Gramophone Notes The reverse of the record is devoted to
"Bella figlia " from Rigoletlo, admirably sung by Galli-Curci, Homer, Gigli, and de Luca.
The Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra can be heard in a transcription of Bach's organ Toccata and Fugue in D minor. The transcription, I presume, has been made by Stokowski. It is both irreverent and ingenious. One takes the greatest delight in the ensemble of the strings and in the delicacy of some of the wood-wind passages ; but we are as far from the spirit of Bach as Philadelphia is from Weimar. The per- formance is alternately exhilarating and terrifying. It is like listening to a mammoth instrument designed to drown the accumulated traffic noise of the whole world. By the way, I think the transcriber would find it difficult to defend the echo passage towards the end of the Toccata where he doubles the time. In any case, it would be interesting to hear his reasons.
From Columbia I have received three double-sided records containing that exquisite work "El amor brujo " (de Falb). It is conducted by Pedro Morales, the well-known Spanish poet and composer. He obtains a finely pointed performance which is also, incidentally, an enlightening one when compared with those we are accustomed to hear under English con- ductors. The details of rhythm and of colour are beautifully conveyed by the recording.
BASH. MAINE.
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