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Vol. IV.

OCTOBER. 1926

No.5

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SEPTEMBER RECORDS

By THE EDITOR

IHAVE seen nowhere a review that praised sufficiently the Columbia records of the Tannhiiuscr Overture played by the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, and conducted by William Mengelberg. To my mind i t is by far the most convincing interpretation I have ever heard, and quite apart from the excellence of the recording (in a' concert-haU) I should recommend i t for that reason alone. I t is a piece of music which has been stereotyped, and for a conductor at this date to provide a fresh interpretation which at the same t ime does not show the least sign of straining after novelty is an achievement. I t had the effect of making me feel that every other conductor had taken i t wrongly. I recognise that i t is probably advisable at present not to have too many individual performances of great musical works on the gramophone, aI1d that a good academic performance has much to recommend i t . Still, we are drawing near to the t ime when we shall be able to pick and choose our versions more carefully, a,nd this Tannhiiuser gave me a sense of vitality which was exceedingly welcome. These discs (L.1770-71) also provide the best orchestral recording which Columbia has achieved. My first impression of the 1812 Overture, conducted by Sir Hemy Wood, was of disappointment, and until the Expert Committee arrived ,vith their new horn I was unable to endorse all that the b etin said about i t . However, with the help of that horn I was able to get a really amazing performance which filled even the Expert Committee with awe. Still, I maintain that i t is beyond the capacity of any ordinaJ'Y machine, and I regard the Tannhiiuse1' Overture as the greater achievement. The Cockaigne Overture, issued by H.M.V. on two discs, is another triumph of recording; but this is a piece that one does not wish to hear too often, and I hope that the English companies are not