CHRISTOPHER STONE writes about .sx HISTORY MADE IN BASEMENT .sx Long Playing Records Bound to Come , but Not Just Yet .sx The basement of a house not a furlong from the British Museum was the scene of an interesting landmark in gramophone history the other evening .sx The members of the Ten A Club heard Beethoven's " Fifth Symphony " played by the Philadelphia Orchestra on a single twelve-inch record , two movements to each side .sx They owed this novel experience to the enterprise of E.M.G. Gramophones , whose shop in Grape-street is well known to connoisseurs and who had taken the trouble to obtain a copy of the Victor record from America and to rig up a motor which would play it at thirty-three and a third revolutions to the minute .sx The rumours from America about these long-playing records were sufficiently enthusiastic to rouse the interest of " gramophiles " in this country , and it was very necessary that we should hear the things for ourselves .sx The long-playing record is bound to come in the normal evolution of recording , but so far as we are concerned over here we certainly do not want them until they are very much improved , judging by this first specimen .sx For various reasons , which I have no space to give now , my advice to anyone who has heard about the American records , and wonders whether our four-minute discs will shortly be replaced by equally efficient recordings containing fifteen minutes music on each side , is to forget all about it for the present .sx We shall not get the records , and if we did they would throw back the general standard of recording to a much lower degree of perfection .sx A CRACKED MELODY .sx I had rather a sinister omen in the programme that I broadcast last Saturday night when listeners were invited to guess the music and performers of several famous records .sx Richard Tauber's record of " You Are My Heart's Delight " ( Parlo R.O. 20107 , 4s .sx ) , had mysteriously got cracked , and throughout the song the relentless plop of the needle at each revolution distracted everyone's attention from the beauty of the singing .sx But this was nothing to the disappointment of the huge audience which waited in vain for Tauber at the Albert Hall on the following afternoon .sx After the broadcast I went on to the May Fair Hotel to hear Peggy Cochrane and Patrick Waddington singing their songs and duets with a delightful ease and polish .sx The best one , I thought , was " Ladies and Gentlemen , That's Love , " which we shall soon have on records .sx It is out of the American show George White's " Scandals .sx " Unfortunately Ambrose's Band was broadcasting , which meant that it was playing much louder than usual , the position of the players was different and their number increased .sx I thought it was terrible , but then I owe Ambrose an insult because , when in my laboured convolutions I passed close to him as he was conducting , he laid his hand on my arm and said with his devastating smile :sx " That is one of the things you don't do quite so well .sx " He was quite right .sx When friendly relations were re-established he confided to me that his record of " Joey , the Clown , " which is just issued ( H.M.V. , B 6109 , 2s .sx 6d .sx ) is one of those intricate performances which every now and then come off perfectly in the recording studio by a happy fluke .sx When you have heard it you will agree .sx Now for a few of the records that seem especially suitable for Christmas presents .sx I have received three Filmophones of songs from A.A. Milne's " When We Were Very Young " and " Now We Are Six , " really beautifully sung , and contained in a coloured envelope with some of the trailing needles which are used for those flexible records .sx The whole album only costs 4s .sx 6d .sx and I have ear-marked it to give to my young relations and friends .sx Rather similar are the Decca records made by Uncle Harry ( Harry Hopewell ) , whose voice is so familiar to listeners in the Midlands ( Decca F 2635-8 , 1s .sx 6d .sx each) .sx For those who like the authentic atmosphere of church services there are two very fine records of abbreviated Christmas services .sx One of them ( Imperial 2583 , 1s .sx 3d .sx ) was made in St. James's Church , West Hampstead , and the other ( Broadcast 3120 , 1s .sx 6d .sx ) at St. Mary-le-Bow , Cheapside .sx Since they are quite different in treatment it would be advisable to get both .sx CHEERFUL IDIOCY .sx A thoroughly good record of familiar Christmas hymns and carols is made by the Westminster Choir ( H.M.V. C2300 , 4s .sx ) , and called " Christmas Memories , " and from the same list there is a peculiarly lovely record of carols and hymns made by the Temple Church Choir which had the distinction , with its " Hear My Prayer " record , of first revealing to thousands of people the ineffable beauty of records made in sacred buildings .sx Last Friday I mentioned several of the records that had been chosen for broadcasting to-day during the luncheon hour .sx Among the rest is that infectiously optimistic song , " To-day I Feel so Happy , " which dominates the best English " single " yet made , " Sunshine Susie .sx " After the gala performance of it on Monday the whole audience streamed out of the Capitol humming it , and for cheerful idiocy it would be hard to beat the words .sx The heroine , Renate Muller , sings it on Columbia DB 687 ( 2s .sx ) .sx Bob and Alf Pearson in a " Plantation Song Medley " ( Broadcast 3109 , 1s .sx 6d .sx ) , Richard Brooks in " Villikins and His Dinah " and " Polly Wolly Doodle " ( Panachord 25138 , 1s .sx 6d .sx ) , Richard Crooks in " I'll Always be True " and " Vienna , City of My Dreams , " ( H.M.V. DA 1239 , 4s .sx ) , and Grieg's Symphonic Dances , which are very finely recorded ( Parlo E11171 and 2 , 4s .sx each ) , and some charming tangos on Parlo R 1075 ( 2s .sx 6d .sx ) are included in the programme , which contains no less than twelve different makes of records .sx CHRISTOPHER STONE writes about .sx CHRISTMAS GRAMOPHONES .sx Some Advice on Gifts to Suit All Tastes and Pockets .sx CHRISTMAS shopping has begun with a vengeance , and I hear that orders of gramophone records this week are even bigger than for the corresponding week two years ago when everyone was feeling so rich .sx This is grand news because gramophones , radio-gramophones and records make the finest presents to mark the festive days , and there is plenty of choice in the shops to suit every taste and every purse .sx And nowadays the system of paying by instalments is so perfected that no one need shy at the cost of getting the good article which will last and give satisfaction for a long while , rather than the cheaper and perhaps showier article that will be discarded when the gilt has quickly tarnished .sx To-day and next week I want to be severely practical in my advice to readers .sx Naturally I cannot pretend to have heard all the available gramophones or records and have no wish to be dogmatic .sx A PROBLEM .sx Conditions vary as much as taste :sx the Columbia De Luxe portable , which cost ten guineas when I first got one , and is now being sold at 6 15s .sx -a bargain if there ever was one-would probably be much too loud for a really small sitting-room .sx On the other hand the superb Senior Expert , made by E. M. Ginn at 55 , Rathbone-place , W.1 , which is the perfect acoustic gramophone for my own home , may be too big with its over-arching external horn , and too much the connoisseur's joy with its fibres and tuned sound-box , for the rough-and-tumble life of large families .sx A friend , wanting to buy a new radio set for his wife , came yesterday to my office for advice .sx I showed him my marvellous H.M.V. No .sx 531 radio-gramophone , which changes its own records as well as giving first-class reproductions of them and of radio .sx But he said no ; he couldn't afford seventy guineas , and anyhow he didn't want the gramophone part of it .sx So I sent him round to Imhof House ( 112 , New Oxford-street ) , where he would be able to try all imaginable kinds of radio sets side by side under identical conditions , and I specially told him to try these three , any one of which is an absolutely safe investment :sx - .sx Marconiphone No .sx 42 , twenty guineas .sx H.M.V. No .sx 435 , twenty-two guineas .sx Columbia No .sx 352 , twenty-three guineas .sx The result of the visit to Imhof's was that he bought none of these three , but an H.M.V. No .sx 501 , which is a table radio-gramophone costing twenty-nine guineas , the argument being that the few extra guineas for the gramophone part of it were a trifle considering the advantages !sx That is where the salesman scores .sx For acoustic , i.e. non-electrical , gramophones there are two models which are not very well known and which I recommend with great confidence .sx One is the Cascade 11 gramophone with external removable horn made by W. J. Bond and Sons , Milton-avenue , Harlesden , N.W.10 , and the other is the Chromogram 20B , 76 , City-road , E.C.1. Each is British made from start to finish , and costs ten guineas .sx Finally , for portables in which the quality of the unseen motor is the really important consideration I recommend H.M.V. 102 , 5 12s .sx 6d .sx , the Micre-Perophone 10E , 3 17s .sx 6d .sx , and the Columbia Cadet , 2 17s .sx 6d .sx There is no need for anyone to look beyond these .sx There are always accessories and gadgets which make the sort of gift that gramophone-lovers appreciate .sx The Rondo Cabinette , for instance , is invaluable for storing as well as carrying records .sx The " Popular " model holds fifty records and costs 30s .sx ; the more slender one , which I always use , holds twenty-five and costs 24s .sx At the other end of the scale are the simple albums for keeping six records of a kind together , which cost only 1s .sx each at the Gramophone Exchange in Shaftesbury-avenue .sx TWO THRILLERS .sx Two of the most thrilling of this month's records are in my programme for broadcasting to-day during the luncheon hour .sx One , which opens the concert , is the " Finlandia " of Sibelius played with extraordinary grandeur by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Stokowsky ( H.M.V. DB1584 , 12in .sx , ) .sx This is familiar music to most of us and with the " Valse Triste " has made the name of Sibelius known throughout the world , but correspondence shows that other works of his , the Symphonies and " The Swan of Tuonela " and " En Saga " for instance , are beginning to impress the greater public with the genius of one of the few living composers who has always been worthily honoured in his own country .sx The other fine record is operatic and contains on one side the " Miserere " scene from " Il Trovatore " and on the other the last part of the second act of " La Forza del Destino " ( H.M.V. , DB1199 , 12in .sx , ) .sx Rosa Ponselle's voice , unequalled in singing Verdi , is heard at the height of its beauty .sx Two other records which I think will be popular are the first record made by Georges Seversky ( Parlo , R1099 , 2s .sx 6d .sx ) , and a repetition , by special request , of that refreshing picture of City by-ways , " A Casey Court Concert " ( Regal , MR448 , 1s .sx ) .sx CHRISTOPHER STONE .sx CHRISTOPHER STONE writes about .sx NEW LIMERICK RECORDS .sx Richard Tauber in Some Delightful Songs from " Flower of Hawaii " .sx Shades of Edward Lear !sx The last line of his limericks never meant much ; but in Leslie Sarony's " Rhymes " which I mentioned last weeks as being Jack Hylton's great hit , the last line of the limericks means everything - and more !sx The Jack Hylton record ( Decca F2679 ) , 1s .sx 6d .sx ) and the Billy Cotton record ( Regal MR449 , 1s .sx 6d .sx ) are passed by the local censors , and if you think either record Rabelaisian , it will be because you have read Rabelais .sx " Rhymes " is this week's nap .sx What a weight records are - how clumsy , how slippery , how fragile !sx We have all said it when we have carried a heap of them or dropped one on the pavement or sat on one .sx It is the lightness of the " flexible " records which is their chief attraction to the male , while the bright colours and the pictures on them attract the female .sx Filmophones or Trutone Pictorials make a gay show in a shop window and a pound's worth of them are as easy to carry home as an evening paper .sx