Years from now people will probably be amazed to recollect how few persons back in the ‘twenties were really interested in recorded music. Since the phonograph companies have climbed out of the rut and produced machines and records which give a comparatively true reproduction of musical sound, the public has wonderful facilities right at its elbow to enjoy the world’s greatest music and musicians. Yet how ridiculously small is the circle of people who are alive to the musical possibilities of the phonograph-beyond its use as mere entertainment!

It is not too fanciful to predict that in the not too distant future music will be taught in schools and colleges with the aid of phonographs; that homes will contain phonographs for their libraries of music as much as a matter of course as to-day they contain book-shelves for libraries of literature; that the best phoriographs will parallel in size, cost, and perfection of musical tone the best pianofortes of to-day.

Even now the interest in recorded music is growing rapidly enough to augur bright years to come. In response to such an interest a new magazine has been started, the “Phonograph Monthly Review,” with offices in Boston. Its October issue was its first. For those who want to delve into phonograph music thoroughly this publication should prove most useful. Its editorial contents are interesting and its reviews able; it has made an auspicious start, and I wish it every success.

Phonograph Records

SONATA IN A FOR VIOLONCELLO. Opus 69 (Beethoven). Played by Felix Salmond. In six parts, on three records. Columbia.

In two ways the phonograph is better adapted to chamber music than it is to the more pretentious forms, such as choral and orchestral music. In the first place, because the acoustics of the usual house or apartment are inadequate for the best reproduction of music which is designed to be played in a large hall. And, second, because the simpler forms of music can more nearly approach in reproduction the sound of the performances themselves. Not that I wish for a minute to disparage the almost unbelievable results attained in orchestral recording! But every addition to the library of chamber music records is most welcome-and especially one as superb as Salmond’s playing of the A Major sonata.

The work itself holds interest even for those who consider most of the Beethoven sonatas dull. It is mentally stimulating music. Mr. Salmond’s performance is very much alive; not only vigorous, but sensitive. The reproduction comes out clear and strong, the piano accompaniment being unusually good-true in tone and not too much in the background. This feature, as I recall, is a habit of Mr. Salmond’s.

TRISTAN AND ISOLDE-PRELUDE (Wagner). Played by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alfred Hertz. In two parts, on one record. Victor.

Following the three Wagner orchestral records made under the direction of Albert Coates and issued last month, comes another bit of Wagner-but this time played by an orchestra not three thousand miles east, but three thousand miles west of New York. The San Franciscans, by this record alone, can claim a place among the very best of the world’s orchestras. Their string tone is a joy to the ear. Their wind band is pure-toned and precise. And in Mr. Hertz they have a conductor who draws out of Wagner’s music all Its eloquence, all its fiery passion. The climaxes are immense, sometimes too much so to reproduce clearly. Except for this the recording is flawless. Mr. Hertz has taken no liberties with the score; he ends the Prelude in mid-air, not attempting to treat it as a unit in itself, but only as an introduction to the music-drama which is to follow.

COUNTRY DANCE NO. 1; PASTORAL DANCE NO. 2; THE MERRYMAKERS’ DANCE NO. 3-from “Nell Gwyn” (Edward German).
Played by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rudolph Ganz. On one record. Victor.

These charming English dances are chock-full of rhythm and melody. In playing them, the hold and brilliant violins of the St. Louis Symphony, though at times strident, manage to create a care-free rustic atmosphere, I should prefer to hear a performance with more repression, on the part of the orchestra. But Mr. Ganz’s performance as it stands Is highly effective. Here again is an excellent piece of recording, with ample bass.

POLONAISE IN A FLAT, OPUS 53 (Chopin); MARCHE MILITAIRE (Schubert-Tausig). Played by Leopold Godowsky. Brunswick.

Again a milestone of progress. Here is the best pianoforte record I have yet heard. Its tone is actually the piano tone, without distortions or falseness in timbre. Its one drawback is that it makes the piano sound far away. But there have been so many piano records, even since the era of electrical recording, which sounded like anything but a piano that a true record is an achievement. Godowsky’s performance is all one could ask for. Both selections he plays as if he reveled in them.

Source: The Outlook, 3 November 1926