THE GRAMOPHONE

Southland Times, Issue 20148, 7 April 1927, Page 11

THE GRAMOPHONE

RECORDS OF THE RECORDINGS. (By ‘‘Vox Populi.”) A correspondent has written to ask about the purchase of machines in view of the expected developments in gramophones. He need have no fear. The Panotrope, which has appeared in the Old Country, introduces some entirely new principles, using the discoveries made in connection with the reception of wireless messages, and producing some remarkable results; but the cost of these machines is very high and the experts are not yet satisfied that for all-round work they beat the needle and diaphragm of the models we know so well. In the Panotrope the needle is held by a magnet and the vibrations are conveyed to the sound-box by electric wires, passing through valves as in a radio set, in order to secure amplification. In band and orchestral music the results are said to be remarkable, but the reproduction of singing and instrumental solos is not so good. Improvements have yet to be made, after which the question of cost has to be considered. The standard gramophone of to-day is a wonderfully cheap instrument. Another development promised is the elimination of the need for changing records where long works are being reproduced. That is something we all desire. Two attacks have been made on the problem. Edison has produced a disc containing five times as many grooves as the old ones so that the playing period is increased five times without any enlargement of the disc, which is now thought to be at its limit, unless speed graduation can be satisfactorily introduced. Most of the Edison records I have mentioned carry four or five items, but that is no advantage, especially if one has to take two or three numbers in order to get the one really wanted. The successful adaptation of these finer grooves however, will open the way to the longer playing record, provided the walls can be made to stand up to the wear in the records using horizontal oscillations. The other scheme is the use of film as the record. This scheme is being developed in France. Photographed film has been used successfully for the reproduction of sound, but the thing is only in the experimental stage and a long time must elapse before a gramophone using a reel of film can be developed as a commercial rival to the machines of the present day. Those who are thinking of purchasing machines need have no worries—they are cheap, reliable and give good results. They will not be superseded for many years. The Beethoven middle period saw him produce some of his most brilliant successes. His piano sonatas increased with wonderful rapidity, and all but one of his nine symphonies was completed and famous by the year of Waterloo (says a northern writer). His C Minor (fifth) Symphony was commenced in 1805, but not finished until 1808. His engagement to a titled pupil accounted for the delay. This work was begun prior to his love affair, and finished after it was broken off. Its last two movements show something of his feelings, for Wagner describes them as typifying “passion aroused by pain.” It is the subject of a complete eight-part recording by Columbia, and in all technical respects, as such, is a very notable instance of this company’s absolute fitness for portraying the classics of music. It is played by the London Symphony Orchestra, with Felix Weingartner as leader—a sufficient guarantee of all that is implied by musical and interpretative quality. There is interesting speculation regarding the origin and meaning of the opening phrases, of the first movement, which have the importance of a motto theme. The germ of the whole movement is revealed in its first two bars. Beethoven says they represent “Fate knock ing at the door.” Another solution is that they came from the song of a bird, heard

chances are the phrase merely "occurred” to him, and he seized upon it for its wonderful expressiveness and power, combined with its perfect simplicity. Out of the four notes of this phrase he builds his first subject, giving them out with strings, with a little doubling by woodwind. This motif is delightfully tossed from one string to another, leading to a development, and to a second subject ushered in by an effective horn passage—a suave, flowing, four-bar theme given in turn to first violins, oboe and flute. The first motif continues as a counterpoint, the "germ” of the first subject subtly trespassing into the second. The development section opens with a lovely six-note passage, two notes of which are repeated many times in varied keys, followed by an alternation of high and low repetitions of one chord. This is a fre-quently-found Beethoven example of “development by exhaustion.” That is, he rings the changes upon each possible chord repetition until each instrument handling it has been satisfied. The second movement is opened by violas, and ’cellos, answered by the woodwind, and continued with violins, answered again by clarinets and bassoons—a delicious structure of the simplest and purest music imaginable. The scoring and progression of themes is practically as before, but the treatment is fuller and more elaborate, Woodwind plays the first passages of the continuation of this fascinating section, until the main theme is taken up by the brass, succeeded by a minor development by the woodwind, leading to the main subject fortissimo. The spirited scherzo was deliberately borrowed by Beethoven from Mozart’s G Minor Symphony, although why is not clear. Its principal theme is played by ’cellos and basses in the first phrase, answered by the rest of the strings and some of the wind in its second. The second subject is given by the horns, and repeats ok suggests the rhythm of the motto theme. A trio is incorporated, and this part ends with lovely flute and woodwind passages. The scherzo is continued by a phrase being given in pizzicato, until the last bars, where drums take up the main theme and the strings play delicate fragments of it. The finale is a vigorous, march-like melody played by full orchestra, and after various incursions into earlier themes an impressive coda finishes this section. Its second and final part introduces a new subject on violas, clarinets and bassoons, followed by full orchestra, and the whole is brought to an impressive finish by a recapitulation built on a link between the first and second subjects. Typically Beethoven throughout, and said to be one of the finest and most popular symphonies ever written, it will certainly delight both trained ear and amateur alike, for the former will revel in the construction and perfect dovetailing of its constituent parts, and the latter will be charmed by its inherent simplicity and directness.