RECORDED MUSIC

Evening Star, Issue 19800, 25 February 1928, Page 17

RECORDED MUSIC

[By Erato.] DUNEDIN GRAMOPHONE SOCIETY. The Dunedin Gramophone Society will hold its first meeting and recital for the year on Monday, March 5. Recent issues from the various recording companies will be dealt with, and a thoroughly enjoyable evening should result. It is to be hoped that all gramophone enthusiasts will rally round the society during the coming year and assure the organisation of their undivided support. OLD RECORDINGS. Do not subscribe to the policy that nothing is worth purchasing unless electrically recorded. There are many gems of music, acoustically recorded which have not been done better under the newer process. It is an established fact that many classes of items are not so satisfactorily recorded electrically as they were under the acoustic method, and we have it on good authority that well-known recording companies are reverting to the older methods for certain classes of music. You have no doubt noticed yourself that many of the older recordings are better than Hiose made recently uuder the newer process. Unquestionably electrical recording has made for better renditions in many directions, but it is wise not to assume that it has been successful in every direction. Volume of sound is not necessarily music. COMING—A GRAND OPERA SENSATION, Following its ‘ Pagliacci ’ achievement, Columbia announces another grand opera production that promises to be an even greater undertaking. This time it aims higher still, and is giving us a complete recording, for the first time, of the greatest opera venture of modern times—the Bayreuth Wagner festival. At Bayreuth Wagner is played regardless of cost. Cast, orchestra, and production are the finest the world can produce, and if recording is up to the usual Columbia standard these could hardly fail to bo the most remarkable records yet produced. Siegfried Wagner, son of the famous composer, conducts the festival orchestra for some of the records, of which there are eleven, and his associates are Dr Karl Muck and Franz Von Hoesslin. This is a venture to which one looks forward with keenest interest. A REMARKABLE NEW TENOR. (1) ‘La Tosca ’ —E lucevan le stelle (Puccini); (2) ‘ Manon ’ —dream song (Massenet). Sung by Theodore Ritch (tenor). Col. 03515. —Columbia is fortunate in having secured the services of a remarkable tenor, Theodore Ritch, whether Mr, Monsieur, Herr, or Signor I cannot make out. On this record he sings both French and Italian with equally good accent, and, though his methods and the dark vowel quality suggest an Italian training, that is nothing to go by these days. Anyway, he is a distinctly good tenor, who records better than the average. Ho sings the famous Puccini aria ‘ E Lucevan lo Stelle ’ in manly, straightforward style, and show’s a wonderful command of his voice in the upper register. Ho is not quite so good in the Massenet ‘ Dream Song,’ the first half of which shows a slight tendency to flatness. However, I hope we will hear more of him soon—and perhaps in English. SQUIRE’S “SINGING” TONE. (1) ‘La Provencals ’ (Mari-Marias); (2) ‘Sleepy Song’ (Jean Jean). ’Cello solos by W. H. Squire. Col. 03514. ’Cellists come and go, but Squire, like the poor, is alwavs with us, and it is good to turn not infrequently from the acrobatic fireworks of some of the otjiers to the sound technique, the confident phrasing, and the round mellow tone of such a past master. Squire makes his instrument “sing” with an almost human tone, and the purity_ of his tone is admirably suited by the simplicity of his themes. These two are quite in the famous Squire vein; two charming fragments that set out to please and not to make one think too deeply. Jean Jean’s delicious ‘ Sleepy Song ’ is one of the most charming airs that one could wish to hear. •“MONTY” COMES BACK. ‘ The Meandcrings of Monty ’: No. 14, ‘How America, Was Discovered’; No. 15, ‘ How America Was Found Out.’ Humorous monologues by Milton Hayes. Col. 0828. —Many ,of us have been wondering when the irrepressible Monty was coming back to tno gramophone. Columbia tells me that since his last record it has received scores and scores of letters asking for a new “ Monty.” Now Milton Hayes has recorded his priceless nonsense again, and show's that he is in better form than ever. His jolly quips will be all over the town in a few days; but, even so, they are not the same unless they are delivered in the famous “Monty” manner.

THE RECORDING OF ENSEMBLES. (1) ‘ Aida ’ —Concerted Finale, Act 2 (Verdi); (2) ‘La Traviata.’—Concerted Finale, Act 3 (Verdi). Sung by Eva Turner and La Scala Chorus. Col. 03512.—The new electric process of recording has rendered possible many types of reproduction that were once beyond tho scope of the gramophone. One of those is chorus and ensemble singing. Many of ns remember how often we regretted that thrilling operatic choruses could never bo intelligibly recorded. That regret is now of the past, for who could want better records than those of.the La Scala Chorus recently issued? This record is dominated by the glorious soprano of Eva Turner, an English singer who has scored the most remarkable triumphs in Italy. Her voice is peculiarly interesting in color and tone. It seems to have some inherent quality, such as that which we call “presence” in a person. One feels, even in her simplest moments, that she could deal with any situation and overcome any technical difficulties. In the name part of ‘ Aida ’ she is distracted at tho prospect of losing her lover, Radames, and bandies the pare nobly. This extract is notable for the conclusion of the act. a stirring chorus, ‘Glory to Egypt.’ On tho reverse side Signora Turner takes the part of Violetta in ‘La Traviata,’ and the record gives us the scene where the fainting Violetta declares her undying love for Alfred, whom her father has forbidden her to marry. The great artist is clearly revealed in those faltering and weak accents. A GREAT AUSTRALIAN TENOR. (1) ‘Parted’ (Tosti); (2) ‘I Hear You Calling Me.’ Sung by Alfred O’Shea, Tenor. Col. 04024.—Just as operatic singing is tbe_ severest test_ of tho trained voice, so is ballad singing the severest test of an artistic voice, and in these two lovely songs Alfred O’Shea definitely proves that he has something more than a perfectly trained voice. He is an artist, and one of the very few (one can count the others on t]ie lingers of one band) who can transform a song into a work of art. The secret, of course, is sincerity. Notice how sympathetically and expressively he sings Tosti’s melodious _ song ‘Parted,’ and the fine restraint in the other old favorite, ‘ I Hear You Calling Me.’ _ There is nothing “ clever ” in this singing. It is just beautiful in a simple and natural way. PARLOPHONE RECORDINGS. Miss Anna Linde, playing' that very old-fashioned instrument, the harpsichord, presents a unique and beautfiul series of records. This instrument is practically unknown in modern times, but several famous composers of yore were clever harpsichordists. Handel secretly studied ' the instrument when he was supposed Jo 1)6 learning law, and

composed several solos. The harpsichord differs notably from the piano. In the latter instrument the strings are hit by a key; in the former they arc plucked by a pointed qtiill called a jack, and there are no artificial devices for sustaining the tone. Often the harpsichord had two manuals, each with its distinctive tonal quality, this being operated on by damping and coupling pedals so that the range of tone possible is really greater than in the case of the piano. A list of the records available is only small. The first, ‘Passacaglia ’ (Handel), an old dance, in which the ground bass -is the characteristic feature, coupled with ‘Le Coucou’ (Daquin) and ‘La Tambourin ’• (Rameau). The second, ‘ Gigge ’ is a rollicking number composed by a sturdy Elizabethan composer, John Bull (to whom the National Anthem has been doubtfully attributed); ‘Hornpipe/ a jolly tune by Purcell, and Scarlatti’s delicious ‘"Pastorale/ the latter being a happy contrast to the other two. There has been released a further series where the harpsichord played by Miss Linde collaborates with the viola da gamba, played by Paul Grummer. The viola da gamba was a predecessor of the ’cello, possessing a similar compass, and fitted with a system of sympathetic strings. It will be noticed that all the music recorded by the harpsichord and the viola da gamba is of composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Madame Emmy Bettendorf is a soprano of world-wide fame. The critics and Press are as one in their praise of the warm timbre and marvellous quality of this wonderful voice. Tho recordings of Madame Bettendorf are considered by even the most searching critics to he amongst the finest of tho world gramophone literature. _ One of the best known of English critics says: “ She sings like an angel for steel or fibre.” She has recorded many solos, such well-known favorites ns Handel’s ‘Largo,’ Schubert’s ‘ Ave Maria,’ Tosti’s ‘ Melodie ’ (‘La Serenade’), Puccini’s ‘ Vissi d’Arte ’ (‘I Have Lived for Music and Love, Tosca’), and ‘Si Mi Chiamano Mimi’ (‘I Am Called Mimi’), ‘La Boheme,’ Wagner’s ‘ Sentas Ballade ’ (from ‘ The Flying Dutchman’), Schubert’s ‘Who Is Sylvia?’ Massenet’s ‘ Elegio ’; but she especially shines in Wagnerian ducts, singing with the famous baritone, Warner Engel, in excerpts from ‘The Flying Dutchman,’ and with the equally famous tenor, Lauritz Melchoir, in excerpts from ‘ Lohengrin.’ Madame Bettendorf also features as “Eva” in several quartets and quintets from ‘Die Meistersingers,’ but probably the greatest record she has yet produced is the ‘ Easter Hymn ’ from ‘ Cavalleria _ Rusticana ’ (Mascagni), where she is accompanied by a full chorus of eighty trained voices, grand organ, and the orchestra of seventy, members of the State Opera House. Berlin, conducted by Eduard Moerike.