The record changer (Mar-Dec 1947)

ARRAGO 6 By EDWARD HILL n old character man with whom I uped in my salad days conveyed to me Saga of a Shakespearean denizen of smokehouse who, with his motley w, was stranded at Natchez and, in ler to fulfill an engagement down-river, •med it expedient to accept gratuitous ommodation aboard a manure barge, e voyage was enriched by the chief nbo's jeremiad to the gulls — in the 1st of which, across the water, from a ft proceeding the other way, came the loo, "Ahoy! What's your cargo?" In nter went the reply, "A load of 1 some actors!" 'Egad," our hero mourned, "second ing, even on the river." AThich tale seems to me to be about as table a way as any of embarking upon «w remarks anent David Bispham, the aker singer whose discs are so highly zed by his coterie and whose heart was it as a lead balloon; whose closest inlates dared not to call him "Dave" and p wasted much of his bullied pupils' ie in detailed recitations of his geneal/ and in endless instructions as to the ;cise pronunciation of his surname. Vever did he pronounce the word "my" any other manner than "meh" — viz.: '.eh hat, meh gloves, meh stick." When sang Handel, he aspirated his runs in • manner of a pup belaboring a pillow, i thus became the model for a generan of vaudeville satirists. 3ispham was thirty or older when he •ided upon singing as a full time job. prospered well and joined The Players i The Bohemians. When his singing ce failed, he turned to public recitans, but Hell wouldn't have that for g and he managed to find total quietus ough the accident of whanging his gulwith his walking stick — a melancholy jation soon followed by another of jal misfortune. — He became the teacher Nelson Eddy. Thomas Chalmers loves to tell of the !;ning when Bispham was accosted in ; billiard Voom of The Players Club J asked what he was doing there. 'Since you must ahsk, I am heah to isult with a fellew-membah abeut the rriting of meh memwahs." 'What'cha gonna call the book, Dave?" 'Meh name is Dey-VID, and the Voile will be entitled, 'Memwahs of a akah Singah.' " 'Aw, come on, Dave, why'n'cha call Quaker Oats' and be done with it?" The baritone turned on his heel and t the club, never to darken its blahsted or agayn. 'AINER: The" Crucifixion. Soloists: chard Crooks and Lawrence Tibbett, D3ted by Frank Croxton, Wilfred enn, The Trinity Choir and Mark An?ws, organist. Victor Album m/dm 64. "A ravishingly beautiful cantata has en accorded superb treatment on rec-is, with the ideal employment of projonigts. The Messrs. Crooks and Tibbett, both long experienced as church singers, bring to this assignment a treasurable poetic integrity that will not be denied — nor improved upon, either, for many a long day. Whatever your own persuasion, buy this album and take into your home the opportunity to create for yourself, at your will, a truly ethereal experience in music." The review just quoted was written eighteen years ago this month and I perceive no need for alteration nor revision at this time, there being occasion only to remark that the records stand as the supreme evidence of both the principal vocalists' contribution to the musical life of their time. British Columbia's announcement of a new "Messiah" caused a splash on this side of the water, resulting in the domestic release of the work. This superbly presented offering replaces the long-honored Beechman set, retired because of irreparable deterioration of the stampers. De. Malcolm Sargent leads the Liverpool Philharmonic, the Huddersfield Choral Society and most distinguished soloists through a performance which qualifies these two volumes (boxed) as an imperative acquisition of every respectable college and public record library, all adult radio stations, and those private parties who strive for comprehensiveness in musico-religious literature. Mountebanks who prefer their oratorio in capsule form are directed to the worthwhile Victor albums of soli sung by Crooks, Anderson, Maynor and Steber. There is no collection of baritone excerpts and no longer a Tibbett to do them. Mack Harrell, I ween, would perform certain things among them with the required authority. Mr. William H. Seltsam, founder and guiding spirit of this meritorious International Record Collectors' Club, is working on the page-proofs of his soon-to-bepublished book. Mr. Seltsam's volume, the fruit of several years' tedious but indefatigable research, will list the complete cast and production details of every performance at the Metropolitan Opera House from the opening night in 1883 through the 1946-47 season. Also included will be well over a hundred costume portrait reproductions. Of permanent value and interest, this publication will deserve the widest buyer response. For details, write to Mr. Seltsam at 318 Reservoir Avenue, Bridgeport 6, Conn. RECENT RELEASES KHATCH ATURIAN : Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. William Kapell, Boston Symphony-Koussevitsky. Victor m/dm 1084. The soundscribes gave themselves a triumphant field clay in cutting the waxes for this set and their achievement is an eloquent one, for here we have a glowingly realistic exposition of' transcription science. Buyers of the piece are cautioned to audition it beforehand at home, to determine that their reproducers are of sufficient stature to transmit, without undue distortion, the extremes of frequency range contained within these grooves. The recording really is superexpansive. The concerto itself is expansive to excess in that it runs a wide gamut of bombast. It is suggestive of some previous tours de force of which Aram Khatchaturian may or may not have heard when he produced his opus eleven years ago. There is, as the end-paper notes bound into the album imply, an admixture of the Oriental and the Occidental; of the romantic and the modern. The rash of publicity following upon the first American performances of the work justly dwelt upon the virtuosity required of the soloist. Mirabile dictu, the press acknowledged a fact instead of creating it, and it is set down definitively in this, the first American recording. Khatchaturian's concerto will appeal most emphatically to those who find their sublimation in sheer, unabashed flamboyance. Others will withhold all-out approval pending the verdict of the cognoscenti, and we opine that they will be held in waiting for quite some time. — o — Toscanini adds a distinguished portrait to his gallery with the first record of the Meistersinger Overture which lets one hear the orchestration in thoroughly clear perspective. The big Adamastor aria from Ajricana gets a jejune workout from Robert Merrill (without chorus) who backs it with Gerard's accusation against Andrea Chenier. Then there's a Heifetz single of Franz Waxman's "Carmen Fantasie" which belongs in company with such other surefire display pieces as SaintSaens' Rondo Capriccioso and the de Sarasate Zigeunerweisen. On Victor No. 10-1277, Robert Shaw's Collegiate Chorale brings distinction to a pair of arranged Spirituals, Set Down, Servant and Soon-a Will Be Done. A very special little item, deserving more sales than would seem likely. "Then You'll Remember Me" from Balfe's opera of The Bohemian Girl has been too long out of currency, but perhaps that's just as well, for now we have it sung in -the true manner of the Victorian "white-gloved tenor" by Christopher Lynch, on Victor record No. 10-1276. For the "B" side, the lad has chosen our old friend, "I Hear You Calling Me," and he phrases it as intelligently as its extremely long lines will allow. The eagerly awaited Giuseppe De Luca album turns out to be considerably short of ideal, consisting, as it does, of eight canzoni of the bel canto centuries only — a recital warm-up group with encores, as it were. Thus we are presented with but one facet of the baritone's great art and are bereft of the modern French songs and of those delightful nothings in English which lend such a piquant aura of enchantment to De Luca's concerts. Perhaps Decca plans future releases by this singer. Let us hope so; and may many of us write to that company (50 West 57th St., N. Y. City) and make our wishes known. In the meantime, here is a set to own and to enjoy — and to handle with extreme Plastic caution. 31 Li