The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 20, 1858.

nient form, to be sold at less than half the price
frequently demanded for one piece of very ques-
tionable music 1

This new " miracle" of cheapness certainly
surpasses anything of the kind we have met
with, and its sale will no doubt prove commen-
surate with its merits, which are in every respect
very great.

D' Albert s Album for 1859. London : Chappell

and Co.

Tits is one of those productions whose showy
and brilliant outsides never fail to attract and
delight the eye of the general public. It is pre-
eminently a book of " fashionable exterior," and
the costly elegance of its dress would insure for
it a place on the most aristocratic of pianofortes.
But this is not all. The gorgeous embellish-
ment is not confined to the cover, for inside there
are illustrations by Mr. Brandard, which for
excessive brightness of colouring could not pos-
sibly be surpassed.

There is also music, and a great deal of it :
polkas, quadrilles, mazurkas, waltzes, galops, &c.
all tuneful, easy to play, and perfectly adapted
to the requirements of light fantastic toes—
music, in short, such as M. D'Albert himself a
dancing-master, has a peculiar talent for
making.

Of course, in dealing with compositions of so
trifling a character we would not be severely
critical • but the simplest tune may be at least
correctly harmonized, and direct violations of
grammar cannot be tolerated under any circum-
stances. On page 2, at the penultimate bar,
where the chord of the augmented sixth on B
flat is followed by the common chord of
A major, there are consecutive fifths. Page
64, bar 24, we find a naked D sharp in
the bass against E natural, as a suspen-
sion
of D sharp in the treble. The bass
note here should be F sharp or B natural. Page
70, bars 4 and 7, there is a similar fault, and the
bass note ought to be Eor A natural. Page 78,
bar 18, the bass should be changed to D or A
natural. Page 28, bars 35 and 36, there occurs
another totally inadmissible progression. M.
D'Albert is probably too much occupied with his
profession and the invention of tunes to pay
due attention to the laws of harmony; but he
certainly might find some good musical scholar
who does not dance too much, and has no fancy
for making tunes for the million, to " touch up'
his inspirations, and render them at least inoffen-
sive to cultivated ears.

As we have already said, the music is in M.
D'Albert's usual style, and some of the pieces,
namely, the " Violante" waltz, the " Leviathan "
galop (fancy a leviathan galloping !), the
" Siren " waltz (which, by the way, very
strongly resembles one of M. Jullien's waltzes),
the " Reaper's " polka, and " Les Soeurs " waltz,
all of which are really spirited and pretty, will
doubtless become generally popular. On the
whole, M. D'Albert's Album is one of the most
gorgeously decorated and attractive things of its
kind that have come under our notice.

Fantasia on Favourite Airs from " Martha."
For the Pianoforte. Composed by Brinley
Richards
Fantasia on Favourite Airs from " Les Hu-
guemits." For the Pianoforte. Composed by
Brinley Richards.
The Bohemian Girl. Arranged for the Piano-
forte by Brinley Richards.
London : Chappell and Co.
HERE, again, we have dazzling external splen-
dour. but with more interesting insides.
The name of Mr. Brinley Richards, and the
titles of the operas upon which he has exercised
his phantasy, are embossed in large golden
letters, and surrounded by an effulgent halo of
glory; whilst underneath these highly appropriate
tributes to the composer's genius lie modestly in
a plain semicircular frame the name of the
worthy publisher and the address of his ware-
house. The general effect is very striking
indeed.
The fantasies and arrangements afford fresh
and undeniable evidence of Mr. Brinley
. Richards's well-known fancy, taste, and skillias a