MUSICAL RECORDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21030, 14 November 1931, Page 10 (Supplement)

MUSICAL RECORDS.

Two vocal numbers, The Song is Dono" and " I'll Always bo True," arc sung by'Mario Burko on a recent Columbia disc. Mario Burko is a comedienne and popular singer famed . throughout the Empire. Her multitudinous admirers will thoroughly enjoy her latest coupling of two very catchy ditties. Tho first is the theme song of a Continental film.

Strauss' waltz, " A Thousand and One Nights," is played by the British Symphony Orchestra under Felix Weingartner to Columbia recording. This waltz is one of the most popular of all the. Strauss waltzes, asid was written by the second Johann Strauss, who died at the end of last century. Weingartner has made a masterly recording of this lovely and popular dance movement, Tho gay and colourful melodies that make up this waltz are played with a lilt that is wellnigh irresistible. The instrumentation is a wealth of colour in itself, and the British Symphony Orchestra does full justice to Strauss' lavish score. The American tenor, Richard Crooks, ■who recently recorded tho " Serenade " from The Student Prince," has now made a record of two of Caruso's favourites, " For You Alone " (Geehl) and " Because " (d'Hardelot). Crooks has a true dramatic voice, generous in volume and of clear and even quality, and fie sings with casual effortlessness. There is no straining and no unnecessary dramatics. Both songs are interpreted with power and dignity, conviction and skill. The top notes are taken firmly and ring out as clearly as a bell, and one gains the impression that the singer has always a little in reserve. The recording is bv His Master's Voice.

Two of Liszt's most beautiful, short compositions for the piano, " Dance of the Gnomes " and " Love's Message," a transcription of Schubert's lovely little song, are exquisitely played by Professor Egon Petri, who was the favourite pupil of the great Busoni. " Dance of the Gnomes " is a fantastic conception, bristling with difficulties, but nothing is allowed to mar the pianist's lucidity of touch or phrasing. Not only does he meet the technical demands of the work with astonishing ease, but lie a3so""infuses into his playing tho inner qualities of musical enthusiasm. The tenderness, sentiment, and grace of " Love's Message " are played with a full sense of intimacy. The melody is given a full yet soft singing quality, which is realistically reproduced 011 the gramophone in this His Master's Voice recording.