MUSICAL RECORDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18891, 13 December 1924, Page 8 (Supplement)

MUSICAL RECORDS.

The most ambitious oE the gcaraophone records that liavo been recently issued is a complete reproduction of Puccini's opera " Mxdat.no Butterfly.'' This has been recorded on 14 doublo-sided 12in. records; the version presented contains every note, .if the customary stage performance as it. is authorised by its composer. The opera is sung in English., and Mr. Tudor Davies, Miss Rosina Buckman, and Mr. Frederick Ranalow take tho principal parts, while Mr. Eugene Goossens conducts tha orchestra. In the love duet at the end of the first act (the fifth record) she is as pleasing as might "he expected, and then, together with Mr Tudor Davies. she, sings easily and well. Mr. Ranalow (Sharpless) in the middle of the second act is heard to distinct advantage. Miss Bessie Jones (as Kate Pinkerton) and Mr. Edward Halland (as Princo Yamadori) both give an excellent performance, and the orchestra plays admirably throughout, without ever tending to obscure or overshadow the singers. Nov.- that the lighter type of Grand Opera has been proved to be so much to the taste of the British public, this series of records should be exceedingly popular.

The Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, conducted on* this occasion by the composer himself, presents in the January list two dances from Edward German's " Tho Conqueror," and the prelude to tho 1 flirt I act of his well-known " Henry VIII. Suite." German's music is light without being ephemeral, full of grace and elegance, very rhythmic and exhilarating, and in the " Conqueror " excerpts—" Dance of the Children" and "Satyr Dance "—his characteristic style is admirably displayed. The prelude is a melodious ami colourful conception, which charms the ear and delights the. senses.

Whenever T hear of ,-, new record by the veteran Eielgian pianist, Arthur tie Greef. I make haste to hear it, for excellence with him is a reliable and sustained attribute. He is among the January records with a double disc which includes two French village dances and a Spanish '" Seguidilla." The former are from the album of ({retry, a French com poser, who wrote in the laic eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, in a tuneful style characteristic of the period, which immediately preceded a wave, of Italian influence, aiid arc titled " Colinettc a la Cour " (No 3), and " L'Epreuvo Villapeoise " (No. 5). The " Seguidilla " (No. 5 from tlie album of Albeuiz), is in the .style of the Grauados music, made familiar to" gramophonists by Hcifetz, Caruso and other exponents of the beautiful mush of Old Spain. A desirable record, splendidly recorded.

I referred the other day to a healing of a new harpsichord record which appealed to me very much. On looking up references to recorded music from this ancestor of the pianoforte, I find that Mrs. Violet, Woodhouse has played quite a number of harpsichord numbers for the delcction of gramophone students of the ivory keys. This list may be useful: — " Arlequin, L " (Couperin. 1660-1733) ; (bj Tambourin (Ramcau. 1683-1764), and Gavotte (Purcell, 1658-1695): (b) Prelude (Bach. 1685-1750). First English Suite, First. Movement (Bach), and Harmonious Blacksmith, Suite No. 5 (air and variations) (Handel). Fugue in J) Minor (Bach, 1685-1750), and Fugue in E Minor (Bach. 1685-1750). Nobody's Gigge (from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book) (Farnaby/ (circa 17th century), and Three Euglish FoHc Dances—Newcastle: Hcddon of Fawslcv: Step Back (air. Cecil J. Sharp). Sonata in A Major (Scarlatti, 1685-1757), and Sonata in D Major (Scarlatti, 16351757).

The Minster Choir has been recorded in a number of Christmas offerings— "Sweet Christmas Bells" (Stainer), " Christina,? Bells " (Bridge), " The First Nowcll," ' When the Crimson Sun has Set": the Westminster Cathedral Choir in " Adeste Fideles," " Come to the Manger." " Ping Out with Jocund Chime," " Good People, All." " Arise. Shine." "To Us a Child is Born," "An Old French Carol," and a harmonisation of " Nazareth."

Edna Thornton, John Harrison, Stewart Gardner, and Percival Allen have been associated as a quartet in recordings of " Good King Weiicesclaus" " When Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night," "Hark, the Herald Angels," and " The Mistletoe Bough." The Coldstream Guards Band also has given us " A Christmas Fantasia," bracketed to " All on a Christmas Morning," and " Christmas Gems," to which is bracketed " Jolly Boys." The star Christmas offering is undoubtedly John MacCormack, assisted by chorus and orchestra, in " Adeste Fideles." All the foregoing is subject to the question whether the dealers are stocked up with the. records mentioned, but common-sense, one would imagine, would suggest such a seasonable provision weeks ahead, rsew Year music seems to be at a discount, the only recording I can trace being the Coldstream Guards' " New Year's Eve."

The recetit arrival of recorded selections from Boito's mystery opera. " Nerone." recalls the fact that Rubinstein also wrote an opera about the fiddle of the Roman conflagration. There were four acts in the opera, which was first performed at Haniburg in 1879. Recorded music from Rubinstein's "Nero " include " Ah! Mori Sort!" (Caruso), and " Epitolamio " (Battistini).

Smirnoff, the famous Russian tenor, | whose latest recording is a. feature of j the January list, was born in 1881, and made his debut in Rubinstein's " Demon," at the Moscow Imperial Opera House on April 26, 1904, with extraordinary success. I Other appearances followed in Paris in 1 1907, and at Monte Carlo, where he quickly won the sympathies of the international I public, Smirnoff has also earned great I renown :.n Brussels and Madrid, and in | the autumn of 1910 he appeared with ! brilliant, success at the Metropolitan ! Opera House in New York, where he sang j throughout the winter season. In the i spring of the following year he toured in ! Buenos Ayres and Montevideo. Smirnoff, jin the early years of his public career, j appeared with equal frequency in Moscow and Pctrograd, hut las of late sung almost exclusively in E'etrograd, Bis debut iin the Russian opera, season at Drury Lane in 1914 was brilliantly successful.

.Mr. N'oriKin Allin has mack Mowssorgsky's witty song. "The .Seminarist," available for all who have a gramophone. 1 ; is sung with a refreshing [ cle.arnes:- of diction, and sound judgment of the character of the song—the piety of I the cloister used as a mark for thoughts entirely foreign to an ecclesiastical atmosphere. The clever patter alternating with G'egorian strains is clearly the ! work of an audacious genius as the i composer was, and as Mr. All in evidently : perceives ami make- his hearers under.stand.

There is nothing more enjoyable than l| j male part-singing when it. is wejl done. I ! The Holmo Valley Male. Voice Choir, an I ! English organisation which scored a great i success in recent competitions in London ■ against all comers, can now be heard in I New Zealand through the medium of the gramophone, as the chosen best of a I large number of competing British male choirs. Their singing of the ancient drinking soug, "Down Among the Deadmen," secured them first place, and on bearing it on the machine, it is no wonder. It was arranged for them by T)r. Vaughan Williams. Its Bacchanalian character is preserved, and yob as a piece of part singing it is perfect, in. the observance of light and tshade, and the j i smart attack anrl crisp conclusion. "Comrades in Arma," » verv different piece, ' , l«b^^^J^»fr«Lt^Lj^udo.-«rjlßtiiitv