COLUMBIA RELEASES.

Shannon News, 10 December 1929, Page 2

COLUMBIA RELEASES.

Two Brilliant Woodwind Duets. Within three years Sir Dan Godfrey has turned the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra from a municipal band into an orchestra of international repute. No small measure of success he owes to the brothers Gennin, Pierre and Jean, his woodwind experts. Now the brilliant Jean has composed two more of this airy little fragments for our delectation, and whimsical and appealing little pieces they are, too. The first, “The Merry Brothers,” is a duet for two piccolos, a prancing high- spirited affair. “Echoes of the Valley” with great realism uses a flute and an echo-flute, and the effect is singularly rich and sweet. Sir Dan Godfrey supports the duettists with his orchestra. (Columbia 02930).

A “King’s Thanksgiving” Record. St. George’s Chapel, attached to Windsor Castle, is always a Mecca of lovers of good singing, for the Choir is among the most famous in the world. This month Sir Waif ord Davies leads them in a fine record of the music sung on the occasion of the * f.

/King’s Thanksgiving. First comes the National Anthem, and surely it has. never been sung with such, fire and beauty. On the same side follows a “Psalm of Thanksgiving,” one of the productions of Sir Walford in his capacity of Master of the King’js Mustek—a sort of Musical Poet Laureate. The reverse side is taken up with an Elgar piece—“Coronation Offertorium”—one of the gems from this great composer’s pen. The singing throughout is sheerly lovely, and makes a capital record. (Columbia 02936). Weber’s “Oberon” Overture,

William Mengelberg and the Amsterdam Orchestra gives an entrancing sympathetic reading of Weber’s famous masterpiece, the “Oberon Overture, in this month’s Columbia lists. The playing carries us from the first note into fairy realms. Exquisite tonal colourings, and instrumental effects of the utmost ingenuity, make this recording one of the most delicate and fanciful yet released. Particularly rich in suggestion are the light movements of the fairies on the clarinets and Oberon’s theme on the horn. Meugelberg has enriched the gramophone’s repertoire with a work that for ethereal beauty will remain long unsurpassed. On the fourth side of these two records wc are given the Slavonic Dance in G Minor, by Dvorak, splendidly played by Sir Henry Wood and the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra (Columbia 04347-48). Grand English.

Few arias from grand opera are more popular than the “Barcarolle” from Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffj man,” and “Give Me Your Darling i Hands,” from Puccini’s “Madame ! Butterfly. ’ ’ An- English version is high- ; ly welcome, especially sung with such [ brilliance and sympathy as Isobel Baillie, Nellie Walker, and Francis Russell bring to them. Bella Baillie is the find of the Covent Garden year. This soprano has an exquisite legato, and lias a warm, vital quality very reminiscent of Melba at her best. Particularly fine, too, is Francis Russell, who scored a big success this year. He shares the Puccini duet with Bella Baillie, and | shows a manly, unaffected style that i dodges all the serious faults of the j Italian school. Records like this, cap- | itally sung and capitally accompanied, should be in every collector’s possession. (Columbia 02935).