Welsh Journals

NOTHING, INDEED, SEEMS to stir the stagnant waters of Welsh politics just now; and certainly we show no signs of developing a policy of our own. Perhaps the day has gone by when any such policy is possible. Countries geographically contiguous, and of the same level of culture and civilisation, must be expected to have the same political prob- lems in an age in which politics are domin- ated by economics. Welsh people to-day may feel enthusiasm for the ideals of Tory, Liberal, or Socialist, but it is difficult to see how they can find anything else political to be enthusiastic about. We have just been perusing a little pamphlet called Cymru Heddiw by Mr. William George. The author professes to be a Welsh nationalist, and it is obvious that he is most eager to find something to justify Wales in walking a different political path from that of England. Moreover, Mr. George is a man of ability, and of much experience in stating a case. Despite all this, however, he can name only two things that are calculated to stir the Welshman to-day-Peace, and Temperance. The paramount importance of a policy of peace would be acknowledged by all, and that there is room to mend in the matter of temperance would also pro- bably be admitted; but it is obvious that The H.M.V. Company has placed all lovers of music under an immense obligation by the magni- ficent issue of new Beethoven records which they have made to celebrate his centenary. As they are all superlatively good, we need only name them. They are as follows :-Symphonies 3, 5, and 9, done respectively on six, five, and eight records. The Violin Concerto, played by Kreisler and the Berlin Orchestra, five records. The Emperor Piano Concerto, played by Backhaus and the Albert Hall Orchestra, five records. Three new quartets-B Flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6; C Major, Op. 59, No. 3; E Flat Major, Op. 127-are played by the Virtuoso String Quartet, each consisting of four records. In addition to this there is the Sonata in C Minor, Op. 13 (" Pathetique "), played on two records by there is absolutely nothing distinctively Welsh about the one or the other. WE ARE GLAD to hear that public opinion in Wales is rallying to the support of the Boy Scouts. That excellent movement has suffered, in Wales, from unwise management. In many, if not in the majority, of the centres the lead was taken by Englishmen, and those, to make the matter worse, ex-army men. Thus the opinion got abroad that the movement was a conspiracy, first to militarise our boys, and secondly to Angli- cise them. It should be the earnest endeavour of all the friends of the move- ment to dispel that false impression. There are, however, only two ways of doing that; one is by eliminating completely all traces of militarism by jealously excluding every professional military man from offices of command; the other is to use the Welsh language in all places where it is used for other ordinary affairs of town and village life. So long as the leaders of the move- ment are English retired colonels and cap- tains it is vain to expect a suspicious public to support it; and those of us who firmly believe that, at bottom, the Scouts are a fine and healthy institution, can only stand aside and deplore the blindness of our betters. THE GRAMOPHONE. Lamond. With this embarrassing wealth of new records at our disposal it is only possible to allude to the most outstanding items in the ordinary February and March programmes. Such are-Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, played by Kreisler and the Berlin Orchestra, on four records; Liszt's Liebestraüme and Chopin's Nocturne in G Major, played by Mark Hambourg; Schubert's "Die Forelle" and Brahms' For dem Fenster," sung by Elena Gerhardt; Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, played by the Symphony Orchestra, on five records; Bach's Fugues in C Major and C Minor, played by Harold Samuel; and the Over- ture to Prince Igor by Borodin, played by the Albert Hall Orchestra.