THE GRAMOPHONE

Southland Times, Issue 19279, 25 June 1924, Page 10

THE GRAMOPHONE

Records of the Recordings

(By “Vox Fopuli.”)

The recording of Mr Massey’s Empire Day speech is an event of which people should take notice. New Zealanders of all political shades can take pride in the fact that the Prime Minister of the Dominion was singled out for the honour of being the first to have a message broadcasted by records after the King and Queen had shown to what good purpose the gramaphone may be put.

A correspondent revives an old question in asking for the best method of storing records. Discs left flat have the advantage that warping is less likely, but they are not so manipulated as when standing on edge, and it is noticeable that in all gramophone shops the records are left on the edge. Nearly all the gramophone Companies, too, issue their record cabinets for storing in this fashion. One thing necesary to watch is that good stout envelopes are used and that the records are protected from dust as far as possible. Don’t put them where the sun or damp can reach them—if you overlook this precaution warped records will soon bring you to your senses.

It would be difficult to imagine (says a London critic) a voice better suited to Handelian music than that of the eminent basso-cantante, Mr Norman Williams. Here js an artist who, to say the least, sings with dramatic force, surprising power, and, withal, a wonderful ease. His enunciation is so remarkably distinct that not even a single word need be missed —the foregoing apropos of a Handel bracket, “Hear Me, Ye Winds and Waves,” (from “Scipio”), and “Love That’s True Will Live For Ever” (“Berenice”).

An overture that ought to be better known by lovers of recorded music is Schubert’s bright and tuneful “Rosamunde.” This opens with an imposing andante movement, followed with a brilliant allegro vivace. A recording by the Court Symphony Orchestra makes a worthy addition to one’s orchestral collection.

Gustave Holst is regarded as one of our greatest present-day composers, and, despite his name, a native-born Englishman. His march, written especially for the military band, embraces a “Morris Dance,” “Swansea Town,” and “Claudy Banks,” and, together with the song without words (‘Til Love My Love”) and the “Song of the Blacksmith,” were collected in Hampshire. “The Fantasia on the Dargason” is almost identical with the “Finale of St. Paul’s Suite,” written by Holst for a string orchestra. The Band of H.M. Scots Guards, under the skilful direction of Lieutenant F. W. Wood, presents a fine interpretation of the old-world ideas contained in this bright and fascinating music (remarks a northern critic in dealing with the record.) There are some attractive combinations in the H.M.V. list of Celebrity double-sided records as the following lists show: Chaliapin: D.B. 102—“ The Midnight Review” (Glinka) and “The Two Grenadiers” (Schumann). D.B. 105—“ The Prophet” (Rimsky-Kor-sakov) and “The Song of the Vulga Boat Haulers” (arranged by Koenemann). Licrezia Bori: D.B. 603—“0 gioia la nube” (from “Segreto di Susanna,” by Wolf-Ferrari and “Oh! che volo d'augelli” from Leoncavallo’s “I Pagliacci.” Carlot : D.B. 643 —“The Fountain,” by Revel, and the “Caprice Poetique,” by Liszt. Emmy Destinn: Djß. 647—“ Ave Maria” (Bach-Gounod) and “Un bel di vedremo” (One Fine Day) from “Madame Butterfly.” Michile Fleta: D.B. 525—“Ay, Ay, Ay,” (Perez) and “Henchildo de amor santo,” from “La Dolores” (Breton). Joseph Hislop: DJB. 522 —“Che Gelida Manima,” from “La Boheme,” and “Addio alia Madre,” from “Cavalleria Rusticana” (Mascagni). Kirkby Lunn: D/B. 509—“Printemps qui commence,” and “Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix,” from “Samson and Dalila” (SaintSaens). Snurnoff: D.B. 193 —“Chanson Georgienne,” by Rachmaninov, and “Daylight Slowly Fades” (Borodin). The only criticism of these arrangements one may make is that the Destinn record was not used to us the two “Madame Buterfly” numbers. Emmy Destinn’s singing of the finale to Puccini’s opera is a magnificent piece of dramatic eclipsing her “One Fine Day” and it would be preferable to have these two on the same record. Two numbers from “Samson and Dalila” are combined in the Kirkly Lunn record and Geraldine Farrar has a record with two- numbers from/’Faust.”

In a review article on the latest London releases, a critic says of a recording by Selma Kurz of a vocal Chopin “Nocturne” (with flute obbligato by John Amadio), and Gounod’s “Serenade”: I am not en tirely in favour of arranging piano works as vocal solos, especially when the composer is Chopin. His genius was so characteristically pianistic that it suffers by transference into any other medium. But from this prejudice the record is most remarkable, not only as an exhibition of vocal virtuosity (though there is no lack of that) but as an object lesson in really beautiful singing. The Gounod “Serenade” requires little comment, but the flute adds materially to the effect of the whole and blends agreeably with the voice.

Madame Kirkby Lunn’s just-published recording of “Love is a Dream” (Percy Pitt), and “The Heart Worship” (Holst), evokes the following criticism by a London reviewer:—“Why Madame Kirkby Lunn should have linked ‘Love is a Dream’ with ‘The Heart Worship’ I cannot understand, unless she wished to show us the difference between a good song and a bad song. The curious thing is that the two have a superficial similarity apart from the names, as witness, for instance, the accompaniment in chords; but the words of Mr Hoist’s song breathe a lofty 'mysticism while those of Mr Pitt’s are of a type with which we are only too familiar. Each composer has done justice to his material! Madame Kirkby Lunn and Mr Craxton, as usual, have made the best of a good job, and of a bad one.”

Thus The Gramophone (edited by Compton Mackenzie) on de Greef’s recording of Liszt's Twelfth “Hungarian Rhapsody”: “This is a good record on the whole and we do not blame the pianist for the cut that he has made (\yhich, as the note in the catalogue says, merely avoids an unnecessary repetition). The composer’s lack of constructive power makes liberties of this sort more justifiable in his works than in those of other people. We know that Liszt himself very rarely played his works exactly as they were written. The playing is good and the recording is excellent.