vigorous. Yet the fourth symphony is more placid in mood that most of Dvorak’s writing. It was written in a peaceful, happy time of the composer’s life, Dr. Vojan tells us, and the music well re- flects an untroubled spirit and a feeling of healthy ease. Basil Cameron is conductor of the municipal orchestras of Harrowgate and Hastings, England, and a guest con- ductor with the Royal Philharmonic. His performance has the qualities of frankness and virility that the music de- mands and while his orchestra is not the most grateful in- strument in the world, it obviously outdoes itself for him. There are moments of coarseness in the fortissimos and a lack of some of the finer orchestral subleties, but the per- formance is splendidly alert and sanely poised. A welcome addition to the library of recorded symphonies. Brunswick 90007-8 (2 D12s, $1.50 each de Falla: El Amor Brujo (Love the Sorcerer), played by Anthony Bernard and the London Chamber Orchestra. This is an effectively abridged version of the suite with the movements arranged as follows: Part 1. In the Gypsy Cave; Dance of Terror; The Ma- gic Circle. Part 2. Midnight; Ritual Fire Dance. Part 3. Pantomime. Part 4. Dance and Finale. The action of the ballet was described in detail in a re- view of the Columbia recording conducted by Pedro Morales (page 278, May 1929 issue). Familiarity does not dull the music’s vivid individuality; with Nights in the Gardens of Spain it stands as de Falla’s finest work. This ver- sion is particularly attractive, for the London Chamber Or- chestra is a group of musicians as well as instrumentalists, and the playing is a pleasure to one’s ear both in phrasing and tone. Indeed, I should say that it surpassed Morales’ excellent version on the latter score, by virtue of superior recording, transparently clear and yet not without a cer- tain dark quality that is strongly in keeping with the charac- ter of the music. Mr. Bernard is a conductor one will have to watch closely for he has personality as well as talent, and a rich spontaneous vitality. The music blends and flows beautifully under his baton. I dislike only the un- necessary emphasis on the already Straussian passage at the. beginning of part 4; for the rest the disks draw warm praise. De Falla is fortunate indeed in finding two such skilled exponents as Morales and Bernard to do the recorded versions of El Amor Brujo. Either is an excel- lent musical investment. Columbia (German list) 55190-F (D12, $1.25) Strauss: An der schoenen blauen Donau—*Walzer, played by Felix Weingartner and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Released in the domestic supplements under No. 50084-D and reviewed in the October 1928 issue. Weingartner comes close to achieving the most successful version of the Blue Danube, particularly in the introduction and last pages. His reading is logically conceived, but there is a sense of too much effort in the execution. The flexibility, the dyna- mic poise, the sensuousness of the perfect waltz escape him. For all that, his record is a pleasure to hear,—one of many admirable virtues. The recording is very clear and pure; the performance straightforward and crisp. Columbia (International list) 59060-D (D12, $1.25 Lohen- grin Bridal Chorus, and Mendelssohn: March, played by Robert Hood Bowers and the Columbia Symphony Orches- tra. Released in the domestic supplements under No. 50051-D and reviewed in the November 1927 issue. Odeon 3282-3 (2 D12s, $1.25 each) Gounod: Margarethe— Grand Ballet Music (3 sides), and Delibes: Naila Ballet- Intermezzo (1 side), played by Dr. Weissmann and the Grand Symphony Orchestra, Berlin. Dr. Weissmann has a sure, delicate hand for Gounod’s graceful but extremely slight ballet music. The Naila In- termezzo is particularly felicitous and the orchestral tone is at its best here, for the fortissimos of the Gounod bal- let are not free from coarseness. Victor Masterpiece Set M-66 (3 D12s, Alb., $5:00) Bloch: Concerto Grosso (five sides), and Bach: Arioso (one side), played by Fabien Sevitzky and the Philadelphia Chamber String Simfonietta. The labelling is detailed enough in referring to Mr. Sevitzky’s status as "founder and conductor” of the "sim>- fonietta,” but it might have been more explicit in other respects. Bloch’s work is correctly titled, "Concerto Gros- so, for String Orchestra with Piano Obbligato.” The iden- tity of the pianist is not given on the label; a pity, since he plays his part with the incisive energy that it demands. The Bach Arioso might also have been more fully labelled. I do not remember it as from one of the orchestral suites. Is it a transcription, and if so, by whom? It is for strings alone and strongly reminiscent of the well-known air from the suite in D. It is played with marked warmth and vi- brancy, . possibly with too much feeling. More gold from Bach’s inexhaustible mint and one particularly welcome to records as a. worthy substitute for the more famous air that is in serious danger of becoming dulled from over-fre- quent performance. The Bloch work is a singular one, repellant rather than attractive on first hearing, but of such emphatic character that one realizes it is not to be estimated without thoughtful consideration. There are four movements: Prelude (part 1) ; Dirge (part 2 and a portion of 3); Pastorale and Rus- tic Dances (concluded on part 4); Fugue (part 5). The hammering first bars of the prelude give good index to the character of the whole work: starkly vigorous, hard, al- most ruthless. The dirge is grave, but there is no warmth, only bitterness and despair. (There are very curious ex- amples of polytonality, more interesting in the printed score to the eye than in performance to the ear.) The Pastoral bridges over from the dirge to the spirited, but always joyless, rustic dances, and work closes with an ener- getic fugue on a sharply accented subject announced by the violas. The piano has a prominent part throughout and the work as a whole sets a nasty problem for the recorder. Even in concert the writing sounds unpleasantly thick, and many ingenious details that stand out in the score pass by in concert unheard or ineffective. I have not heard a concert performance since 1925, but as far as I can re- member that one, the parts actually come through more cleanly in the present recorded performance. The record- ing is quite realistic and the playing strong, lacking in bloom even when it is not definitely harsh—qualities which the character of the music demand. Some of the pianist’s emphatic sforzandos are considerably more than the re- cording . can digest comfortably. The entire ensemble throws itself into the spirit of the work with remarkable relentlessness. The effect is unquestionably that called for, but it is not too easy on one’s ears or nerves. The music itself, "in the eighteenth century form, but modernized,” was sketched in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1924 and first performed at the Cleveland Institute of Mu- sic (where Bloch was than director) in June, 1925, and later in the year by many leading symphony orchestras. There is nothing of the over-ripeness, the flatulence, or the