211

The Gramophone, November, 1926

one miracle of energy every year with the Promenade concerts, and i t is not reasonable to'expect him to supply another miracle for the gramophone. I t is significant that one of his earliest recordings, which was a shortened version of the Eroica symphony, remains his most vital performance. I am not alluding to technique now. No doubt other recordings of his have been technically superior; but whatever their technical superiority they lack the precious breath of life. I rea·d in the October number of the Phonograph (which is the first number of a monthly review designed to be the counterpart in America of THE GRAMOPHONE, and on the appearance and content.s of which I venture to congratulate most warmly everybody concerned) a most enthusiastic notice of a Brunswick record in which as guest-conductor Tosca.nini takes the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the sche1'zo and noctU1"ne of Mendelssohn's 111ids1lmme1" Night's D1'eam. I can well imagine the triumph that genius of conducting must have achieved, and I hope that the Brunswick people will circulate this'recordinEngland, and incidentaliythat they will not consider i t too much trouble to send me the disc. The reviewer in the Phonogmph says: "It is doubtful whether any previous orchestral record has ever exhibited such amazing crescendos as those in the Sche1"zo. A delicate pianissimo is gradually built up with a breathless sense of climax to an almost unbelievable fortissimo, a fortissimo which is instantly hushed down to near imperceptibility agaJn." I am most willing to believe in the magnificence of the electric recording, but I am prepared to wager that i t was the magnificence of the electric conducting which is more to be praised. Now then, which company is going to get KOllssevitsky ~

I liked the Sche1"zo of the Ninth Symphony best in the Oolumbia recording under Weingartner, though even there I wished for double the vigour, particularly with the tympani, just as in the third movement I should have welcomed double the emotion, or rather not so much double the emotion, as that ecstasy of the human soul; and again in that advance of double-basses I longed for some expression of the dauntless humanity they stand for. I f you could but see Koussevitsky charming his double-basses in this movement. I t is Orpheus over again. Those sombre and sullen instruments turn to melodious nymphs at his bidding. He could make love-sick schoolgirls of them. in writing like this I expose myself to the charge of l i terary rather than musical appreciation, but after all the Ninth Symphony is a drama, and even though that drama be played without adventitious help from other arts in terms of purest music, i t demands life, and from this recording life is absent. For this I blame most of all the conductor. Let me hasten to make i t perfectly clear that I am not impugning the interpretation of Weingartner in a concert hali, but what I do assert is that he is not capable of transferring himself and his orchestra to a record. This failure to communicate vitality is noticeable with many singers on the gramophone, and above all i t is most noticeable in comic records. I t is the tremendous vitality of Harry Tate that makes his records still, after what must be quite ten years, by far the best that I know. So, at present, not counting the Toscanini Brunswick record which I have not heard, but which from Toscanini's other records I know will be supreme, Albert Ooates stands ~th the greatest orchestral triumphs to his credit. The more I hear of other orchestral records the more I admire his last series of Wagner. The gramophone will stand all the genius i t can get. The best of mere talent is sadly diminished by i t .

L'Aprcs-midi d'un ja1lne is such a fa,vourite piece with all sorts of brows from Primrose Hill to Everest that the Oolumbia version of i t with Paul Klenau conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is sure to be welcome, but i t is also a most beautiful piece of recording, and in every way a success. Eugene GOQiISens as guest conductor of the Oovent Garden Orchestra gave a stirring double of Schubert's Marche Jlfilitaire and the Rako('zky March, and i t should be noted that H.M.V. have issued this on a popular price plum-coloured label. For this relief, much thanks.

No lack of vita.lity and no inability to communicate i t through the gramophone can be laid to the charge of Oasals, OOl'tot, and Thibaud in their really triumphant performance of Schubert's TTio No. 1 in B fla.t. As far as I know this is the first piece of chamber music which has been recorded in a ha.n and certajnly the experiment is an unqualified success. Still, once more we must give most pra,ise to the players, beca,use there wa,s never a clearer case of the playing's being the thing. I ought not to have to reiterate to readers of THE GRAMOPHONE that this trio, containing as i t does at least eight delicious melodies, is as easy a piece of chamber music to appreciate as any that exists. In fact, I cannot imagine anybody with as much music in them as a squeaking doll not enjoying this trio. From the moment i t starts till the moment i t stops there is really not a dull bail', nothing but a spontaneous, exquisite flow of beautiful sound. So br we have only had i t in a shortened version published by the Vocalion Oompany, and when I think of the yeoman service these two records have done for chamber music on the gramophone I am glad to feel that they have only been superseded at last by so perfect a version as this, so that they can pass into as honourable a retirement as any records have ever earned. I only hope that when the t ime comes to supersede with some modern methods of I'ecoI'ding the Vocalion version of Schumann's Piano Quintet they will have to yield to as redoubtable a combination of players. I t is sad to have to mention