Records Under Review

NZ Truth, Issue 1173, 24 May 1928, Page 2

Records Under Review

String Quartet QUARTET IN C MAJOR Op. 59, No. 3." (Beethoven). Played by the Lener String Quartet. Columbia LIB6O-63. The series of Beethoven quartets recorded by the Lener Quartet for the Columbia Beethoven Centennial Records are clearly the finest or their sort which have yet been given us. As to which the private owner will buy, that is a matter of individual preference. In all of them the Lener Quartet exhibits the • same perfect ensemble, the same truly artistic reading and the same mellow tone. Much may be said for the C Major Quartet, which is the most popular. Certainly the lovely Andante con moto is the most familiar extract of all from his quartets.

Choral Records DOYAL Opera House Chorus and Or- **■ chestra, conducted by Signor V. Bellezza, m Bizet's "Carmen," Opening Chorus, Cigarette Chorus, Smugglers' Chorus, March and Chorus (H.M.V. C 1422). At the termination of the Covent Garden season, His Master's Voice determined to try a very interesting experiment, and on the Saturday afternoon following the final performance of "Carmen" Covent Garden was organized as a studio and the chorus, orchestra, and conductor (M. Bellezza), who had performed m "Carmen" on the previous night m the Opera House, were engaged. The results are an interesting set of "Carmen" records that have the very atmosphere of the Opera House.