GRAMOPHONES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 530, 6 December 1928, Page 14

GRAMOPHONES

“Der Erl Konig” (Schubert) and “Tod und das Madchen” (Schubert), sung in German by Sophie Braslau, contralto, is an excellent centenary record. (Col. 04162.) Sophie Braslau’s voice is one of the most remarkable contraltos now before the public, in its deep richness, its range, its extraordinary power, its expressive potency and colour. You will readily agree when you hear the rendition of “The Erl King” and “Death and the Maiden,” both of which are indeed worthy additions to Columbia’s Centennial Edition of Schubert’s songs. Debussy’s “La Fille Aux Cheveaux de Lin” (“Maid with the Flaxen Hair”) is a curiously bitter-sweet melody, and the great French violinist, Jacques Thibaud, plays it with delicacy and polish. The contrast between it and the Brahms Waltz in A Flat, which occupies the reverse side, is typical of the vastly different outlook of the two composers. It is a contrast of nationality—the evanescent and ethereal quality of Debussy against the solid romanticism of the German. (H.M.V. DA866.) Charles Hackett in “I Hear a Thursh at Eve” (Wakefield and Eberhart) and “The World is Waiting for the Sunrise” (Seitz and Lockhart), is responsible for a really first-class record. (Col. 03596). Charles Hackett studied music as a boy, and when barely 20 years of age he went abroad, making his first sensation in Florence. In Italy’s foremost Opera House he established himself with incredible swiftness, and in Buenos Ayres, where musical discrimination is cultivated to the highest point, Hackett swept all before him. He has been acclaimed by musicians and music lovers, artists, impresarios, singers and critics—“a tenor in a class by himself.” We cannot too highly praise his recent recordings. The Philadelphia Orchestra has achieved a notable success with the Cesar Franck Symphony in D Minor. The interpretation gets to the inside of Franck; the playing has a sensibility, a nuance of rhythm and tone, which goes far beyond the efforts of the best English orchestra. Occasionally, as in the slow movement, the records do less than justice to the band’s warm and gloriously phrased strings. Here and there the instrumental colour is not true; wood-wind and string tone is not always marked off clearly. But these are slight flaws in a piece of expert recording of a great performance. Stokowsky does not coax the music; he lets it go its own way. This is “musique cathedralesque.” The lofty singing motive in the first movement is given with admirable restraint. Franck’s inveterate love of the grandiose climax is, so to say, softened down. The symphony is, despite the defects of the cyclical form, one of the masterpieces. The themes sing in one’s mind and heart for days. But what banal closes we get to the first and last movement! Yet how noble is the reticence of the close of the second movement. (H.M.V., D 1404-8.)

Two jolly one-steps are “Scottish Medley” and “American Medley,” onesteps by Debroy Somers and his band. Columbia 02695. Debroy Somers, conducting one of the most famous bands in London, gives us a welcome rerecording of his most popular hit —a pairing of Scottish and American national airs. The best of music played with zest and pep—the sort of record that sets the whole room singing. In the recent Williamson Operatic Company in Australia, John Brownlee was as great a success as the eminent granforte. He is a protege of Dame Nellie Melba’s, and well may she be proud of him. With her he sings one of the greatest soprano-baritone duets in all opera, “Say to Thy Daughter,” from “La Traviata” (Verdi). Brownlee has a rich voice, and displays artistry in the use of light and shade. Melba is, of course, Melba. They also give a beautiful French sacred song, “Un Ange Est Venii” (Bemberg), and the piano accompaniment by Harold Claxton enhances the number. (H.M.V., D 8987.) * * * Two fine ’cello solos are “Melody in F” (Rubinstein) and “Silver Threads Among the Gold” (Danks), by W. H. Squire. Columbia 04178. What is there new to be said about W. H.

Squire? For some years he has contributed to Columbia’s monthly supplements, and the musical public have repaid his industry with steadily increasing patronage. This record is bound to be popular. It has all Squire’s technical accomplishments, all his fruity voluptuousness of tone, and the tunes themselves are in great demand. Evelyn Scotney (soprano), in “Rigoletto Caro Nome” (Verdi), and “Romeo et Juliette,” waltz song (Gounod), provides us with two really excellent records. The last records issued of Evelyn Scotney have proved a series of triumphs. They are extraordinarily fine examples of what coloratura singing can be at its best. The series continues with this new record; it is something quite out of the ordinary. The “Waltz Song” from “Romeo and Juliet” makes fine opportunity for a vocal display of a most brilliant character. (H.M.V., D 1435.) Scotney, by the way, is booked for a New Zealand tour under the J. C. Williamson-Tait auspices. “Only an Old Rough Diamond” (Trevor and Stroud) and “Time to Go” (Weatherley and Sanderson) are sung by Malcolm McEachern, bass (Col. 01214.) Sanderson’s rollicking “Time to Go” is quite one of the best things Malcolm McEachern has ever done. It is extremely effective and well suited to his phenomenal voice, as is also “Only an Old Rough Diamond.” A very welcome feature of McEachern’s singing is the clearness of his words, which is more striking when the extraordinary depth of his voice is considered. The Salon Orchestra has become famous as a light orchestra of the finest type, and in “Russian Lullaby” )Irving Berlin) and “Just a Butterfly” (Dixon-Woods) there are innumerable clever touches which are a perpetual delight. These two pieces have already won high approval in the world of dance music and light vocal numbers. (H.M.V., EA234.)

| To anyone who knows the South- | ern States, Paul Robeson singing “OT | Man River” will conjure up a quite unforgettable picture. He will see in imagination the levee of any small riverside southern town, the hot sun beating on coloured folk lolling at their ease, or even stretched out fast asleep . . . and it takes a negro to be able to sleep in the full glare of a sub-tropical sun. The whole quayside drowses. Somewhere a guitar or banjo is heard, and by the time its owner appears on the levee, voices are sleepily crooning whatever air the player gives them. Slowly, sleepily, the whole gathering takes up the tune. Someone claps their hands in time to the rhythm, at which the accompanist is spurred on to a livelier air. A faint air of excitement arises. Theie is a shuffling of feet. Soon the quay is alive with dancing, gesticulating figures. Cries of encouragement, shouts of laughter, stamping of feet, rocking and swaying of bodies, steps growing more and more intricate until the player, tired, puts his hand oyer the strings to still the last throbbing chord. . . . The dancers stop. Once more the quayside, sleeps. (H.M.V.). * $ * From Rigoletto, “Pari siamo” and “Cortigiani, vil razza dannata” (Verdi), and sung by Riccardo Stracciari, baritone. Columbia 04174. For so long has Straceiari been acknowledged as the greatest living operatic baritone, and so successful were his earlier records, that music lovers have awaited with keenest interest his first electric recordings. The result is a revelation. His characterisation has enormously improved with the passage of time, and the amazing sonority and richness of his voice are more thrilling than ever. There is a certain opulence in these records not entirely due to the improved recording. This new issue of his old triumphs is decidedly a musical event. The great singing of the Italian tenor, Giovanni Zenatello, in “Othello” (Verdi), was mentioned in these columns recently, and it is pleasing to note that he also figures on another disk from the same opera, the love duet, from the first act, which he sings with! Hina Spani, who was one of the stars of the recent Williamson Opera Company in Australia. The melody here is poignant in expression, and there is a luxurious accompaniment. The blend of the voices is beautifully balanced, and the scene of the meeting of Otello and Desdemona can be graphically visualised from this record. (H.M.V., DB1006.) A Wagner selection, “The Meistersingers,” is played by the Band of his Majesty’s Grenadier Guards. Columbia 02697. A musical critic of the London “Gramophone” claims that the Grenadier Guards Band is the best band now recording. Their versatility lends some colour to this claim. They have the happy knack of popularising without vulgarising whatever they touch. Without losing any of the Wagnerian stability of the “Meistersingers” they bring out its cheerfulness, and their bold, bright tone and clean attack will win them j friends among all types of music | lovers. With the passing of the years there is one record that grows dearer and dearer to all lovers of musical history. It is the “Farewell Speech" at Covent Garden bv Dame Nellie Melba, the wonderful soprano, who was the greatest personality of that famous opera house for 40 years. The speech was recorded during Melba’s farewell performance at Covent Garden on June 8, 1926. On the other side is “Addio di Mimi” from “La Boheme” (Puccini), which was recorded in the actual opera house on the same night. From the aria one feels the greatness of the occasion. The diva sang then as she had never sung before, and her performance has been preserved for all time. (H.M.V., D 8943.) “Sheep and Goat Walkin’ to the Pasture” (Guion), "Gigue from First Partita” (Bach), “Liebestraume” (“Dream of Dove”), (Liszt) are played on the pianoforte by Percy Grainger. (Col. 04097). Percy Grainger’s recent tour of Australia still lingers in the memory as a stirring musical event, and these records are an excellent example of his fine playing. Liszt’s “Liebestraume” is superbly interpreted, the extreme lightness of touch, the marvellous phrasing, and splendid piano tone combine to make these new offerings one of the finest piano records in existence.

Two new Ketelbey numbers are “Sanctuary of the Heart,” in two parts. Albert Ketelbey conducting hi s orchestra. Columbia 02690. In the popular class, there is no compoeer whose work is more widely played than that of Albert Ketelbey. Since 1905 Ketelbey has been musical ad viser to the Columbia Company, and now they are publishing his work in album form. A fine collection it is. too, one of the greatest favourites is this “Sanctuary of the Heart.” Conducted by the composer, it is full of melodic invention and tonal felicities, rich and varied. s* * * Belli’s opera “I Puritani” is one oi his lesser known works, but it is occasionally revived for some renowned prima donna of the brilliant coloratura type. It was brought to light several times when Galli-Curci took the operatic world by storm, and the soprano role has been one of her far ourites ever since. Her singing of the sparkling polacca “Son Vergin vezzosa di sposa” (I am a blithesome maiden) brings out all the greatness of her glorious voice. On the same record she also gives the melodious aria “Tutte’ le feste all tempio” from Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto.” This is marked by tenderness and finished legato singins by a wonderful voice. (H.M.V. D 8641.) “Sonata in A Major” (Mozart, arr Tertis), is played by Lionel Tertis, viola, with piano. (Columbia, 04156). Comparatively few people are aware of the beauty of the viola as a solo instrument; and indeed it is seldom heard now outside its limited score in orchestral and chamber music. Lionel Tertis is, of course, a spleudid artist, but he will surprise many people with the exquisitely vibrant timbre of his instrument. Lovely in the extreme is this arrangement of Mozart’s little sonata, and the original score loses nothing in Tertis’s transcription for viola and piano. In spite of the new recording of dm sextet from “Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) and the quartet from Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” there are many who still prefer the previous disks embracing these two great ensemble? Caruso has the tenor roles in the older records, and he cannot be replaced. Definition of tone is the chiei characteristic of the electrical recording. and thus opera lovers are in a quandary'. Quite a number have got over the difficulty by placing two disks in their collections, and intending buyers would be well advised to hear all renderings before making 1 choice. Tastes and opinions differ, hut it cannot be gainsaid that each disk is an achievement in itself (H.M.V.). * * * . “Love’s Garden of Roses and “When My Ship Comes Sailing Home sung by Alfred O'Shea, tenor. Columbia 04117. This gifted Irish singer was in particularly fine voioe on the day he made this record. Notice the growng subtlety in use of mezzo-voce, the delicacy bf his shading, the power always kept in reserve, and the royaease with which he strikes the uppei register. The two ballads he contributes this month are pleasant and melodious. Particularly pleasing “ "When My Ship Comes Sailing Home. * * • It is not always that brilliant coloratura soprano songs have a captivaOTmelody. In some cases the frequency of runs and tru*» makes one that one is listen' ing to a vocal exercise rathe* than song, bu! Jules Benedict t “Carnival di 'Venezia” (aria e van* zone) is a marked exception. * composer “ given us » * trancing series of tone Pi ctar ?| . gaiety of the carnival, and 1 Monte leaves the listener a £ as ' 0 j her dazzling technique and nea J voice. The pretty play between and flute is strikingly recorded. (H.M.V., DB821.) There will be a big demand Meanderings of Monty N 0.2 Boy’s Career” fin two P a^ 3 ,’ rflje Milton Hayes. Columbia 01 “ lz ’ inimitable Monty' goes from ■ .j n to success, and it must be admi this record he turns out a very tertaining monologue. Everyon sUg . be thoroughly engrossed in “ ‘ • gestions offered in “My Boy s L , —from the highly humorous. , perhaps, the practical Monty's logical reasoning is u - ibis.