THE GRAMOPHONE Londo1t Office: 68, Fri th Street, London, W.l Edited by COMPTON MACKENZIE

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Vol. V.

APHIL, 1928

No. 11

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RE-RECORDINGS

By THE EDITOR

IUNDERSTAND that Columbia are as busy as His Master's Voice in re-recording; but except for Holst's Pla.nets they have not sent me any specimens of their second thoughts. So I can tell you nothing about them.

The H.M.V. re-recordings can only with some licence be called such, for even if the operatic aria or composition has already been recorded many of the artists are new. First of all let us look at the operatic supplement. In the February and March GRAMOPHONE we had the privilege of reading what 1\1r. Herman Klein had to say about i t , and the only reason why I bother you with my opinion is to serv'e as a supplement to Mr. Klein's advice just as you might ask a friend who had been at a first night of the play after you had read a criticism of i t in The Times. There must be a lot of people who are thinking that they could afford one or two of these magnificent re-recordings and who may still be feeling a l i t t le doubtful which to get of the multitude issued. I ask myself which half-a-dozen I should choose if somebody played through the lot and offered me three of the twelve-inch discs and three of the ten-inch. I feel pretty sure that the first I should pick would be DB.I050- Gigli and De Luca in Solenne in quest' ora from La Forzn del Destino on one side and o Mirn'z, tu piu non torni from Boheme on the other. I suppose I must admit that this is much better than the old recording by Caruso and Scotti of these two duets; but theirs have been favourites for so many years that I find i t hard to be disloyal. Hislop and Granforte have recorded both arias electrically on one disc, and emphatically this vcrs ion by Gigli and De Luca is much superior to theirs. It is in fact perfect. Both the tenor and the barytone are in splendid voice, and Gigli at his best is the nearest thing we have to the lamented Caruso, whose l i t t le daughter I read has just been awarded £2,500 a year from the sale of her father's records. I wonder how many of our contemporary tenors will be selling l ike that seven years after death in spite of electrical recording to help their fame. Not many. De Luca has always been