GRAMOPHONE NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 171, 21 July 1928, Page 8 (Supplement)

GRAMOPHONE NOTES.

ARTISTS AMD THEIR RECORDS.! •i: -I >l Nl;i:< >.v i : , , .% . • \\ .i-in r i- ii -"Tf iif ei 'i in ! ( , i,„. ... .... 'ii in ;i -uir] ... 1 i..| lln I Ii" i- ill :i "vil.l -f ~: .. .hi iiii•ii -1 • > <>r I • .. ..--it'ltin.' r 1.. i < f. i - :s !•..«• •• 1 v\ i-rils I" il- .VI ;••••. \V.. . ,| :. .' i •.' i W . 1.-Mil, . C. .1] eel I' ll . p...litli l.y .lolin ! i I . I ,;! ■•■! : IMI.II i.-l. '1'11..'.- i-Ih.-.t i ii." 111., i .i'.i ii.K'" :iii.l . !;.... • I i.. 1 lit it. I'\ t In- v .iy, : ..i ;~• 1; :' \ I:.• \ i li.it 1 I .I;ik | - . . ; -It' . t' 111 I . 'I In" 1 \\ "I'll- . ' .. ,11 ■. ;: 11- t.. ii .1 ica t.■ ii : . . .... I.i ii ill. 1 r11•■I ■n i v dilfci's. | ; !i ■!, • . -11 r_. iii jj ;i nil I lie i IjoTHs I .Ik .i " - \».- ha ve cotuc to expect ■ i ,i :.i! hi - ia pa 1.1.' a ".» tat >•-. - - iii-lt *.' ••(.:- i- ill.--.- arc d- -ci vc.ily 1 ; ■I'll) .11 . . I jirxti. lllilj.) j Ti •• i. ..n < ij i u- !jt.him*[ili.me j .r.U a. e -t.iteil in a .New York Court. J •li ]i.i \ e atl I' <111 1 1 L t.n XI."XI,1100 <1 ' •ho | i• t -I'M'ii \i.;ii-. thti- innkiii'.' a 1 very •:!.• i > .11-. i 11. ■ • >11■ • lor lli* ci-_'lit-y car- ; .il 11 anp I: t•• i - Hi-re i- a >e\.'!V Mow ! t.i the old theory that «cientilie ittve'i- ' • ion an.l iiii'i-liattieal ingenuity uei'e in- : .itaMv iihtajjonistic I•) the IlltUt. Tile | '■'in and Ihe ti'i'aiiii 'phoii'.' haw eimr- ( II I»11 -1 > inerea-i .1 n.a ...illy the n-wanU. ! ■lilt, the i nil Heine if u filer.- and lliiui- ■ an-. .111-' .1- 111.- n-e Ml' cle.tii.it v iiv ail I .1] !| i let t.i '.11.- 11 Mll • 1111 * 111 ■ I'l tile I'eei.l'll i" 11 'j i 11. •>• v ha- leil tu liiii.-t Wonderful | ~.lvaiii.-s i: i the it ft -.t reconlin;.' -..uiiil, • -■» that, tea I - hit I'.ei t.. iIM |«--i 1 ile liovv| ;.iss without 11 i'it iee a-> everyday liappcn- | uurs, •-.) w,. «-11i1 11 ,-.i.;ii l.e well into the j r.-fc i.f eleeli ie replayin.LT—a logical] development. Lately 1 have. U-tcned a :.'ood deal to elect rie replayinir atul there .-4 uo dotiht. whatever that -w'jen the our becomes aeuustunied i«> it., the old-style ■i coint ie era rut iphrnio method thin and unsatistv in jr. \ r-i. 111 >1. • t.t' lnoiith- aCo I haj a good deal to -ay ahout the records of tlie '•Rayientli Festival." which is hch! in l tiennany /plea-.' note the address). Now | I loam that the expert sent from < lor- j manv wondered why his equipment ; tailed to arrive and iii-ci>vered that il ! had 1 noil ,-eiit to Ueyrout, SSyria. l-'rc-h | apparatus was -cut. and when the i ecords were made the poor haras-ed expert was stranded tor lack of fund- | hern mo hi- caMed-for remittance had been sent to also! The Valkyrie Records. Faced onco apiin with the magnitude >.f Wagner's "music -dramas/' vliich venders tin tn impossible of adequate treatment in short notes 1 propose to say something in general of "The Rins?. - ' l!ut before doing so it is fitting to quote tho following peii-]iietnro of tlie genius from whose brain this mammoth work spramr. In • The Lure of Miimc." Olin Downes say -: "The beauty Kichard Wagn r i could not lind in his life he created for] himself in his art. There was never a loan or sin artist like him. Krratie. irnaginati\e. idealistic, of an extremely energetic and impressionable temperament, lio dreamed impossible dreams, and made those dreams come true. He became from a starving conductor of an insignificant opera company the most powerful figure in the music of the later nineteenth century. As n man Jie was very great and very small. In i.ther words, very human. He was adored, despised, and hated. Who shall judjje ? Nature gave Wagner the force and the egotism necessary to impose en; the world ideas a century ahead of his time. From the struggles, the miseries, the visions of bis rash and headlong career ean'io the wondrous "musictlra mar." Kxeept to remark that in every respect, vocal, orchestras, and cliora'. i he>o records are magnificent, Ido not propose to say much of them. They comprise, in a set of fourteen 12in discs, ulmj'-t the complete "Valkyrie." The current month's list gives the story of the opera, at some length, and deals with each record seriatim. The discerning will secure a copy of the list. As usual "space does permit,"' we are lold, a history of "The King" itself. Hating referred you to the supplement, which i 3 the finest piece of descriptive matter the recording companies have Jet ei\ en us. L shall endeavour to lil! the gap as regards Wagner's ideas and! intentions in setting about the work | that eventually grew into mch huge. propnrtions. I quote from ' Opeia at i Home." ; The composition of "The King of the Kibeluif.'-"—ii work which for srrandeur and bre.oil hof conception has no parallel in musical art - occupied Wagner over a period i f a quarter of a century. Aftor ti 11 i- h i i»'_r " l.oheHc tin'' in IBt7. Wagner Imd i'oi 11 ti I that, the operatic form as i then e\i -1 ed needed revitalising, in order 'hat il i-niild give him the fullest ex-pres-iuii nf his geniii". lie realised tlmt with Meethoveu : f»v nq.lionic nm.-ic had reached a p.iijil where it was capable nf dramatic expression, and from this standpoint all his .>pera tie iheurie- sprang. I'm- -i\ veins (from I.S-I7 to ltjotf) Wagner wrote no lnii-ic at all. but perfected }ii ideas for the new operatic art. Hichoice of a subject which sh-aild be a "national" Work as Well as a ieali->mion of hi- new theories eventually fell upon the old Northern European legends, iiith their stories oi gods and goddesses, and human beings sprung from tliein. .\t. lirst only one opera was c.nicmplated, to be called "Siegfried's Death"— tlii- is ilie work we nmv know as "The Uu.-k of the <io<ls.'' Then, feeling the need of explaining Siegfried's existence, he planned another work—"Young Siegfried." Then, a- an explanation of the la i I cr'- parentage, the re came into being "The Valkyrie." filially, as a prologue. -lio)ving the origin of the King. Wagner uryt.e "The Khincgold." The "book' of each opera, was thu- ready before the music was begun ill I S.">3, and by 78"»7 Wagner had got ,i- far as the middle of "Siegfried." Then, thinking that his work was probably never to be heard, lie laid ,it all aside. Not till twelve \ cars later, when re-cued from poverty and despair by his benefactor, the King of Bavaria, did Wagner take "The King" up again, and. finally completing it. give it to the world at Bayrcuth in 1870. So. for once, after many trials and t ribuhi tions, genius came into its own. The four mighty music-dramas that Wanner found necessary to the fruition of bis vi-ion, with their* innovation of a "motif" associated with each of the characters concerned, the repetition of which connects the' music with the individual. comprise, with the amazing variety of treatment given to them, "one of the marvels of musical literature." Arid they were completed and, under royal patronage, were performed under ,nv " direction in a special stun «<r ' or t '"' purpose to the dt,'exurpsao^ ,elr c , om Poser, who, just as he \ hadh»» o Su eas iri his music-dranwiK. Rae^«^Wed W Uio> ' ihoUld