GRAMOPHONE NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 150, 27 June 1931, Page 8 (Supplement)

GRAMOPHONE NOTES.

ARTISTS AND THEIR RECORDS. (By SOUNDBOX.) Through the medium of the gramophone -we can now offer the public performances closely similar to those we give on the concert platform. Our records should not disappoint the most critical listener who has heard us in the flesh: to the millions who have no opportunity of doing so, they convey a just and accurate impression of our work. ---SERGEI RACHMANINOFF. A selection from that great musical comedy success "The Maid of the Mountains," is played by the London Palladium Orchestra. '(His Master's Voice, 01881, 12-inch.) A real lilting Viennese waltz, with the haunting fiddle interludes one associates with Johann Strauss, "Thousand and One Nights" is played very effectively by the Salon Orchestra. (His Master's Voice, C 2076, 12-inch.) John McCormack's current offering comprises "Song of the Night" and "The Gateway of Dreams," simple ballads that receive the sympathetic handling one expects from this great tenor. (His Master's Voice, DA1135, 10-inch.) Descriptive music of simplicity and charm, Zimmer's "Springtime in the Forest," played by the Little Salon Orchestra, will please all lovers of dainty tuneful tone poems. (Columbia, D 0339, 10-inch.)

Tommy Handley is the perfect fool. He offers a combination of humorous nonsense and cheerful philosophy in "Put Your Worries Through the Mangle" (what an inspiring theme for a comedian!) and "There's a Good Time Coming.-' (Columbia, D 0342, 10-inch.) Of Marek Weber and his orchestra little need be said these days. They are so well and favourably known to gramophonists that to mention the titles of a new record is sufficient. Their latest, then, is "Amorettetanze," a waltz by Gung'l, and "Old Vienna," a selection from Lanner's tuneful waltzes. (His Master's Voice, C 1941, 12-inch.) Anna Case, soprano, sings ArneVThe Lass With the Delicate Air" and Mrs. Hunter Hayden's "My Mother Bids Me Bind My Hair."' The voice is beautiful, but as the singer is, I believe, of foreign extraction and American only by adoption, that may explain a slightly defective diction in the penultimate word of Arne's charming song that leaves the result just short of perfection. (Columbia, D 0314, 10-inch.) Terance Casey is a cinema organist with a large following, and his current offering, under the title "The Irish Organist," will appeal particularly to sons of Erin. Of the dozen tunes included in the selection, the following are representative: "The Minstrel Boy," "Londonderry Air," "Wearin' o' the Green," "Kathleen Mavourneen" and "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls." (Columbia, DOXIC2, 12-inch.)

The Big Four, the Australian male quartet that so successfully toured New Zealand a while ago with a musical comedy company, sing a war songs medley, "Form Fours," which includes "If You Want to Find the Sergeant," "Leap Frog," "Mop, it Down," "And When I Die" and others to make a round dozen, the chief ingredient all through being humour, often ironical. Of its kind a first-class record. (Columbia, DOXIG4, 12-inch.) Columbia announce a new tenor in Tommaso Alcaide, whose first record brings proof that Columbia's pride is soundly based and will be heard with interest by readers of English reviews where the artist has had flattering notices. The items chosen for this notable gramophone debut are "Spir'to Gentil" (Spirit so Fair) from Donizetti's "Favorita" and "Mi par d'udir ancora" (I still seem to hear) from Bizet's "Pearl Fishers." (Columbia, LOXB4, 12-inch.) Stuart Bobertson and the male quartet that' supports him so ably, sing "Widdicombe Fair" and "Biehard of Taunton Deane," songs of the English countryside. As usual Bobertson's bassbaritone voice is heard to good effect and on this .occasion he uses dialect and so displays further versatility. I have previously commented on the splendid piano accompaniments of these Stuart Robertson recordings 'which in this case are acknowledged as by V. Hely Hutchinson. (His Master's Voice, B36GS 10-inch.) Cesar Franck, although . born a Belgian, is probably accepted as a Frenchman by most of his English admirers, he having lived in Paris for many years, where he rose to the position of director of the Paris Conservatoire; It is not surprising that the great French pianist Cortot' is considered the greatest exponent of his piano compositions. This month he plays Franck's "Prelude, Chorale and Fugue," which may be safely commended to-music lovers, both for the interest of the!work itself and for the ability of the player and the excellence of the recording, in which connection my current quotation and last week's are of interest. (His Master's Voice, D 81299, 1300, 12-inch.) I see by Home papers that ■ Maria Nemeth, a Continental soprano, is to appear at Covent Garden and that her English debut is being eagerly awaited owing to the interest created by her records. What is, I think, her first record issued in New Zealand appears this month, "Thy Love is He," and "Yet 'Ere I to the Vale of Death," from Goldmark's "The Queen of Sheba." The singing is in German with choral support, the accompaniment being played by the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. The record indicates plainly enough that the singer is possessed of a charming voice and one can imagine Londoners looking forward to her operatic appearances. (His Master's Voice, D 1720,' 12inch.) "The Song of the Volga Boatmen," sung by the great Russian bass, Chaliapin, and echoed ever since by singers and instrumentalists, Kreisler having .made one of his adept arrangements of it, is illustrated on the cover of the His Master's Voice June supplement. -.The 'jncture is from a painting by Chaliapin's son Boris. Contrary, to the conclusion probably formed by most people this song is not a Vowing song. The boatmen of the Volga tow their craft, walking along the bank of the river. .The rhythm of the song conjures pictures of the swinging of oars, but when it is realised that in dragging a heavy load the boatmen laboriously plod their weary way one can as easily see vis , i6ns of toiling, ill-clad workmen, struggling onward, helped by the steadying effect! of a song that keeps their efforts in time with one another just as the sea chanteys ' helped the sailors to work in unison. '