RECORDS

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 10, 15 September 1933, Page 10

RECORDS

Whol Who and Whats wha

(By

Bolton

Woods

Records To Buy sneer ete THIS WEEK’S SELECTION "Danse Espagnol" ("La Vidu Breve’) (de Falla-Kreisler), and "Minstrels" (Debussy), and "Flight of the Bumble Bee" (Rimsky-Korsakoff-Hartmann), violin solos played by Yehudi Menuhin. (H.M.V. DA 1280). "4 Wedding in Java" and "The Chinese Story Teller,’ played by The Bohemians. (Col. DO 981). "The Second Serenade" (Heykens), and "The Fairies’ Gavotte’ (Kohn), played by Albert Sandler and His Orchestra. (Col, DO 926). — "Fantasie-lLmprompitu in OC Minor" (Chopin), and "Revolutionary Study in. O Minor" (Chopin), piano solos played by Irene Scharrer. (Col, DOX 367).

WuHuat is-community singing? It is the choral singing of the man in the street, conducted by the individual with the lay heart and the musician’s mind .--The impulse which prompts a crowd to sing is instinctive. And instinct properly guided results automatically in vocal technique more or less unconsciously acquired.-Gibson Young in "The Sackbut." Essence of Rhythm. WE are led to expect such good things from young Yehudi Menuhin, the violinist, that the wholly satisfying disc he makes of de- Falla’s "Danse Espagnole," Debussy’s ‘"Minstrels," and Rimsky-Korsakoff’s "Plight of the Bumble Bee’ is not a surprise. There are sections of this enchanting little record (H.M.V. DA1230) where we seem to be revelling in the very essense of rhythm, and in the Spanish number especially Menuhin’s gift in this direction finds ample scope. The playing is for all the world like that of an experienced middle-aged virtuoso instead of a boy. Radio Satire. HAT radio announcers would become the objects of clever egtire is. of conrse. inevitable.

And sometimes the parody is cleverer than the original as is evidenced by a dise made by two newcomers to the record, Messrs, Max Kester and John de Grey. ‘These two are funny beyond words in the mock "far-flung relay," entitled "Pancake Tuesday Throughout ‘the Hmpire." Max Kester’s "Crazy Commentary" on "Red Riding Hood v. The Wolf" occupies the other side of a record wat is 3 welcome on a

"A Verminous Instrument." N an old copy of "Music and Youth" (still excellent under its new title, "The Music Student") I found a brief reference to the association of the flea with music. It commences with a reference to the famous rhyme about big fleas and little fleas which no one -has set to music yet. Then it mentions the song about the flea that met a fly in a flue, their debate as to whether they should fiy or flee, and their final escape through a flaw in the fiue. From such frivolities we pass on to the comparatively unknown fact that Beethoven, Berlioz, and Moussorgsky has each written his "Song .of the Flea." To cap all, we are told

that the origin of the small Hawaiian guitar, the ukulele, is as follows: Uku, meaning flea, and lele, meaning jump. In short, a verminous instrument! The Racy Grainger. {tz was a happy thought of Sir Henry J. Wood and the British Symphony Orchestra to make a new Columbia. record of Grainger’s "Mock Morris" . and "Molly on the Shore" In his own

free-and-easy language, Grainger tells us of his racy "Mock Morris." "No folk-music tune-stuffs at all are used herein. The rhythmic cast of the piece is Morris-like, but neither the build of the tunes nor the general layout of the form keeps to the Morrisdance shape." "Molly on the Shore" is the name of an old Irish reel, and the composer has made his piece out of this ‘and another reel, "Temple Hill." His use of the orchestra is vivid and highly coloured, as Sir Henry Wood and his team abundantly prove on the new record. One of Grainger’s friendships is commemorated in the "British Folk Music Settings," of which this piece is one, they are "lovingly and reverently dedicated to the memory of Hdward Grieg." This particular piece is. also inscribed: "Birthday Gift to Mother, 1907."

History in Song, "TOWARD the end of the sixteenth century, on February 7, 1592, there occurred one of the ‘blackest crimes which stain the pages of Scottish history. James the Sixth of Scotland (and later King of Hngland) was the cowardly instigator of a plot to do to death the bonny Harl of Moray, whose main offence, history tells us was to-win the admiration of James’s wife, Queen Anne. This annoyed James, who was certainly far from beautiful. Meiklejohn tells us that the King was mean-looking and ungainly, his head was big and ill-shaped. Ungainly Jamie. Heowas goggie-eyed; his legs were bent and rickety; his tongue too large for his mouth; his habits were unclean (he never washed his hands), and his manner was common, uncouth and utterly wanting in personal dignity. So weak and cowardly was he that the sight of a drawn sword made him shudder, and he rode so badly that everyone smiled as he jolted along on horseback. This object of perverted humanity commissioned the Harl of Huntly to

remove the Marl of Moray, who was a splendidly, handsome man, of great stature and strength, with a fair complexion and long golden hair. A Noble Exit. T was said that Moray had been seen among Bothwell’s allies on the last night of his attacks on Holyrood, and this gave Huntly an opportunity. With 40 followers Hunily

drove Moray into a cave, where he was murdered. Huntly would have held back, but his kinsman, Gordon of Buckle, cursed him as afraid to go as far as the rest, and forced him on to give a blow that he might be art and part in his-death, as he had been in the conspiracy. Thus goaded, Huntly slashed the face of the Earl, who al-

ready lay dying under Buckle’s blow, but who looked up with a strange smile and said: "Ye’ve spoilt a bonnier face than yer ain." The restrained, dignified singing of the ballad is an artistic truimph for Alexander Carmichael. (Col. 01888.) "Spain Incarnate." mo, HAVE you ever listened with ordin ary care to one of La Argentina’s Parlophone recordings? The rhythmic beauty of those castenets solos seems to be Spain incarnate. This lady is probably the greatest living dancer whose goings and comings between two continents keep the journalistic gossip writer busy. She has the unique distinction of being the first person to be decorated by the new Republican Government of Spain. It is indicative of the change in attitude towards women in Spain that it was a woman who was so honoured. The decoration is that of "Tsabel la Catolica," founded in 1815. Arnold Meckel.is her delightful Rus‘glam Managem: ooo. . tet

Forty Years On. HAT favourite among recording orchestras, the Bournemouth Municipal, completed 40 years’ unbroken service under Sir Dan Godfrey, recently. In these four decades the orchestra has given 32,000 concerts, of which 2600 have been symphony concerts, 600 performances of Beethoven symphonies, and 800 of the symphonies of Brahms. Ben Davies, who: first sang with the orchestra in 1898, was the soloist on the last anniversary, and the programme included the Festival March from "Tannhauser," the first item played by the orchestra on May 22, 1893. Correspondence. THIS department is at the disposal of all readers who wish for information about records, works re-

corded or recording artists. No charge is. made. Communications must be addressed-Bolton Woods, c/o "N.Z. Radio Record," P.O. Box 1032, Wellington; ‘ "PICK-UP" (Dunedin).-If "Pick-Up" sends me his name and address his inquiry will bs answered,