GRAMOPHONE NOTES
EASILY the most important of the August 'recordings is that by Sir Thomas Beecham and the London Philharmonic Orchestra of Haydn's Symphony No. 97 in C major (H.M.V. DB 6222-4). This beautiful symphony is one of the famous Salomon set which Haydr wrote for London, and it is to be .hoped the complete set will lac recorded. Haydn was once declared by the late Arnold Bennett to be "a back number," which is an example of the danger run by literary men making dogmatic statements on artistic matters outside their own province, for Haydn will never be a back number so long as music lasts.
Something of a novelty is the Arthur Sullivan overture "Overture di Ballo," a lively piece in the Italian manner with a Rossiniesquc crescendo towards tin conclusion, well played by the City of Birmingham Orchestra under George Weldon (Col. DX I zoo). Extracts from musical plays rarely survive isolation as gramophone recordings since they depend so much upon the visual glamour of their stage settings: "Tomorrow" and "Life Begins Anew" from Sweet Yesterday, sung by Anne 'Ziegler and Webster Booth, are no exception ; but in any case these make a bad choice, the number that deserved recording was Morning Glory, sung by Webster Booth and chorus. It is characteristic both of impresarios and recording companies that they rarely know when they have a good thing or the opposite.
Four Chopin recordings by Jose Iturbi: Fantaisie Impromptu in C sharp minor Op. 66 and Waltz in D flat Op. 64 No. i (H.M.V. DA1848), and Waltz in C sharp minor Op. 64 No. 2 and Mazurka in B flat Op. 7 No. x (H.M.V. DA1849) are good examples of a type of virtuoso playing I do not admire. -The notes are there but not the meaning, they are not felt and the rubato is capricious
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