THE FIRST BOOK OF THE GRAMOPHONE RECORD.
By Percy A. Scholes. (Oxford University Press. 3s. (id. not.)
Mr. Percy Scholes continues to throw the light of his understanding upon the dirk places of our musical life. His popular Books of the Great Musicians and The Listener's Guide to Music were designed particularly for use with the Famophone, and Mr. Scholes has now hit on the excellent idea of writing a guide to the best gramophone records. Such a work is very badly needed. Record catalogues nowadays are of alarming bulk, and not a little of the music is severely " cut " without indication in order to fit the standardized disc. The new Columbia record of the Adagio from Beethoven's Quartet Op. 50 No. 1, for instance, contains only a third of that movement. Again, the same compositions are issued by several companies, and it was clearly some- body's duty to go through the available repertoire and select those records that give complete as well as the most worthy performances of great masterpieces. Mr. Scholes has chosen fifty records to cover the period from Byrd to Beethoven, and although we could naturally suggest additions, hardly one of the fifty could be bettered. The madrigalists, Purcell, Bach, Handel and the Viennese School are represented by work of the first rank, or at least by music of undisputed charm. Each of the fifty Mr. Scholes analyses at length, and his descriptions are really helpful because he avoids technicalities and explains lucidly (what is the whole secret of musical appreciation) the structure of the music. A second Book of the Gramophone Record, to' appear shortly, will describe another fifty records drawn from Romantic and contemporary music. Whoever follows Mr. &holes' guidance in this matter will acquire a library of music that will not stale with time, and will also spare himself those dusty chimney-stacks of unused records possessed by most indiscriminate buyers.
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