GRAMOPHONE NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 249, 20 October 1928, Page 8 (Supplement)

GRAMOPHONE NOTES.

ARTISTS AND THEIR RECORDS.

I pant for music which is divine. My heart in its thirst is a dying flower; Pour forth the sound like enchanted wine, Loosen the notes in a silver Bbower, —Shelley,

Chaliapin has re-recorded "How Goes It, Prince?" from Borodin's "Prince Igor" and "The Song of the Viking Guest," from Rimsky-KorsakofPs "Sadko. (D.B. 1104, 12-inch.)

Playing the organ of the Queen's Hall, London, Marcel Dupre, certainly one of the greatest organists of the day, has recorded Bach's "Prelude in G Major" and "Fugue in G Major." (D. 1402, 12inch.)

Wisely chosen, well contrasted items comprising Mark Hamboxng's latest record are Liszt's "An bord d*tme source" Chopin's "Nocturne in B Major," good piano recordings, particularly so considering the low price category. (C 1454, 12-inch.)

The Mozart festival recently held in Paris was t,hn cause of immense enthusiasm. "The festival drew all Paris," says an English paper, "for everyone attended, from the President of the Republic, downwards. Houses were sold out and seats could not be bought."

Tansig, in addition to being a notable performing pianist, has left many transcriptions for the piano that continue to be played. This month Rtriiiniminaff, famous alike for his compositions and for his performing ability, plays a Tansig transcription of "One lives Bat Once," a waits by Johann Strauss that has all the melodious appeal that one associates with the name of the great Viennese waltz-maker. (D.B. 1140, 12-inch, in two parts.)

Frank Crumit, with no great vocal gifts, but with the necessary temperamental equipment, seems to have the happy Vnarie necessary to make the most of thft trifles he records. His latest effort is "The Song of the Prune" — full of humour and sung with evident enjoyment of its nonsense. On . the reverse is "Down in the Cane Break," making a very good "coupling." I can imagine this record becoming immensely popular. (EJL. 366, 10-inch.)

It is generally known that Rachmaninoff's "Prelude" has achieved such extreme popularity that its composer would gladly disown it if it could be done. I have often wondered what Edwin H- Lemare thought of the popularity of "Moonlight and Roses," the song version of his "Andantino in D. Flat." Whatever he may think, he has not disowned the original, for we hear him th'. month playing the original organ version, the Andantino. Coupled with Schumann's "Tratnnarei," it is a satisfactory offering for those who must have their grand organ solos melodious first and last.

Pressing records is a slow process. The material must be heated, placed in the press, the heat maintained with steam, the press closed, the impression taken, the press and its newly-made record cooled by pumping cold water through the surrounding cooling system, then the press opens and tho record is extracted, allowed to cool further* and polished. This is necessarily a matter that cannot be hurried. Cold material would not take an impression, and warm material would not retain it. Consequently it may come as a surprise to know, in these days of big quantity output in other crafts, that between forty and fifty records an hour and something over three hundred a day are considered a satisfactory output for an expert operator.

The Royal Opera Orchestra, Covent Garden, play 9 "Shepherd Fennel's Dance" (Balfour-Gardiner), and Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty Panorama." We are told that "the former is a little tone picture and that many will have read the description of the dance in the prose oi-the late Thomas Hardy, with the suggestion that its realisation in music should prove ait ideal echo or counterpart to that delightful passage. Very intriguing, but what a pity not to mention the title of the hook containing the passage. I confess my ignorance and have appealed unsuccessfully, to my literary adviser, who on this occasion has been, unable to help. If any of my readers, know their Hardy well enough to help no doubt others will be interested to locate the passage.

Kreisler has a way of choosing simple songs and making his violin versions of them things of beauty. Bnt your serious, lover of good music scorns the great violinist when he "descends" to trifles. Those who hold this view will therefore welcome Kreisler'a return to the things that matter. With the Berlin State Opera Orchestra, under Dr. Leo Blech, he has played the Brahms "Concerto in D, op. 77," tho first time the concerto has been recorded, and surely worth waiting for to have it performed by such capable exponents. Issued on five 12-inch records in an album with annotations,, the work will' appeal strongly to a certain restricted class. The following extract from the current supplement is of interest:— Brahms appears to have begun, the concerto in 1878, for in that year he wrote to his friend Joachim telGhg him of his project and enclosing part of a sketch of the first movement. In its original form there were to have been four movements instead of the conventional three, but later, after Brahms had submitted the work to the usual processes, of polishing and modification, the two middle movements went by the board and a single slow movement was substituted- Brahms had the benefit of Joachim's advice in the revision and adjustment of the. part of the solo instrument, and Joachim gave the first performance of the work. At first the work was not very favourably received and, in view of its great technical difficulties, one critic facetiously dubbed it a "Concerto against the violin." Later, however, the work came gradually into : favour until to-day it ranks as one of the most popular concertos in the vior linist's repertoire. There are three movements: The first and third being quick, the. intermediate movement being a dignified, slow movement. The fifth part of the First Movement as recorded here is occupied by the elaborate Cadenza for the solo movement. The Third Movement is in Rondo form and has a decided flavouring of Brahms' Hungarian Dances. It is probably the most, immediately attractive, movement of the three. But. though the First and Second Movements may at first hearing seem severe in comparison, repetition | (which is one of the virtues of the gramophone), will reveal in them equal 1 beauty.