RECORDED MUSIC

Evening Star, Issue 19764, 14 January 1928, Page 18

RECORDED MUSIC

[By Erato.]

‘AY-AY-AY.’ ‘ Ay-Ay-Ay ’ (Italian air) —‘ Ecco ridente in cielo ’ (Rossini). Sung by Roberto d’Alessio, tenor. Columbia D 1575. This fascinating air was first heard in record form a few months ago. Everyone knows the famous Italian airs ‘ O Sole Mio,’ ‘ Funiculi,’ and ‘ MariaMari.’ Though described as such, this is not an Italian air, but one that hails from Argentine. It was a great favorite with that fine bass, Jose Marclones, who frequently recorded—and he himself was an Argentine. The song has had a new lease of life, is sweeping through Italy, across the Continent, into London, and on to New Zealand itself. ‘ Ay-Ay-Ay ’ has a haunting, sensuous lilt, and our Italian friends would have none of it unless recorded by one of Italy’s best opera singers. D’Alessio is a popular figure at La Scala, Milan, and gives this air splendidly. He belongs to the modern Italian school of singing, whose most noticeable feature is superb breath control —a. quality very much in evidence in ‘Ecco ridento ’ air from ‘The Barber of Seville.’

THE LENER QUARTET. Columbia L 1729-30, ‘ Quartet in G Major’ (Serenata, Mozart). In four parts. Played by the Lener String Quartet. Impeccable phrasing, purity of tone, and an intellectual grasp of the composer’s intentions are virtues that one has learnt to expect from the Lener Quartet, whose crusade on behalf of the finest chamber music has been so disinterested —and, strangely enough, so successful. I say strangely, because their art is restrained. They have never yet been guilty of slobbering or sentimentalising. Consequently it often lakes time to appreciate the merits of their work, but time never brings boredom. In this case, however, the vivacity and freshness _of the ‘ Serenata ’ * will win immediate response. One of Mozart’s early works, its chief features are the lovely melodic phrases in the romance and the sparkling gaiety of the brilliant final Rondo. This is one of the happiest works of the" happiest of the great maters.

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD GENIUS. ‘ Violanta,’ as the work of a sixteen-year-old boy, is a marvellous achievement. That opera (says the ‘Musical Courier’) stamps Erich Korngold as one of the outstanding musical talents of his time, even though he has composed nothing epochal since then. He began to create while he still was under the influence of the Richard Strauss domination of that day, fourteen years ago. Now Strauss has faded as a leader 0 F new musical thought, and his works sound almost antiquated. Korngold is only thirty years old. His truly formative period fell beween the periods of Strauss and Stravinsky. Maybe an original stvle has been germinating and developing in his artistic consciousness. It will he interesting to watch his future output. Meanwhile ‘ Violanta ’ has taken the public fancy here—thanks in large measure to Mine Jeritza’s arresting portrayal and singin <r of the title role—as a gripping and cblorful drama, with a score of incisive power and brilliance, even il it is not of striking originality. GRIEG AT HIS BEST. Columbia L 1733-4. ‘Norwegian Dances’ (Grieg). In lour parts. Georg Schneevoigt conducting the Loudon Symphony Orchestra. Great Britain is at the moment so extraordinarily rich in orchestral conductors oi the very highest class that any "woleoino she extends to a foreign conductor must be read as the greatest possible compliment. No visitor has had more immediate success in London than Georg Schneevoigt. _ His fame ms the greatest conductor in his native Finland preceded him; it would have been difficult to live up to this reputation, but ho did more—he enhanced it. These records make the reason clear. They show that he has an insight into Grieg’s music. His rendering, one feels, is what Grieg himself would have wished for. These dances, it is interesting to note, were accounted by Grieg as his favorite compositions. Intensely Scandinavian in feeling, they embody actual Norwegian folk-songs . The first is riotously merry, and its chief feature is an exquisitely captivating passage that lingers in the mind. In marked contrast is the third, slow and sustained and full of lovely chromatic- harmonics. But each of the four has its particular charms, and Sellneovoigt gives ns a rendering of power and beauty.