Cover design by Peter Arno (?) |
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Jesús Maria Sanromá, piano, with the
Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler
Recorded July 1, 1935
and
Gershwin: Strike Up the Band
Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler
Recorded July 3, 1935
Victor Musical Masterpiece set M-358, two 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 52.44 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 33.70 MB)
As I said, this is the first recording of the Rhapsody with pretensions to completeness, with only two minor cuts made. The piece had, of course, been recorded many times before, in a dizzying array of arrangements (including Larry Adler on the harmonica, Jesse Crawford on the Wurlitzer organ, and the Eight Piano Ensemble, whose version can be heard at the CHARM website), but all of these, including Gershwin's own recording with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, abridged the piece to fit onto two sides.
Ken Halperin's blog shows an alternate cover design for this set, which he believes might be by Steinweiss. My copy of the set has the one pictured above, but lacking its front cover, as the previous owner wished to keep it for framing! Fortunately, the back cover is identical, except for having the spine binding on the right instead of the left. This was Victor's practice during the early 1940s with its pictorial album covers.
Alternate links:
ReplyDeleteFLAC:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7lxfbwvp21dl1wt/Sanroma-Fiedler_Gershwin_Rhapsody_FLACs.zip
mp3:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ge2z76jfbavmrmm/Sanroma-Fiedler_Gershwin_Rhapsody_MP3s.zip
Thank you very much! I look forward to listening to this. Best wishes, Grumpy
ReplyDeleteHappy Fourth!!! Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteI wonder who did the Strike up the Band arrangement.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know that myself. It reminds me of the "Looney Tunes" theme with that xylophone going all over the place!
Deletesomewhere around I have a copy of the 1960s stereo recording they made. I will see if there is some attribution there, IF it appears to be the same arrangement.
DeleteHi; thanks for posting a nice big scan - the cover art is by Joe Krush. You can see it in a new documentary about him on youtube at 10:52 while he's talking about his career.
ReplyDelete