Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 5, No. 6 (1931-03)

176 The Phonograph Monthly Review his American in Paris remain, at best, things of “shreds and patches.” But in the smaller forms—in his songs and in his Piano Preludes—he has produced miniature musical gems. Here, the one idea is developed to its inevitable end with clarity, originality and good-taste. Despite the fact that he has for so long a time been associated with the banal tunes of celebrated confreres in Tin-Pan Alley, there is nothing tawdry about Gershwin’s lyricism. His melodies all have a original turn and twist to them; a freshness breathes through them like a gust of a spring breeze; one feels that something new is being said and in an original fashion. Lis- ten to the second piano-prelude (the second pre- lude on the Columbia disc)—in which there is al- most a splash of pathos; listen to The Man I Love, the very finest song to have been composed in America in our day; listening to the song- sections of the Rhapsody and the Concerto, and you will hear a spontaneous and unstudied beauty which seems to flow almost instinctively, and without recess, from his pen. There is no end of ingenuity to these songs! Fascinating Rhythm has an intoxicating coun- terpoint of two different rhythms—3/4 is played against 4/4—to a melody that bubbles with zest and electricity; Clap Yo’ Hands!, on the other hand, has a varying rhythm with each bar—to give the songs an altogether new vitality. Such little tricks as the lost beat in his most recent success I Got Rhythm!, as the suspended melodic line of Sadie Salome, as the change of rhythm in So Are You (a song, incidentally, featured in Show Girl which did not receive half the appre- ciation or comment it deserves!) clearly show that the pen which created them has an instinc- tive originality. No one can ever know what to expect in a Gershwin song; there is nothing trite or hackneyed in any of them! But ingenuity and originality alone do not make a great song. To be sure, there is some- thing infinitely more to Gershwin’s shorter pieces—a tenderness, a sensitivity to beautiful melodic shapes, an undefiled and unspoiled beauty which is especially refreshing in these unmelodi- ous days. The Man I Love is, after all, a very simple melody—and yet that intoxicating har- monic background of descending minor-seconds gives the song an altogether unparalleled poig- nancy. The caressing loveliness of such tunes as How I Would Love To Have Somebody Rock Me To Sleep or Soon is too effectively enchanting not to impress deeply, especially after several hearings. Moreover, the same pen that can so often be tender and caressing can likewise be stingingly satirical. One has but to remember Lady be Good and Strike Up the Band! to realize this. And so, just as Gershwin is faltering in his larger works, so he is sure of his touch in his songs. In his songs, he has versatility, he has artistry, he has no end of ingenuity. Above all, he has that rich, deep, intoxicating lyricism of his. The song is Gershwin’s forte —and in the song, I am sure, he will ultimately gain a per- manent prestige in American music. Contributors to This Issue Harry L. Anderson, San Diego, was bom in Guodalajava, Mexico, somewhat over twenty years ago, but despite his youth and the comparatively limited opportunities for hear- ing leading pianists in recital on the west coast, he is prob- ably the leading authority on phonographic pianism. Some of the earlier reports on his studies as set forth in letters to the P. M. R. (November 1930, August 1929, September 1928, etc.), have been widely quoted in connection with the preservation of pianistic traditions, and particularly that of the Lisztian school. David Ewen, Brooklyn, New York, was one of the first to inaugurate a record review column in an American magazine: The Reflex, New York, some five years ago. He is the author of a life of Schubert and a study of Hebrew music which are to appear in the spring; and the editor of a critical anthology, From Bach to Stravinsky, scheduled for fall publication. He has contributed articles to the leading journals in this coun- try and England ( Musical Quarterly, Nation, New Freeman, Gamut, Theatre Guild Magazine, etc.). An article of his on the younger American composers appears in the January- February 1931 issue of The Chesterian. Richard Gilbert, New York City, is the compiler of The Gramophone Shop’s Encyclopedia, a contributor to Disques, Musical America, and other musical magazines. The Feb- ruary 1931 issue of The Arts contains his introductory article to a regular series of disc reviews, to be devoted mainly to a study of recorded modern music. Harry Alan Potamkin, New York City (author of “Phono- graph and Tonal Film” in the August 1930 P.M.R., and “The Progress of Mechanical Entertainment in Europe’’ in the July 1930 issue), has recently returned from a European trip with material on the progress of phonography in Germany and Soviet Russia that will shortly appear in these pages. His review of Klein’s monumental study of Colour Music is scheduled for the April issue. Nicolas Slonimsky, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, has re- cently given a series of concerts in the New York and Bos- ton, conducting* the Chamber Orchestra of Boston. See also the note in the November 1930 issue, page 44. His next concerts will be in Habana, Cuba, on March 10th. I VICTOR-COLUMBIA BRUNSWICK Records and Album Sets j Domestic and Foreign Recordings. Place j your name on our monthly mailing list. ! BRIGGS & BRIGGS 1270 MASSACHUSETTS AVE. Harvard Square Cambridge, Mass.