Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 5, No. 4 (1931-01)

January, 1931, Vol. V. No. 4 117 Correspondence The Editor does not accept any responsibility for opinions expressed by correspondents. No notice will be taken of un- signed letters , but only initials or a pseudonym will be printed if the writer so desires. Contributions of general interest to our readers are welcomed. They should be brief and writ- ten on one side of the paper only. Address aU letters, to CORRESPONDENCE COLUMN, Editorial Department , The Phonograph Monthly Review, 5 Boylston Street, Cam- bridge, Massachusetts. Damroscli and Stokowski Tempos Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review : The recent release by Victor of recordings by Dr. Walter Damrosch reminds me that I have often thought him a good conductor for the recording of some orchestral versions of marches by Sousa, Goldman and other march writers. This is due to the way in which Dr. Damrosch’s orchestra plays the marches during the intermissions of his Friday morning Music Appreciation Hours. Most band and orchestra conductors play marches at such a fast tempo that one does not feel the rhythm as much as he would at a slower pace. I believe one of the reasons for Sousa’s success is because he does not play his marches at an excessively fast speed. And what I have said about the playing of marches ap- plies to the performance of more serious music, as well. Especially is this true of Bach’s works, and those of other classic and romantic composers. Musicians of today seem to forget the fact that tempos in Bach’s time, and even of fifty years ago, were not as quick as tempos of today. When the faster movements of Bach are played as fast as many play them today, one loses not only the contrapuntal parts, but also much of the grandeur and dignity of Bach’s works. I consider Leopold Stokowski as being the most nearly perfect of musicians from the standpoint of technical per- formance and from an interpretative viewpoint. His tempos seem to be always just at the right speed, and you can say what you please, but aside from the actual physical and technical performance of a composition, the tempo at which it is played can either make or ruin a performance. The one and only thing that I have ever heard Dr. Stokowski play that I could find any fault with whatsoever was the quick tempo at which he took the fugue in the Bach D Minor Toccata and Fugue, and I am wondering if concessions were made to recording length. Blackstone, Virginia Richmond Seay But where are the sounds of yesteryear Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: Mr. Robert Littell’s column in a recent issue of the New York World contains the ablest presentation I have yet seen for the utilization of the phonograph for historical purposes. As some P. M. R. veterans may remember, I have occasionally contributed a letter to these pages on aspects of historical phonography—a subject in which, I hardly need to say, I am intensely interested. Mr. Littell puts the case far more effec- tively than I have ever done. I wish I could quote him in full. But even in part his article, “Blindfold,” should not escape any true believers in the unlimited significance of the phono- graph. Mr. Littell begins by describing various exhibitions in the Museum of the City of New York—“many records and in- genious counterfeits of the city’s sights, of its changes from decade to decade.” But with all this feast for the eyes, there is none for the ears, although sounds are fully as important, if not more important a part of city life. Accordingly, Mr. Littell urges the directors of the museum to find room some- where for the noises of New York. Those past are lost for- ever, but the present can be captured and transfixed. It would be a job that obviously would require an expert—necessarily a blind man, for whom alone the thousand sounds of a city are closely analyzed and identified. There is a vivid description of the infinitely varied sounds of automobiles and steel workers, elevated and subways, street vendors and newsboys. Mr. Littell suggests specific recordings, most indicative of 1930: “a collection of street whistlings and song snatches and cuss words, or the miscellaneous yawpings that a dozen radios, all tuned in on different stations, pour into the backyard space between New York tenements. “Or the record could be taken chronologically, to carry one from the morning to the evening of New York noise—from the early click of milk bottles to the comparative hush of mid- night, when the Lexington Avenue car can be heard stopping, and starting, and stopping again half a mile away, and when the long whistles of apartment house doormen call mournfully for a late cruising taxicab. “And then, beside those urban sounds, visitors to the museum should be made to hear a less urban record of the noises that New York can never have, that some of its inhabitants never hear all their life long—sleighbells and sheep on a lonely pas- ture and the brushing of branches against the winder and the noise made by small-town children running and rattling a stick against a picket fence.” Washington, D. C. “Historian” Hints for Hr. Hauber Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: Mr. Hauber inquires in the November correspondence column in regard to piano records that would be suitable to one whose musical tastes are still in the embryonic stage. The list appended below consists of records that, in the humble opinion of the writer, are not only well-recorded but also artistically played, and whose contents have appeal to the classes as well as the masses. Several of them have the further merit to fall in the “record bargain” class. So for better or worse, I recommend the following: (1) Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Bach)—played by Myra Hess on Columbia 2063M. (2) Pavane pour une Infante Defunte (Ravel)—played by Myra Hess on Columbia 157M. (3) Liebestraum (Liszt) and Sheep and Goat Walking to the Pasture (Guion) played by Percy Grainger on Columbia 7134M. (4) Shepherd’s Hey and Country Gardens (Grainger) played by Percy Grainger on Columbia 154M. (5) Fire Music (Whgner) played by Julius Schendel on Victor 35936. (6) Witches Dance (MacDowell) played by Leopold Godowsky on Brunswick 15125. (7) Valse—La Plus Que Lente (Debussy) played by Walter Gieseking on Brunswick 50104. Philadelphia, Penna. William C. Hamilton The Schlusnus "Adelaide" In R. B.’s critique on “Adelaide” sung by Heinrich Schlusnus, and recently released in this country through Brunswick, he mentions that it is not on Herr Schlusnus’ list of previous recordings. It is possible that he does not consider the acoustical record that he made for Poly dor four or five years ago of sufficient worth to be noted? I pur- chased it through the enterprizing Mr. Mai of Chicago four years ago, and the recording is on two sides, and “broken” in the same way as the present release. Herr Michael Rauchusen, who, if I mistake not, has ac- companied Sigrid Onegin on several of her tours, provides in this case most adequate piano accompaniment, jston, Mass. Richmond G. Wight