Recorded Music

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17412, 26 May 1928, Page 18 (Supplement)

Recorded Music

Ulysses Lappas. (i) "Kaneua" (Nobody); (2) "Exomologissis (Confession). Sung by Ulysses Lappas, tenor. Columbia L 1531. This clever young Greek tenor, one of .whose records I reviewed last week, proves again that he is at his best in the songs of his native Greece. Both strike rather a sad air—a wistful sadness in "Kanena" and something more poignant in the Confession. But Lappas is not guilty of over-sentimentalising, and delivers them with a fine vigour, taking some sustained high notes with case. Ho has a most pleasing voic, 1 , and should be very popular. Stracclarl. (i) "Ideale" (Tosti) ; (2) "Elegit* (Massenet). Sung by Riecardo Stracciari, baritone. Columbia 7;!06. The dearth of really good b.iritones is more than atoned for by the excellence of the few v;c have. Stracciari and Stabile come instsnlly ko my mind as being of the few. Stracciari rarely disappoints, and when he is 'it his best, as he undoubtedly is in Mussenet's fine "Elegie," he would shine in any company. W 3 don't admire Tosti so much as the Victorian?; used to, but for all that "Ideale" is a lovely song, and those who affect contempt for him should hoar how he sounds from such a ferwnt vocaj'st as Stracciari. The Greatest Living 'Cellist. (1) "Evensong" (Schumann;; (2) "0 Star of Eve" from Tannhauser. (Wagner). 'Cello Solos l-y Pablo Casals. Columbia 7360. Columbia have sent me along a few of the 'cello records of Pablo Casals —real gems of this admired art. What an artist he is! His tone is gloriously mellow, his phyasing so assured, his manipulation so easy! There are passages in "0 Star of Eve" where the pure singing quality of his playing almost takes our breath away. He plays the well-loved "Abendlied" ,of Schumann's with a caressing tenderness. One could hardly want for a better 'cello recording. Bruno Walter. We know already that Bruno Walter is accepted as one of the greatest living Wagner conductors. What we may forget is that once he made one of his greatest triumphs with the "Midsummer Night's Dream" music. He takes, it with just that airy fancifulness that makes it so charming. The Nocturne is one of the loveliest extracts and Walter plays it with refreshing delicacy—a marked contrast to the solid and rather pompous Prelude from the Meiste.rpingers. The recording is •excellent, Its only fault being a tendency to stress the brass. William Murdoch. (1) "Cubana" (de Falla) ; (2) "El Puerto" (Albeniz). Pianoforte Solos by William Murdoch. Columbia L 1707. '

De Falla, the foremost Spanish composer of the day, and Albeniz,

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another Spaniard, contribute to a sparkling pianoforte record of William Murdoch's. The chief delights arc a clever use of rubato in the de Falla piece, and the clean scintillating tone. Murdoch makes both pieces sound typically Spanish. Notice the rich colouring and the ciisp dancing phrases. A most interesting record for piano lovers. Toscha Seidel. (1) "Caprice Viehnois" (Krelsler) ; (2) "Gipsy Airs" (Sarasate). Violin Solos by Toscha Seidel. Columbia 7362. This is a fine coupling of the two things we most look for in a violinist of Seidel's rank —brilliant manual dexterity, as in the sparkling "Gipsy Airs," and a rare charm, as In the popular and familiar Kreisler "Caprice." And whether he is staging out the fascinating Kreisler air or bewildering us with the tempestuous Gipsy music his tone is equally smooth and firm. Toscha Seidel has had big successes on this side of the world, and shows in every record that he has deserved them. Beethoven. "Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral) in F Major" (Beethoven)-. Felix Weingartner conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Col. L 18933-97. (Five Records in Album with descriptive .notes). On one of few ocoasions do w? see Bethoven purely as a naturelover, and this is the best of them. Concerned as most of the. other Symphonies are with the struggle and triumph of the Spirit of Man, Beethoven for a while leaves the majestic note untouched. Its subject is of cheerfulness, thankfulness and prais?, and for sheer charm there is little music to approach it. Weingartner has been wonderfully successful in his interpretation. Right from the statement of the first exquisite theme we are conscious of something extraordinarily good. Chief praise must go to his flexible handling of the orchestra, which interprets with equal vividness the serene beauties of the countryside and the torrential ai?d cataclysmic storm—surely so ne of the most thrilling in music. This is a great work, finely played and excellently recorded. The Lener String Quartot. "Quartet in C Major Op. 59, No. 3." (Beethoven). Played by the Lener String Quartet. Columbia LIB6O-63. The series of Beethoven quarto! s recorded by the Lener Quartet fu* the Columbia Beethoven Centennial Records are clearly the finest of their sort which have yet been given vs. As to which the private owner will buy, that is a matter of individual preference. In all of them the Lener Quartet exhibits the same perfect ensemble, the same truly artistic reading and the same mellow tone. Much may be said for the C Major Quaitet is the most popular. Certainly the lovely Andante con moto is the most familiar extract of all from his quartets, and the whole work belong tc Beethoven's middle and most inventive period.