Gramophone Notes
THERE is a certain well-defined company of musical works which, fixed firmly in the mind of the public- as " accepted favourites," reappear time and again in fresh recordings : in response, presumably, to a perpetually alive and eloquent demand. Gramophone reproduction is still in adolescence, and technical improvement is of necessity severely gradual. Repetition, in the interests of approaching perfection with any one work, is within limits admittedly desirable : but, where the public remains trustfully acquiescent, the process may be indefinitely prolonged. For Gramophone companies, which are only incidentally philanthropists, have as their primary object commercial success ; and commercial success, they will assure us, is achieved less by experimental innova- tions than by recapitulation of tried successes : where funds are relatively limited, each re-issue of a much-recorded work precludes the appearance of one not yet available, but it is only on the large sales of the much-recorded that new ground is broken at all.
And so the perplexity of the layman continues. As things stand, he may be faced with the appearance, in a space of three months, of three different recordings of the same work. Must he, to be certain of hearing the last word on the subject, buy all three ? An illustration is provided this month by the appearance of yet • another recording of the Overture to Tannhauser. The Columbia Company, with an aptness which may ring a trifle ironically, describe it in their catalogue as " without a peer in popularity." The present writer had already six recordings of it. Certainly the latest performance (try William Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Columbia LX 170-171, 12s.) is magnificent. The pace is slightly faster than usual, and the fourth side, where the whole orchestra conies in full, is an amazing feat of reproduc- tion. It is at once the revised and authorized version. But the last recording—an excellent one from H.M.V.--appeared only a couple of months ago, and there are many other things we would rather have had from Mengelberg.
There is plenty of variety in the instrumental recordings. :Jean Dennery (on Parlophone E11207, 4s.) plays the delightful Prelude in A minor from Bach's English Suite and Polonasie Militaire—perhaps the most tedious thing that Chopin ever wrote. Alexander Rrailowsky (Decca-Polydor CA8094, 5s.) with commendable courage and vigour plays de Falla's Dance of the Firetvorshippers and two interesting Skrjabin compositions—Prelude Op. 11 No. 10 and Etude Op. 8, No. 12. Cortot's contribution (H.M.V. DA1213, 4s.), which is more remarkable for the recording than the quality of his interpreta- tion, is Chopin's Vase in A flat op. 69, No. 1 and Tarantelle Op. 43. We get three of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies ; two of them, the Ninth and the Fourth, admirably played by Mark Hambourg (II.M.V. C2446-7, 8s.). The Ninth, which takes up the first three sides, is perhaps the best of the collection and Hambourg's surprisingly perceptive interpretation does it full justice. Ania Dorfman (on Columbia DX367) plays the Tenth with brilliance and precision. The recording is magnificent.
By producing on seven records (CA8062-8), at 5s. each, Beethoven's Choral Symphony (Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 123), played by the Berlin State Opera Orchestra and conducted by Oskar Fried, the Decca-Polydor company have presented us with what is certainly the least expensive and probably the most satisfactory version of the work available. Controversy will presumably never cease to dispute whether Beethoven's massive design—the almost devotional first movement, the slightly querulous scherzo, the exquisite adagio, and the tremendous fourth movement which reaches its peak in the singing of Schiller's Ode to Joy—is artistically a failure, whether the whole thing is not just a piece of superb braggadocio. To the present writer it seems that, together with the Mass in D., the " Choral" Symphony may be cited, above all other of Beethoven's works, as an example of composition embodying, in the highest sense, an emotional power which is in direct proportion to the vastness of its intAectual design. If there is a flaw, it lies in the partial disparity, where detractors would exert themselves to see union, between Schiller's words and Beethoven's music.
We may also note : Redemption, Morceau Symphonique (('Csar Franck), played by the Association des Concerts Poulet Orchestra (Parlophone E11208-9, 8s.) ; Tchaikowsky's Melodic Op. 42, No. 3 and Saint-Saens' Le Cynge, played by Mischa Elman (H.M.V. DA1143, 4s.); Hungarian Dance No. I (Braluns-Joachim) and Chopin's Waltz Op. 64, No. 2, played by Haberman (('olumbia LB8, 4s.); and two wholly admirable vocal records : Strauss' illorgen and Heimliche _-tufforderung, sung by Richard Tauber (Parlophone R020195, 4s.). and By the Short Cut to the Bosses and The Irish Emigrant, by 'John McCormack (H.M.V. DA1234, 4s.). Both these recordings are as good as any that have appeared.
• A UTOINCUS.
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