GRAMOPHONE NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 19788, 11 February 1928, Page 17

GRAMOPHONE NOTES

[By Erato,] THE EARLY BEETHOVEN. ‘ Symphony No, 1 in 0 Major (Beethoven)—Sir George Henschel conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Col. L 1,889-1,892. Beethoven’s ‘ First Symphony ’ was probably written late in 1799. At any rate it was first performed in Vienna in April, 1800, when its composer was thirty years old, and was hailed with warmer approval than much of his later work. This ready acceptance is explained by the style. By this time the Viennese public had become steeped in the traditions of Mozart and Haydn, and the early Beethoven reflected much of their influence. In® musical content, too, is strongly reminiscent of these two great composers, the merry and high-spirited finale in particular being pure Haydn. Later Beethoven was to hnd that the struggle for self-expression required him to cast aside the accepted traditions and to develop his own structural form, just as Shakespeare jettisoned the rhymed couplet in favor of the more flexible blank verse; but at present Beethoven was satisfied to move along the lines laid down by Mozart and Haydn, In spirit the whole symphony is happy, and reflects more than anything else a young musician’s sense of beauty- It begins with a brief adagio, reflective and calm, but none the less cheerful, and this quickly changes into a joyous allegro. It is interesting to note that this first movement does not start in the key of C, for which Beethoven was censured. The second movement is an andante cantabiie of lyrical charm, a song-Jiko rhapsody of jov as spontaneous as the notes of a nightingale. There follows a short Mennetto, brisk and merry, which is not the eighteenth century dance of that name beloved of Mozart, but a scherzo originated by Beethoven, who in all later symphonies definitely styled such a movement as a scherzo. The finale, lor which some sketches were found among the exercises lie wrote in his student days, live years earlier, is a typical picture of Beethoven’s abandonment to the joy of living. A THRILLING RECORD.

(1) ‘ Rule Britannia ’ (2) ‘ Land of Hope and Glory ’ —Dame Clara Butt (contralto). Col. 09,501. This is certainly one of the _ most inspiring record that has been issued for some time. Only the now electric process could have made possible the pel feet recording of Clara Butt’s voice and the singing of the vast crowd m the open air. Made in Hyde Bark, London, during the Empire Day celebrations last year, it _ captures most impressively the patriotic fervor behind the singing. Dame Clara Butt is m magnificent voice. Though her phrasing is a trifle short, her tone is strikingly pure and ample, and it is easy to see how she dominated that vast assembly. It is most appropriate, too, that she should have been chosen to lead this singing, for no one could be more representative of Britain than one who lor so long lias dominated the English concert stage with hci glorious voice and striking personality. No one can fail to be impressed ana stirred by this magnificent record. THE VENUSBERG MUSIC. ‘ Tannhanscr ’ - ‘Venusbcrg Music' (Bacchanale) (Wagner). ,J 5 '; uno Walter conducting the Royal Bhiltmrmonic Orchestra. Co). 04,1)16-17. The Venusberg music stands the acknowledged pons asinorum of Wagner’s music. Enjoy this and you can enjoy everything that Wagner ever wrote. Well, thanks considerably to Bruno Walter’s masterly handling of Ins orchestra, we can enjoy it. Jdow deftly he controls his strings, and what a volume of “ordered disorder ” he gets out of his brass! _ No wonder ho stands to-doy almost without au equal as a. conductor of Wagner. The Venusberg music we hear on this record is. a great advance on the fragments of it that we hear in the ‘ Tannerhauser Overture.’ Ro-modclkd twenty years later, it is altogether more profound, rounder in tone, more massive, and manages at the same time to be wilder and yet more orderly. It opens with the strains ot a sinister and voluptuous dance, representing the magic spells of Venusberg, the music of unlawful desire., I Ins music attracts the knightly Tannin,user. who sings his own impassioned love song louder than the rest, forcing them to take' heed of his presence. The mad riot gathers round him; the magic spell overpowers him; delicious and delirious odors, thoughts, longings, sweep over him and close him m. Ho is caught in the spell of unholy 1, >. To Ins intoxicated vision there now appears the recumbent figure of Venus herself, singing with the enticing melodiousness of the sirens. Mad ■with passion, he permits wild Bacchantes to draw him into her presence, and sings his love song wildly into her ears. Now he seems irretrievably lost, Venus carries him down in her arms into her own enchanted kingdom, and the wild riot fades in a plaintive whistling. The music is terribly and awfully graphic.. Knowing the story, one can follow it step by step, picture the drunken orgies, the unholy beauty of the scene. A GREAT VIOLINIST.

(1) ‘Romance’ (Wicniawski), (2) ‘Legende Naive’ (Jongen), violin solos bv Yovanovitoh Bratza. Col. 0-1018 For a youth of his age—lie is only twenty-three—Brat/.a occupies _an extraordinarily high place among violinists, being already proclaimed by more 'ban one famous critic ns “third greatest among living violinists.” His work is packed with interest, and at every point of technique or style, whether one considers his mellow singing lone, his astonishing dexterity, the snroncss of his phrasing, or the judicious understanding with which lie “builds” the tune that he is playing, one can recognise the master. Too often has the “ infant prodigy ” been immatnrely proclaimed in music, but there seems little doubt that Bratza is destined to li'l an important niche among virtuosi. His deftness of phrasing is to be especially remarked in Ids playing of . o lovely ‘ Romance ’ of Wicniawski, but Jougen’s ‘ Legcndo Naive ’ is musically far more interesting. The work of a modern Belgian composer, it combines the virtues of both the modern Flemish and French schools with an entirely individual charm.

' THE J. H. SQUIRE CELESTE OCTET. ‘Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 1’ (Liszt), played by the J. H. Squire Celeste Octet. Col. 02520. Liszt—and therefore full of vivid and immediate interest, The J .H. Squire Celeste Octei—and therefore pleasingly played with a strong feeli. ; for the underlying harmonies and a. determination not to worry the listener by over-intellectualising what is not an intellectual piece. That is how one would sum ijp this record from the label, and the playing of it confirms these impressions. Always clean and sweet, the Celeste Octet has a simple directness of style that makes it easily the most popular organisation of the sort that is playing to-day, and it is a remarkable tribute to its ability that its recent tour of Italy .should have been so successful. Much of the success of this record is duo to the skilful arrangement of Liszt's half-stately, half-exhila-rating rhapsody, to suit the players—no mean achievement, in itself. Sonic may recognise this tune as the Hungarian Fantasifn As a matter of fact, the old Abbe was so much in love -vifch it that he recast it as a rhapsody when bp found the latter form more suited to bis style.