Thursday, February 20, 2014

Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 (Ormandy)

Cover design by Stanley Harris
More music from Scandinavia, but of much more mainstream repertoire than in my last post! This fine recording of two Sibelius symphonies was issued in commemoration of the composer's 90th birthday, and it remained in the catalog for over 20 years - it's still listed in the Schwann 2 Fall and Winter 1975-76 edition, albeit as a Columbia Special Products release.  It's Ormandy's first recording of both works; he would re-record them for RCA in the 1970s.  (Ormandy had a special relationship with Sibelius; a touching reminiscence by the conductor can be read here.)

Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 63 and
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 82
Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
Recorded November 28 and December 19, 1954
Columbia Masterworks ML-5045, one LP record
Link (FLAC files, 153.28 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 97.97 MB)

The cover pictured above is the original one for ML-5045, and was also used for the Philips release in Europe.  Two or three years later, the LP was reissued with this rather innocuous cover, for reasons that are unclear to me (image borrowed from www.discogs.com):


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12 comments:

  1. BusterFebruary 20, 2014 at 10:03 PM

    I suspect Columbia changed the cover when they rebranded. Also, the first one is kind of frightening and may not have sold too well - I've never seen a copy, although I have seen the reissue many times.

    In any case, thanks for this!

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    1. mctousJuly 13, 2016 at 5:06 AM

      I'm listening to an original LP copy as I type this, which I bought in Japan for 700 yen (about $7 US). Unfortunately side A (4th Symphony) was stamped off-center, but side B (5th Symphony) is dead-on.

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  2. centuriFebruary 22, 2014 at 1:37 AM

    Ormandy/Sibelius: a vey nice and strong chemistry. Thx for this post.

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  3. UnknownFebruary 22, 2014 at 2:06 PM

    I think Buster is right about redoing the covers when they rebranded, as a lot of Columbia LPs were made over during this time period, classical and pop. I have a copy with the original cover. I'm going to hang onto it!

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  4. BryanFebruary 22, 2014 at 5:08 PM

    Yes, come to think of it they even redid the cover of the Martin-Pinza "South Pacific"! Curiously I've never seen the Sibelius reissue cover, didn't even know of its existence till I did the research for this post.

    It's curious how during the period of Columbia's usage of the "6-eye" label (1955-1962) the cover branding styles changed more frequently, it seems, than before or since. I suspect the heavy hand of Debbie Ishlon, Columbia's PR head at the time.

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  5. BusterFebruary 22, 2014 at 5:20 PM

    Hi Bryan - Interesting discussion. Columbia did change its covers quite a lot even before then. I have many early Columbia LPs that exist in three versions - tombstone, sticker and even a third design. Then and now, organizations tend to rebrand every few to several years - and as you observe, that this is often pushed by a marketing guru who wants to make an impression.

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    1. BryanFebruary 25, 2014 at 12:58 PM

      One of these days I'll have to do an illustrated essay about branding on Columbia LP covers. Yes, in the early days they did change covers a lot; I suspect they were trying to find an identity for the new format. (Ken Halperin talks about this a bit on his website "Collecting Record Covers" - he thinks they deliberately kept it simple in the earliest days because they weren't sure whether the new format would fly.) But the notes-and-microphone logo, and the "Lp" logo, were always on the cover somewhere. It's when they abandoned the notes-and-microphone that it got really interesting. There seems to have been a major identity crisis trying to figure out what to replace it with. It took them quite a few tries before they finally settled on the single eye in the box that is still Columbia's logo to this day.

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  6. UnknownFebruary 22, 2014 at 5:52 PM

    Thanks for posting this, and especially the link to Ormandy's reminiscences. I've
    never been that big a fan but I really like these performances.

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  7. DrRay3February 23, 2014 at 4:42 PM

    Thanks for this. More Ormandy of this vintage, please!
    Ray

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  8. AnonymousMarch 7, 2014 at 3:44 AM

    Fantastic - thank you!

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  9. DrRay3April 1, 2014 at 11:00 AM

    Thanks for your fine work on Ormandy monos.How about the 1950s Dvorak New World. I have a VG+ copy I would be happy to share via mail.
    Ray Pratt, Bozeman, MT.

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  10. nzguyMay 11, 2016 at 2:21 AM

    I only just discovered this post and was bowled over by your excellent transfer. Wonderful sound and performances. Would you also have Ormandy's 1951 Columbia Lemminkainen Suite by any chance?

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