THE GRAMOPHONE CORNER

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18642, 20 December 1928, Page 14

THE GRAMOPHONE CORNER

GRACE NOTES.

(By

VIVACE.)

With Christmas here again the gramophile is - like everyone else faced with the problem of selecting suitable presents. . To the gramophile this problem is not so serious as it is to many others. For him the obvious thing to do is to give a gramophone or records. In either case he has a very wide selection to choose from. Gramophones can be bought that will suit all pockets and all requirements, and the same may be said of records. In gramophones one can select any machine from a portable to a glorious cabinet machine that will grace any home and give. wonderful results. As for records, no gramophile would appreciate anything more than a good record, or set of records. One feature that presents itself is this: Every taste is catered for. Do not forget this when puzzling as to what you’ll give Alice or Tom. Reviews. The January list of Columbia records has, like the H.M.V. issue, been released earlier than us'ual, and they are now on sale at all dealers. The list includes some fine new features, including a number of records specially recorded in Hawaii which give an entirely new conception of Hawaiian music. The Hawaiian records issued by Columbia are as follows: VOCAL. Leilehua”-—Prince of Hawaii with Don Barrientos Orchestra. “Ua Like No a Like”—Helen Desha Beamer and Samuel ICapu with Harp Acc. “What. Aloha Means.” “Old Plantation” (Kuu Home)—Rose Tribe. INSTRUMENTAL. “Na Lei O Hawaii” (Song of the Islands) and “Ke Kali Nei Au” (Waiting for Thee)—Don Barrientos and His Orchestra. “Leilehua,” Hawaiian Hula Fox Trot Don Barrientos and His Orchestra, and “Ilula Blues,” Paul Summers and Waikiki Players. “Aloha Oe E ICulei” and “Pua Roselani” (Rose of Maui), Don Barrientos and Ilis Orchestra. “Kamehameha Waltz,” King’s Ilawaiians, and “Hawaiian Love,” Silver String Quartet. “Mama .E” and “Kalena Kai Medley of Hulas,” Aloha Players. “Kawaihau Waltz” and “Honolulu March,” Silver String Quartet. “Iluehue,” Dan Ku’s Beach Boy’s, and “Leilehua-Ahula,” Honolulu Players. The records were made by a special expedition recently despatched to Hawaii by the Columbia Company. The melodies are wholly charming, and the orchestral work is excellent. There is not the usual plaintive and tiresome strumming of steel guitars and ukuleles. The music is redolent of the exotic, tropic islands. The singing in all cases is good. These records are sure to make many converts to Hawaiian music, for if this be Hawaiian, then we have never heard Hawaiian music before. The Two Black Crows are in gaol. They tell us all about it in their latest record. It’s a scream. “Ah’m in jail ’cos ah borrowed fo’ dollars.” "Yaas, but you’ cain’t be put in jail fo' borrowin'." "No, but ah had to hit him on the) haid befo’ he'd lend it to me!” And that explains how one of the ■ Crows got into gaol. Those seeking records for Christmas presents could find few more suitable discs than those of Gladys Moncrieff, issued this month by- Columbia. Miss Moncrieff’s undoubted artistry, as a musical comedy star has been the subject of tributes from such world-famous people as Kreisler and Oscar Asche. Asche, it is reported, was lavish in his praise of Miss Moncrieff’s interpretation of Dolores in “A Southern Maid.” “ I thank you. Miss Moncrieff,” he said. “ You have amply repaid me for all my labours in this production.”

It is interesting to recall that prior to Miss Gladys Moncrieff sailing for London a petition signed by 3000 theatre-goers was presented to J. C. Williamson. Ltd., reading as follows: “A petition from theatre-goers to keep Australia’s greatest actress, Miss Glady-s Moncrietf, in her own country, Australia first.” This must indeed be unique in the annals of the stage. Miss Moncrieff’s records are:—“Jeannine” and "Was It a Dream?"-; “Sailing the Sea of Romance ” and “ r Wonder if Love is a Dream?”; “ Huguette ” and “Some Day” (from "The Vagabond King”); and “The Desert Song” (from “The Desert Song”) and “If You're in Love You’ll Waltz” (from “Rio Rita”). The last two numbers she sings with John Valentine, baritone. The Columbia Concert Orchestra, conducted by Gilbert Dechelette, plays the accompaniments to all these records. * Most people have heard “ The Song of the Prune ” by now, but those who have not could not do better than hear Len Maurice sing it. Maurice, a | baritone, does io Jeverly. “Ten Little j Miles from Town.” a cheerful little j number, occupies the other side of this i | disc. It is suspiciously like "The Mounties,” from “ Rose Marie,” in parts, but that sort of thing worries More Schubert recordings are released in the January Columbia catalogue. They include three songs by Alexander Kipnis, a magnificent bass, and four songs by Elsa Alsen, a soprano with a lovely voice. Kipnis’s records were reviewed at length in the recent Schubert number of the “ S : .ar.'' They include " Aufenthalt ” (My Home), “ Dcr Wegwciscr ” (The Sign-

Post) and “ Der Doppelganger ” (The Phantom Double). Kipnis’s voice is particularly’ well suited to •this type of. song and he has made an admirable set of records. Elsa Alscn’s songs are:

“Du Bist die Ruh ” (My Sweet Repose) and “ Gretchen am Spinnrade ” (Margaret at the Spinning Wheel), and “ Litanei ” and “ Ave Maria.” Lovers of Schubert will enjoy these records.

One of the really outstanding records in the Columbia list is that of the Don Cossacks, who sing “ Koly Slavenj. ” (How Greatly- Our Lord is Glorified) and “ Tri Piesni ” (Three Folk Songs). The Cossacks, whose visit to Christchurch will not soon be forgotten by music-lovers, as usual give a vivid rendering of these numbers. The first is a magnificent example of Russian church music; the second is a delightful group of songs of the people, plaintive and sparkling by turns. This is one of the best choral records for some time. Serge Jaroff conducts.

The San Francisco Orchestra, conducted by Alfred Hertz, has recorded for H.M.V. “ Liebesleid ” (Kreisler), and (a) “Serenade” (Moskowski) and (b) “ Aubade ” (Auber). Alfred Hertz, who formerly was conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and also conductor of Wagnerian operas at the New York Metropolitan Opera House, has done much to bring the San Francisco Orchestra into the front rank in America. Their work here is exceptionally good and the recording is magnificent. Dr Prendergast, organist at Winchester Cathedral, has been recorded by H.M.V. playing the magnificent instrument possessed by that cathedral. “ Offertoire sur deux Noels ” (Guilmant) and “ Laghetto in F Sharp Minor” (Wesley) are his two offerings. Lovers of organ music have been well catered for by H.M.V. since they perfected their mobile recording plant, and to-day one may hear the organs of many of England’s finest cathedrals reproduced in one’s own home. This is the first time Dr Prendergast has recorded for H.M.V., and one hopes to hear much more of his work. 55 52 Peter Dawson, bass-baritone, sings “ Drake’s Drum ” and “ Outward Bound,” from Stanford’s “ Songs of the Sea,” in his usual rollicking style. Dawson has the happy art of introducing “ atmosphere ” into his records. He is assisted here by a male , chorus and an orchestra under the conductorship of Dr Malcolm Sargent.

ART COMES FIRST AND CASH SECOND WITH STOKOWSKI.

If I were asked to name the finest orchestral record I have ever heard I think I should choose Liszt’s Second Rhapsody, played by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Leopold Stokowski (writes Dorian in “John o’ London’s Weekly.”) There may be better orchestras than the Philadelphia Symphony (though you could number them on one hand); many greater w ; orks than the Rhapsody have been recorded, but I know of none in which the ensemble is so finished, the tone colour of the different instrumenst comes through so well, or in. which the playing is so charged with high-tension virtuosity. " Stokowski seems to have made aspecial study of recording; indeed, his high reputation in this country depends almost entirely on his work for the gramophone. Yet he is London-

born, and studied under Walford Davies and Stanford at the Roy-al College of Music. In 1900, when he was eighteen, he was appointed organist of St James’s, Piccadilly (in those days I think he called himself Stokes, but his parents are Polish, and his name is really and five years later he went to seek his fortune in America. A Highly-paid Orchestra. lie quickly found it. For three years'he play-ed the organ at a fashionable New York church, then he returned to Europe for a year’s conducting. On going back to America he became conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and in 1912 he accepted the distinguished post in Philadelphia which he now holds. His orchestra is one of the highest-paid in the world, and he has made it into a wonderful instrument. He followed the Rhapsody with a brilliant reading of Cesar Franck’s Symphony, and he has now added to his triumphs with a first-rate performance of Rimsky-Korsakoff’s “Scheherazade” (His Master’s Voice, five discs), complete except for a thirty-six-bar cut in the third movement. The work has often been heard in England since the Russian Ballet popularised it a few years before the War, but it has never been-played like this. Occasionally, I think, Stokowski tends towards oversentimentalism, but his dramatic effects are unsurpassed. The famous horn-call on the second record is packed with thrills, and the sonorous solo passages for the double' basses (what a wonderful tone those basses have!) seem charged with fate. The climax on the last record is built up with masterly skill. Such are the fruits'of constant association between a conductor of genius and picked instrumentalists, in an atmosphere where art comes first and cash second.