The Gmmophone, September, 1925
160
musical glass. Of definitely non-electrical piano records the Una Bourne and York Bowen are both charming. B and'records ,contiuu,e unusually good. I thought the Oolumbia Grenadiers were really capital last month in a selection of vVilfred Sanderson's songs. I was hoping for some good light and comic records in August, but nothing has come along. To be sure, the dances are excellent. My pick would be the two Denza's from Oolumbia and a jewel from H.M.V., Ah-ha and Just a li ttle drink. The Trix Sisters aren't the goods for my taste. Genteel American is as tiresome as genteel Oockney, and we are suffering from a surfeit of both on the London musical stage at present.
Columbia gave us two splendid orchest ral records -the Hansel (tnd Gret el Overture and the Liebestod. To "what is the best record" fiends I say confidently these are the best records of both pieces of music up to date. Parlophone gave us a good Flying D1.ltchman Overture and other excerpts from the opera conducted by Siegfried Wagner, though for my taste they were much too mild an interpretation. Parlophone gave us, too, an interesting occasional piece by Beethoven, and everything by Beethoven is precious. I t is not, however, one of the great man's inspired efforts. I was most impressed by the Parlophone record of Berlioz' Roman Carnival, which struck me as one of the most successful orchestral recordings I've heard. That was on the Balmain. Unfortunately the hole is too small to fit on any other of ,my machines, so I can't tell how i t comes off on them, and the record is too good to risk breaking. Of course, the Marek Webers are splendid. They always are. I shan't mention them again till I get a bad one. Edith Lorand was in good form with a pot-pourri of Tmviatq,. That's another subject for some tilting presently. I'm prepared to defend Traviata against anybody. The other orchestral record last month was from Vocalion wit h Delius' On first hearing th e cuckoo in Spring and Long before Sunrise played by the Ohamber Orchestra, which la tely gave us such an excellent v ersion of t he Siegf1'ied Idyll. Delius in this mood always reminds me of a schoolmaster on his holidays. I feel that an accomplished mind is re~Lct,ing in an a ccomplished way to the conventional rustic emotions that Mr. Pickwick expressed on that May morning at Dingley Dell. I wish that our English composers of the austere school would find a new folk-song rhyt:pm for their pastoral moods . . I believe that Mr. A. E. IIousma,n's SMopshire Lad is at the root of the convention. I prefer the eighteenth-century Oorydons to that prepo st erous figure :whose charming bucolics have haunted the fancy of so many modern writers of verse and prose, whether he is meditating on the Romans at Uriconium, or the hangman's rope, or the Queen's shilling, or cherry trees in bloom. I am far from den ying the attractiveness either of A Shropshire
Lad as a book of verse or of this country music of Delius. But in both art is procl,a.iming itself all the time. The simplicity at which both the writer and the compo ser aim is achieved indeed, but always at the expense of nature. As for the record itself, I don't feel convinced that i t is a very good one.
With the courteo~ls help of His Master's Voice I shaU shortly in response to numerous requests give readers my views on the Number 2 Catalogue. The November number will be largely devoted to an account of the happy combination. I must apologi'le to several rea4er~ to whose queries I have not replied. , In two cases I mislaid the letters, and have lost their addresses. But if I am to write this autumn the various articles I have promised, in addition to my own work, I must plead for a complete holiday from private correspondence. I hope that our eXI1ert committee will be able to reply to most queries. .
I have to acknowledge with my thanks the receipt, of two delightful Pixie Grippas at Jethou, both of. which have been baptised by moonlight dancj.ng.
OOMPTON MACKENZIE L
Competz'tJons
Two important competitions closed on August 31st -the Publicity Oompetition and the Twenty-Five Records Competition, started in the July number on the suggestion of Mr. George Blake. The results will be announced-next month.
As a side-line in competitions we offer FIFTEEN SHlLLINGS' WORTH of H.M.V. I:ecords to the :first reader who sends us the words spoken by M, Paehmann when recording the Nocturne in B majm' (D.B.8 59). A.ny reader who was present on that occasion and helped to create the genial atmosphere of a wrapt audience for Pachmann is ineligible; but we should be glad to receive his or her version of the comments in order to check i t with the suggestions of other competitors who have only their gramophones to assist them.
. TO SINGERS: TAUGHT OR UNTAUGHT
Mr. HERMAN KLEIN may b ~ consulted upon all subje;:ts c vnn e:ted with
The Training of the Voice dnd
The Art of Singing by appointment, at his Studio R esidmce,
PRIVATE LESSONS .
Telephone, HAMPSTEAD 47 .
40, AVENUE ROAD,
REGENT'S PARK,
N.W.S
