Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 8 (1930-05)

May, 1930 The Phonograph Monthly Review 279 pieces I have yet heard, and the disk is an almost essen- tial addition to every orchestral library. Columbia G-67744-5-D (2 D12s, $2.00 each) Berlioz: Ro- man Carnival Overture (3 parts), and Strawinsky: The Fire Bird—Berceuse (1 part), played by Gabriel Pieme and the Colonne Orchestra, Paris. I think that these are the first French Odeon record- ings to be repressed by the American Columbia company, and their merit promises well for the worth of future issues from the interesting series released abroad. After Dr. Blech’s superb recording of the Berlioz overture, every new attempt is almost impossibly handicapped from the start. Pierne puts up the best opposition that any rival conductor has yet been able to offer. He has the benefit of excellent recording, as brilliant and if anything cleaner than that of Blech’s disk, and while the Andante is a trifle inflexible, the Allegro vivace is worked up with a fine drive and flourish. The Fire Bird Berceuse makes a pleasing odd side, especially in a performance as attractive- ly colored as this. Brunswick Hall of Fame set 18 (3 D12s, Alb., $6.00) Liszt: Concerto in E flat for piano and orchestra, played by Alex- ander Brailowsky and the Philharmonic Orchestra, Ber- lin, conducted by Julius Pruewer. (On the sixth record side Brailowsky plays a solo version of Liszt’s Liebestraum.) I reviewed this and a companion concerto (Chopin’s in E minor) from the Polydor pressings in the February 1929 issue. Hearing the Liszt work again I am much more im- pressed with the quality of performance and recording than I was before. They are still open to the criticism of over-heaviness and some muddiness of tone, but there is an impressive realism to the recording and a vivid rush and energy to the reading. I think that more discreet pedal- ing by Brailowsky would have eliminated some of the blur to passages in the piano’s lower register. They come through brilliantly, however, and the tone is authentically that of a piano, and not that of a super-xylophone. There is a rich color to both orchestra and piano in the quieter passages. The work’s lyricism is not over-sweet, nor is its bombast insufferably emphasized. The indefatigable triangle in the finale is firmly subdued, while the veritable orgy of sound at the end really comes off in both the playing and the recording. A valuable set of disks for demonstration purposes. On the odd side Brailowsky plays the inevitable third Liebestraum with a skillful blending of restraint and animation. The recorded piano tone ranges from mellowness to brilliancy. Columbia 50213-D (D12, $1.25) Saint-Saens: Samson et Delila—Selections, played by the B. B. C. Wireless Sym- phony Orchestra, conducted by Percy Pitt. The selections are representative and they are all named on the label—a most commendable practice. As usual with the disks in the B. B. C orchestra’s series, the re- cording is bright and vigorous, with a tendency to show up shrillness in the orchestral tone. The playing ranges from blandness in the lyrical sections to a proper bombast in the inflated moments. Columbia 50209-10-D (2 D12s, $1.25 each) Massenet: Scenes Pittoresques, played by Pierre Chagnon and a Sym- phony Orchestra. An earlier electrical recording of the Scenes Pittoresques, conducted by Coppola, was reviewed from the imported French H. M. V. pressings in the October, 1928 issue. Chag- non’s version is less on the virtuoso order. I like his firm alert touch and the restraint of his performance, but the recording favors the orchestra’s lower register at the ex- pense of the upper. The March (part 1) is well character- ized with its somewhat pompous and wooden qualities neat- ly pointed. The lyrical orchestral tone in the Air de Bal- let (part 2) verges on the nasal, but the melodic line is nicely drawn. The Angelus (part 3) displays the orchestra to better advantage,—a quiet, well modulated performance, free from excessive expressiveness. The finale—Fete Bo- heme (part 4)—is played with the proper vivacity, working up effectively, but here the lack of sufficient roundness and sonority to the recorded tone is a disadvantage. The music has been discussed in detail in the July, 1929, in- stallment of Mr. Hadley’s Massenet article. R. D. D. Instrumental PIANO Columbia 67746-7-D (2 D12s, $2.00 each) Grieg: Ballade in G minor, Op. 25, played by Leopold Godowsky. Gradually the phonograph is giving us a wider knowl- edge of Grieg’s works, and particularly of his compositions in larger forms. I do not think that familiarity with his more ambitious essays alters one’s estimate of him prim- arily as a worker in smaller forms and distinctively nation- al idioms. Although the Ballade in G minor is of generous length (four well-filled record sides), it does not have, the bigness of stature of such works as the Chopin Fantasia in F minor (which, by the way, has just been recorded in France), Schumann’s Symphonic Studies or even Mendels- sohn’s Serious Variations. Grieg’s work is a set of varia- tions, and apart from the lack of essential grandeur in their conception, they do cover a considerable range of feeling. As one would not unnaturally expect, they are most at- tractive and most effective when they give the composer an opportunity to take advantage of his peculiar skill in transmuting folk dance and folk song elements. They are least effective when Grieg is most ambitious—the quasi- Lisztian climactic passages on part 4,. for instance. Godow- ski’s reading is marked by the beautiful lucidity one finds in almost every performance of his. The expressive lyri- cal measures, particularly of the first variations, the bound- ing scherzando later variations (the most pleasing of the set), and even the more bombastic passages are all taken with proper spirit and enlivening color. The recording is mellow and for the most part quite effective. Victor 1449 (D10, $1.50) Medtner: Fairy Tale, Op. 34, No. 2, and Prokofieff: Suggestion Diabolique, Op., No. 4, played by Benno Moiseivitch. Moiseivitch has such a marked recording talent and his disks have been so scarce lately that a new release from him would be something of an event even if he had chosen to play pieces much less off the beaten track than those of Medtner and Prokofieff. This is the record, by the way, discussed by Mr. Gerstle in hist letter to the Correspon- dence Column of the February issue of the magazine. He rightfully cited the British labeling of the Medtner piece (Concerto in E minor) as an extreme example of labeling inaccuracy. It is a pleasure to see the Victor Company correcting the original error. The correct designation re- veals Mr. Darrell’s surmise to have been correct, that this is the “Conte” in E minor that Medtner himself played in appearance with the Halle Orchestra last season. I hope that the advance publicity the record has received will win it a large audience, for it is a splendid example of recorded pianism. The Fairy Tale is characteristic of Medtner’s lighter writings, a fanciful little piece of deli- cate feeling, not too slight in content, and contrived with remarkable pianistic ingenuity. The Prokofieff Sugges- tion is scarcely less well made, but rather more fantastic in character. Its diabolism is on the scherzando rather than the macabre order. Needless to say Moiseivitch makes the most out of both pieces, combining delicacy with real zest, and backed up by first rate recording. ORGAN Victor 22287 (D10, 75c) Vierne: First Symphony—Finale, played by Fernando Germani on the organ of the Wana- maker Store, New York Ci,ty. Movements from two important organ symphonies in one month, and on seventy-five cent disks at that, should cheer the hearts of organ record collectors. I like Germani’s varied registration better than the rather inflexible scoring of Commette. The music here is likewise rapid and tem- pestuous for the most part, but Germani keeps it reason- ably clear, and builds up his climaxes extremely well, al- though—as in his previous record—he is prone to a too prodigal use of the full organ. The recording handles the big bursts of tone very capably. Germani is worth hearing more often; perhaps next time it will be in Bach. . . .