THE GRAMOPHONE CORNER

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18586, 11 October 1928, Page 6

THE GRAMOPHONE CORNER

GRACE NOTES. (By VIVACE.) All New Zealand theatregoers who remember with pleasure the visits of Glad vs Moncrieft to this country will be pleased to hear that this artist has contracted to record' exclusively for Columbia. She recorded for the first time last vear in England for Vocalion. She is now in Sydney playing lead in the Fuller attraction “ Rio Rita, and will, no doubt, do her recording there. We may lock for her records very shortly. A purely Australian invention is. the electromatic phonograph perfected by W. R. Oyston. a young engineer, born and bred in Melbourne (says the Sydney "Bulletin”). As a labour-saving device it should find favour in this tired world. You can charge the instrument's magazine, so to speak, up to thirty-six rounds, and it will fire off the whole lot in rotation without the operator having to pull the trigger more than once. Also it will turn a record over and play the reverse, discard a worn-out needle and select a fresh one, and will, provide an encore if a switch in turned.

“ The Birmingham library authorities have a reputation for being thoroughly conventional. Surprise has thereefore been expressed by the announcement of the president, Mr L. P. Hadley, that the library has opened a musical..section for the purpose of circulating gramophone records,” says the “Sunday Times.” “ ‘lt is quite an experimental policy,’ says Mr Hadley in explanation. * Comment has been made that an innovation of that kind touches our dignity, or the dignity of literature, and that such a policy is not germane to

the business of the library; but surely, if we can circulate books of fiction by certain authors without upsetting our " dignity.” we can help some of the members to acquire a cultural taste for the music of Schubert and other classic composers. Whether the experiment is successful or not depends, of course, on the members.’ ”

A correspondent asks for a sketch of the career of Lawrence Tibbett, the baritone who amazed the gramophone world by his H.M.V. recording of “ The Prologue ” from “ I Pagliacci ” (Leoncavallo), writes “ Orpheus ” in the “ Evening Post,” Wellington. Tibbett was born in California, and commenced big career on the stage. From there he drifted into light opera, but on coming to New York was engaged by the Metropolitan Company. He memorised the Italian-roles before he knew the precise meaning of the words. In the role of Ford in a revival of Verdi’s “ Falstaff,” he made a sensation, and even the great Ruffo had to bow before this new star. .Since then he has triumphed in at least twenty roles, and the San Francisco Company this year is producing special operas for his benefit. One of Tibbett’s characteristics is his marvellous powers of expression. Reviews. That old favourite Toscha Seidel, who toured New Zealand a few years back, plays two familiar violin solos, Dvorak’s “ Humoresque ” and Massenet’s " Meditation ” from “Thais.” He does both well. Gaspar Cassado, the ’cellist, wh > made so successful a debut recently with Columbia, rplays with grace and refinement of tone a Haydn Minuet, and with equal clarity Popper’s “ Chanson Villageois.” This is a capital record. Felix Salmond, another ’cellist, who is featured elsewhere in

this month’s list with Yelly d’Aranyi, is also excellent. He plays MacDowell’s “ To a Wild Rose,” and Godard’s “ Berceuse de Jocelyn.” Rudy Wiedoft, probably the world’s foremost saxophone player, plays one of his own compositions, “ Valse Manzanetta,” and his own arrangement of Beethoven’s “ Minuet ” on a new Columbia record. Both are-well done. He lias made many excellent records, and these are now added to the list. The Grenadier Guards’ Band has made a record that will enhance its reputation in two contrasting pieces by Ivetelby, “Jungle Drums” and “ By the Blue Hawaiian Waters.” This record was one of the most popular numbers at a recent Columbia recital which I attended. Erica Morini, the violinist who is to tour Australia and New Zealand under the E. J. Carroll direction next year, is recorded by H.M.V. in the slow movement from Goldmark’s concerto in A Minor, and Dvorak’s second Slavonic Dance, tier playing is clean, and there is a warmth of tone that is very appealing. This artist’s early studies were directed by her father at the Morini Conservatory in Vienna, and she was afterwards a pupil of .Sevcik. The violinist was a child w’hen she made her debut in Leiosig as soloist" with an orchestra conducted by the famous Nikisch. A series of appearances with Weingartner and other noted European conductors followed. In 1921 Miss Morini went to America, and excited remarkable enthusiasm in five brilliant New York recitals, and in her tours through the States. She gained further success at her London debut in 1923, . and has since been a very popular artist in that city.

A feature of the H.M.V. gramophone is the Brahms violin concerto played by Kreisler, in association with the Berlin State Symphony Orchestra, under Dr Leo Blech. This record has not yet been submitted for criticism, but reports from those who have heard it state that it is a very fine performance. This work is a novelty and should attract much attention. t: One of the most interesting operatic recordings since the days of Caruso is the latest Martxnelli disc for HJVI.V., “ Che Gelida Manilla ” (“Your Tiny Hand is Frozen”), from Puccini’s opera, “La Boheme,” coupled with the equally famous Verdi aria, “Celeste Aida, forma divina,” from “ Aida.” This artist has made notable successes at Metropolitan, New Covent Garden, York and La Scala, Milan, and there are many who declare that upon him has fallen the mantle of Caruso. His latest record certainly gives grounds for this belief, for the big voice, with its myriad shades of tone and deep feeling, make the arias stand out. A feature of the record is the excellent orchestral accompaniment, especially in the “ Aida ” number, where the splendid work of the bass has been caught up with fidelit\ r . STORING THE VOICES OF FAMOUS MEN. Unknown to many people, there is at the British Museum a collection of phonograph records of the voices of famous people, including the King and Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Archbishop of Canterbury, .to which a series recording the voices of dominion statesmen has just been added. says “The Edisonian.”

One of the most remarkable collec’ions of this kind is that compiled by Professor Dregger, of Berlin, who has tiled” the voices'of some of the greatest generals and scientists of the past twenty years. Thanks to a special chemical substance, the records are expected to last, barring accidents, for ten thousand years.

Even more wonderful is the voice museum belonging to Edison, the inventor. It was the work of many years, and contains records of the voices of

men like King Edward, Tennyson, Cardinal Manning, the late King of Italy, the Duke of Clarence, Lord Salisbury and Gladstone. The latter spoke into the recording instrument on the occasion of a big dinner in London, and his voice, sending hearty wishes to the inventor, can be heard as clearly to-day as when he was alive. The King of Italy’s special message takes the form of a request that Edison shoulcf accept a decoration in recognition of “your having wrested another of her most jealously guarded secrets from Nature.” Tennyson recites, in fine, resounding tones, his “Odes on the Death of the Duke of Wellington,” while Browning starts to read “How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix,” and then breaks down with the faltering confession, “So, sorry, I cannot remember it! ” There follows a pause, then the great poet recites a few ther lines, to end abruptly with, “It’s no good 1 ” The applause of those around him is still to bo heard.

W. S. GILBERT WAS DISAPPOINTED MAN.

The biography of William Schwenk Gilbert, by Mr Sidney Dark and Miss Rowland Greg, brings the- memory of the great librettist and satirist once onore into prominence. There need be

no fear in any case that W. S. Gilbert will ever be forgotten, or ever cease to be quoted, but it is interesting to be made acquainted with any fresh details in the life of a man so brilliantly endowed, says a writer in “The Edisonian.” He has so many claims to lasting fame, and one, of which he himself might have been unconscious, is his recognition as a lexicographer. If many “Gilbertianisms” have not passed into current dictionaries of our language, they will be incorporated in those o: the future.

It may surprise some to read in Mi Dark’s biography that the great creator of a new literary type whom we mainly recognise by the sparkling wit and beauty of line displayed in the libretti of the imperishable series of comic operas which bear his name in conjunction with that of Arthur Sullivan, was to some extent a disappointed man in that his more serious work was not so fully appreciated either by the Press or the public as he conceived it should be. It is not surprising, however. How many a tragedian imagines he should be a comedian, and how frequently does the comedian pine to display his histrionic abilities in heavy parts? Gifted men are generally versatile and think part of their art is left unrecognised. William S. Gilbert and Arthur S. Sul livan were made acquainted in. the autumn of 1870. They were introduced to each other by James (“Jimmie”) Currans, than whom there were few men better known in the theatre of the past on the acting-management side. Whether Mr Currans still lives we know not, but he was alive three or four years ago, although he was then fai advanced through the vale. It was over fifty years ago that he brought together the two whose fame had fo long travelled round the vyorld, who were both long dead.

The first fruit of this happy collabora tion was “Thespis” in IS7I, and was the commencement of the wonderful Gil bert and Sullivan operas w'hich Were produced over a period of twenty-five years, and include “Thespis,” “Trial by Jury,” “The Sorcerer,” “Pianafore” (pro duced May 25th, 1878, and performed 700 times at the Opera Comique) “Pirates of Penzance,” “Patience,” “lolanthe,” “Princess Ida,” “The Mikado.” “Ruddigore,” “Utopia Limited,” “The Grand Duke” (1896), “Yeo man of the Guard,” and “The Gondo liers.”