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

May, 1930 The Phonograph Monthly Review 281 A FRIML ALBUM Victor Concert Series Album C-9 (5 D12s, Alb., $7.50) The Music of Rudolph Friml, played by the Composer^ the Victor Salon Group, and Victor Salon Orchestra under the direction of Nathaniel Shilkret. Mr. Shilkret’s concert series is beginning to assume very considerable proportions. Tilling the light operatic field in American music he has come very appropriately to Rudolph Friml, one of the most facile and skillful composers of light music of our day. Friml is by birth a Bohemian and first came to this country as pianist with Kubelik. For a time he essayed the larger musical forms, but it was not long before his particular gift for the lighter types made itself very evident, and since then he has become acknowl- edged as perhaps our leading operetta and salon composer. The present album (like all those in Mr. Shilkret’s series) is very cleverly contrived to present an accurate cross-sec- tion of the composer’s talents, and includes representative selections from all his more conspicuous successes. The first record side reveals Friml as a salon pianist of tiincommon deftness (one recalls that his entry into the talkies was signalized by the insuring of his hands for fabu- lous sums). He plays an Improvisation and Amour Coquet of his own, pretty little pieces whose bland melodiousness reminds one of Nevin, and neat pianistic writing something of the early Debussy. They are unpretentiously slight, but very fetching, and excellently played and recorded. (It is interesting to contrast the delicate style of playing here with the more sturdy qualities of Friml’s ow^n recording of his Song of the Vagabonds for Columbia.) Part 2 includes La Danse des Demoiselles and Mignonette (Rezeda), played by the Victor Salon orchestra with lus- cious violin solo work by its solo violinist—Lou Raderman. Part 3 is devoted largely to a waltz song, L’Amour, tou- jours L’Amour (ripely sung by Lewis James), going over without a break into a brief orchestral rendition of Ma Belle. Part 4 marks the best of the orchestral perform- ances, a Chanson and Veil Dance, that are less wholly suave than the previous pieces and much more piquantly orchestrated. The flowing wood wind work in the later piece is particularly attractive. The remainder-of the disks are devoted to selections from Friml’s best knoWn operettas: When You’re In Love (part 5), High-Jinks (part 6), Rose-Marie (part 7), Katinka (part 8), The Vagabond King (part 9), and The Firefly (part 10), sung and played by the Victor Salon Group in capable fashion. The most popular, Rose-Marie and The Vaga- bond King, make the best disks, and although the arrange- ments and accompaniments throughout betray the practiced hand of Shilkret, the performances here seem particularly effective. Friml’s genius is not a highly distinctive one. For the most part it seldom rises above a facile tunefulness alnd a deft feeling for dance rhythms. There is not much vigor, save for an exception like the Totem Tom-Tom or Song of the Vagabonds (the latter is easily his finest achieve- ment and one of really 1 lasting worth). But he has the gift for writing light music that is catchy, well hung to- gether, and highly attractive. Shilkret’s album presents a neat selection and performance of his best works and the records should share the popularity of the staged operet- tas. R. O. B. Operatic Columbia Operatic Series No. 5 (13 L12s, 2 Albs., $26.00) Puccini: La Boheme, opera in four acts, by soloists and chorus of La Scala, Milan, and the Milan Symphony Or- chestra, conducted by Lorenzo Molajoli. (On the last rec- ord side the Milan Symphony plays the Intermezzo from Manon Lascaut.) Mimi Rosetta Pampanini Musetta Luba Mirella Rodolfo Luigi Marini Marcello Gino Vanelli Colline Tancredi Pasero Schaunard Aristide Baracchi Benoit Salvatore Baccaloni Parpignol Giuseppe Nessi disques A monthly publication for those who are interested in fine phonograph records both domestic and imported. Readers of disques have each month a comprehensive survey of the records issued in Europe as well as America. $1.50 per year. (Outside U.S.A. $2.00 per year.) If you prefer to examine a copy before subscribing you may send 15c (stamps or coins) and a sample copy will be forwarded postpaid anywhere in the world. H. ROYER SMITH CO. publishers OF disques 10th & Walnut Streets, Philadelphia We have already had one recorded set of this Puccinian favorite, conducted by Carlo Sabajno for Victor (reviewed in the December 1928 issue), and the incentive of surpas- sing this very competent version has goaded Molajoli on to the best work of his notable series of operas. No. 4 in the series, Madame Butterfly, gives a good indication of what merits may be expected of La Boheme, but if any- thing the recording is even superior in the new work. There is all the realistic brilliance of some of the earlier releases, but a far happier balance and purer quality of tone. La Boheme is not a simple score to conduct, and es- pecially for the phonograph. Molajoli and the strong cast do very distinctive work in giving the work so lucid and spontaneous a performance. Even in the opening act, where one would think that the parts would be difficult to individualize by voice alone, the four men maintain their separate personalities vividly intact. The dramatic fervor is beautifully worked up to its climax in the great fourth act—as moving a performance as has yet been recorded. Rosetta Pampanini, the Butterfly of the previous set, endows the role of Mimi with rare color and personality. Marini’s Rodolfo is a sincere, capable characterization, with steadier singing than we have had from some of the lead- ing tenors in the earlier sets. Baracchi repeats his dis- tinguished work as Schaunard that was so attractive a feature of the Victor set of Boheme. Luba Mirella is the weakest member of the cast. Her Musetta is a cleverly drawn characterization, but her singing is uncertain and unpleasing. Scarcely less impressive than the solo work is the extremely capable handling of the vocal ensembles, and the effective poise maintained between the voices and orchestra throughout—all recorded with such clarity that a myriad details lost or distorted in the opera house are here revealed in their original sharpness of outline. The English translation by Compton Mackenzie emulates the skill and naturalness of his clear, idiomatic transla- tion of the Traviata libretto—both invaluable aids to the sincere opera lover.