Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 4, No. 9 (1930-06)

318 The Phonograph Monthly Review June, 1930 itself will be of lively appeal to those of Scotch blood, but it is more or less the conventional eulogy of the great poet. Victor 22305 (DIO, 75c) The Trick Boys, from Roark Bradford’s “OF Man Adam an’ His Chillun,” —monologue by Marshall Cole. The sensational success of “Green Pastures” has focussed attention on the book from which the material of the play was largely drawn. “OF Man Adam an’ His Chillun” is a set of Biblical stories as told in the unaffected, childlike manner of the Negroes of the old South. For all the color and contemporaneousness of the language, no one can find irreverence in this version of the episode between Pharaoh and Moses, in which the tale of the plagues and the final escape of the Hebrews from Egypt is retold with touching poignance and force. It is also amusingly told, but the humor is a very gentle and genial sort, and one smiles with the narrator, not at him. Mr. Cole, one of the Utica Jubilee Singers, was an ideal choice to record the story. He tells it ,simply, clearly, and well. The disk is entitled to find popular favor on its merits, and not merely on the strength of its novelty alone. INSTRUMENTAL Piano Victor 1455 (DIO, $1.50) Dohnanyi: Capriccio in F minor, Op. 28, No. 6, and Lizst: Valse Oubliee, played by Vladi- mir Horowitz. I had about given up hope for more Horowitz disks when this odd coupling arrived. It is an unusual record, but those who take the trouble to hear it will find it a singular- ly fascinating one. The caprice is an out and out virtuoso study, but so cleverly contrived and played here with such phenomenal energy and eclat that it affects its listeners in much the same way Horowitz’s prodigious concert hall brilliance has affected his auditors. The Liszt piece is of different cloth, and miniature though it may be, it testi- fies to Liszt’s best powers more effectively that many of his most ambitious major works. There are hints of Schu- mann and Chopin (Wagner was not the only one to learn from Liszt!), and the whole temper of the piece is surpris- ingly modern. The closing recitando passage is unmistak- able genius. The recording is clean and not too heavily amplified. Wisely so, since Horowitz needs no mechani- cal energy to supplement his own vigor. Victor 35966 (D12, $1.25) Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 2, and Lis^t: Liebestraum, Op. 62, No. 3, played by Julius Schendel. Mr. Schendel has one or two other black label disks from Victor. He is a good man to make a recording like this that is of purely popular appeal. The performances are unexaggerated, played simply and clearly with no at- tempt at subtlety, but with a firm stress on the most char- acteristic points of the music. Anyone for whom these pianistic war-horses have not been ridden to death will find these versions very satisfactory ones. Organ Brunswick 90041 (D12, $1.50) Liszt: Ad Nos Ad Salutar- em,—Fugue, played by Alfred Sittard on the Organ of St. Michael’s Church, Hamburg, Germany. I believe that this is the same introduction and fugue that Germani recorded for Victor a year or so ago. Sittard plays on the largest organ in Germany, and he certainly is unsparing of its capabilities. Add enormously powerful recording (the reverberance period is as long as any I have ever heard on disks), and almost unrelieved use of the full organ, and you have a record that is startling to say the least. And for all its lack of restraint and clarity, the sheer tonal volume is impressively realistic. Violin Columbia 2167-D (D10, 75c) Szymanowski: La Fountaine D’Arethuse, and Moszkowsld: Guitarre, played by Rene Benedetti with piano accompaniments. This is one of the finest small violin works I have heard this season—ingeniously selected pieces done with effort- less skill and a keen feeling for tonal and phrasal felicity. M. Benedetti is already known by his earlier Columbia re- lease of the De Falla Suite Populaire Espagnole, but the present black label disk should find an even wider and more appreciative audience. The Szymanowski piece (one of the very few of the Polish composer’s to be recorded) is a very happy bit of impressionistic tone painting that ex- ploits the violin’s onomatopoeic possibilities with particular vividness in the gurgling final measures. The Guitarre is more familiar fare, but it is seldom heard played with such an effective blend of deftness and enthusiasm as it is done here. Benedetti’s manner has just the right touch of alert force or lyrical grace as the music demands, and technically his playing is a delight. The passages in har- monics call for special praise. The accompanist is unnamed on the label, but the French Columbia catalogue (from which these recordings are re-pressed) lists M. Faure as the pianist. He plays his part no less dexterously than Benedetti; the Debussian background of the Szymanowski piece and the buo 3 ’ , ant, thrumming accompaniment of Mosz- kowski’s give him good opportunity to reinforce the solo- ist’s effectiveness. Victor 7225 (D12, $2.00) Dvorak (arr. Kreisler): Slavonic Dance No. 3. in G, and Indian Lament, played by Fritz Kreisler, with piano accompanimets by Carl Lamson. The Slavonic Dance is No. 16 of the original set, written for piano duet (opp. 46 and 72). “Indian Lament” is Kreisler’s title for the Canzonetta movement of the Sona- tina in G, Op. 100, for violin and piano. Both pieces are among Kreisler’s most popular arrangements, but while the Lament is a re-recording of an earlier phonographic version, I cannot find any trace of Kreisler’s having en- registered the third Slavonic Dance before. Of the other two in the series, No. 1 G minor) has been re-recorded by Kreisler (and is also out in electrical versions from Szi- geti and Seidel), but No. 2 (E minor) is available only in Kreisler’s acoustic version in the historical catalogue, or in electrical recordings by Szigeti and Priholda in the English Columbia and Polydor catalogues. The performance and recording are well up to Kreisler’s immaculate standards. The Lament is perhaps a trifle too thoroughly perfervid, but the dark tone coloring is very effective. Violoncello Columbia 2166-D (D10, 75c) Faure: Romance sans Pa- roles, and Debussy: Minuet, played by Horace Britt with piano accompaniments by Josef Adler. The selections here, while still ingenious, are of perhaps greater popular appeal than those of Britt’s first release— Nin’s^ Granadina and Ravel’s Habanera. Britt plays the Faure lyric with frank songfulness, and resonant but not over-rich tone qualities. The melody is more easily tune- ful than some of Faure’s; once heard, it is not easy to get out of one’s mind. The Debussy piece, from the Petit Suite, is done with more vigor and a somewhat more pene- trant tone. Columbia 2179-D (D10, 75c) Granados (arr. Cassado): Goyescas—Intermezzo, and Godard; Jocelyn—Berceuse, played by Adolphe Frezin, with piano accompaniments by F. Goeyens. Frezin is identified on the label as the first ’cellist of the Brussels Royal Conservatory, but one’s ears alone tell that his playing is molded to ensemble rather than solo recital traditions. It is a relief to escape from the reson- ant singing tone of most ’cellists (even when handled as intelligently as by Britt, for example), the steady clean tone, and firmly drawn line of Frezin’s playing. Both pieces are played with a good sense of fitness for their musical qualities ; the Berceuse more frankly sentimentally, but within musicianly limits The disk has the added merit of excellent recording—the best of any of the instrumental disks this month, and vying closely with the most spacious orchestral recording. A very attractive release. Trio Columbia 2168 (D10, 75c) Massenet; Wertber—Clair de lune and La Navarraise—Nocturne, played by Georges Ly- koudi (violin), Adolphe Frezin (’cello)’ and M. Goeyens (piano). Two of Massenet’s most popular airs in smooth ensemble performances, simply played and free. from over-suavity. More restrained than most trio performances that one is likely to hear. R.O.B.