RETAIL PRICES OF His Master's Voice Double-SidedRECORDS THE ROYAL RECORD (R.E.284) THEIR MAJESTIES THE KING & QUEEN. 10 in. Double-sided, 5/6. THE ROYAL RECORD (R.D. 887) H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF. WALES. 12 in. Double-sided 516. ORANGE Label, Double-sided, 7-inch (Nursery Records) 1/6 ... Per Set Six Records in Pictorial Album 12/6 of ... ... ... Colour of Label 10-inch 12-inch 4/6 PLUM (Plm) ... ... ... ... ... 3/- BLACK (Blk) 4/6 6/6 ... ... ... ... ... RED (Red) 6/- 8/6 ... ... .. ... ... BUFF (B'ff) 7/- 10/- ... ... ... ... ... PALE GREEN (P.G.) 11/6 ... ... ... ... - PALE BLUE (P.B.) 13/6 ... ... ... ... - (Wte) 16/- WHITE (Sextet) ... ... ... ... - For Prices of Single-Sided Celebrity Records see General Catalogue. Unless "His Voice" Records otherwise stated .1lasters should be played at a speed of 78. His Master's l'oice'' Instantaneous Sbeed Tester. shows instantly whether your motor is running correctly. "His Master's Voice" Records The SCHUMANN PIANO CONCERTO ALFRED CORTOT (Pianoforte) AND THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL ORCHESTRA (conducted by Sir LANDON RONALD) 12 inch double-sided Red babel. Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 ... ... ... ...Schum n (First Movement-Allegro D B 722 affettuoso (First Movement-Andante expressivo-Allegro D.B. 723 First Movement-Allegro, Parts 1 and 2 Second Movement-Intermezzo-Andantino D B 724 grazioso Third Movement-Allegro vivace, Part 1 D.B.725 Third Movement-Allegro vivace, Parts 2 and 3 T HE work here recorded is the only complete Piano Concerto that Schumann wrote. Dr. Spitta writes of it (in Grove's " Dictionary of Music and Musicians ") as follows : " It is one of his most beautiful and mature works. In addition to all his peculiar originality it has also the qualities, which no Concerto should lack, of external brilliancy and striking, powerful, well- rounded subjects." The piece is too well-established a favourite in the Concert Hall to need further introduction, so we proceed at once to a brief consideration of the music itself. The first movement opens with a forcible, rhythmic phrase on the Piano which is followed at once by the tune of the principal subject on the oboe. This tune dominates the movement, the composer employing it also as a second subject, only changing it from the minor to the major key, transferring it to the Clarinet, and adding a short phrase at the end culminating in an upward leap. Otherwise the music follows regular lines, the first side (on the gramophone) containing the exposition, the second the development, the third the recapitulation, and the fourth the cadenza and coda. The little Interenezzo that takes the place of a slow movement occupies only one side. It consists of two ideas, the first a dialogue between Piano and Orchestra, the second a more sustained melody in which the 'Cello plays a prominent part. The sixth side opens with the bridge passage that leads straight into the Finale. The main subject of this fine movement is allotted first to the Piano ; later comes a theme with a curious cross rhythm, heard first upon the strings. These two ideas form the principal material of a movement which is remarkable for its vigour and especially for the sustained brilliance of the solo part. With a Pianist like Cortot, a Conductor like Sir Landon Ronald, and an Orchestra like that of the Royal Albert Hall, the Concerto is obviously in the right hands ! The recording is well up to our usual high standard.For prices, see page 2 of cover. "His Master's Voice" Records ORCHESTRAL MUSIC JANUARY. 1925. - SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (conducteJ by ALBERT COATES) 12-inch Double-sided ß:ack Label Symphony in C,. No. 41 (Jupiter) lln;arl ... ... ... D. 942 First Movement-Allegro vivace, Parts 1 and 2 D. 943 Second Movement-Andante Cantabile, Parts I & 2 Third Movement-Menuetto D. 944 Fourth Movement-Molto Allegro, Part 1 Fourth Movement-Molto Allegro, Part 2 D. 945«Impresario Mo.-art -Overture... "Jupiter " is the last, and perhaps the greatest, of Mozart's Symphonies. Here again we may perhaps be THEallowed to quote from Grove, this time from the writer of the article on " Mozart." He says " The last three (Symphonies), in H flat, G minor, and C with the Fugue (Jupiter) were composed in 1778, between the 26th of June and the 10th of August, just over six weeks. Ambros says of them, ' considered as pure music, it is hardly worth while to ask whether the world possesses anything more perfect.' Jahn calls the first a triumph of beauty in sound, the second a work of art exhausting its topic, and the third in more than one respect the greatest and noblest of all Mozart's Symphonies." The first movement starts abruptly with the announcement of the principal musical ideas. The first of these is bold and vigorous, but it is followed immediately (bars three and four) by a lyrical phrase on the strings. To these is presently added an important theme on the wood-wind, consisting of an upward leap of an octave followed by a downward run. A change of key brings two further thoughts, a flowing melody-typically Mozartian -and (later) a more animated passage beginning with a rise of a sixth ; both these are allotted to the violins. The whole of this is then repeated, completing the first side of the record. The second side consists of the development of the material and its recapitulation at the end of the movement. The Andante (which also occupies two sides) is constructed on a similar pattern. The Violins play a long sustained melody and then, after a short but strenuous episode, they give us an- other, this second one being decorated with true Mozartian grace. As in the first movement there is a repeat, but here the break between the sides comes when the first melody only has been repeated, the fourth side including the repeat of the second melody besides the whole of the development and the recapitulation. The Minuet and Trio are in Mozart's most polished manner, but the music is too transparent to require analysis and we pass on to the Finale. This is once more in the same form as the For prices, see page 2 of cover. "His Master's Voice" Records ORCHESTRAL MUSIC JANUARY, 1925. first movement. It contains four important ideas (1) the time heard ou the violins at the beginning, (2) a rhythmic phrase :- ý!_ - -- se..ý ýý+--- - ý---ýý- -ý-ý-ý_ý_-ý-ý-ý_ý_-ý -+-ý _ --ý- -ý- --- -ý- ý-ý-ý-a- -.ý- a rising scale passage (3) that first appears thus an(I another theme (4) :- The sixth side gives us the exposition of all these and the repeat. The last side once more contains the development, which is very remarkable for its contrapuntal treatment of theme (2), and the recapitulation. The end of the Symphony is a stupendous tour de force. of genius, a Fugue in which all the four motives already mentioned, together with a fifth that has also appeared but to which we have hitherto made no reference, are treated simul- taneously with a mastery that puts Mozart once and for all in the front rank of the world's contrapuntists. The odd side is appropriately devoted to the delightful Impresario Overture. This sparkling gem is so seldom heard that we regard it as something of a discovery. OPERATIC MUSIC AMELITA GALLI-CURCI (Soprano) (with orchestral accompaniment) 12 inch double-sided Red Isabel. Pretty Mocking Bird (with Flute Obb.) Bishop Si (Slumber Song) Act 1, ll D.B. 798 carina ... .e lerl,'e) preceded by Bellih ! capretta adorata ! (°' Dinorah ") (Sung in Italian) WWE prophecy with a good deal of confidence that these new songs of Galli-Curci's will find their place with her Una Voce and those other exceptional records which all lovers of good singing on the gramophone will consider indispensable for their libraries. The " Slumber Song " may not require quite such sensational execution as some other pieces in Galli-Curci's repertoire, For prices, see page 2 of cover. "His Master's Voice" Records OPERATIC MUSIC JANUARY. 1925. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI-(Continued from page 3). although it is by no means devoid of brilliancy. But there is here a certain seductive quality about the tone and the rendering which makes it in its way unique. Incidentally, too, the Orchestral recording is astonishingly successful. Bishop's " Pretty mocking bird " is, as everyone knows, a piece that only the greatest colorathu"a singers dare to attempt. It demands incredible feats of vocal agility and the flute obbligato is there throughout, ready to show up any joint in a vocalist's armour. But Galli-Curci excels the flute on that instrument's own ground in a contest whose vivacity compels a smile of admiration and delight. DINH GILLY (Baritone) (with orchestral accompaniment) 10-inch double-sided Red Label. (Vecchia zimarra (" La Boheme ") Puccini (Sung in Italian) _ D.A. 559. Scorri flume (11 11 Tabarro ") P,'cci rr (Sung in Italian) VECCHIA ZLIIARRA is the song that Colline, the philo- sopher, sings in the last Act of ` La Boheme." Mimi is dying, and her friends have no money for medicine and other necessaries. But each does what he can and Colline's offering is his most valued possession, his old coat, which lie apostrophises before he takes it away to sell it. Dinh Gilly makes the simple phrases extraordinarily affecting, " 11 Tabarro " is the first of a triptych of one-act operas which were first produced in New York in 1918 and in London in 1920. Many critics hailed them as marking a fresh advance in Puccini's art, and certainly this song, with its dramatic vocal part, its glittering orchestration, and its finely constructed climax, would seem to justify the high opinion they formed.