RECORDS Who's who and What's what

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 4, 4 August 1933, Page 10

RECORDS Who's who and What's what

(By

Bolton

Woods

Records Te Buy THIS WEEK’S SELECTION "Sue Maria" (Schubert-Wilhelmj) ; "Rondo" (Mozart-Kreisler): violin solos by Tossy Spivakovsky. Parlo. A4416. "Vespers" (from "When We Were ‘Very Young’) (Milne-Fraser-Simp-son): "When the House is Asleep" (Pagets-Haig): by John Morel, baritone. Parlo., A3625. "Lovin? You," by Jack and Claude Hulbert. (H.M.V. B4355). "Double Damask" and "I'll Give Her a Ring," by Cicely Courtneidge, assisted by Ivor McLaren and Lawrence Green. (H.M.V. B6314). "Will o’ the Wisp" (Cherry). aid "The Wolf? (Shield),- bass solos, by Norman Allin. (Col. DOX362).

GISBORNE correspondent, "P.D.L.H.," re quests a brief annotation on ‘T'schaikovsky’s Overture Fantasie. ‘Romeo and Juliet," which Jf give ‘with plea sure. This Sym phonic poem was first suggested +o its composer by his older eolleague, Balakirey, who thought Tschaikovsky » the very man to make a suecess of such a work. Elis idea was to have an introduction something after the style of a chorale, which should present Friar Lawrence. Then a bustling section would tell of the feud between the two families of Montagus and Capulets, and 4 lyric melody

would be the two. . young lovers. The whole thing was to be worked vut in orthodox form and finished with a coda, to represent the death of the two young people.

A Failure at First IKE muny other fine works itfailed when at first produced in Moscow in 1870, but gained a footing in later vears. The overture is a remarkable study in contrasts, the love songs of the two young chare.cters softly vanish, giving place to the brutal forces of reality with the "fate motive," the motive that typifies the family ven. detta, which is later more and more ‘ eccentuated. The entire orchestra works up to a terrific climax, gradually descending to the depths-and then the stillness of death. An epilogue brings the work to an impressive close. "Mandalay" Again ({8ATEFUL thanks are due to 4 correspondent "M.L.,"’ of Remuera

who writes stating that the fourth musical setting of "Mandalay," that I am in search of, is by Gerard I’, Cobb, and was very popular over 30 years

ago. "Mandalay," along with others of the "Barrack Room Ballads," by Rudyard Kipling, was apparently sec tu music by Cobb as long ago as 1893. So now we have the names of all four musical composers of "Mandalay’Gerard F. Cobb, Charles Willeby. Walter W. Hedgcock, and:Oley Speaks. A Double-Voiced Tauber RATHER sensational is the newes! recording of that prince of popula tenors, Richard Tauber. In the most finished style possible he accomplishes the far-from-easy task of singing a duet with himself. The way this is managed is something of a secret sv far, but possibly by means of headphones and singing with a repreduction of a recording of one of the parts. this fine achievement has come about. The duets selected for this unusu:l experiment are Mendelssohn’s ‘"‘t

Wowd That My Love Might Blossom," and Melchert’s "Shimmering Silver, Whispering Wave." Listeners will have an opportunity of hearing this remarkable ise on Wednes‘day, August 9, from Station 2YA. Congratulations to Parlophone on i happy idea successfully consummated. (Parle. AR222,) Tenor Turns Grocer N 1YA’S) programme on Saturday, August 12, at 812 pm., fom: Burke’ is scheduled to sing Di Campa's "O Sole Mio," and the famous Irish folk song, "The Minstrel Boy." In this connection it is impossible t o avoid quoting Tom Burke’s latest decision to abandon

his art and become & grocer. "Pngland no longer wants grand opera," Mr. Burke says. "Jazz and the talkies have killed it." So he is going in for business. He has been

appointed chairman and ‘managing director of a chain of multiple shops in his native Lancashire. Mr. Burke's career has.alWays been an example of stern endeavour and indomitable determination to succeed. From Mine to Milan. WHEN he was working down the pit he used to sing on Sundays in the choice at Leigh Parish Church. The beauty of his voice attracted attention throughout the Northof England. He was sent to Milan to study music, and for four years no one in England heard of him. Tom came back with a European reputation, and created an immediate sensation by his singing with Melba in Covent Garden operas. "People may smile,’ Mr. Burke said to a "Sunday Chronicle" representative, "at the idea of a world-famous star turning grocer. But why ‘shouldn’t I do it? And I do not propose to end my days teaching singing in some untidy little back room." Mr. Burke has youth, ambition, energy, and purpose, as anyone who has gone to the boxing ring with him is aware. Courtesan and Monk. HE extraordinary opera "Thais," by Massenet, is based upon Anatole France’s brilliant romance of the same name. It tells of a Courtesan rescued from her mode of life by a religious ascetic, who, rescuing the woman, himself falls from the heights. In the opera there is no selection so widely known as the beautiful "Meditation." It is an instrumental number given by the orchestra, with Violin solo, as a sort of intermezzo between the first and second acts. The composer has chosen a lovely melody in which he seeks to express the religious meditation to which "Thais." the former courtesan, has given herself. This ‘‘Meditation" will be played as a ’cello solo. by Arnold Foldeay, at 2YA, on Monday, August 7, at 9.18 p.m. Gilbert and Sullivan. {Ff the fates are against our hearing the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in their entirety over the radio, at any | rate we can have the next best thing in the shape of erchestral selections. . These operas are genuinely and. in-. ereasingly popular. Why? Because they supply the need of the average Englishman for an _ entertainment truly musical and truly comic, one to which he can take both his family and his intelligence, They are the work of two educated men who understood their work and each other; they were composed with enjoyment, which means conscientiousness. Therefore, — their workmanship is sound and can stand the test of time. On three successive evenings next week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 3YA is © featuring -Gilbert and Sullivan selec . tions from "The Gondoliers," ‘"Iolanthe,’ and "The Pirates of Penzance." ‘After Rossini’s Heart. JLUROPEAN critics have found ditieulty in accepting a mezzo-soprano in the part of Rosina in Rossini’s opera, "The Barber of Seville," used, as they are, to the usual coloratura soprano exponents of the part of the beautiful young heroine. The composer, it should be remembered, wrote his operas for his wife, who was 2 mezzo-soprano with a voice of extraerdinary range. Over @ hundred years

after Madame Rossini’s creation of this great role, along comes Conchita Supervia, a Spanish prima donna, who possesses the rarest of voices, the flexible mezzo-soprano. Her first season in the role of "Carmen" she brought Paris to her feet, the following year as Rosina in "The Barlher of sy aon |

Seville," the same city again féll for her charms. No High-pitched Acrobats. UPERVIA runs up and down the scale and brings out the deepest chest notes with a delightful elegance To those who had never before heatd the original score, her portrayal of Rosina was infinitely more artistic and certainly in more perfect musical harmony with the rest of the score than the high-pitched vocal acrobatics of the usual coloratura. In the role of the scheming Dr. Bartolo, Supervia’s extraordinary voice, in conjunection with her personal beauty and unusual histrionic ability, has made her a favourite with every audience which has heard her. At 4YA on Monday, August 7, at 8.48 p.m., Conchita Supervia will sing the famous "Una Voce Poco Fa." "On Ilkla’ Moor."’ JTNCORPORATED in the "English As She Is Spoke" feature hour scheduled for 2YA on Wednesday, August 9, Will be examples of Britain’s many dialects. Among these is "On Ilkla’ Moor Baht ’At," the famous Yorkshire ditty sung by Stuart Robertson and male chorus. This presentation is quite the most entertaining I have ever heard, and if the soloist is not a native of the county of broad men and broad acres he is a very good substitute. The chorus in particular is worthy of the highest praise, with their expert treatment of the almost fugal passages of an undoubtedly fine This tune, of course, is the one in universal use in Yorkshire at Christmas, when grave and gay, sober and otherwise, the whole population gives voice to the grand old hymn, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night." If any Yorkshireman omits purchasing Stuart Robertson’s dise after hearing the 2YA4 programme on Wednesday next, he is either too poor or too-but then Yorkshiremen are never thatthey ooze generosity generally! The Art of Ania. S Ania Dorfmann is one of the most brilliant pianists on the records, a new issue by Columbia can be counted an event among lovers of fine playing, This time the Viennese "Mistress of the Keyboard" gives us Weber’s ‘Rondo Brilliant" (La Gaite) and "Three Heossaises" of Chopin (Op. 72), on a most acceptable dise (DOX 361). The rondo form as exemplified in the first-named piece is by nature adapted to the expression of the lighter, mote pleasurable émotions. Graceful fancy, playful tenderness, arch coquentry, sparkling, vivacity, here find their most ready and appropriate embodiment at the hands of Ania Dorfmann. The three schottisches of Chopin, perhaps the smallest of all his works, are also gems. The "Rondo" (Weber) is scheduled for 2YA’s programme on Wednesday, August 9, at 8.14 p.m.