MUSICAL RECORDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19298, 10 April 1926, Page 8 (Supplement)

MUSICAL RECORDS.

Messiah Chorus. Choral music has come at last to its own on the disc, to judge from recent triumphs. ! Unknown to the vast audience at the Royal Albert Hall in London, a gramophone record from the Royal Choral Society's rendering of the ".Messiah" has been made during the performance. The experiment included the combined mus'c of the great organ, a choir of some 000 voices, and an orchestra of 80 musicians. Writing of the results of the recording of the Royal Choral Society's performance of "The Messiah," at the Albert. Hall, an enthusiast says:— For a Messu'h chorus the finest 1 have yet heard is "L'f up your Heads." The tone is good, and the balance between chorus and orchestra is excellent. What, however, impressed me the most was the splendidly sonorous organ chords at the end; the including the Ijltuba of Uie Albert Ilall instrument., come through so well that it made me hope for some solos some day. Referring to another choral disc, the same writer says: —The "Soldiers' Chorus," from "Faust," reverts to the ''all for power" idea, but a recently re- j ceived record of the march from "Carmen" is very fine. Some people may think at first that the orchestra is too strong, but this seems to be the correct reading of the scene. The musical idea lies ni the march played by the .orchestra &s the procession enters the bull rui me chorus represents the interjected remarks of the crowd until they join with one voice in their welcome to Escamilo, a fine climax, cleverly led up to. The "Kermesse," from "Faust," on the reveise, is very good, too. Another recording masterpiece is Arnold Bax's unaccompanied motet, "Mater ora Filium," sung bv the Leeds Festival Choir. lam inclined to class fMis as the very finest choral recording yet produced in the whole history of the gramophone (declares a reviewer). The music, first of all, reveals Arnold Bax as one of the supremo masters in the handling of modern polyphony, in his insight for vocal effect, and his wonderful command of harmonic resource. In this work, which never loses touch with its mystical subject, we have phases of powerful climax and moments of exquisite beauty. The themes are wrought into a tonal fabric which recreates for us the genuine medieval atmosphere, but the picture glows, nevertheless, wth the rich tints of modern harmonic colour. The magnificent singing of the huge choir is recorded with all Hie spacious resonance which belongs to the performance of such a work, and one has even the acoustic impression of the voices rising and falling along the vaulted aisle of a great cathedral. The genius and craftsmanship of Bax, however, can only be fully appreciated by those who have soaked themselves in the work of the early polyphonic masters.

Highland Music. To all those who come from the north of the Tweed, whose hearts are in the Highlands (or even the Lowlands) ; all those who love the land of the mountain and the flood; who have sat beneath the 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 rude forefathers fed their flocks on yonder Grampian Hills (or maybe the Cheviots); whose ancestors fought wi' Bruce, or perhaps wi' Wallace bled (not to mention bonny Prince Charlie); all those who, in short, belong to "over the borrrder," to all these, and probably to a goodly proportion of Southerners, the recent Scottish supplement issued by one large record producer 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, dance music, including reels and strathspeys, and a pot pourri 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 10in., of the Glasgow Choir singing "An Eriskay Love Lilt" (very beautiful is this), and "Scots wha' line." All the others are 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 steeped in the true traditions of Scottish melody. Miss Bloss Herron, soprano, and Miss Crue Davidson, contralto, who sings, among other favourites, "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond," supply the ladies' share of the contributions, and both have beautiful and sympathetic voices. As a fine epitome of Scottish sentiment the band of H.M. Royal Air Force supply "Reminiscences of Scotland," in two parts, splendidly played.

Florence Austral, who lias a deserved reputation in the field of oratorio singing, is fine in the Mendelssohn number, " Hear ye Israel," from " Elijah," and the Hnndelian " From Mighty Kings he took the Spoil," (" Judas Maccaheus"). These two songs serve to illustrate once more the undeniable truth that in oratorio music, at any rate, England is as rich as any country in the world. " Judas Maccabeus " was written to English words, and for English audiences. Handel lived most of his life in that country. The case of Mendellssohn is even more remarkable; his home was in Germany and hir. language German; yet it was for the English city of Birmingham that he wrote " Elijah," his great- 1 est. work, himself supervising the translation of the original German libretto into our tongue for the occasion of the first production in 1846. A higher tribute to British choirs and British oratorio tradition one could hardly desire.