RECORDED MUSIC.”

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 164, 12 June 1926, Page 7

RECORDED MUSIC.”

There is no truer music than the' old English chorals. They abound in simplicity, but like the folk-song, are full of melody and delicious sweetness. On salo are three records by St. Swithin’s Choir: Hark! the herald angels sing 0, corao all ye faithful liail, smiling morn While shepherd’s watch their flocks Good King Wenceslas Christians awake 1 e They are sung faithful to tradition and there is a subdued effect that is distinctly pleasing.- The choir sings with fine spirit and clear tone. These records are indispensable to church choirs. Peter Dawson is still a young man, but he is a very old friend of gramophone lovers. He easily holds the record for the number of recordings—running into thousands —but still the demand is not satisfied. Dawson- is nothing if nob versatile. From Mozart ho goes to English Ballad, from Gilbert and Sullivan to sacred solos, and is popular in all. His latest disc contains “Wood Magic” (Martin Shaw) “House of Mine” (D. Stewart) The first is distinctly original and gives Dawson full scope. His resonant organ complies with all the subtleties of light and shade. “House of i Min e” is a straightforward song requiring manly interpretation, and this is given. One has only to listen to the incessant clamour for a season of Gilbert ! and Sullivan operas to realise the great popularity of these delightful works. Gilbert and Sullivan are. typically English and for this alone they are always welcome. Gilbert was, 1 perhaps, the greatest librettist that 1 ever lived, while the light and tuneful music of his colleague lias been likened to that of Mozart. Thus it is pleasing to see that the H.M.V. Company are catering for lovers of these delightful works and in their recording of the operas' in complete form they have secured no less a personage than Mr Rupert D’Oyly Carte. >So far they have issued the following: “The Mikado,” “The Gondoliers,” . “The Yeoman of the Guard,” “Patience,” “lolanthe,” “Pirates of Penzance” and “H.M.S. Pinafore.”

Wendell Hall, composer of “It Ain’t Goin’ to Rain, No, Mo,” has two more jolly numbers just to hand on an H.M.V. disc:

Sunshine (Ain’t tho Sunshine Grand) Litle Liiuly Lou. His style and mannerisms are really infectious.

Tom Ivinneburgh gives us four records, and all are most acceptable. We have “The Road to tho Isles” (traditional), and “The Piper of Dundee” (traditional), “To Mary in Heaven” (K. Lees) and “Auld Scotch Mither Mine” (G. A.' Stevens), “AVhero the Hiclan’ Meets the Low” (A. Stroud) and “The Land o’ the Leal” (traditional), “Scottish Emigrant’s Farewell” (Alexander Hume and Gleadhill), “Be Kind to Auld Grannie” (T. S. Gleadhill). The Black Diamonds Band also contributes materially to the Scottish supplement, and gives a fantasia of Scottish melodies, entitled “Songs of the North.” On the disc are “Macgregor’s Gathering.” “Roy’s AA’ifo of Aldovalloch,” “Highland Laddie,” “AA'ill Ye No Come Back Again,” “Duncan Gray,” “The AA’ind that Shakes tho Barley,” “Auld Lang Syne.” There is also another record by the band with a Scottish switch of one-step.

Tho now famous fox-trot “Moonlight and Roses,” played by the Savoy Orpheus, is included in tho new list of dance records issued by the H.M.V. Company. Inquiries for this record have been persistent for some time, and its arrival will, no doubt, be welcome news. Tho same band also plays the following fox-trots: —“Normandy and Charleston Baby-Mine,” “Araby and Echoes of Ireland.”

The adoption of the gramophone in tho schools naturally creates the demand for children’s records, and tho latest H.M.V. issue contains some beautiful discs suitablo for the kiddies. They can bo relied upon to keep the children amused for hours on end, and are eminently suited for kindergarten work. Those by Uncle Charlie are: “The Cuckoo Clock,” “Miss Priscilla Prim,” “Bubble Land,” “Bubble Town Frolics,” “Jack in the Box,” “The Brown Family.” r By Auntie Agnes there are “The Pixie Fiddler,” “Stars and Moonbeams.”

There is a new H.M.V. record that takes us back to the dear old days of the country dance. Under the leadership ol J. Michael Diack the Scottish County Dance Band renders two traditional' airs “Triumph,” “The Haymakers.” They are real music and should be in any danco collection.

Guilhermina Suggia, the ’cellist, still upholds her reputation, this time with Boccherini’s “Sonata in A Major.” There is much sequential treatment which provides a glimpse of her unlimited talent. She plays with the freedom of mastership, and there is strength and clarity in the tone of the instrument. The English critics call Suggia the queen of the ’cello, and here does she prove that they are not far astray.

It is not generally known that Frances Alda, a popular H.M.Vartist, is a New Zealander, who was born in Christchurch, and who was at one time associated with the late Mr Tom Pollard. She was subsequently under Madame Marchesi, the tutor of

Nanette!” for several nights. Miss Beatty was last here in “The O’Brien Girl” and “Little Nellie Kelly.” She is a worthy product of New Zealand.

The comedian, Billy Bennett, who is billed as “Almost, a Gentleman,” and l who was the outstanding success at I tho Royal command performance at The ! Alhambra Theatre, London, on May 27, greatly amusing Their Majesties, is t leaving for Australia at an early date (says a cable to the Sydney papers).

Melba, and made her debut in Paris in 1904. Since then she has appeared with marked success at the leading Opera Houses in the Old and New Worlds, and has taken many of the principal roles in the great operas. She is the possessor of a rich and cultivated voice.