THE GRAMOPHONE Vol. xx MAY 1943

No. 240

EDITORIAL Beethoven Symphon 'ies My la~t editorial was rewarded by one of Gordon Bottomky's ever welcome letters, and I must share some of it with our readers. Of the old Toscanini finale of Becthoven's Fifth Symphony, he writes:

" I mourned all anew that I ever parted with my pre-electric red-label Victor of th e final e of Beethoven's No. 5, under Toscanini which I extradited from the U.S.A. early in the last war with complicated difficulty. It was so good that i t could be played among electrics with very l i t t le jarring; but when the rest was never added to it, it fell out of sight-and that Nikisch ran it close. But I wish I had never let it go: you were right, it was far finer than the grandiose, brilliant, slightly inflated Toscanmis of to-day. (I have just been l istening - Sunday noon- to the broadcast recorded conce rt of his in N ew York ; there was no fire left- nothing but grandiosity in Brahms's Second Symphony.)

set that still cannot be bettered artistically, bemg:

I . Henschel (Columbia). 2. Beecham (Columbia). 3. Fried (Polydor). 4. Harty (Columbia). 5. Richard Strauss (Polydor). 6. Schalk (H.M.V.). 7. Stokowsky (Victor or H.M.V.). 8. Weingartner (Columbia). 9. Fried (Polydor), with an annex of the last movement on Columbia, with the famous Quartet of the Vienna Opera, ~nder Weingartner. This is the only recording I have found in which th e vocal part is adequate."

CONTENTS 167 Editorial Compton Mackenzie 169 Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1873-1943

Benno Moiseiwitsch

I can corroborate you that the Nikisch Beethoven No. 5 was complete. It was recorded in Berlin early in 1914 (I read of i t in the German Co.'s magazine , Das Stimme Seines Herm, which I took up to August 1914) and issued there on four double discs. In Spring 1914 i t came out here on eight single sides: later, when German records were cut off, I got i t on four double sides in Italy, with Italian labels. It did not come out here in that form umil. after the war. And to all this I make affidavit-with my benediction!

170 Behind the Needle-XXXV

Herbert C. Ridout

171 The Problem of Record Numbers.

/. His Master's Voice F. F. Clough 173 Analytical Notes and First Reviews 175 Miniature Scores. Music and

177 Jazz

Books

W. R. Anderson

Edgar Jackson

179 Miscellaneous and Dance 1BO Ben Davies, 1858-1943 George Baker 180 Turn Table Talk 181 The Record Collector-XIV 1B2 Correspondence 186 Readers' Choice P. G. Hurst

But th ere were complete recorded Symphoni es before that. So far as my knowledge goes, the first symphonies to be recorded compl e t ely were Mozart's No. 38 and 39, t he E flat major and the Jupiter: I bought them when they first came out; they were done by the German Odeon branch of the Fonotipia Companies. I cannot remember the exact date, but I know I had them in 1913: one I may even have had in 1912. They were foUowed by Brahms No. I ; but that was either later in 1913 or early in 1914. At any rate they were all before that unforgettable H.M.V. Nikisch. The Odeons were very much faked with ba;,soons and miscellaneous woodwinds. There was, I think, a Schubert Unfinished too, but i t was still more unsatisfactory, and I never bought it. The others were good [or their t ime, but they vanished from me long ago.

Symphonies were always insecure until electric recording came. Since then I think a lis t ough t to be worked out of the most satisfa ctory set of Beethoven Symphonies that can be made up. I cannot afford to drop old r ecordings to buy new ones more p e rfect techni cally; but I believe I have gradually, with some scrappmg, gathered a

Myoid friend exclaims against his letter as a yarn about next-to-nothing, but I think i t's a yarn of fine old durable wool. I f any readers can remember other examples of completely recorded symphonies published before 19 I 5 I shall be glad to get their information in print. I hope my con frere in charge of The American Music Lover will make researches on his own account so that between us we may establish the facts.

The only recording mentioned by Mr. Bottomley in his list which I do not know is the Polydor of the Fifth under Richard Strauss, and his mention of i t makes me wish I had i t . I am glad to find him faithful to Hamilton Harty's version of the Fourth Symphony. Technical advance in recording may have produced showier versions, but as an interpretation of that exquisite Fourth Symphony Harty's performance is incomparably the best. I know Fried's Ninth, and I agree that i t is the best, with the vocal change Bottomley suggests. However, I do not think we have yet had a really good recorded performance of the Ninth. The best I have heard on the concert platform, so far as the instrumental part of i t went, was one by Koussevitsky, a nd I am a l i t t le surprised that Victor has n ot ta.ken advantage of the opportuni ty of his con t ract w ith them to bri ng out a Koussevitsky N in t h . I was glad to find that S toko lVski 's Seventh Symphony was esteemed so highl y by Mr. Bottomley.

One correction I mus t make in con n e ction with my editorial la st mont h. I fin d that as early as 1800 h e was ca lling his First Symphony a Gra.nd Symphony. In fact he first used th e impressive epi t he t as long ago as 1792 when he wrote his G ra nd Trio in E flat.

Beethoven Violin Concerto in D

I find tha t t he next work about whi c h readers are most a nxious to o b ta in an opinion of th e r ecordings in cin:ul at ion is Beethoven's Violin Concel'to in D. Of this in the current catalogues we h a ve in the H.M.V. list th e version wi t h J as cha H e ifetz and the N.B.C. Symphony Orchestra conducted by T oscaniJl i on flv e r ed di sc.5 and the version on fiv e and a half red discs with Fritz Kreisler and th e London Philharmonic Orchestra conduc t ed by J o hn BarbiroUi. The half disc is charged at hall" price. In the Columbia list we have on fl ve lig h t- b lue discs the version of J oseph Szige ti and the British Symphony Orchest ra con d uc te d by Bruno Waiter, and on five ligh t-blue discs the version of Bronisla w Huberman and tile Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Szel!. I have an idea that there is a Decca version st ill cur r ent , but I have not the latest Decca ca talogue and th e refore must leave such a version if i t ·xi sts out of the discussion.

The year 1805, in spite of Nelson's great victory at Trafalgar in October, was a gloomy one for the futur e of Europ e , or at any rate for those in E urope who did not believe that Napol eon's Continen ta l System, like Hitler's New Order, was th e solution of the future. Pitt had been op timistic about the alliance with R ussia and Aus t ria, even although the Russians did s t rongly obj ec t to the proposal of an Anglo-Russian army under the command of t he Duk e of York. However, while the argument about this was going on, N apoleon struck like a thunderbolt , and thr ee or four clays before Trafalgar the Austrian army unde r Mack laId down its arms a t Vim, and another Army Corps surrende red to :Murat. A few weeks later the Russians were completely crushed at Austerlitz . The blow kill ed Pitt, who died in January 1806. The Ministry of All the Talents had been formed to m ee t the national em ergen cy in which Fox was Foreig.n Secre tary. Nine months after his life-long rival, Fox himself was deadNelson, Pitt and Fox within a year.

All through that autumn of 1805, Beethoven was ent ir e ly taken up with his opera Fidelio. By the t ime i t was ready to be produced a t the theatre " an d er vVien "

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