GRAMOPHONES

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1032, 24 July 1930, Page 16

GRAMOPHONES

The famous Bach authority. Dr. Albert Schweitzer, gives a thoughtful and restrained interpretation of two of Bach’s choral preludes—“My Heart is Longing” and “When in Deepest Need.” They are played on the great Queen’s Hall organ and the recording is very realistic in tone. Schweitzer is not only an eminent musical scholar, but he is also one of the world’s finest organists. His playing is not only artistic, but it has authority, for no one is more entitled than he is to reveal to us the beauties of Bach. This is indeed a rare record. (H.M.V., C 1543.)

“Voyage in a Troopship” is a newrecord by the Band of H.M. Grenadier Guards, with vocal quartet. (Col. DOX7.) This new Grenadiers’ disc is an ingenious combination of the “medley” and “descriptive” styles of records. Such songs as “Then Fare Thee Well” suggest the troopship at the wharf; “Bay of Biscay” and “Rule Britannia” take us out to sea—and the singing cleverly conveys by its rhythm that the sea is not too calm; a beautifully sung prayer tells us of the end of the storm, and a cheery hornpipe puts us in mind of “Saturday night in the fo’c’sle,” after which an expressive Finale suggests that the troopship has reached her destination. Playing and singing alike are first-rate.

One of the best English tenors of the present day is Walter Widdop, and for his latest record he has gone off the beaten track and has given Gounod’s aria, “Lend Me Your Aid,” from his little known opera, “The Queen of Sheba.” The opera has dropped out of the regular repertoires but the aria is one of Gounod’s real inspirations. It is sung here with as near an approach to perfection as it is likely to find. One characteristic of Widdop’s is not only the richness and power of his voice, but the clarity of his diction. Few of his words are inaudible, and these only because in certain passages the orchestra is approaching a crescendo. In comparison with the slovenly diction of some tenors, it can be described as a brilliant performance. Few better records have appeared In many months, and it ranks with the singer’s great interpretation of Handel’s “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted.” (H.M.V., D„ 1742.)

The tour of the Don Cossacks’ Choir round the world was something like a devastating wind among the schools of choral singing. With their hitherto undreamt-of ideas of unison and of dynamic, they suddenly made many a famous choir wake up to their antediluvianism. And the Cossacks’ work showed how a sense of drama could still be reconciled with clean, honest chorus work. Doubtless their favourite disc in the popular ear is tha,t of the “Volga Boat Song.” The gripping simplicity of the tune never fails to stir, and the Cossacks make the most of its unequalled chance of crescendo and decrescendo. Paired with this is that masterpiece of dramatic writing, solo work and bouche fermde background, “Monotonously Rings the Little Bell.” (Columbia 9085.) Next to this, their most stirring record is the “Signal March of the Cavalry ” The military rhythm, the heartening tune, and the fine manliness of the singing combine to make it an outstanding example of chorus work. Its pairing is “The Imprisoned Cossacks.” (Columbia 9154.) “Platoff’s Song” is an excursion into realism, and tells the story of the cruel Platoff with gruesomely vivid yelping of hounds. In wonderful contrast is the peaceful Eastei hymn, “We Praise Thee, O Lord,” by ’Tchaikowsky. (Columbia 9186.) • * ft “The Rio Grande” (Constant Lambert), by the Halle Orchestra, conducted by the composer, with Sir Hamilton Harty at the piano (Colum bia LOX 1-2), Is a very interesting record. English music papers, and indeed the Press in general, have been full of a great work by a young Eng lish composer, Constant Lambert. The work is scored for orchestra, solo pianoforte, and chorus, and the performers are the Halle Orchestra, Sir Hamilton Harty as pianist, and the St. Michael’s Singers, conducted by the composer. It is gerierally admitted to be a colossal conception of the fine poem by Sacherevell Sitwell. The music is sentimental in the truest sense of the word, fabulously rich in tone colour, exciting in its syncopated rhythms, ingeniously bold in its method of scoring. Fifteen varieties of percussion in the hands of five executants, eight brass players, and strings, beside the solo pianoforte, are employed, apart from the choral section, which forms an integral part of the music itself—filling in the atmos pheric background of the colossal canvas. Like the poem, the music represents the teeming life and many races of a great tropical port. Sir Hamilton Harty is amazingly enthusiastic as the pianist. His long passage in part 11. is distinguished for the wonderful runs up and down in “atonality,” and by the “roll” in the bass and the melody in the treble, which is later followed by the orchestra tearing in. In sheer splendour this work will fascinate every class of musiclover.

Few organists throughout the world are more honoured -than Edouard Commette, of Lyons Cathedral, doyen of religious musicians, and one of the few great organists in the world today. We owe much to the gramophone, and our debt has lately been increased by the beautiful brgan reproductions now available. Two years ago a Commette record would have been a farce. Now it is a living reality. As he harks back in style to the masters of the Middle Ages, -so does he also in composition. His latest record is an Allegretto, occupying both sides of a 12in. disc, and shows the lofty massing of phrase on phrase and a profound understanding of the part that resonance plays in organ music. (Columbia, 02859.) John Henry, assisted by Gladys Horridge, gives a new comedy chat, entitled “An Old Flame,” and it Is packed with hearty laughter. The record reveals the delightfully droll Henry in a telephonic interruption of a mild love scene. The dialogue is very clever and the comedian’s voice, which first became famous over the radio in England, Is funny in itself. Henry Is a comedian with a style eminently suited to the gramophone. (H.M.V., 83278.)

Willem Mengelberg is a wizard With his wand he can bring music from his Concertgebouw Orchestra that is almost magical in its combination of unified precision and interpretative feeling. This recording of Wagner’s “Tannhauser” Overture is splendid work for this world-famous Dutch orchestra. Gramophone lovers will be pleased to see that Columbia are continuing their policy of great music for a greater public. This brilliant recording is among a host of other “celebrity” works recently released on dark-blue labels. This means, of course, that the finest music is now obtainable at the price of jazz records. To all those in search of a really adequate recording of “Tannhauser” this version of Wagner’s most popular overture Is warmly commended. (Columbia, 02945.)

The Happiness Boys (Billy Jones and Ernest Hare) make merry in “Who Cares, Anyhow?” and they are assisted by a capital orchestra. There is real fun in this number, which- includes a most amusing skit on grand opera. On the other side of the record Eddie Cantor, the comedian who has been called the “Idol of Broadway,” gives a monologue entitled “Tips on the Stock Market.” The recent Wall Street crash makes this number typical, and Cantor’s advice if it does not conform with the canons of stockbroking is at least original and extremely humorous. (H.M.V., EA672.)

Bella Baillie—she now calls herself Isobel Baillie—has been the rage of the musical season in London and any one who hears her latest record of the aria, “Hear Ye Israel,” from Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” will readily understand why. Her beautiful voice is the ideal medium with which to express the inspired lines of the aria. To a natural purity and to an inborn sense of the beautiful in vocalißm, she adds a deep understanding of the meaning and majesty of the work,*’ and thrills us no less with her interpretation than with the silvery perfection -of her soprano. The accompaniment reveals a clarity and richness of tone wholly astonishing. (Columbia 01706).

The Virtuoso String Quartet is heard this month in a piece entitled "Serenade,” by Haydn. It is really the charming second movement of the Quartet, Op. 3, No. 5. The playing is full of delicate tone colours with the melodic line always paramount. The blend of tone is exceptionally fine, and of good strength. The second piece is a free and modern treatment of the well-known West Country song, “Widdicombe Fair." The happy atmosphere of an English country fair is beautifully depicted. Again the recording is very clear. (H.M.V., 83137.)

Quite the thrill of the month is the magnificent series of Maori records by the Rotorua Maori Choir, issued for world-wide distribution by Columbia. All these records—there are 12 of them—were specially recorded at Ohinemutu, Rotorua, and New Zealand may well be proud of them as ambassadors of her native art to other countries. Utmost care has very obviously been taken to give superlative renderings of the most famous Maori tunes and songs, and in every instance the records are true to tradition and authentic in style. It needs no skilled ear to pick the missionary origin of many of the tunes, but by skilful harmonising and hy variations in the true Maori form the old music has been transformed into something far removed from the English church. The melodies on the whole are naively direct and simple. But what consummate art in the singing of them! What amazing control! The light and shade are handled with utmost delicacy and feeling and yet with tremendous reserves of power. Their style is in many ways reminiscent of the Don Cossacks, who electrified the world with their superb dyna mic. Among the outstanding discs is one of t wo Maori love songs—“Pokare kare” and “Te Taniwha” (DOS 4); Sir Apirana Ngata’s “E Pare R;a” is paired with a famous war song, “Haere Tonu,” sung as a solo by Rotohiko Hau par a (D 051). The ever-delightful “Hine E Hine” is paired with "Wairangi,” and both are sung by Te Mauri Meihana, soprano (D 062). The two Poi songs will find a lot of favour. They are “Hoea Ra Te Waha” and “Haere Haere Ra E Hine” (DQS3).

Jack Hylton- and his orchestra are well to the fore this month with several excellent dance numbers from musical comedies now running in London. From the golfing musical comedy “Follow Through” they give “Button Up Your Overcoat” and “My Lucky Star” as fox-trots, from “Wake Up and Dream” they have taken two fox-trots, “Let’s Fall in Love” and “The Banjo” (That Old Man Plays), and from “Love Lies” there are two further fox-trots, “House on the Hilltop” and “Dreamy Honolulu.” All three records are marked by clever orchestration and delightful effects. (H.M.V., 85703,85622, and EA679.) * * * From the Hebrides

The Kennedy-Fraser family are now a tradition in the Old Country Each year they give a repertoire of their “Songs of the Hebrides,” and each year they find a larger and more appreciative audience. These lilting melodious tunes are relics of a civilisation that is fast becoming modernised, but apart from their historical associations they have a deep charm as well as a musical value of their own. One or two of their songs have become world-famous, such as the lovely haunting “Eriskay Lullaby.” Music-lovers owe an eternal debt of gratitude to Miss Margaret Kennedy for her interpretations, of which this record, giving “The Bens of Jura,” ‘Heart o’ Fire-Love,” “Deidre’s Farewell to Scotland,” and "An Eris kay Lullaby” (Columbia 05080) is a particularly fine example.

The London Symphony Orchestra, which has lately been responsible for several outstanding productions, has recently issued “Les Preludes,” Liszt’s third symphonic poem. The great composer based his work on a poem by Lamartine, the French poet, whom he had met in Paris. It is a very romantic and inspiring work, enhanced by melodic richness and a very colourful orchestration, whose effects were assimilated by no less an authority than Richard Wagner. “Les Preludes” offers striking contrasts in moods; the idyllic passages are.as soothing to the ear as the majestic climaxes are imposing and overpowering. The character of a beautiful passage with arpeggio accompaniment (beginning of side 3) reminds one of “Liebestraum” No. 3. The conductor, Albert Coates, obtains wonderful response from the strings, which play with a maximum of emotional intensity. The recording is superb in detail and volume, and the poem is presented in complete form on four sides. (H.M.V., D 1616-17.)

Francis Russell has this admirable quality in his art —whatever he may be singing, his only concern is to keep the music strictly within its own borders, so to speak. In that rousing air “Sound An Alarm” from “Judas Maccabaeus,” he sings with youthful energy, concentration and tumultuous enthusiasm; and the answering trumpet calls are electrifying in their realism. The Wagner excerpt, the Prize Song from ‘The Mastersingers,” has often been asked for in an English and electrical version. It is here sung in a manner that will satisfy the most exacting Wagner purist. Altogether a bracket of inspiring per formances, and a recording that sets a very high standard. (Columbia 05082.)

A number of beautiful melodies have been grouped together by Leslie James for a splendid Wurlitzer organ recording. Excerpts from such eternal favourites as “Poet and Peasant" overture (Suppe), “Leibestraume” (Liszt). “Moment Musicale” (Schubert), “Melody in F” (Rubenstein), “Hungarian Rhapsody" (Liszt), “La Paloma” (Yradier), “Minuet” (Boccherini), “Hungarian Dance” (Brahms) and “Blue Danube Waltz” (Strauss) make up this amazing organ “switch,” and James uses a wide range of tone colours with extremely artistic effect. (H.M.V., 83213.)

The melodious happiness which was Mozart shines serenely through every note of the enchanting work, the Quartet in B Flat Minor, which has been recently re-recorded by the Lener Quartet. Particularly beautiful is the first movement, with its first subject like the happy song of a bird. Nevertheless, the peculiar genius of the Lener is more apparent in the Adagio. Save for their playing of the glorious First Ramousoffsky of Boeth oven’s, it is the best example of quartet playing they have given us. Architectonically, the Adagio is Mozart’s subtlest creation, and the Lener with all their attention to detail and all their fine polish, achieve a magnificent breadth. They make the music live. It glows with meaning. The ton? is profound, beautifully shaded, and modulated as suavely and deftly as anything in music. (Columbia 0430810.)

The great Liszt pianoforte concerto in E flat major with Mischa Levitski as the soloist and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Landon Ronald, to support him, provides a rare musical experience. After listening to the recording one can understand why Liszt held such a dominating position in the artistic world. Brilliance of technique in an essential, of course, for such a work, and Levitski takes the many rapid passages with a facility that is amazing. The pianist is lucky to have such an experienced conductor as Sir Landon Ronald for his first recorded concerto. The result is a beautiful balance between the piano and orchestra, and a perfect performance of what is not only great music, but verylovable music. The concerto is a work of courtly charm and melodious grace, and it will always reflect the good nature and generosity of the man who wrote it. As one listens to these records one can easily imagine the effect such music must have had on the multitude with the romantic composer at the keyboard. (H.M V D 1775-6.) ”

The Milan Symphony Orchestra, directed by Cav. Lorenzo Molajoli, gives an enjoyable number with “La Gioconda—Dance of the Hours” (Ponchielli). This graceful and everpopular work receives the most delicate of treatment at the hands of the Milan Orchestra— delicate at least in thought, though bold enough in execution. The dance, curiously enough is the solitary bright movement in a tragic opera which has long since sunk into oblivion. In the ballroom scene, the lord of the inquisition devises a ballet In which the dancers represent the passing hours of day and night. The players interpret this typically Italian music with a bravura and conviction impossible for musicians of any other country.

In the true old-time party style with guests and an M.C., Jack Hylton and his orchestra give a splendid little entertainment on a 12-inch record on which is grouped a number of old dances. These include the polka, valeta, barn dance, cake walk, waltz, military two-step, Sir Roger de Coverley, galop and lancers. What memories these old tunes revive, and they are made to live again by realis tic presentation. Hylton has evidently a fondness for the music of other days, as this is a companion record to his two groups of “Good Old Songs.” It is a record that is bound to be popu lar. (H.M.V., C 1784.)

A great British bass, Malcolm MeEachern, sings “My Old Shako” and “The Windmill.” (Columbia DOS.) Malcolm McEachern is finely rumbustious in Nelson’s “The Windmill,” and even manages to impart some life into the faded Trotiere success of our youth, “My Old Shako.” Not a singer in the world can touch him for sheer depth of tone that remains true and rich at whatever depth he reaches. He phrases well, and should be heard in more serious work.

Two orchestral Serenades, Spanish, Chinese (Herbert), are'played by the London Regal Cinema Orchestra (Columbia D 01). Herbert’s death in 1924 robbed America of one of her best operatic composers and musicians, but he has left behind him a mass of work delightful in its colour, brilliance, and vivacity. In this suite the Spanish serenade is based rather on a popular conception of Spanish music than on the serious work of Spanish composers, making full use of the fandanga rhythm and castanets. The Chinese exhales the atmosphere of chop-suey. The opulent scoring, and the fresh attractiveness of the melodies, will attract a wide circle of buyers.