RECORDED MUSIC

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 111, 10 April 1926, Page 7

RECORDED MUSIC

WEEK’S MEW RECORDS. Choral music lias come at last to its own on tho disc, to judge from recent H.M.V. • triumphs. Unknown to tho vast audience at tho Royal Albert Hall in London, a gramophone 10cord from the Royal Choral Society’s rendering of the “Messiah” has been made during the performance, the experiment (says a reviewer) included the combined music of the great organ, a choir of some eight hundred voices, and an orchestra of eighty musicians. It is the result of the acquisition of His Master’s Voice Company of the sole rights of recording music in the Albert Hall, and in future records of choruses, instrumental solos and full orchestras, are to be made there from time to time. I have just heard two advance copies of “Worthy is the Lamb,” and “Lift Up Your Hoads,” I can onlv deecribo them on truly wonderful.

To all those who come from the north of the Tweed, whoso hearts are in the Highlands (or even tho Lowlands); all those who lovo tho land of the mountain and tho flood; who have sat beneath tho rowan tree, or plucked the red berries from the mountain ash; who have speared the haggis, and waxed fat (or kept lean) on “parritch”; whose ruue forefathers fed their flocks on yonder Grampian hills (or maybe the Cheviots) whoso ancestors fought wi’ Bruce, or perhaps wi’ Wallace bled (not to mention bonny Prince Charlie); all those who, in short, belong to “over the borrder,” to all these, and probably a good proportion- of Southerners, tho recent Scottish supplement issued hy His Master’s Voice, should make a powerful appeal. There are records here (says a reviewer) which without doubt will mean the banging of many saxpences. Songs, traditional and otherwise, recitations in the vernacular, selections by the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, danco music, including reels and strathspeys, and a potpourri of Scottish airs by the band of H.M. Royal Air Force, all go to make up a good list. There is one red label record —Joseph Hislop, the famous Scotch tenor, Singing “MacGregor’s Gathering” and “Bonnie Wee Thing,” and one black label, both 10-inch, of tho Glasgow Choir, singing “An Eriskay Lovo Lilt” (very beautiful in this), and “Scots wlia’ hae.” All the others aro plum label, and include Alexander MacGregor, baritone, and Andrew Shanks, bass, in some of the best known traditional ballads of Scotland, all sung as they should be sung, by vocalists steoped in thetruo traditions of Scottish melody. Miss Bloss Heron, soprano, and Miss Cruo Davidson, contralto, who sings, among other favourites, “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond,” supply tho ladies share of tho contributions, and both have beautiful and sympathetic voices. As a fine epitome of Scottish sentiment the band of H.M. Royal Air Forco supply “Reminiscences of Scotland,” in two parts, splendidly played.

A good many records of the Hallelujah Chorus, by the way, have been mado at various times, and by all sorts of choirs, but one of the first, if not the very first, to claim attention, and which 1 still have in my collection (states a correspondent), was the ono issued by Zonophone, sung by tho “Festival Chorus.” This must bo over fifteen years ago I It is still in the catalogue, and the serial number is Al 4 (12in. double-sided). In the foreground of the chorus one celebrated voice stands out above the others and can easily bo identified. It is the voice of Peter Dawson, and is easily distinguished at the words, “And Ho shall reign for ever and ever.” On the reverse of the disc will be found one of the few vocal recordings of tho “Pilgrim’s Chorus” from “Tannhauser,” and a very good one, too, oven now.

“Summer is Gone” (Coleridge-Tay-lor); “Cargoes” (H. Balfour Gardiner) are sung by the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, unaccompanied, conducted by Hugh fc>. Robertson. Another noteworthy choral recording on a smaller scale, but showing some fine vocal contrasts will bo found in Balfour Gardiner’s “Cargoes,” and the Coleridge-Taylor composition is one of melodious charm. The recording again brings out the lights and shades of the ensemble in the most faithful manner.

•“Cradle Song” (No. 1); “Rann of Exile” (No. 2, “Three Irish Songs”) (Arnold Bax) are sung by Anne Thursfield, mezzo-soprano, with pianoforte accompaniment, played by Gerald Moore. Two uncommon songs —but they are from the pen of an uncommon composer—both uncommonly well sung. There is something elusive, almost spiritual, about these Irish melodies as conceived by Arnold Bax. “Leonora Overture, No. 3”; three sides; fourth side, “Rosamunde,” ballot music in G (Schubert). Beethoven, as most people ax-e aware, only wrote one opera, “Leonora” (afterwards called “Eidelio”), but to this opera, in a more than usually selfcritical attitude, ho wrote no less than four ovei'tures. Of these, the present one, No. 3, is not only the finest but by far the most popular. That this popularity is thoroughly well deserved no one can doubt for a moment on listening to the wonderful vitality of the- music. The overture is in the conventional form of the period, which may bo termed a compressed symphony form —a slow and impressive introduction, followed by an allego, in which the chief theme of the overture is' introduced and developed and a thrilling and glorious linale. All in all, the overture represonts Beethoven at his finest. Several remarkable features stand out; the dramatic and effective handling of the various themes, the trumpet fanfare (in the second part), first played off and afterwards repeated at close quarters, the massive syncopated chords, and the wonderful rushing scale passages; in the finale. The overture, liowever, is full of both beautiful and dramatic music, which the hearer musj> assimilate at his leisure. It is splendidly played by the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, as is the entrancing ballet music from “Rosamunde” on the odd side.

“Sultanto a te” (“Only for you”), sung in Italian (Fucito); “Vagliissima Sembiauza” (“A vague resemblance”), are sung in Italian (Donaudy) by the late Enrico Caruso, tenor, with orchestral accompaniment. It will, no doubt, surprise many to know that there are still a few Caruso records which have not yet been heard by the public, and the issue of these posthumous treasures, of which the present record is one, becomes something like an historic musical event. The record is a magnificent one. The glorious voice remained, up to the last, unimpaired in its beauty and superb power. A record to which even the least imaginative cannot listen without a thrill,