RECORDED MUSIC

Evening Star, Issue 20061, 29 December 1928, Page 15

RECORDED MUSIC

(By Erato.)

AMAZING NEW GRAMOPHONE. The rapid strides in gramophone development during the last lew years have resulted in 'many amazing inventions being placed on the market. But the latest development must surely _ be the most amazing of all—a machine that plays, stops, and changes records of its own accord, simply by the measure of pressure on a button. This machine, which has been on view in Messrs Charles Begg and Company’s window during the week, has attracted a great. deal of attention. It is an H.M.V. product, and the only one in the South Island at the present time. There are two turntables on it, one the ordinary playing surface and the other a magazine which holds twenty records of either size. A moveable arm simply carries the record from the magazine to the turntable, and the tone arm comes down in the correct alignment. The record may be stopped at will and replaced by anotner. It is carried off the turntable and lifted into a rubber-lined holder, and the moveable arm immediately substitutes the nest record desired. The twenty records may be placed in any order, and tilling the magazine constitutes the only human labour entailed. The? pressure on the control buttons, which may be operated at the machine or away from it, does everything else. The extraordinary workings of this machine are positively uncanny. STRING QUARTETS. Recently the writer asked a dealer what was the least popular class of record. He replied that string quartets were die most infrequently sought after. This is not surprising, in view of the quartet performances in New Zealand being extremely rare; but music-lovers little realise what they are missing The string quartet has often been called the purest of all music, and there are good grounds for this assumption. For those who wish to make acquaintance with this type of music there is a most suitable^ record among the latest issue, by the Virtuoso String Quartet, a well-balanced combination. They play two dainty numbers, ' Tambourin’ "(Gossec) and ‘Molly.on the Shore’ (Grainger). The first has infinite charm and is full of lively but delicate colour. The second is an example of Grainger in his happiest of melodious moods. Grainger is a greater composer than most people imagine. He, has the gift of simplicity; and his research amongst folk music lias given bun some beautiful themes. (H.M.V.)

A KETELBEY ALBUM. Compositions by Albert W. Ketelbey. Eight records in album. Most popular of all British composers to-day is Albert W. Ketelbey, who lor many years has been Columbia’s musical advisor. One has but to name a lew of the works in this album—‘in a Monastery ■ Garden, ! ‘ln a Persian Market,’ ‘Sanctuary of the Heart ’ —to show how universal is his sway. These arc all new re-recordings. In ‘ Three Fanciful Etchings ’ wo are introduced for the first time to music that has long been popular to concert audiences. They are tender and romantic,' full of sparkle and colour, and are played with a lluent grace and crisp tone that will surely do much to make them as popular as the older favourites. Ketelbey shows a rich and inexhaustible vein of melodic invention. CLARA BUTT. (1) ‘Abide With Me’ (Liddle), (2) ' God Shall Wipe Away All Tears ’ (Sullivan). Sung by Dame Clara Butt, contralto.—Recently- a London critic declared that only tour artists were capable of filling the Albert Hall, and only one was a woman. She, of course,-was Clara Butt. And all through that long reign of Songdom her most popular number has been ‘ Abide With Me.’ She was in magnificent voice on the day she made this record. Her chest notes are as rich and resonant as ever, and in this newer recording of two old favourites she has improved her tempo considerably. WAGNER’S POETIC PRELUDE. ‘ Lohengrin,' introduction act 1., in two parts (Wagner). Willem' Mengelberg conducting the Concertbouw Orchestra.—Tins famous orchestra is ideally suited to the ethereal atmo-‘ sphere of Wagner’s exquisite prelude. The richness of the sounds of the strings and woodwinds produce a delightful piece of tone colouring, as good as any yet heard on any record. The gradual crescendo movements reaching up to the fortissimo are managed marvellously by Mengelberg’s orchestra. None of the loveliness of the music has been lost in this electric recording, which took place in a hall famous for its acoustics. A TSCHAIKOWSKY TRIO': 1 Trio No, 2 ’ .(in memory of a great artist, Tschaikowsky). Arthur Catterall (violin), William Murdoch (pianist), and W. H. Squire (’cello).—No finer example of Tscnaikowsky’s original and characteristic melody and harmony can be found than in the great trio for piano, violin, and ’cello. This was dedicated to “ the memory of a great artist.” his friend Nicholas Rubinstein, who died in 1881. It is remarkable on account of its length and the fact that it is in two movements instead of the usual four. The “ pezzo' elegiaco ” is rather more nasslonate than dooms in

feeling. Although the principal subject has the solemn grandeur of a funeral march, the second subject marches on with triumphant energy. The second movement consists of an air and variations which ■ arc wonderful, ranging from a brilliant waltz to the sad strains; of a funeral march, while in places of climax the treatment of the instruments is almost orchestral in its intensity and power. ALFRED O’SHEA ONCE MOKE. (1) ‘Parted’ (Tosti), (2) ‘I Hear You Calling Me.’ Sung by Allred O’Shea.—The visit of Alfred O’Shea is very fresh in the minds of New Zealanders. Those who heard him will like a record of bis fine voicethose wlio missed the treat of actually hearing him will find much compensation m this record. The pleasing lyric of Jus voice is beautifully recorded and heard to full advantage in ‘ Parted,’ and the clearness of his enunciation increases the pleasure. In addition to thmpiano the violin obbligato by blends sympathetically with the voice of this singer. JOSEPH SZIGETI. (1) ‘ Menuet ’ (Debussy), (2) ‘ Tambourin Cliinois’ (Kreisler) ; .Violin solos by Joseph Szigeti.—-For sheer technical accuracy alone Szigeti would be hard to beat, for his two latest violin solos give an astonishing exhibition of double stopping and accurate — amazingly accurate —staccato playing. But Szigeti, at present enjoying a wonderful season in America, is something more than a craftsman. The mellifluous singing tone and his powers of building up the subject Jie plays come from the mind, not the hand. There is a shimmering delicacy about Debussy’s ‘ Menuet ’ that only a supreme artist could have preserved.