GRAMOPHONES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 658, 9 May 1929, Page 14

GRAMOPHONES

Clara Butt sings “The Fold” and "Were You There?” (Negro spiritual). Columbia 09006. Dam Clara Butt still holds sway as Queen of Song over a vast public, and her latest record, well up to her usual: standard, will be sure of an instantaneous success. Her rather daring venture in tackling a negro spiritual is fully justified by results, and is sung with deep but unrestrained emotion. “The Fold”

was composed by another famous Columbia artist, W. H. Squire, and is richly melodic. Both are obviously sung by one of the supreme artists of the day and one feels, as ever, that any song becomes enriched if it is chosen as a vehicle for Clara Butt’s glorious contralto.

New Scottish records are “Hame Is Where Ye Are” and “A Northern Lament.” sung by Elder Cunningham. bass-baritone. (Columbia 01357.) A really fine vocal record by a sing r with a great name in his native Scotland. In spite of the very Scottish pronunciation, the more English of our readers can take heart from the fact that every word is distinct and understandable. Cunningham has a really manly voice, which makes his tenderness all the more poignant. Lament for Donald Ban MacCrimmou. Pibroch solo by Pipe-Major John Macdonald of Inverness. (Columbia 0139:2.) Very definitely for Scots readers only! The bagpipes have a charm all of their own and take a bit of getting used to. Doubtless Pipe-Major Macdonald plays very well. but an Anglo-Saxon listener is hardly qualified to judge. However, 1 do know that a Highlander who listened to this record was moved almost to tears. Let that speak for itself.

Mme. Maria Olczewska. the great operatic contralto, has an unusually fine voice, and, coupled with it. a keen mentality that makes everything- she sings "alive” in the most wonderful manner. Her rendering of the “Habanera,” from “Carmen,” and of the “Spring Song,” from “Sam son and Delilah." was recently recorded for H.M.V. The record of the “Habanera” (with accompaniment by the Berlin State Opera Orchestra) is unusually complete, inasmuch as the whole scene from the entrance of Carmen is given, including the chorus parts. (H.M.V. No. D 1356.)

SEA CHANTEYS i _ _ ? | BRIGHT MUSIC FOR I JADED PALATES ! i H.M.V. RECORDINGS All musicians, whether highbrow or lowbrow, will appreciate the latest sea chanteys sung by baritone John Goss and his merry men, the Cathedral Male Voice Quartet, which are released by H.M.V. this month. These comprise two sides of a plum label record, 8.2531, and are redolent of the salt spray and the sea wind. They are songs such as were sung by the sea-bitten salts—men beloved of Kipling, the sort that took the Bolivar out across the Bay, and all that sort of thing. Some might think that they are not artistic, some will even express the opinion that they are a little vulgar, but what would you expect? However, they are exceptionally well sung, and the freshness of them comes like wine to a jaded palate.

Memories of Pavlova and Genee are recalled with Saint-Saens’ “Swan,” played by that very fine organist, Marcel Dupre, on the Queen’s Hall organ. This is a charming version he gives us of this familiar, but everfragrant melody. “Prelude in E Flat,” by the same composer, is played on the reverse side, and is a worthy companion. (E 518.) A delicate little offering is the Nursery Rhymes by a quartet consisting of Masters E. Lough and R. Mallett and Messrs. Capel Dixon and Frank Hastwell. • They are “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,” and "Bless You, Bonnie Bee,” both by Walford Davies. They are songs of delicate nuances, excellently sung and showing off to fine effect the exquisite delicacy of Lough's voice. (82770.) Although now more than 80 years old, “Martha” is still popular music. The Berlin State Opera Orchestra plays the overture of Flowtow’s melodious opera with a brightness and freshness that one finds very pleasing. In the overture is included a fragment of the old Irish melody, "The Last Rose of Summer,” and it is very effectively used. The opera, although not very important, is most tuneful, and this no doubt accounts for its long popularity. . . . For light music 80 years is indeed very long. (C 1506.) Beatrice Harrison, that fine English ’cellist, has again been spending her nights enticing blackbirds to sing in English gardens. The result was very pleasing. This time Miss Harrison plays Dvorak’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me.” The birds are also heard against a background of distant pealing bells, a most artistic effect. (82853).

“Suite Gothique” (Boellmann). Francis W. Sutton. (Columbia 01375-79). 79). This is a rich and varied composition that strikingly illustrates the strength and beauty of the modern French school of composers. It has dignity. It has tenderness. It has austerity and it has richness. The soaring glories of the Choral, the deep sincerity of the Prayer to Our Lady, are varied aspects of a work that will have the widest possible appeal wherever good music is appreciated. The playing throughout is suave and meticulous. Sutton does not lavish his emotions but paints true pictures in sober tones, and lets the music speak for itself. Recording is superb.

A special musical synchronisation, songs and sound effects, will be heard in the sound picture version of Richard Dix’s all-colour production for Paramount entitled “Redskin.”