“HIS MASTER’S VOICE.”

Shannon News, 15 October 1929, Page 3

“HIS MASTER’S VOICE.”

“Who’ll Be a Witness?”

When sung by the negro basso, Paul Robeson, the negro spiritual becomes a genuinely moving form of self-expres-sion. He sings with patient honesty and conviction. This month he sings a duet, “Witness,” with Lawrence Brown, a tenor. The fascinating rhythm of this number is not the least of its attractions. ' The voices blend admirably. On the other side Robeson sings “I Got a Home in Hat Kochi. ” It is impossible not to be moved by the simplicity and sincerity of _ the music and the richness of the voice. (H.M.V., 82727.) Chopin “Etudes.”

Willhelm Baekhaus has completed the recording of the second group of Chopin’s etudes, Op. 25. The final record, contains three etudes: Nos* 7,9, and’ 10 (His Master’s Voice). The ninth, in G flat major, popularly known as the ‘'Butterfly,” is justly famous for its daintiness and brilliancy. It is -followed'on the same side of the record by No. 10 in B minor, a powerful dramatic etude, superbly played by the great pianist. On the reverse side is the C sharp minor etude (No. 7), one of the most beautiful of. all Chopin’s, etudes and one of the saddest. Although simply named, an “etude,” it could have easily been included amongst the composer’s preludes, the crashing and almost utter hopelessness of despair being the dominant mood of the music which is remarkably well reproduced. (ILM/V., DB1180). H.M.V. and “Talkies.”

Behind the announcement that “His Master’s Voice” plan to co-operate with British and Dominion Film Corporations in the production of talking and sound films for a period of years, it is possible to detect a highly significant move on the part of this great firm (says the “Daily Mail”) The first subject to be handled by the new combination will be an English revue to be produced by Mr Albert do Courville, the theatrical impresario, Preparations on the part of the Gramophone Company to extend its activities in connection with mechanised entertainment have.been going on quietly for some time. Recently the firm purchased an interest in the Marconiphone Company. British and Dominions Film Corporation is the first British firm to make a full-length all-talking film, “Black Waters,” shown to the trade .last week. Mr Herbert Wilcox and Mr Nelson Keys are associated with the firm which, in its newly arranged: collaboration on talking pictures with the Gramophone Company, will have a call upon all artists and orchestras who record exclusively for “His Master’s Voice.” Thus, world-famous singers, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House Orchestra, the Beilin* Opera and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, the La Scala Orchestra of Milan, and popular entertainers already familiar to everyone through the gramophone, come immediately within the British talking firm field. Mr Herbert Wilcox, production chief of British and Dominions Film Corporation, said in an interview: “This is a fundamental move to take advantage of the splendid opportunity the talking picture situation offers England. With the benefit, of 30 years’ recording experience behind the Gramophone Company, we should be enabled from the outset to produce the world’s best talking pictures. ’ ’ Divine Giannini The famous prayer from Verdi’s “Force of Destiny,” “Mother Compassionate Virgin,” is brilliantly sung by Dusolina Giannini. It is endowed with a vitality and subtlety of colour which one has come to recognise as characteristic of the art of this magnificent soprano. The prayer is an appeal uttered by the distraught Leonora in the second act, when she seeks refuge in the. monastery on the rocky heights above the Spanish village. The prayer is invested with the utmost tenderness and poignancy of emotion, and the clear and impassioned singing is acompanied by the chanting of the monks within the convent. No singing could be more beautiful, and more appealing than this. It is little wonder that Verbruggen called the soprano the “divine Giannini.” (H.M.V., DB 1217)