Thursday, August 13, 2015

Early Music from Germany in the 1930s

Well, I'm back online, thank God, and on a new laptop to boot. So for my first offering post-crisis, something easy for me to prepare, and that means dipping into my reclaimed record pile. These two records are somewhat related, for they both were recorded in Berlin in the 1930s, and they both are of German music of an earlier time. Here are the particulars:

Gluck: Don Juan - Selections from the Ballet (1761)
Hans von Benda's Chamber Orchestra
Recorded November 21, 1935
Victor 13648, one 78-rpm record
Link (FLAC file, 20.58 MB)
Link (MP3 file, 14.20 MB)

Philipp Heinrich Erlebach: Suite No. 3 in C Major (1693)
Kammermusikkreis Scheck-Wenzinger
Recorded October, 1938
HMV EH 1221, one 78-rpm record
Link (FLAC file, 23.65 MB)
Link (MP3 file, 13.46 MB)

As will be seen in the picture above, Victor did not deign to correctly identify Herr von Benda's orchestra, substituting instead its own pseudonym in something reminiscent of the days of acoustical recording. Irving Kolodin, in his 1941 Guide to Recorded Music, rightfully took a dim view of this, praising the performance (and giving the conductor his rightful credit) while commenting, sourly, about the "implication of the label that it was made in America by a conductor so obscure that his name need not be mentioned...Surely Victor cannot expect us to endorse such feeble anti-Nazism as this evasion of a reasonable responsibility."

6 comments:

  1. Alternate links:

    FLACs:

    http://www.mediafire.com/download/nudqt5knf4pznfd/Hans_von_Benda_-_Gluck_Don_Juan_FLAC.zip

    http://www.mediafire.com/download/mhrv8rlau7puyt4/Scheck-Wenzinger_Ensemble_-_Erlebach_FLAC.zip

    MP3s:

    http://www.mediafire.com/download/uss064v7zos2r0r/Hans_von_Benda_-_Gluck_Don_Juan_MP3.zip

    http://www.mediafire.com/download/78api20da7dqp7e/Scheck-Wenzinger_Ensemble_-_Erlebach_MP3.zip

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much. You saved me quite a bit of time downloading.
      Doug

      Delete
  2. Wonderful, thank you so much! I'm so sorry to hear about your IT woes and glad you've now conquered them. I've enjoyed both of these very much - pity the Scheck-Wenzinger group didn't make mire than a handful of records. You've already shared the Pergolesi Concerto, so there's just BWV 1060 and that's it. Lots more fascinating Benda to explore, though... Best wishes, Nick

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Bryan,

    Will you sell your 78rpm? I am interested in this one:

    Philipp Heinrich Erlebach: Suite No. 3 in C Major (1693)
    Kammermusikkreis Scheck-Wenzinger

    Thanks,
    MC

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful music. I guess I missed it when you 1st posted this. Rolf posted the Bach Concerto for 2 harpsichords. I looked up the group on YouTube and found one of these pieces that you had uploaded. Thank you very much. I'll be rebroadcasting soon.
    Doug

    ReplyDelete