Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 6 (1930-03)

March, 1930 The Phonograph Monthly Review 185 especially helpful to anyone whose interest in the subject is at all aroused. More recently Mr. Marsh has published a little book in dictionary form. Musical Spain from A to Z As Exemplified on Phonograph Records (Campbell Music Com- pany, Providence, R. I.), that amplifies and aug- ments much of his earlier material, and which is literally indispensable to any record collector who intends a serious approach to Spanish music. But here again no attempt has been made to list fairly completely the recorded works of the maj- or composers. Many records have appeared since the booklet,—all of which is the present article’s reason for being. Spain’s Glinka was Felipe Pedrell (1841-1922), like the Russian nourishing his works in the rich soil of folk music, and by virtue of his enthusiasm and indefatigable proselytism the founder of a well-rooted national school. Albeniz, Granados, de Falla, and many lesser lights were his pupils— one might almost say that they were his “works”, for while his own music has already largely dis- appeared, the aims which animated him to such strenuous labors find expression in their com- positions. The only recorded example of Pedrell’s own writing, as far as I can discover, is the ac- oustical disk unearthed by Mr. Marsh, one of the Canzones Arabescas sung by Margarite D’Alvar- ez for the old Vocalion company. It was retained in the 1927-28 Vocalion catalogue, issued by the Brunswick Company, but I imagine that it is now withdrawn permanently. But if there are no records to mention, there is one passage of Pedrell’s writings that I cannot forbear to re- quote from Mr. Marsh’s article, as it gives so accurate a discription of what present day com- posers are driving at when they employ, or rather construct a national idiom — the assimilation rather than the incorporation of folk music. Folk-song, this voice of the nations, the original inspira- tion of some great nameless singer, is searched by the spot- light of contemporary art, and shown to be its quintessence; the modern composer nourishes himself with this quintessence and assimilates it. He lends it the delicate forms that music alone can offer—music, which in our time has undergone an extraordinary technico-formal evolution unknown to the earl- ier ages. Thus folk-song gives the pitch, the fundamental, while modern art adds thereto of its own—a conventional symbolism, the wealth of its forms. And the beautiful is made more beautiful by the discovery of a harmonious relation be- tween form and content. That, in brief, is the credo held by not only the Spanish nationalists, but by those of every nation, and which has resulted in such genuine national (while always distinctively individual) utterances as those of Sibelius in Finland, Bartok in Hun- gary, and de Falla in Spain, to name a few of the most apt examples. However, before touching on de Falla and his contemporaries, there are Albeniz and Granados to be considered. Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909) is a gaudier and more adventurous figure than most composers, comparable with the dashing— but very likely highly imaginary—personage that Berlioz pictured himself. Although he yearned to distinguish himself in the opera house his essays in the larger forms are unheard today, and it is his scintillating piano works that hold his fame. A virtuoso of the first order himself, his pieces are often immensely difficult, buo al- most invariably theyf are immensely effective. And there is a sturdy musical content beneath the dazzling pianism, for unlike most writings for the instrument they bear orchestral tran- scription not merely with grace, but often to increased advantage. Compositions are rare in- deed that parallel their amphi-congeniality in this respect. Yet it is not by virtue of inherent force of their content that they flourish in trans- planted versions, but rather by reason of their intoxicating luminosity and flavor. Albeniz’s music is always outward; Pedrell sagely realized that “of listening to that music which sounds within one, he knew nothing.” Yet who would demand great intellectual or spiritual powers of a superb athlete? The bounding grace and lithe- someness of Albeniz’s writing is ample justifica- tion of itself. His qualities are at their best in his most im- portant work, Iberia, a set of piano works issued in four books of three pieces each. They are programmatic “impressions” of various Spanish localities. Enrique Fernandez Arbos, the con- ductor, has orchestrated a number of them and by virtue of his life-long friendship with the composer and his intimate knowledge of the lat- ter’s wishes, one could hardly wish for more authentic versions. It is appropriate that Arbos should also record several with the Madrid Sym- phony Orchestra (issued this month by Columbia and reviewed elsewhere in this issue) : Triana, El Puerto, and El Corpus en Sevilla. The last, perhaps better known by its French title, Fete- Dieu a Seville, has also been orchestrated and recorded by Stokowski, with even greater bril- liance and daring ingeniousness. Triana, the Fete Dieu, and the Evocation are recorded by the Barcelona Municipal Band for the Spanish H. M. V., and the first is also conducted by Goossens on the odd side of his Granados Spanish Dances (the Arbos transcription is used). Recordings of the original piano versions are available of Triana by Rosenthal (Parlophone) and Bachaus (H. M. V.), and of El Puerto by Murdoch (Eng- lish Columbia) and Kartun (French Odeon). Other orchestral recordings include Cordoba and Granada by the Gramophone Symphony (French H. M. V.) : Cordoba conducted by Jose Padilla—composer of El Relicario—for Pathe- Art; Cordoba, Seville, and Cadiz by an orches- tra accompanying La Argentina’s castenet re- cordings for French Odeon and French H. M. V. The Barcelona Municipal Band plays his Spanish Rhapsody for Spanish H. M. V. Piano disks: Navarro and Seville by Arthur Rubenstein (H. M. V.) ; Navarra by Marcelle Meyer (H. M. V.) ; Sous le Palmier by Cortot (Victor) and Meyer (H. M. V.) ; Seguidilla by Kardun (French Odeon) and Cortot (acoustical Victor) ; Mal- aguena by Cortot (acoustical Victor) ; and the Tango in D by Bachaus (Victor) ; Novaes (Span- ish Victor list) and Echaniz (Columbia). The Tango, arranged for string quartet and re-christ- ened “Spanish Dance”, is played by the Musical