GRAMOPHONES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 564, 17 January 1929, Page 14

GRAMOPHONES

Good light orchestral fare is always welcome. In the January list H.M.V. include a new recording by Ferdy Kauffman’s orchestra, which comes under this description. On one side we have Grossman’s “Czardas,’’ and on the other a typical Johann Strauss waltz, “Voices of Spring.’’ These are two melodious and pleasing numbers in lighter vein which will appeal to a large number of gramophone enthusiasts. The latest from Charles Hackett are “Because” (Hardelot and Teschemacher) and “I Look Into Your Garden” (Wood and Wilmott). Colum- , bia 03597. Here are two numbers calling for that tenderness of feeling and delicacy of treatment that are in themselves a part of Mr. Hackett’S' style. Few tenors delight their audiences so successfully and so completely as does Charles Hackett, and that he has secured such a place in the affections of music-lovers is a tribute alike to his choice of song and to the consummate art with which he sings it. Two very welcome numbers. With the name of Von Suppe we always associate “Poet and Peasant,” “Morning, Noon, and Night,” “Lighc Cavalry,” and other light orchestral pieces that picture orchestras always give us a surfeit of. This month, however, H.M.V. gives us Von Suppe in other form, “The Beautiful Galathea.” Although Suppe’s rather pronounced style is again in evidence at times, the piece has more freshness than usual, perhaps because it is not so often heard as the others. It is a very tuneful number, and has the added virtue of being excellently played by the Berlin State Orchestra. There are many Suppe followers, and to them this latest will make a big appeal. (C 152.7.) Percy Grainger’s “Colonial Song” (a song of Australia), Parts 1 and 2, is sung as a duet, soprano and tenor, by Anita Atwater and Luis Alberto Sanchez. (Columbia 03592.) Grainger’s genius as a composer bids fair to equal his mastership of pianoforte technique, and he has happily turned his talent recently to producing what in later years will form part of Australia’s national music. Both orchestrally and vocally, this performance is very fine. Its success is perhaps partly due to Percy Grainger’s own conducting of the work. 011 the whole, a record of distinct interest.

Although hymns are not as keenly sought after as most classes of music, it is really surprising to note the steady demand for this class of record. In most instances they are recorded by the leading English choirs, and to have specimens of the work done in the big cathedrals is always of great assistance to organists, choirmasters, and all interested in church music. This month the H.M.V. Company release a recording of “O Saviour of the World” (Goss), “O Worship the King," and “Disposer Supreme,” three very fine interpretations by the choir of Canterbury Cathedral, conducted by Dr. C. C.. Palmer. The organist is W. T. Harvey. Splendid tone and balance are features of an excellent recording. (H.M.V. 2543.) Alfred O’Shea who will pay a farewell visit to Auckland next month has recorded “Kathleen Mavourneen”, and “Oft In The Stilly Night.” (Col. 04009.) O’Shea whose visit to this -country some months ago roused considerable enthusiasm, has recorded many beautiful things for Columbia, but none so acceptable as his Irish Ballads. He sings the old favourite “Kathleen Mavourneen” with great charm. This Australian tenor has a really beautiful voice which he uses with great taste. On the reverse side is a pleasing old ballad “Oft In the Stilly Night,” sung, very expressively and with great' sympathy. Two melodious and pleasing numbers, “Hearts and Flowers,” intermezzo (Tobani), and “The Glow Worm,” idyll (Paul Lincke), have been given an attractive setting by the New Light Symphony Orchestra, which is assisted by a chorus and organ. Here are two of the finest examples of modern light music. (Zonophone EF2O.) Musical gruesomeness'is represented in Saint Saens’s “Danse Macabre.” Sir Henry Wood conducting the Ney Queen’s Hall Orchestra. Columbia 04021. This weird symohonic poem is based on a “Death Dance” excerpt from a littleknown poem by Hten r y Cazali, which Saint Samis appended to his score. The composition opens with an appropriate symbol of mysteriousness the striking of midnight. The skeletons begin their bizarre and fantastic revels, represented by the zylophone. Death, represented by a hauntingly lovely violin solo, stalks through the orgy. which moves to a startling crescendo until the crow of the cock is heard, and the turbulent riot fades into the silence. Sir Henry Wood and his fine orchestra play this piece with a relish for its eeriness, entering wholeheartedly into the spirit of the fantasy. Their tone is astonishingly ample and round, for which doubtless the recording in the vast Seals, Theatre, London, is much to he thanked.

It is a pleasure to note the great improvement in the qiaality of carillon and chimes records. The overtones, which threatened "o spoil items of this nature, have been successfully counteracted. A record of the Weymouth and Christchurch chimes has unusually natural tones, and is an ideal one of its type. Here is another triumph for electrical recording. (Zonophone 5119.)