SYMPHONY NO. 1, IN C MINOR (Brahms). Played by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. In ten parts, on five records, with spoken analysis Victor. on sixth record. SYMPHONY NO. 8, IN B MINOR-"Unfinished" (Schubert). Played by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leopold StoVickowski. In six parts, on three records.

tor.

A good many people, having heard Stokowski's spectacular recordings of Liszt's "Second Hungarian Rhapsody" and Weber's "Invitation to the Waltz," have no doubt been looking forward to something more substantial from the same orchestra and conductor. This month brings that something-twofold. By its performance of the Brahms symphony the Philadelphia Orchestra has filled a serious gap in electrically recorded music. There is already an electrical recording of the "Unfinished Symphony" available, but a performance as satisfying as this new one justifies its own appearance.

The Brahms symphony is one of heroic dimensions. It needs an impressive reproduction-or else it is apt to sound ineffective. From this standpoint, the Philadelphia's performance is a fortunate one. Throughout the orchestra remains a towering giant. For instance, after the fortissimo passage for full orchestra in the slow introduction to the first movement, the solo oboe sounds puny. That is as it should be. It is a mistake in an orchestral recording to allow a single instrument to sound as near as in a chamber music concert in a small room. And it is not that the oboe sounds too faintly, but that the full orchestra is so forceful. To get such volume, such a closeness of detail, and such a feeling of the nearness of the instruments is a real feat of orchestral recording.

In his conception of the symphony, Stokowski has shown a vivid sense of its nobility, of the struggle it portrays, and of its final mood of triumph. In the last movement he reaches his greatest heights. He builds up the movement steadily to an almost overpowering climax with the entrance of the choral-like theme, announced by the full orchestra. If Stokowski falls down anywhere, it is in the two middle movements. It seems as if he became too instilled with the bigness of the symphony; the orchestra appears to be shouting its message the whole time. In the second movement this lack of repression is especially noticeable. Stokowski does not always follow the score literally in the matter of observing pianissimos-and when he does depart, he is not always successful.

Though the recording was made in the Academy of Music, it shows little of the concert-hall echo which pleases some gramophiles and annoys others. Its brilliance perhaps makes unavoidable an occasional touch of hoarseness in the tone. One detail which is unfortunate is the beginning of Part 8. I cannot make out whether the horn soloist is flat (nearly half a tone flat, at that) or whether the recording instrument caused a faulty pitch. In either case, it is a pity to have such a blemish in a recorded performance which reaches the high-water mark in so many ways.

An interesting innovation is Stokowski's analysis of the symphony. Helpful explanations like this ought to be appreciated by many people.

Schubert's ever-beautiful "Unfinished Symphony" receives exquisite, if less fierce, treatment from the baton of the Philadelphia conductor. In speaking of the Brahms symphony, Stokowski says:

separate out clearly in the contrapuntal singing. The acoustics of the Tabernacle can be appreciated.

ROSENKAVALIER-Waltz

(Richard Strauss). Played by the Orchestra of the State Opera House, Berlin, conducted by Eduard Mörike. In two parts. Odeon.

Odeon.

This is an unexpectedly gratifying performance. The interpretation shows an understanding of the spiritual quality inherent in the Good Friday music. Little of Wagner's music contains the feeling of reverence which is found in this excerpt― a mood in many ways the same as that of his "Siegfried Idyll." The orchestra is worth hearing. Its wind band has a nicety of balance, and its stringed instruments a soft, silky tone quality. The "Meistersinger" selection-one of the most delightful passages of the opera-is played with lightness and delicacy. Is not familiarity with contemporary and almost-contemporary popular music a handicap? For instance, near the end of this record the brasses solemnly announce the opening half-dozen notes of "Where Did You Get That Girl?" (A few months ago I was accused of implying that Beethoven cribbed from Sir Arthur Sullivan. I hope no one will accuse me now of suggesting Wagner's dependence on American ragtime.)

MINUET-Opus 14, No. 1 (Paderewski); MOON

LIGHT SONATA, Opus 27, No. 2-Adagio
Sostenuto (Beethoven). Played by Ignace Jan
Paderewski. Victor.

When Paderewski plays, we learn that to be a great pianist is not so much a matter of perfect fingering as it is of sureness and eloquence in interpretation. His familiar, tuneful minuet becomes first as light as gossamer, then as thunderous as artillery. Does not hearing the first movement of the "Moonlight Sonata" make one impatient to have him play it to the finish? Perhaps he will for us, later. The piano reproduction seems better in the minuet than in the sonata; that is probably because the middle register, which is the hardest to record, is more prominent in the sonata. PRESIDENT COOLIDGE WELCOMES COLONEL LINDBERGH-Washington, D. C., June 11, 1927. Address by President Calvin Coolidge. In three parts, on two records, the fourth part being COLONEL LINDBERGH REPLIES TO PRESIDENT COOLIDGE. Address by Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh. Victor.

ADDRESS BEFORE THE PRESS CLUB, Washington, D. C., June 11, 1927. Address by Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh. In two parts. Victor.

There is something quite stirring about the surging, high-pitched enthusiasm of those who welcomed Colonel Lindbergh, even when their cheers are frozen into. wax. These three discs reproduce what was actually sent into the ether by the National Broadcasting Company. It is interesting historically, not only because of the occasion but as an example of the art of radio broadcasting in 1927.

THE MESSIAH-Worthy is the Lamb (Handel); ELIJAH—He Watching Over Israel (Mendelssohn). Sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, directed by Anthony C. Lund. Victor. These are as different from the early electrical Mormon Tabernacle Choir recordings as day is from night. The voices are well-balanced, they have volume, and they

Rich harmonies and skillful orchestration make this suavely conducted waltz a pleasant one to listen to. A praiseworthy recording-without stridency, although the orchestra's brilliance in the upper register is almost overpowering. Its violins are pleasing in tone.

HEBREW MELODY

(Achron); ZAPATEADO (Sarasate). Played by Jascha Heifetz.

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Vic

DE

Played by Mishel

LA ROMANESCA (Gaillarde); SOUVENIR
MOSCOW (Wieniawski).
Piastro. Brunswick.

There is something infectious in the gayety of "Zapateado"-and something uncanny in the violinist's skill which it uncovers. The "Hebrew Melody" is slower, more expressive, and brings into action Heifetz's rich lower tones. Its piano accompaniment is worthy of attention. Piastro's two selections are simple and melodic, and are played sensuously.

LULLABY (Rossetti-Scott); I WOULD WEAVE A SONG FOR YOU (Adams-O'Hara). Sung by Claire Dux. Brunswick.

II. BACIO (Arditi); CIRIBIRIBIN (Pestalozza). Sung by Lucrezia Bori. Victor.

Sung softly to a rocking, rhythmic piano accompaniment, "Lullaby" is a charming song. The other three selections on these two records are either mediocre or trashy. SOLILOQUY (Bloom); WHEN DAY IS DONE (Katscher). Played by Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra. Victor.

"Soliloquy" is an interesting bit of orchestration in the jazz idiom. Its colors are bizarre; its harmonies pungent. The use of two pianos as an instrumental group and of reed instruments as percussion deserve comment. "When Day Is Done," sad to relate, is saccharine, played in what might be called "late Paramount style." HEAR, DE LAM'S A-CRYIN'; EZEKIEL SAW DE WHEEL. (Negro Spirituals, arranged by Lawrence Brown.) Sung by Paul Robeson and Lawrence Brown. Victor.

Robeson's singing contains a spiritual quality (I am using "spiritual" as an adjective, not a noun) which puts it in the class of really great music. "Hear, De Lam's A-Cryin'," sung as a duet with his accompanist, has this quality. "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" offers sharp contrast, being more in the style of the usual colored quartet repertory.

IMPRESSIONS OF LONDON-St. Margaret' Chimes, Westminster; Oh God. Our Help i Ages Past. Played by Stanley Roper. Victor A record that is worth hearing and own ing, in my humble opinion, merely becaus it records Big Ben striking nine-nine very wonderful musical tones.

Piano Rolls

POLONAISE IN C MINOR, Opus 40, No. (Chopin). Played by Harold Bauer. Duo Art.

This is Chopin completely out of th effeminate, long-haired class. Bauer's pow erful interpretation contains almost epi eloquence.

RHAPSODIE IN E FLAT, Opus 119, No. 4 (Brahms). Played by Frank Sheridan. Am pico.

One of Brahms's noblest piano works, played with satisfying vigor. Such a piece as this vindicates the piano style of Brahms. His heavy, growling bass may violate musical theory-but what ruggedness it holds!

LYMAN ABBOTT

D

O you find it difficult in these days of religious ferment and argument and turmoil to hold steadfast to the faith that has been within you? Or do new and disquieting fears crowd in to haunt your mind, making you hungry for more explicit exposition of religious truth and spiritual experience which must find new expression to fit the needs and thought of this new day?

What Does Your Bible Mean to You?

Do you sometimes fear that you must abandon the historic faith of Christendom to accept the theory of evolution? Or do you believe that the historic faith of Christendom when stated in terms of evolutionary philosophy is not only preserved but is so cleansed of pagan thought and feeling as to be presented in a purer and more powerful form-more understandable and more helpful?

What Does Religion Mean to You?

Does it mean a certain form of worship and a method of living in accordance with the things you learned in Sunday school or from sermons? Or does it mean to you a faith and a power beyond yourself whereby you seek to satisfy your emotional needs, gaining stability of life expressed in acts of love, charity, and service?

Or does religion mean to you a life itself, "mystical in its roots and practical in its fruits"? Or do you like to think of it, above all, as "communion with God, a calm and deep enthusiasm, a love which radiates, a force which acts, a happiness which overflows"-in short, a state of the soul?

Whatever may be your belief, faith, doubt, perplexity, or fear, you will find clearly set forth and illuminated in two volumes by Lyman Abbott, which it is now the privilege of The Outlook Company to publish in a special edition, a calm and deep-seeing interpretation of many of the religious questions that are haunting men's minds.

These books are entitled "The Evolution of Christianity" and "The Theology of an Evolutionist." In them Dr. Abbott "endeavors to indicate the direction in which modern thought is looking," his sole and simple aim being "so to apply the fundamental principle of evolution to problems of religious life and thought that the life which that principle has afforded and the inspiration which it

has furnished in the realm of natural science may be valuable to the non-scholastic and non-professional reader."

Dr. Abbott's volumes assume the truth of this principle of evolution as defined by Professor Le Conte: "A continuous, progressive change according to certain laws and by means of resident forces." And he admits no ground for controversy in the deeper underlying questions; for he says: "He who believes in the evolution of revelation no longer has to tease his mind, arguing that the creative days were æons, that the sun standing still was an optical delusion due to peculiar refraction of rays, and that some whales have mouths big enough to allow the passage of a man. He frankly treats the stories of creation, of Joshua's campaign, and of Jonah's adventures as literature characteristic of the childhood age of the world and looks for the moral lessons which are behind them."

The Secret of Spiritual Evolution Here, then, are two volumes on evolution in the light of religion of great value to every man and woman who would understand the Bible and its teachings more clearly.

Volume One considers the evolution of the Bible, of theology, of the Church, of Christian society, and of the soul, with special attention to the secret and the consummation of spiritual evolution.

Volume Two considers creation by evolution, the genesis of sin, the evolution of revelation, the place of Christ in evolution, redemption by evolution, the evolution of sacrifice and propitiation, and evolution as related to miracles and to immortality.

Volume 147

Chicago's Perennial School Row

W

ILLIAM MCANDREW'S career in Chicago has been stormy. Coming there from

New York to become directing head of Chicago's school system, he was greeted

September 14, 1927

question involved in the trial of Mr. McAndrew. The trial will be conducted by the Board of Education.

The "Peteys" Displace the "Jennies"

been chosen by a school board appointed in the main by Mayor Dever. Before long those who had hailed him began to complain that he was arbitrary. The criticism was due largely to the establishment by him of discipline which was sorely needed. Thus trouble was brewing early. Then ex-Mayor Thompson, running as a candidate against Mayor Dever, boldly declared that if he were elected he would oust Mr. McAndrew. He declared that under Mr. McAndrew's Superintendency the Chicago schools were permeated with pro-British teachings, and he fulminated against King George V. But under the law the Superintendent is not removed except by trial and on charges. Mr. McAndrew's term expires on the first of next February. Without waiting for the term to expire, the Board of Education has brought charges and has suspended Mr. McAndrew pending the trial.

Nominally, the charge against Mr. McAndrew is that of insubordination. There are nearly three hundred teachers employed in clerical work which Mr. McAndrew says can be done only by persons with the training and experience of teachers. Mayor Thompson's Civil Service Commission demanded that those teachers be replaced by clerks selected under the Civil Service Law. As there is no eligible list, the first clerks to be appointed would be chosen by spoils methods. Mr. McAndrew declared the order ambiguous. In litigation started by the teacher-clerks Mr. McAndrew was called as a witness and testified that, in his opinion as an educator, the positions should be filled by persons with the training and experience of teachers. This testimony, counter to the views of the Board of Education, defendant in the suit, angered the Board's attorney. It was inconceivable that an official of the Board should subordinate the will of the Board and its attorney to his own professional standards.

Are American public schools to be conducted for the sake of the children or for the sake of politics? This is the

old "Jenny" airplanes, which have been the training ships of volunteer

Underwood & Underwood

William McAndrew, suspended Superintendent of the Chicago public schools aviators in the Reserve Corps, took off on September 1 for the last time. Their nickname came from the letters J-N by which they were classified, but "Jenny" was too gay a name for them. Designed in 1915, of wooden construction, and often under-powered according to modern standards, they had a record of nose-diving crashes that won them the unenviable title of "flying coffins."

These antiquated planes have now been scrapped in accordance with an army order of last April. During the summer training-camp period intervening between that order and its date of taking effect there were two fatal accidents in these "Jenny" planes. At Pine Camp, New York, on July 6, the fall of one of these planes killed Captain Curtis Wheeler and Lieutenant Carl Sack. At Wichita, Kansas, a little over a

Number 2

month later, Lieutenant C. A. Pearson lost his life when another of them plunged to earth.

Neither of these costly casualties has been satisfactorily explained, and probably neither can ever be explained. All we know is that young men of incalculable value to their country were allowed to risk their lives in airplanes admitted -by the fact of the army order retiring them to be obsolete and dangerous. Why their continued use was permitted is the real mystery.

"Petey" planes, that take their nickname from the letters P-T classifying them as preliminary training planes, will replace the "Jennies." The "Peteys" are up to date in design, construction, and power, and bid fair to make a better record than the ill-fated "Jennies." The lamentable thing is that they are coming into service so late. If the importance and merits of the National Guard service had been recognized, the civilian volunteers would have had the modern planes they have needed and the "Jennies" would all have been on the junk-heap at least a year ago. From now on, it is to be hoped, the Guard will get more of the sort of attention and equipment it deserves.

Air Flights, Actual and Planned

THE

HE transatlantic, no-stop airplane flight westward is, as we write, still in the future. Hope for the St. Raphael and its voyagers-Colonel Minchin, Captain Hamilton, and the Princess Lowenstein-Wertheim has been abandoned; one theory for which some evidence seems to exist is that the St. Raphael was actually sighted on the Newfoundland coast, but by some strange confusion of compass or pilot flew eastward until her fuel was exhausted. Levine may try the feat any day, and there is a rumor that he too may carry a woman passenger; his pilot, Captain Hinchcliffe, has a high reputation for daring and skill; he was a fighting aviator in war time and has lost one eye. Courtney abandoned the non-stop idea, started for the Azores and came down in Spain. Others may this year brave the fate of Nungesser, Coli, and the St. Raphael's voyagers, but it is doubtful. The reason of the greater danger in the east-to-west flight is succinctly put in an editorial comment of the New

36

York "World:" "The aviators are learning what old sailormen knew all along that it is 'up hill' crossing the North Atlantic headed west. Prevailing winds on that stormy stretch of sea are westerly, and a head wind that impedes a steamship by a fraction of its day's run impedes an airplane by exactly its entire weight per hour."

There are at least half a dozen other trans-sea air flights planned or talked about. There is a continued and growing interest in the world circling of the Pride of Detroit, manned by Brock and Schlee. They were detained at Constantinople because of Turkish red tape; but on September 6 they reached Calcutta. The exciting part of the voyage will be across the Pacific; two stops are planned, one at Midway Islands (belonging to the United States and possessing a radio beacon) and the other at Honolulu. To accomplish this will be a notable aviation feat of daring and skill.

On September 6 Bertaud and Hill started from Old Orchard, Maine, on the voyage on which they hope to reach Rome.

In view of the fact that, including the ten lives lost in the Hawaii race and preparation therefor, fifteen persons (two of them women) have perished in transoceanic flying, it is not surprising

that at the recent meeting of the American Bar Association a resolution was unanimously adopted that pledged members of the Bar Association to urge Congress to pass legislation extending the powers of the Secretary of Commerce to include regulation of such flights. Mr. MacCracken, the Assistant Secretary for Aeronautics of the Department of Commerce, commenting on the resolution in an interview, said the Department would be glad to assume regulatory power if Congress saw fit to confer it.

The Other Side of Aviation

DR

The Outlook for September 14, 1927

Colonel Lindbergh has met on his

Nation-wide tour. This amazing young
Nation-wide tour. This amazing young
man, whose flight to Paris was the first
of a series of exploits which is making
1927 a year of aerial marvels, has gone
from one success to another, and is doing
aviation a far greater service by his
tour than if he had attempted new rec-
ords in the air. So great is the interest
in aviation which he personifies that,
according to reports, airports seem to be
springing up wherever he sets foot.
Twenty-two cities have started negotia-
tions for the construction of flying-fields
which may serve as stations on the air-
ways of the future.

The transoceanic fliers have taught us two lessons: First, that it is possible to span both the Atlantic and the Pacific; second, that such flights are still very dangerous with present-day equipment. They have pointed the way to a glowing future for aviation, but what we now need is practical development rather than romantic and sensational attempts at further records. The establishment of air lines, the construction of airports,

and increasing emphasis upon the factor
of safety are the most propitious signs
of aeronautical development.

A Message to Legislators
THE judgment of the American Bar

Association is the composite judgment of the best legal minds of America. On matters pertaining purely to legal procedure recommendations of this Association should have weight with Congress as great, perhaps, as the recommendations of the President; with other legislative bodies, weight greater, perhaps, than those of Governors, because they more nearly embody the National judgment upon State matters of National import.

The American Bar Association, at its recent meeting in Buffalo, was more concerned with the evil of legal delay than, perhaps, with any other single question. It went on record as declaring that "delays in the course of the law are prejudicial to justice." It cited as an example the Sacco-Vanzetti case. It empowered its committee to meet with committees of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, the American Federation of Labor, the American Bankers Association, and other bodies for the purpose of working out means of expediting trials. When those recommendations are made, it will be the duty of Congress and State Legislatures to give them serious and prompt consideration. Even before they are made it will be the duty of those bodies to give thought to this tremendously important question.

On one matter of delay-outside, however, of regular court procedurethe American Bar Association did not wait for further investigation. It declared that appeals of Federal taxpayers to the Board of Tax Appeals are too long delayed and called upon Congress and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for correction. It asked, too, that in tax cases where fraud is charged the burden of proof be placed on the Commissioner of Internal Revenue instead of, as it now is, on the taxpayer.

Again, the Association emphasized the importance of uniform State laws on real estate and chattel mortgages, commercial practices, bankruptcy, motor-vehicle regulation.

Another year was given to the various committees for consideration of plans for reforming the rules governing medical and other expert testimony, ridding the profession of dishonest lawyers by additional disbarment proceedings, and abolishing the contingent fee as a cause of corruption and delay in trials.

Farming as an Engineering

Problem

PRESIDEN

RESIDENT COOLIDGE, it is understood, has been at work recently on the recommendations that he will make to Congress concerning the agricultural situation. The American Society of Agricultural Engineers, through representatives, called on him one day and made recommendations based on the premise that, though the quantity of farm products is adequate, the quality satisfactory, and the cost of food and other products to the consumer not excessive, "a large number of American farmers do not enjoy as favorable a situation as the individuals in other industries and vocations."

The recommendations laid down a program which, in the judgment of the engineers, would place the farmer on a parity with other producers. There is in the program nothing of price-fixing, nothing of withholding products from the channels of trade, nothing resembling the provisions of the McNaryHaugen Bill. Farm financing should be on the basis of the earning power of land rather than on speculative value; industrial uses of farm products should be developed; surplus farm population should be transferred, under supervision, to other industries; an engineering study should be made with the object of securing greater production per farm worker; the Government should carry out a research program in keeping with the work of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations.

If the substance of these recommen