Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 5, No. 8 (1931-05)

May 1931, Vol. V. No. 8 251 INSTRUMENTAL Piano Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, played by Alexander Brailowsky. Brunswick 85002 (DIO, SI.25). One feels that Brailowsky is quite at home with this Rhap- sody, for in temperament his style of playing is akin to the style of the piece. The quick changes from passages in the Chopin Mazurka tradition, to mournful melodies, and the sudden flight into nervous acceleration, combine to give the Rhapsody an erratic tone which Brailowsky understands thor- oughly. His is not an erratic interpretation, rather one of in- tellectual passion. The recording is a bit too loud and me- tallic, forcing a brilliance on the performance which is super- fluous, in view of Brailowsky’s bright and resonant touch. Bach : Organ Fugue in G minor, and Charles Griffes : The White Peacock, plaved by Olga Samaroff. Victor 7384. (D12, $ 2 . 00 ). Olga Samaroff has adapted this organ fugue for piano solo, and while it has not, as such, the intrinsic pianistic personality of the fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavicord, neither has it those unmistakable organ characteristics which oftener than not, in organ to piano transcriptions, produce an artistic in- consistency. In fact, considering, Samaroff’s virile interpreta- tion, the fugue achieves a clarity on the phonograph that could be rivalled only by the very finest of precise organists. She combines a seemingly effortless talent for accenting subject and answer with a judicious selection of climaxes, choosing only those which are spontaneous. The over-emphasis of minor climaxes in the works of Bach is a common fault among less worthy pianists but Samaroff has the good sense of not present- ing the fugue piecemeal or over-nuanced. That she can respond to music which demands swift contrast in touch as well as tem- per, is shown by her playing of the White Peacock. Although they are birds of a different feather, Griffes’ White Peacock, like Brancusi’s Golden Bird, pursues his flight through the same impressionistic ether in which the Golden Bird soars. The one is “frozen music,” the other is music so melting that it points the pathos of Griffes’ sun having gone down so early in his promising life. Organ Efrem Zimbalist Thereminesque swoop, Miss Chemet performs it satisfactor- ily. The “Sweetheart” selections, what with pipe organ, chimes, and piano, achieve a truly theatrical atmosphere. Wagner: Die Meistersinger—Prize Song, and Bach: Air for the G String, played by Efrem Zimbalist. Columbia 50289- D (D12, $1.25). A record of The Prize Song for ’cello and piano was re- viewed in these columns in the February issue, and I think-*- in comparing the song as a ’cello or a violin solo—the prefer- ence must be given the ’cello, for the darkly emotional char- acter of the piece needs all the possible color and warmth, which the ’cello medium gives more successfully than the violin. Not that Mr. Zimbalist does not give it color and warmth, and a sweet tone besides, but it lacks body. Oddly, enough, he plays the air for the G string as if his violin were a ’cello, darkly. There is a kind of slowness which is not a matter of metronome tempo, but of phrasing. Mr. Zim- balist plays it a little too slowly in that sense. Bach : Toccata and Fugue in D minor, played by Alfred Sittard. Brunswick 90146 (D12, $1.50). Stokowski has made the Toccata and Fugue so deservedly popular as an orchestral piece, that it is a little unusual to find a recording of it in its original organ medium. Nothing new can be said about its superb and inexorable momentum, and there is little to be criticized in Alfred Sittard’s version of it, except that at times it is too overpoweringly sonorous. The writing of it is fairly thick to begin with, and the utmost care should have been taken not to confuse the impression with a sense of unwieldiness of instrument. Widor: Symphony No. 4— Toccata, and Symphony No. 2— Finale, played by Edouard Commette. Columbia 50285-D (D12, $1.25). Although these movements of symphonies by Widor, the distinguished French organist and composer who succeeded Franck as professor or organ-playing at the Paris Conserva- toire, contain a paucity of original musical ideas, they are at least in the classical tradition. The toccata embodies the familiar cadences and scale passages of the eighteenth cen- tury Italian composers, with less of their majesty and more of our modern technical devices. The Finale is of a more boisterous character and is reminiscent of Gounod over- tures and Bizet in his romantic moments. M. Commette plays them with his usual proficiency. Violin Victor Herbert: Badinage and Selections from “Sweet- hearts,” played by Renee Chemet. Victor 1498 (D10, $1.50). Badinage has in it all the good spirits and at the same time pleasant frivolity that we find in before-curtain music at the iheatre. Its melody is charming and except for a peculiar Wieniaski: Air Russe, played by Rene Benedetti, with piano accompaniment. Columbia 50284-D (D12, $1.25). This is a highly bravura composition with many of those tantalizing cadenzas which forestall the meaty parts until the violinist has had an opportunity to perform gymnastics with his bow. The Russian theme about which it is built is finally announced, in simple pathetic phrases, to be turned as one turns the record, into an intricate variation. Mr. Benedetti has here made it a little difficult to detect the theme, and his tour de force cadenzas sometimes obscure it. But the excit- ing quality which made Wieniaski famous as a violinist comes out at the very last in a fiery Russian dance effect, where Mr. Benedetti shows an admirable esprit. He has a large and sweet tone, but he occasionally uses it injudiciously during a delicate cadenza. E. Y. G. Band Tchaikowsky: Marche Slave, played by the Grenadier Guards Band, conducted by Captain George Miller. Co- lumbia 50288-D (D12, $1.25). Alford: The Middy March, and Rust: Faithful and Bold March, played by the Grenadier Guards Band, conducted by Captain George Miller. Columbia 2418-D (D10, 75c). The smaller disc is a coupling of two rollicking marches, tossed off without much polish, but with fine buoyant spirit. The two part arrangement of the Marche Slave (transcriber unnamed) is done with a great deal more care, and the tone colors are much purer than in the short pieces. Captain Mil- ler’s reading emphasizes the work’s bombast and turbulence, but the more songful sections are neatly done, and the climaxes kept within reasonable bounds. The recording is a trifle coarse, but exceedingly vigorous.