M u s k
[NEW GRAMONIONTE RECORDS.] COLUMBIA.
There is likely to be keen competition among the various recording companies in connexion with the Beethoven Centenary. Columbia have issued the whole of the Ninth Symphony (eight records) played by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Felix Weingartner. The name of Wcingartner assures us of authority, of course, but I cannot help feeling that in this performance the authority has led to a certain amount of dullness. Weingartner is a conductor whose actual presence is necessary before we can gather the full import of his ideas. There is evidence of this at the opening of the Second Movement, which,through the medium of the gramophone, appears too inflexible and dry. The last movement is the best from many points of view. Here the voices bring in the personal element at once. The tenor line lacks driving-force, but the rest arc finely phrased and sustained.
Some of the best of the chamber-music records issued lately are those embodying Mendelssohn's Trio in C minor, played-by Sammons, Tertis, and Murdoch. The 'cello part has been accommodated for the viola, and the result in the hands of Mr. Lionel Tertia is altogether satisfactory. The Scherzo is a delightful experience of sensitive playing. The tide. of opinion
is at the moment in favour of Mendelssohn ; these records should help it to rise still further.
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