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

The Phonograph Monthly Review 207 March, 1930 Mr. Goll has drunk at some Australian fountain of youth, for his playing is more resilient, more animated and full of genuine life and vitality than that of most musicians in their twenties or thirties. It was too much to expect that we should always hear him in Bach and Bethoven. His third release brings the inevitable lighter fare, but even here his performances are no less candid and neatly fash- ioned. Paul Juon is a contemporary German composer of the older school and has written prolifically in all the forms. The Humoresque played here is typical. A light concert piece, quaisi scherzando, indistinctive but pleasing. Emil Sauer was a pupil of Rubinstein and Liszt, a noted virtuoso and composer of many piano works. I believe he is still alive, for he made some European recordings not so long ago. Goll studied with him at one time, I am informed. The piece played here is more interesting than its name would indicate, a study in repeated notes and fleetness. Goll produces an unusually good piano tone, well bodied and evenly, but not too brightly colored. The recording is mellow rather than highly realistic and the reproduced tonal qualities are exceptionally grateful to the ear. ORGAN Victor 35999 (D12, $1.25 Old Irish Air (arr. Gibson), and Adams (arr. Gibson): The Bells of St. Mary’s, played by Arthur Gibson on the organ in the residence of Charles M. Schwab, New York City. The Irish air as that known as the Londonderry Air, among many other aliases. Gibson has. arranged both pieces in free and rather amorphous fashion, not entirely free from a suspicion of theatre organ technique. The rec- ording is a trifle muzzy and Gibson is not sparing of vol- ume or of long-held fermatas. VIOLIN Victor 1442 (DIO, $1.50) Rowe-MacMurrough (arr. Che- met): Macushla, and Cory-Bartlett: A Dream, played by Renee Chemet with piano accompaniments by Anca Seid- lova. Miss Chemet now confines her efforts to one type of performance exclusively,—the highly sentimentalized salon piece or song transcription. Those whose appetite for the saccharine is insatiable will find this record very much to their taste. Victor (International list) 9642 (D12, $1.25 Hubay: The Violin-Maker of Cremona and Berceuse, played by Dr. Jeno Hubay, with piano accompaniments by Dr. Otto Hertz. Hubay was a noted virtuoso of his time and he has re- tained his faculties to a surprising degree, considering that he is now around seventy-two. (Dr. Henschel is not al- together unrivalled!) I presume that he has recorded be- fore, but this is the first electrical disk of which I have heard. The recording is unusually good, resonant enough to secure a marked degree of realism, yet not to the ex- tent of unpleasant amplification. Hubay plays his familiar Violin-Maker of Cremona with punctilious care for tone and phrasing, treating it rather more seriously than the piece—pleasing and well-turned as it is—actually demands. The Berceuse is a simple, pretty morceau, but here the performance is less accurate. I wonder if Hubay is playing on the celebrated Amati instrument he owns. The tone at its best is excellent, but it varies considerably in quality, as indeed is to be expected. It is remarkable that Hubay has preserved so well the flexibility of his fingers. Again the phonographic gives us a document of historical interest. VIOLA Columbia 2082-D (DIO, 75c) Tcbaikowsky (arr. Tertis): Chanson Triste and Chanson sans Paroles, played by Lion- el Tertis with piano accompaniments. A typical coupling of Tertis’ transcriptions. He plays them with his usual neat despatch, a far cry from the usual languishing performance, but they lie mostly in the upper register of his instrument, and the tone is often rather thin and uncharacteristic. VIOLONCELLO Columbia 2081-D (DIO, 75c) Nin: Granadina, and Ravel: Piece en forme de Habanera, played by Horace Britt, with accompaniments by Josejf Adler. Britt is not a ’cellist well-known in this country (I be- lieve he is represented only in the Columbia set of Schu- bert’s Quintet in C, in which he plays the second ’cello part), but his first solo disk to appear here is refreshingly ori- ginal in its choice of music. His playing is not altogether free from lugubriousness in the lower registers or thinness in the upper, but the tone qualities are pleasing for the most part. One is more interested by the pieces than the player, however. Nin is a Cuban composer, known by vari- ous piano pieces played by Iturbi, Copeland, etc. Is this Granadina a transcription? The label gives no information on the point. It is a brief Iberian dance-song in strophic form with a recurrent heavily strummed chorus that re- minds one very strongly of a passage in one of De Falla’s Three Cornered Hat dances. The Ravel piece is recorded in a number of versions abroad, for piano, saxophone, ’cello, etc. Britt plays it with a feeling for its restrained nostalgic mood, but I do not find this arrangement as felicitous as that for piano,—recorded by Miinz for Homocord. GUITAR Victor 7176 (D12, $2.00) Bach: Prelude, Allemande, and Fugue, played by Andres Segovia. It is good to find another release from Segovia on the Victor list, even though, he plays transcriptions rather than original guitar music. I presume the arrangements are his own. They are ingenious, but the skill with which they have been contrived is nothing compared to that with which they are played. The fugue is an astonishing per- formance, with every voice unmistakably independent and individual. I remember the prelude as one from the set of “little preludes” for piano (No. 4 in the Schirmer edi- tion), but I do not recognize the Allemande and Fugue off-hand. As in Segovia’s previous disks the recording is irreproachable, a perfectly transparent and undistorted refraction of the master guitarist’s uncanny art. ACCORDION Columbia 2070-D (D10, 75c) Ketelbey: In a Persian Mar- ket, played by Jean Deveydt. Now an imported two-part accordion version of Ketelbey’s hardy perennial! Deveydt is obviously an accordionist above the average and makes a brilliant beginning, but the sugared second theme is less well adapted to the in- strument’s capabilities and shows it to considerably less advantage. STRING QUARTET Columbia (International list) 59062-F (D12, $1.25) Mo- zart: Ave Verum; Schumann: Traumerei: and Schubert: Moment Musicale, played by the Catterall String Quartet. A welcome re-release of one of the best introductory chamber music disks. It was first isued in the regular lists and reviewed in the September 1928 issue : neat, graceful, and always tasteful performances . . . the record can—and by all means should—be put to yeoman’s service in edu- cational and music appreciation work. And at the other end of the ladder there is no musician who can hear it with- out a glow of pleasure in hearing these musical miniatures, found so often in such incongruous and vulgar settings, done with restraint, intelligence, and a true sentiment that never degenerates into sentimentality. Chamber Music Brunswick 90015-6 (2 D12s, $1.50 each) Mozart: String Quartet in D (K. 575, played by the Brosa String Quartet. Mozart’s quartet in D, sometimes numbered 8 and some- times 21, is the first of the last three works in this form, all dedicated to Frederick William II, King of Pimssia. It was written at the monarch’s request, and the latter’s pro- ficiency on the ’cello is supposed to account for the promi- nence given that instrument through the work. The king liked it (sending Mozart a gold snuff-box as well as verbal and monetary thanks), and since him the public in general has found it a favorite among Mozart’s writings for strings. An acoustical version of the minuet by the Flonzaleys is still retained in the Victor catalogue, but the same ensemble has electrically recorded the work in its entirety. As yet the disks are released only in England. There are other