RECORDED MUSIC

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 291, 7 December 1929, Page 20 (Supplement)

RECORDED MUSIC

THE WEEK’S NEW RECORDS HIS MASTER’S VOICE. Say It With Music. The older wc get, the faster whirls the round o’ the year. It seems but yesterday since Father Christmas, having mopped his brow after his labours of 1928, spluttered off in his old moorwaggon to fresh fields. And now he is almost upon us again. As before, on» cannot do better during this coming season of Merry Christmas than “Say it with music.” The December H.M.V. list has a strong Christmas flavour, and perplexed present-givers will find easy and pleasant ways out of their difficulties by looking over and hearing some of its features. The gramophone notes for this and the following week will be largely devoted to Christmas suggestions. The Message of Christmas. Westminster, Central Hall Choir, in (a) “While Shepherds Watched,” (bj “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” (c) “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” (a) 44 0 Come, All Ye Faithful,’’ (b) 44 The Message of Christmas,” and (c) 44 Christians, Awake.” H.M.V. C 1589. This record provides a very pleasant selection of hymns suitable ror and appropriate to the Christmas season. The singing of the choir felieitiously recorded, and the general arrangement of the subject matter is most charmingly carried out. Fine New Baritone. Rudolf Bockelmann (baritone) and the Berlin State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, in “Eurep Toast Rann jch wph’

erwiedern’’ (“Toreador Song” from Bizet’s “Carmen”); and 44 Spiegel— Aria” (‘‘Mirror Song”), “Tales of Hoffmann”), (Offenbach). H.M.V. Cl 680.

Rudolf Bockelmann is a new artist who is said to have thrilled London by his magnificent baritone voice, rich and luscious in quality and under superb control He makes his H.M.V. gramophone debut in superbly recorded music that will appeal to all. The “Toreador Song” from “Carmen’’ recorded complete with chorus (and the delicious nuance at the end which is so rarely heard), and the “Mirror Song” from Offenbach’s ever-popuar opera, “Tales of Hoffman.’’ New Ponselle Triumph.

Rosa Ponselle (soprano) and the Metropolitan Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, in “Casta Diva” (“Queen of Hor.ven”), from Bellini’s “Norma.” H.M.V. DBI2BO Ponselle has at her command the power of a dramatic contralto and a lightness and delicacy of staccato and coloratura that enabled her to create a furore as “Norma” at Qovent Garden. Great Wagneriau Baritone.

Friedrich Schorr and the State Opera Orchestra, Berlin (conducted by Dr Leo Blech), in “Die Meistersinger”— “Bach’s Monologue” (“Was duftet doch der Flieder”). H.M.V. D 1351. Friedrich Schorr is the great baritone whose singing as Wotan in the recently issued set of H.M.V. ‘‘Valkyrie’’ records has caused such a sensation. Here we now have him in a superb record of Hans Sachs great monologue from the second act of “Die Meistersinger.” (The monologue is sung by the cobbler poet as he sits cobbling shoes beneath the elder trees)

Contralto Genius from Opera. Maria Olezewska (contralto) in Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice”—“Che faro senza Euridice” (“I have lost my Euridice”), and Handel’s “Xerxes”— “Ombra mai fu” (Largo). H.M.V. D 1490. “Che fare senza Euridice?” I? the great lament of “Orfeo” after losing Euridice for the second time. It is a calm and beautiful melody, perfectly expressive of noble grief at irremediable misfortune. On the other side of the record is the famous “Ombra mai fu,” which so many know as just “Handel’s Largo.”

From the Christmas Oratorio. Walter Widdop (tenor) in “Comfort Ye, My People” and “Every Valley Shall be Exalted” (“The Messiah”), Handel. H.M.V. D 1620. This lovely recitative and air from Handel’s “Messiah” will surely endure as long as music is played and sung. Walter Widdop is fine in oratorio. This record is a seasonable gift, but, more than that, it is essentially one to form part of the permanent collection. In Tune With the Season. Peter Dawson (bass-baritone), with organ accompaniment and chorus, in “Nazareth” (Gounod) and “Gesu Bambino” (Pietro Yon), H.M.V. C 1582. Dawson’s mellow baritone voice shows to advantage in the lovely “Gesu Bambino” (“The Little Jesus Child”) and the familiar “Nazareth.” Popular Vocal Duettists. Walter Glynn© and Stuart Robertson, in “The Gendarmes’ Duet” (Offenbach), and “The Larboard Watch” (Williams) H.M.V. 83030. The success which attended the issue of the first record of duets eby Walter Glynnc and Stuart Robertson (82979) should promise a like reception for this one.