MUSICAL RECORDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20514, 15 March 1930, Page 10 (Supplement)

MUSICAL RECORDS.

Pablo Casals is a great 'cellist. His i latest llis Master's Voice record consists. • of two Spanish dances, played with fine j lhvthmic sense and with their plentiful j variations brought out excellently by a fine pianoforte accompaniment by Nickolai MednikelT. There is plenty oi Spanish music in the latest His Master's Voice list, and the Casals record is well up to the high standard. Something unusual in orchestral music ! is provided on two His Master s V oice records of the ballet music from Massenet's "Le Cid." Played by the New Symphony Orchestra, under Eugene Goosens, there is a living, vibrant quality in the music. The rhythm is well marked and the tone crisp and clear. The music is really descriptive of the dances and customs" of the various provinces of Spain and some exceedingly line musical contrasts are drawn. A superb His Master's Voice record is made of the duet in the second act of Puccini's " Manon Lescaut," between Manon and Des Grieux, where the latter finds Manon, is reconciled, and sings with her an impassioned love duet into which Puccini has put considerable beauty as well as passionate ardour. Margaret Sheridan and Aureliano Fertile sing this music splendidly;' they sing it expressively and agreeably, "and do not enter into the sort of competition one hears sometimes. The orchestra of La Scala, Milan, is capitally recorded. . Miss Harriet Cohen has already interpreted through Columbia the grave, almost private, beauty of the Bach Fugues and Preludes. Something of the same detached spirit she brings to Chopin's Etude in C Sharp Major, recognised as the finest of the Op. 25 series. The air of pensive serenity suits her gracious mood to perfection. While she has no fiery outbursts, she holds us absorbed from first note to last with her appreciation of rich poetic meanings. She is an artist and intellectual. It •is over fourteen years since " The Maid of the Mountains" first delighted wartime Britain, and still its favourite songs are fresh in our minds. Gladys Moncrieff chooses two of the most popular for <1 new Columbia record, and treats them with that wealth of feeling and consummate artistry of which she alone is capable. * Miss Moncrieff ha? few equals in musical comedy, and in spite of hexmore recent triumphs this will rank high among her records. The recording, particularly in " Love Will Find a Way," is excellent. In his latest record for His Master's Voice, Jascha Heifetz appears more in the light of an artist than a most capable craftsman. In some of his past records it has appeared that he has tried to dazzle by technique alone, but in Achron's arrangement of Mendelssohn's " On Wings of Song," he has developed a finely-drawn melodic touch. Of course, Heifetz still employs the same masterly technique, but this record has an added note of musical sincerity. On the reverse side are De Falla's " Jota," and Geig's " Puck," two musical miniatures of rare grace. Hie pianoforte accompaniment by Isidor Achron is sympathetic and well balanced. A 1 welcome recording in the new Columbia list is a pairing of two of Sir Hamilton Harty's old favourites, played by the Halle Orchestra. His arrangement of the Londonderry Air throws it into concerto form, giving a violin solo to Alfred Harker. The scheme is a great success. The fine line of melody is. persuasively attacked in clean style, and keeps its original song-like quality. Sir Hamilton gives the tune the voice of his and its own native hearth, and its effect is rich and sincere. The Scherzo ontbe reverse side, "An Irish bymphony, is the best known of his compositions, bright and happy and witty in a typically Irish manner. " Romanza Andaluza" (Sarasate) and " Mazurka" (Zarzycki) have been excellently recorded as violin solos by Bronislaw Huberman. This is the first of Hnberman's Columbia records, and the debut is brilliantly successful. Huberman is without question one of the greatest living violinists. Warmth and humanity gleam in every note, and while he dazzles with his fiery chromatic runs and amazing double stopping, his style is perpetually singing; there are no fireworks for fireworks sake. The Sarasate " Romanza" glows with colour, personality, and vitality; there is an alluring Spanish voluptuousness throughout the sensuous rhythm. The Mazurka has a Bohemian tinge, reminiscent of tho wilder Liszt rhapsodies. Huberman's clean, vigorous tone records with astonishing fidelity. Giovannni Martinelli has reached a high artistic place in the operatic world, particularly at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; where he has taken Caruso's place in the big dramatic roles. His last His Master's Voice record of two arias from Giordano's " Andrea Chenier " is a singularly successful one, being entirely free from the nasal quality which marred several of the tenor's pro-electrical recordings; his voice being clear, resonant, and the high notes of'rin£i% quality. The passionate linprovisso " Un di all azzuro " is sung dramatically, and with force, while in the romantic " Come un bel di,". sung in the last act of the opera by Chenier, who is awaiting his execution on the altar of revolutionary liberty, Martinelli uses his voice very artistically, and his expressive singing is supported by a superbly recorded orchestral accompaniment. Ten years ago they said t,hat Delius as a creative artist lived in a warmscented boudoir. But his blindness seems now to have given him an inward sight of the countryside. His newest music, of which " The Nightingale " and " Evening voices " are happiest examples, are as " open-air " as any folk song. A fresh natural charm, like a breeze off an orchard, hovers around them. They are not simple in texture. Delius is too cunning a technician to be artless. But they are simple and lovable in thought, and it is this quality that Miss Dora Labett has brought out on a new Columbia record. Few singers are better qualified than she to do so. A purity of expression and lone inform all her work. She—and we, foo, for that matter —are fortunate in having Sir Thomas Jieecham as accompanist, for Sir Thomas is in constant touch with Delius-,, and may be taken as his most authoritative interpreter. One of the most attractive musical romances of recent years, " The New Moon," has enjoyed a splendid run in both London and New York,, and records that have reached this country show that it contains some more than ordinarily brilliant music. Columbia has produced a. line series of 'records' by the 'original Drury Lane artists, including the charmin"- 'Evelyn • Layc, • the manly-voiced llowett Worster, and that brilliant comedian, Gene Gerrard. Evelyn Lave and Howett Worster are heard at their best in two of the most attractive songs, " Wanting You " and " The Girl on the Row." Ben Williams' Chorus, from Drury Lane, sings " Softly, as in . a Morning Sunrise," and, with, llowett Worster, "Marianne" , and "Stouthearted Men." Evelyn Laye and chorus give a beautiful rendering of two of the love songs, " One Kiss," and " Lover, Come Back to Me." The humorous songs " Gorgeous Alexander," and tho Wedding Chorus are sung by Gcno Germrd.