THE GRAMOPHONE London Office,' 58, Frith Street, London, W.l Edited by COMPTON MACKENZIE

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Vol. V.

SEPTEMBER, 1927

No.4

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AUGUST RECORDS

By THE EDITOR

IHAD no sooner finished writino the remarks I made la~t month about Le Cygne :nd The Londonderry Atr than I opened the first package of August records to find that the very first disc I picked up contained just those two tunes. I may add that i t happens to be a particularly good recording of them, having been made by that great 'cellist Mr. Felix Salmond on a 12 in. Columbia (6s. 6d.). I read in the bulletin that his previous records of the Beethoven 'Cello Sonata were greatly admired. No doubt they were, but i t is rather tantalising to he told that a favourite composition as beautifully played as I know i t will have been by Mr. Salmond has been greatly admired, and then not to be given an opportunity of hearing i t . I also read, apropos of this recol:d of Le Cygne and The Londonderry Air, that " i t will interest music lovers to know that this new issue is the most popular of all his records in the

American market." I hope I may be allowed to say, without offence, that such an i tem of news is of no more interest to music lovers over here than a similar i tem of news about an English record would be to music lovers in America. What would be a good testimonial for a safety razor is not necessarily a good testimonial for a gramophone record. What i t does tell us is that the same tunes are as popular in America as ovcr here, and after the failure of the Naval Conference at Geneva that is encouraging politically. One of the most profoundly significant comments on the relations between France and England is that the two nations do not l ike the same tunes. I t rna) be pointed out that Le Cygne was written by a Frenchman. That is true, but there is nothing characteristically French about i t . I t may also be pointed out that the Marseillaise would find a place in every Englishman's l ist of best tunes. That is also