London, W.1.

GRAMOPHONE London Office: 58, Frith Street,

Edited by COMPTON MACKENZIE

TELEPHONE: Regent 1383

TELEGRAMS : Parmaxto, Westcent, London

Vol. III.

APRIL, 1926

No. 11

All communications should be addressed to this office. In the case of J.l 1SS. or of letters req'uiring an answer an addressed and stctmped envelope UUST be enclosed.

All cheque!J, money orders and postal orders should be in favour of " Gramophone (Publications) Ltd.," and sh01~,ld be crossed "Bank of Liverpool and Martins Ltd."

Any difficulty in procuring copies of THE GRAI\1:0PHONE, and any suggestion fm' increasing the circulation, should be forwarded to the Publication.'! lJlctnager; any inquiry about advertisement rates to the Advertisement Manager at the above address.

For the convenience of readers the following M'e kept in stock :-

Index to Vol. 1., Is. 6d. post jTee; Index to Vol. I . and Binding Case, in black cloth with gold lettering, 4s. 6cZ. post free. Index to Vol. 11., Is., postage 2d.

Red cloth spring-back Binding Case (for the preservation of current numbers), 3s. 6d., postage 6d.

Coloul'ed po'rtmit of lVIo.zati (December A1·t Supplem ent), 6d., post f1"ee.

" Thmtghts on lvlusic," compiled by He1"vey Elwes. 216 pp., 8vo, cloth, 6s., postage 6d.

"The Lifebelt," 5s., post free. Weight A(lju,ster (fOT gooseneck tone-at'ms only), 7s. 6d., postage 3d.

"A List of Reco1"ded Chambet· Music" (N.G.S. booklet), 6d., postage 1d.

" Wilson Protractor," Is., postage 2d. "Gramophone Tips, 1925," by Capt. H . T. Barnett, 111 .1.E.E.~ Is., post free.

"G1'amophone Nights," by Compton Mackenzie and Archibald J.l1at·shall, 5s., postage 4d.

Back numbers of THE GRAMOPHONE, Vol. 1., Is. each and postage 2d. (except Nos. 2 and 4 which are out of print). Vol. 11., Nos. 1 to 12 inclusive, and Vol. II1., Nos. 1 to 9 inclusive, 2s. each MId postage 2d.

The annual subscription for THE GRAMOPHONE is 14s. post free ft'om the London Office.

THE JANUARY AND

FEBRUARY RECORDS . . By THE EDITOR

LAST month we published our caricaturist's notion of high t ide at J ethou; but the reality on the night of March 5th was not nearly so amusing. Owing 'to a mistake the records from one of the leading companies were not sent of!' as usual, and as the t ime to play them over in preparation for this quartetly review became shorter and . horter I grew more and more fussy. The result was that on March 4th my boat crossed from Guernsey in weather that would have been avoided had not the skipper felt bound to bring over if possible the last galleys of Fai'l'y Gold and what he hoped were the missing recordf;. The wind increased so rapidly that he wa,s unable to get back and the Watch Jl l e had to lie on her moorings in an open anchorage. The wind veereu to north-west and was blowing a gale by dusk; but in the early hours of the moming i t went due north rising to full hurricane force, i th the W((,tch ]}1e now on a dead lee shore. There was a squall of terrific force. The chain broke and she was driven on a reef~ where the second anchor held her when the tide rose. We mana.ged to salve the engine with a great struggle, a,i ter which a 750 lb. weight had to be dragged over a hundred yards of jagged rocks covered with slimy weed. The t ide was coming up fast behind: but at dusk we had the engine out of reach. During t·he night the Wa,tch Me went entirely to pieces. She was a stout-hearted craft a,nd had about circumnavigated the globe in mileage since she was mine. A smashed lllotor-ca,r is merely ludicrous, but a wrecked boat never Reems so human as in her ultimate conquest by the sea; and to hear the decks groan as the masts are wrenched away is to hear the groan of a sentient creature. There\ not a book on my shelves, not a gramo-phone or a record but she has brought i t to Jethou, and I am sure you will not grudge me these few lines in commemoration of a cmft that before she became mine had sailed without mishap these waters for fifty yea,rs. May sea-nymphs tend the gallant spirit that was hers and cherish the jl1elusine who succeeds her.

The laggard records have not even yet a,rrived,