THE GRAMOPHONE

Southland Times, Issue 21095, 29 May 1930, Page 5

THE GRAMOPHONE

RECORDS OF THE RECORDINGS. r ,

(By

Vox Populi.)

With “Ch’ella mi creda,” from “The girl of the Golden West,” and the firct act aria .from “Andrea Chenier,” Armand Tokatyan of the Metropolitan Opera makes his first appearance in record lists (Victor) (says an American reviewer). As a type of debut it is promising, but the sooner Tokatyan learns to forget the three rear rows of the family circle when he is before the microphone the better progress he will make in what is only related field. Of previous ' “Ch’ella mi creda’’ recordings there are many under all labels, but it is time that Edward Johnson replaced the pre-electrical disc which is still at the top of them all.

• A Small Orchestra. , For the innocent-looking Columbia record entitled “Preludio a Cristobal Colon” it is claimed that it is a “pioneer novelty.” (states New York critic). To a certain’ extent this is true in that the number is the first recording of the Thirteenth Sound ensemble of Havana, a- small orchestra founded and directed by ‘ Angel Reyes, for which, so far, the originator of the system and Julian Carillo, represented by this number, are the only composers. The Thirteenth Sound deals with quarter, eighth and sixteenth tones, and for this purpose the group is armed with special instruments. Among these figure the harpzithera, which is tuned in sixteenth tones and hence requires ninety-seven strings per octave.; the octavino, a three-stringed bass, which is plucked to provide the foundations and a ’cello, the three strings of which are tuned in octaves. The pieces in Reyes’s brass section are provided with six instead of three valves in order to find eighth tones. In the literature dealing with this issue one is struck by the attitude of apology, which is quite unnecessary. We arc warned that this music can have no appeal for the average layman, to whom it will convey the .suggestion of an orchestra played out of tune. On the other hand, we arc assured, it has a definite historic interest to musicians and music students. These appear to be overstatements. Musicians must be fully aware of what is possible- by the further fractionalizing of tones and should have little difficulty in identifying the system without being put on their guard. Upon the average layman, however, the “Preludio” is bound to evoke a very clear-cut impression. He will even be slightly amazed at the variety of colour which goes to make the very definite form of this apparently elusive stuff.

Without resort to octav.inos or harp-zith-eras, Debussy, Dukas, Strauss, Stravinsky, et al. have achieved what might be termed “thirteenth-sound” moments, and it would appear that the immediate use of these novel instruments lies in adding them to the present symphony for the purpose of simplifying the business of catching subtler nuances. To stand on its own legs the Reyes innovation must await the growth of a composer raised in its own traditions. That “the orchestra also includes a soprano who sings in quarter tones, but the voice is used merely as an instrument in the orchestra and does not sing any words,” speaks eloquently for itself. One point of difference between the ideal soprano and a flute is that the former can occasionally become articulate.

A monument was unveiled last Autumn in Karlsruhe to Richard Wagner near a house facing the market place. Here Wagner spent November, 1863. Siegfried Wagner’s wife and the oldest grandchild of the master were present at the exercises. The Karlsruhe Chapter of the Baireuth League of German Youth was instrumental in arranging for this monument.

An exposition of the entire phonograph industry is scheduled during the last week of August in Berlin.

Von Hosslin is to direct a new opera, “The Woman Judge,” by Grabner.

Two works new to English audiences were performed in London a fortnight ago at the final concert of the Courtauld-Sargent series They were Arthur Bliss’s “Serenade” for orchestra and baritone solo, and Szymanowski’s violin concerto.

■ “Szymanowski’s music,” says The Ixmdon Telegraph, “has always its special kind of allurement, and in this work he takes one at the very outset into a romantic dream-world of his own. The tonalitj’ is vague .enough for long stretches, but the form is\lovely, the scoring rich and lovely. “Here is a composer who has assimilated 'the technique of all the schools, frankly, indebted to Stravinsky’s ‘L’Oiseau de Feu’ in more than one passage, yet content to express himself —when the mood seizes him —in a chromaticism that owes as much to Chopin as to Wagner of "Tristan.’’ The concerto is in one movement, the solo part bristling with difficulties; but. as t]ie soloist of the occasion was Yelly d’Aranyi, these seemed to vanish, and that brilliant cadenza of Paul Kochanski was a triumph of sheer execution.

“It is an odd reflection that the (harmonically) more subtle composition of Szymanowski should be more easy of comprehension on a first hearing than the precise, emphatic, non-sensuous ‘Serenade.’ Nothing could be clearer than the design of the ‘Serenade,’ and as contemporary music goes,

nothing easier of analysis—on paper. Actually, however, the sound suggested a deeper meaning than the text conveyed. “The swashbuckling serenader of the Overture (‘The Gallant’) seemed to have very serious moments; Edmund Spenser’s sonnet, ‘Fair is my love,’ took on a recondite character one never expected from reading it; the Idyl was by no means lighthearted; and only the finale in which the serenader' praises his Daphnis had the buoyancy which is pure Bliss. “A second or third hearing may correct these first impressions of’ a work which, interpretation apart, is intensely individual and arresting. “Each of the neAv works was well received. In the Delius a picked choir from the Royal Choral Society did well. Dr Malcolm Sargent was in command throughout.