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Vol. V.

NuVEMBER, 1927

No.6

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EDITORIAL

IT seems to me that I am a lways congratulating the Parlophone Company on the way in which they arrange their monthly issues. For various reasons i t may no doubt be easier for them than for some of the other companies to mix their output in just the right proportion, but that need not make us withhold our praise for what may be called thoroughly efficient publishing. Their October l ist is a model. First of all there is the so-called Jena Symphony, attributed to Beethoven, on two discs. I am not going to hazard any opinion as to whether i t was written by Beethoven or not, but i t is an extremely pleasant . l i t t le work, more like a Haydn symphony than anything else, and i t is just the kind of work that the gramophone ought to give us from t ime to t ime. It is admirably recorded; in fact, Parlophone recording is steadily improving all the t ime, and there is an authentic quality about their strings that no other company seems so sure of getting on every disc. The Stradella and The Barber of Bagdad Overtures, both (like the symphony) under the baton of Dr. Weissmann, are welcome additions. Neither of these overtures gets played often in England, but any student of W oTld Radio will know how often they are played on the Continent, and both of them are examples of thoroughly pleasant, easy-to-listen-to music. The Edith Lorand Orchestra gives us a Vi ennese Pot POU,lTi, which is a model muster of familiar and favourite melodies; a rather dull waltz, Donausagen; and an excellent Fantasia on the tunes of Rigoletto. But even better than the Edith Lorand Orchestra for November fogs is the record of the Dajos Bela Orchestra this month, which consists of a really splendid combination of a tango with 0 Sole Mio, splendidly played and recorded, and an attractive enough Valse Boston on the other side. But best of all is the Dajos Bela Trio in the universally popular E x tas e on one side and on the other Beethoven's exquisite l i t t le Minuet in G and Haydn's equally exquisite l i t t le Minuet in F. The London Editor, who has been staying with me for a week, was so overcome by the beauty of this disc that he dropped the soundbox on to i t , with the result that on my disc, in addition to the music, I get for a couple of seconds