tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66318277619864974932024-03-19T07:26:41.261-04:00The ShellackophileRecordings of classical music from the 78-rpm era (mostly)Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.comBlogger387125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-88200113029653379592018-05-28T12:58:00.002-04:002018-05-28T12:58:56.121-04:00Holmboe Quartets (Copenhagen String Quartet)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi41dlOm4dOnfibNgdHl40pxeOKtI05ftIUttxQGJVNuX59KUVUeypGgTxHAvyQI3WGEUdxF9Z20n7V7nmTRJW-UxMXHnGHRtj1dR15znrnoM0h-yVqJCYSxnjeg86_OmNuo4xghakREeo/s1600/TF109+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1565" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi41dlOm4dOnfibNgdHl40pxeOKtI05ftIUttxQGJVNuX59KUVUeypGgTxHAvyQI3WGEUdxF9Z20n7V7nmTRJW-UxMXHnGHRtj1dR15znrnoM0h-yVqJCYSxnjeg86_OmNuo4xghakREeo/s320/TF109+cover.JPG" width="313" /></a></div>
The Copenhagen String Quartet (Tutter Givskov and Mogens Lydolph, violins; Mogens Bruun, viola; Asger Lund Christiansen, cello) gave the first performances of most of Vagn Holmboe's string quartets from No. 7 on (there were twenty in all). For the Danish Fona label, the group recorded the first ten of these, on five LPs. I have three of them:<br />
<br />
Holmboe: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 4<br />
The Copenhagen String Quartet<br />
Fona TF 109, one stereo LP record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/6vxrr91usk3v/Copenhagen%20SQ%20-%20Holmboe%201%2C%204%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 215.70 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/13gxt52ryy7p/Copenhagen%20SQ%20-%20Holmboe%201%2C%204%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> MP3 files, 80.19 MB)<br />
<br />
Holmboe: String Quartets Nos. 2 and 6<br />
The Copenhagen String Quartet<br />
Fona TF 111, one stereo LP record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2ej7e2oq877v/Copenhagen%20SQ%20-%20Holmboe%202%2C%206%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 214.24 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4gk1jnyeojb1/Copenhagen%20SQ%20-%20Holmboe%202%2C%206%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 77.67 MB)<br />
<br />
Holmboe: String Quartets Nos. 9 and 10<br />
The Copenhagen String Quartet<br />
Fona TF 133, one stereo LP record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/5l3o4ws6ymon/Copenhagen%20SQ%20-%20Holmboe%209%2C%2010%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 227.53 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/34plxixd2zo5/Copenhagen%20SQ%20-%20Holmboe%209%2C%2010%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 81.92 MB)<br />
<br />
The first of these LPs is a 1970 reissue of a recording originally made in 1963; the other two are 1973 issues. The liner notes, included with the downloads, are all in Danish, so if anyone conversant with that language cares to translate, the rest of us would be much obliged! It should be noted that the cellist in this ensemble, Asger Lund Christiansen, had also played in the Erling Bloch Quartet, who made the <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2017/08/holmboe-quartet-no-1-erling-bloch.html">first recording</a> of any of Holmboe's quartets, in 1951.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-42463019383545920492018-03-15T09:55:00.000-04:002018-03-16T09:34:13.444-04:00More Hindemith Trios<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDgOrDVnrNswjSNckirKzbuvaa_dF9-UNyRL4C19APn8e0ubzK3FjsSLgXeBiwnVi2nSHwQ8AAET2UN1CFYQM8fuodBsi1Hmys1gK3GhbGCvVY8hlveN-Sw5SuzIT0VaOLjQ3Xubqfb-E/s1600/W9067+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1574" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDgOrDVnrNswjSNckirKzbuvaa_dF9-UNyRL4C19APn8e0ubzK3FjsSLgXeBiwnVi2nSHwQ8AAET2UN1CFYQM8fuodBsi1Hmys1gK3GhbGCvVY8hlveN-Sw5SuzIT0VaOLjQ3Xubqfb-E/s320/W9067+cover.JPG" width="314" /></a></div>
This may well be the first time on this blog that I have offered the same work in consecutive posts, or even featured the same composer. But <a href="http://grumpyclassics.blogspot.com/search/label/Jean%20Pougnet">Nick's recent postings</a>, at Grumpy's Classics Cave, of Mozart and Beethoven string trios played by the Pougnet-Riddle-Pini trio reminded me that I had their valuable coupling of the two Hindemith trios in its third Westminster incarnation, as part of their "Collectors' Series", a mid-60s reissue series derived from monaural chamber music recordings of a decade earlier (and, thankfully, not "updated" with fake stereo trickery):<br />
<br />
Hindemith: Two String Trios (No. 1, Op. 34; No. 2, 1933)<br />
Jean Pougnet, violin; Frederick Riddle, viola; Anthony Pini, cello<br />
Recorded in the autumn of 1954<br />
Westminster W-9067, one LP record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/60gp3wf16255/Pougnet%20Trio%20-%20Hindemith%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 110.32 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/6hjeevvdzhqd/Pougnet%20Trio%20-%20Hindemith%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 72.90 MB)<br />
<br />
I am indebted to Nick, not only for inspiring this post, but also for rendering practical service in eliminating the results of an awful gouge in the vinyl on the first side, affecting the first minute or so of the Op. 34 trio.<br />
<br />
While I was working on the above transfer, it occurred to me that if I transferred one more LP, I could have available on this blog all the recordings of Hindemith's string trios to be made before the advent of digital recording (including the ones the composer participated in). I am not aware of any other recording of No. 2 besides the one I <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2018/02/hindemith-string-trio-no-2-goldberg.html">posted last month</a>, but of No. 1, besides the incomplete one <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2014/07/beethoven-and-hindemith-by-amar-quartet.html">by the Amar-Hindemith Trio</a>, a stereo LP version was made in 1968 by three young German musicians, coupled with the first recording, by a different ensemble, of Hindemith's Op. 16 string quartet:<br />
<br />
Hindemith: String Trio No. 1, Op. 34<br />
Rainer Kussmaul, violin; Jürgen Kussmaul, viola; Jürgen Wolf, cello<br />
<i>and</i><br />
Hindemith: String Quartet No. 3 (old No. 2) in C, Op. 16<br />
Schäffer Quartet (Schäffer-Szabados-Pill-Racz)<br />
Recorded in the summer of 1968<br />
Musical Heritage Society OR-H-297, one stereo LP record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/pv52d8z2gib/Hindemith%20String%20Trio%201%20%26%20Quartet%202%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 239.37 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/77dzevf0mq3x/Hindemith%20String%20Trio%201%20%26%20Quartet%202%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 85.52 MB)<br />
<br />
This recording was made by an independent German recording company, Da Camera, in Heidelberg, and was part of a 9-disc retrospective of Hindemith's chamber music. In Germany the series was published as a box set, whereas in the USA each record was obtainable separately. Of the three musicians playing the Op. 34 trio, only one is still with us: Jürgen Kussmaul, born in 1944, was two years older than brother Rainer, who departed this life only last year. The cellist, Jürgen Wolf, was born in 1938 and died in 2014. Their playing of Op. 34 contrasts markedly with that the Pougnet ensemble; the latter really dig into the music while the Germans are more careful and always beautiful-sounding. The Pougnet's approach is much closer to the Amar-Hindemith's in the two movements where direct comparisons are possible.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-77794614852325422772018-02-28T11:44:00.000-05:002018-02-28T11:44:00.792-05:00Hindemith: String Trio No. 2 (Goldberg, Hindemith, Feuermann)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipn6NszCtOMspoAMbJm6tcyNWezAR3P2T6y4YnMEM3ogLE4cmBjyEkOoccyGlESjkSncTUHCAcZGuQ21kmtJodOgPmxEQ9JKBK2M6ckkz3fSwwySFCHZ4_rfpSPcpDgM9txG0wJvajF3s/s1600/Set+209+booklet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1378" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipn6NszCtOMspoAMbJm6tcyNWezAR3P2T6y4YnMEM3ogLE4cmBjyEkOoccyGlESjkSncTUHCAcZGuQ21kmtJodOgPmxEQ9JKBK2M6ckkz3fSwwySFCHZ4_rfpSPcpDgM9txG0wJvajF3s/s320/Set+209+booklet.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front of booklet for Columbia Set 209</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This may not be a particularly rare recording, having been reissued numerous times on CD labels devoted to historical recordings (the current availability of these, however, may be another matter). But I have come across a nice early US pressing of the set, complete with its booklet of program notes containing an analysis of the piece (by Roy Harris, of all people), and so here it is:<br />
<br />
Hindemith: String Trio No. 2 (1933)<br />
The Hindemith Trio (Goldberg-Hindemith-Feuermann)<br />
Recorded January 21, 1934<br />
Columbia Masterworks Set No. 209, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3fb2cxsfluxx/Hindemith%20Trio%20-%20Hindemith%202%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 64.74 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/57amn3qgyu7n/Hindemith%20Trio%20-%20Hindemith%202%20MP%23s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 42.17 MB)<br />
<br />
This set has the distinction of containing the first work of Hindemith to be issued on records in the USA on domestic pressings (April, 1935); hitherto, American record collectors interested in Hindemith had to rely on imported pressings (mostly from Polydor). The recording remained available until the end of Columbia's production and sale of classical 78s, about 1951 or so.<br />
<br />
The week of this recording saw a flurry of activity in the studio for these three gentlemen. Also on January 21 (a Sunday), Goldberg and Hindemith recorded a Mozart duo (K. 424), then, the following day, the full trio recorded Beethoven's Serenade (Op. 8). On Tuesday, January 23, Goldberg had to leave for a concert tour; coming to the studio to bid his colleagues farewell, he found them listening to the playback of a Scherzo that Hindemith had written that morning for himself and Feuermann! This was intended as a filler for a recording Hindemith made the same day, on five 10-inch sides, of his solo viola sonata (Op. 25, No. 1), though in the end it was not used as such, being released instead in the <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2010/10/preludio-cristobal-colon.html">Columbia History of Music, Vol. 5</a>. On Saturday, January 27, <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2012/02/incomparable-emanuel-feuermann.html">Feuermann recorded Hindemith's solo cello sonata</a> to complete this valuable little group of recordings. All of them were made available on American Columbia during the 1930s, though only the two trios and the Scherzo survived the purge of wartime deletions.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-4751946169848241232018-02-09T16:24:00.000-05:002018-02-09T16:24:44.096-05:00Howard Ferguson: Octet<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eKcvW3sGyiuTEAVWbzgVGTlgdJUVcPMwxFjMxqjPzfTrnRRzZfJWNgGBxJTF32Q0kUavpCUDB_n5LPzR3gCPqir4PXdSB9rqcUoHShiCNrJemat1Fh7IyNXVs2sOfCWj7zGc9yKZTgc/s1600/ferguson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="159" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eKcvW3sGyiuTEAVWbzgVGTlgdJUVcPMwxFjMxqjPzfTrnRRzZfJWNgGBxJTF32Q0kUavpCUDB_n5LPzR3gCPqir4PXdSB9rqcUoHShiCNrJemat1Fh7IyNXVs2sOfCWj7zGc9yKZTgc/s320/ferguson.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Howard Ferguson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The work that put Belfast-born Howard Ferguson (1908-1999) on the musical map was his Octet, scored for the same forces as Schubert's, written when he was a young man of 24. Dedicated to his composition teacher at the Royal College of Music, R. O. Morris (whose other students included Gerald Finzi, Michael Tippett, Constant Lambert and Edmund Rubbra), the work began life as a clarinet quintet, then was expanded into an octet at Morris' suggestion. Here is its first recording, made ten years later:<br />
<br />
Howard Ferguson: Octet, Op. 4<br />
The Griller String Quartet (Griller-O'Brien-Burton-Hampton)<br />
<i>augmented by</i><br />
Pauline Juler, clarinet<br />
Cecil James, bassoon<br />
Dennis Brain, horn<br />
James Merrett, double bass<br />
Recorded April 7 and May 24, 1943<br />
Decca AK 1095 through AK 1097, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4mw5bhfb6lon/Griller%20SQ%20-%20Ferguson%20Octet%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 53.49 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/5zjj44hnstgr/Griller%20SQ%20-%20Ferguson%20Octet%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 32.61 MB)<br />
<br />
This is one of Dennis Brain's earliest recordings, and, of course, he would make many more before his untimely death in 1957 of an auto accident. It appears, however, that this is the only recording by Pauline Juler (1914-2003), a fact that seems doubly regrettable when one hears her fine account of the prominent clarinet part in Ferguson's Octet. But Juler, who had studied with Charles Draper, gave up performing publicly after her marriage to cellist Bernard Richards in 1948.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-72194816006201275702018-01-17T14:37:00.000-05:002018-01-17T14:37:24.827-05:00Beethoven: Sonata, Op. 109 (Denis Matthews)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyE_yqQr8FqjF7nCPOk9MHzDAx-yQlakWlJOUil9GqgB0wEZkWaxKeMtP21MxopkcImRrBHbTrHiqTrxvEWtishUF2zyiqEB3KoWF99nKi4ofJLJfgz3vRM9_tEjSy2Qy7mCbiG1jEHQ/s1600/denis_matthews_photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="508" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyE_yqQr8FqjF7nCPOk9MHzDAx-yQlakWlJOUil9GqgB0wEZkWaxKeMtP21MxopkcImRrBHbTrHiqTrxvEWtishUF2zyiqEB3KoWF99nKi4ofJLJfgz3vRM9_tEjSy2Qy7mCbiG1jEHQ/s320/denis_matthews_photo.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Denis Matthews</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Happy New Year! For my first post of 2018, I offer the first recording by Denis Matthews of a piano sonata by Beethoven, one of two composers with which he was most closely associated (the other being Mozart):<br />
<br />
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109<br />
<i>and</i><br />
Purcell: Suite No. 2 in G Minor, Z. 661<br />
Denis Matthews, piano<br />
Recorded May 15 and 31, 1946<br />
Columbia DX 1509 through DX 1511, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/64655icvnear/Denis%20Matthews%20-%20Beethoven%20Sonata%20in%20E%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 57.34 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4n2k9nvl18pj/Denis%20Matthews%20-%20Beethoven%20Sonata%20in%20E%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 37.02 MB)<br />
<br />
As always, I didn't mean to be away from blogging quite so long! It's true that I haven't been acquiring records lately, certainly not at anything like my old rate, but I haven't been idle with respect to my record hobby - far from it! I was sidetracked, just before Christmas, with the exciting discovery (for me) that two vintage record magazines are now available online from the Internet Archive, both published by the H. Royer Smith Company of Philadelphia - <a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=royer&&and[]=subject%3A%22Disques%22">Disques</a> (1930-33) and <a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=royer&&and[]=subject%3A%22The%20New%20Records%22">The New Records</a> (1933-56). (Granted, this is not a complete run of the latter, but it at least takes one well into the mono LP era.) So I have spent most of my free time perusing these. Particularly exciting is the chance to obtain issue dates for American Columbia releases of the early and middle 1930s, information about this period being rather hard to come by. I have updated my three Columbia discographical files to reflect what I have found:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3tnumw81rb1t/Columbia%20Masterworks%2078%20Sets.pdf">Columbia Masterworks Sets</a><br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2lmgu47z1n5f/Columbia%20blue%20label%20-D%20series.pdf">Columbia Blue Label -D Series</a><br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/271nqouulvg5/Columbia%20Celebrity%20-M%20series.pdf">Columbia Celebrity -M Series</a><br />
<br />
For the first two of these, only the information on issue dates has had to be updated, but for the Celebrity Series I have added a few actual titles of whose existence I was previously unaware.<br />
<br />
Perhaps some day I will do a series on month-by-month issue dates of Columbia Masterworks sets in the USA.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-54514870543441265702017-12-08T16:08:00.000-05:002017-12-08T16:20:23.138-05:00Beethoven: Quartet No. 15 (Erling Bloch Quartet)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqjteNmrSO7eHaO75BWRsvw42jtEqx9NcWwtB0eAODn7XsOi8Z5fmD4AODAnCcMjNldDxFxPvmG3MNExqcX1b_4xBo6WmawhNQEyu4fG_f1RslWuY-SrjOH3Nm8Fz2VsuO-quXsXUIoPw/s1600/DB20143-7+label+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="880" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqjteNmrSO7eHaO75BWRsvw42jtEqx9NcWwtB0eAODn7XsOi8Z5fmD4AODAnCcMjNldDxFxPvmG3MNExqcX1b_4xBo6WmawhNQEyu4fG_f1RslWuY-SrjOH3Nm8Fz2VsuO-quXsXUIoPw/s320/DB20143-7+label+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
This year I have certainly managed to acquire a healthy batch of recordings by the Erling Bloch Quartet, and here is the latest installment, apparently the Danish ensemble's only recording of Beethoven:<br />
<br />
Beethoven: Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132<br />
The Erling Bloch Quartet (Bloch-Friisholm-Kassow-Christiansen)<br />
Recorded April 12 and 13, 1951<br />
HMV DB 20143 through DB 20147, five 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/6kec2mdfqk29/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Beethoven%2015%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 117.62 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3xs5ofbdem3/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Beethoven%2015%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 70.74 MB)<br />
<br />
It's a good, honest performance, a little broader in tempo than was customary for 78-rpm recordings of this work, particularly in the finale. It may not have the searing intensity of the 1937 version by the Busch Quartet (which, incidentally, was slated for deletion in the HMV 1950-51 catalogue), but then, which other version did? I hate making comparisons like this, but in the case of this particular piece I can't help it, because of all the Beethoven quartets Op. 132 is the one I love most, and the Busch performance is my ideal...Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-26677952944084444442017-11-20T12:23:00.000-05:002017-11-20T12:48:20.237-05:00Happy Birthday, Benjamin Britten!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2TvpTZd1AwY1_1aUcFcfl7k3nz2xZVowz2UG6WSVGaEkOERWJ1W5jRry9F0YI6bbmwu010nIcme0MWF6f5CKhjDX8cOC8fZijnWhjndEZGS-2GiBLfdSasRvQmpTswiI4ndYyAmzvfI/s1600/Benjamin+Britten+1938.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="225" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2TvpTZd1AwY1_1aUcFcfl7k3nz2xZVowz2UG6WSVGaEkOERWJ1W5jRry9F0YI6bbmwu010nIcme0MWF6f5CKhjDX8cOC8fZijnWhjndEZGS-2GiBLfdSasRvQmpTswiI4ndYyAmzvfI/s320/Benjamin+Britten+1938.jpg" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Benjamin Britten, 1938</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Wednesday marks the 104th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten (born November 22, 1913). As a young man in his early 20s he had achieved a certain celebrity, principally as a resourceful composer for documentary films, but it remained localized until this work, and this recording of it, brought him international fame:<br />
<br />
Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10<br />
Boyd Neel String Orchestra conducted by Boyd Neel<br />
Recorded July 15, 1938<br />
Decca X 226 through X 228, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/677v0s6k23vp/Boyd%20Neel%20-%20Britten%20Variations%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 65.91 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/6q2ymrrivbit/Boyd%20Neel%20-%20Britten%20Variations%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 38.41 MB)<br />
<br />
This is Britten's first work to be generally recognized as a masterpiece, written to Boyd Neel's commission for a 1937 appearance at the International Society of Contemporary Music Festival in Salzburg. The ISCM requested that Neel bring a new work by an English composer, and Neel despaired of finding one on short notice until he thought of Britten's high-quality (and speedily written) film work, some of which he had conducted in the studios. Neel's hunch that the young man might quickly furnish a worthwhile score was amply repaid. Britten's initial draft of the Bridge Variations was sketched in ten days, and four weeks later the piece had been fully scored - "one of the most astonishing feats of composition in my experience," said Neel.<br />
<br />
This set was reviewed in the November, 1938, Gramophone Shop Supplement (in which it was offered for sale at $7,25, including album). "The discs are the first example of [Britten's] work to reach this country," said the anonymous reviewer. "The principal shortcoming of the present work is the inclusion of <i>genre</i> pieces like the <i>Aria Italiana</i> and <i>Wiener Walz</i>, very cleverly turned out but definitely lessening the effect of the remarkable <i>Funeral March</i>, <i>Chant</i> and <i>Fugue</i>. There is some remarkably powerful and eloquent writing in these last sections, writing that on first hearing mark Britten as a man to be watched. The whole work is an unusually attractive and interesting example of contemporary music on discs, and its best pages are an indication that not only Britain but the world has a highly significant new force to reckon with." Quite a prescient review, although I can't agree with the assertion that the lighter sections constitute shortcomings!Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-25840793237618162962017-11-03T16:56:00.000-04:002017-11-03T17:08:58.793-04:00Piano Works of Niels Viggo Bentzon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlhVosb58vbNHXXuMYtQvQ-sezV72196rOG3MbIxZetfItmHurXKkHhr0fAVfHOgiNZ7Ok849TsT6j9640PXmAbZ3bc-7xF1muN9uimWBiWvomqRWwZYDXhSTPJzBkPoa6F3zmVN_Raw/s1600/Z276+label.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="645" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlhVosb58vbNHXXuMYtQvQ-sezV72196rOG3MbIxZetfItmHurXKkHhr0fAVfHOgiNZ7Ok849TsT6j9640PXmAbZ3bc-7xF1muN9uimWBiWvomqRWwZYDXhSTPJzBkPoa6F3zmVN_Raw/s320/Z276+label.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
As my last post featured 20th-century Danish piano music, so does this one, but what a contrast in styles! I had really hoped to offer the two composers together, but with the demands being made on my time lately, it simply wasn't to be. In any event, if Jørgen Jersild's influences were primarily French, those of his contemporary, the somewhat better-known Niels Viggo Bentzon (1919-2000), were undeniably Teutonic. Here are three early examples played by the composer (and an extra, played by an associate):<br />
<br />
Bentzon: Toccata, Op. 10 (1941)<br />
Niels Viggo Bentzon, piano<br />
Recorded November 26, 1948<br />
HMV Z 276, one 78-rpm record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2wmuihlh9yr7/Bentzon%20Toccata%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 17.44 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4qa2yfm57rsv/Bentzon%20Toccata%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 11.33 MB)<br />
<br />
Bentzon: Partita, Op. 38 (1945)<br />
Niels Viggo Bentzon, piano<br />
Recorded May 23, 1946<br />
<i>and</i><br />
Concert Etude, Op. 40<br />
Bengt Johnsson, piano<br />
Recorded November 23, 1948<br />
HMV Z 7013 through Z 7015, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4xxkr5pdbtkl/Bentzon%20Partita%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 49.16 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2dzpp9r30nut/Bentzon%20Partita%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 30.41 MB)<br />
<br />
Bentzon: Sonata No. 3, Op. 44 (1946-47)<br />
Niels Viggo Bentzon, piano<br />
Recorded June 14, 1949<br />
HMV Z 7030 and Z 7031, two 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/47m5xkmcfauv/Bentzon%20Sonata%20No%203%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 38.42 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/21nxnf3f0fdd/Bentzon%20Sonata%20No%203%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 24.06 MB)<br />
<br />
The craggy Toccata was Bentzon's calling card as a young composer; he achieved his first success with it. It is that singular anomaly, a toccata in <i>adagio</i> tempo. This is, in fact, its second recording, replacing one issued under the same number in 1942. The equally craggy five-movement Partita recalls Baroque models in its title only, for the work makes full use of modern piano techniques, with numerous passages written in four staves! The Third Sonata is somewhat more conventional, and bears a dedication to Georg Vásárhelyi, Bentzon's piano teacher and a co-soloist on the <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2014/02/niels-viggo-bentzon-chamber-concerto.html">recording of Bentzon's Chamber Concerto</a> that I posted three years ago. Bentzon ultimately composed an astonishing 31 piano sonatas (one has to wonder, was he trying to outdo Beethoven?), and the first one remained unfinished. All that was published of it is the Concert Etude that appears as a filler to the Partita.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-20279533584444028492017-10-20T09:22:00.000-04:002017-10-22T07:31:13.121-04:00Jørgen Jersild: Trois Pièces en Concert<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNcMDJSGxKdG6WNLxJ10Mb2anr4V32PpWLmq_j7HDxkpIMlXlLX4bKCBstR3_grGJEb5D0arHARxwqCun3NPLxJMqtfT8zgGYkdcjvt2M60nmRi3bxeTyoPxMaOFCKU3FVUub6SwJd1Ew/s1600/Jorgen+Jersild.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNcMDJSGxKdG6WNLxJ10Mb2anr4V32PpWLmq_j7HDxkpIMlXlLX4bKCBstR3_grGJEb5D0arHARxwqCun3NPLxJMqtfT8zgGYkdcjvt2M60nmRi3bxeTyoPxMaOFCKU3FVUub6SwJd1Ew/s1600/Jorgen+Jersild.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jørgen Jersild</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
More obscure Danish repertoire this time around, and, after you have heard this, perhaps you will agree with me that its obscurity is quite undeserved! Copenhagen-born Jørgen Jersild (1913-2004) was not even a name to me before I acquired this pair of records. The little bit of information about him I have been able to pull from online (primarily the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B8rgen_Jersild">Wikipedia article</a>) reveals that he was a respected educator in Denmark, and that his music betrays a great deal of French influence (perhaps unsurprising, given that he studied with Albert Roussel). Certainly the French inspiration is very strong, even to the very title, in this masterly, virtuosic piano suite of 1945:<br />
<br />
Jørgen Jersild: Trois Pièces en Concert<br />
Folmer Jensen, piano<br />
Recorded March 28, 1950<br />
HMV Z 350 and Z 351, two 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/36dsfzexv7qp/Jersild%20%3D%20Trois%20Pieces%20en%20Concert%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 37.36 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/ys6vt7g951p/Jersild%20%3D%20Trois%20Pieces%20en%20Concert%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 24.21 MB)<br />
<br />
The "three pieces" are all derived from French dance forms (Tambourin, Romanesque, Farandole), and therefore resembles, externally, a Baroque keyboard suite - although only the Tambourin is commonly associated with the Baroque period. Most impressive is the middle movement, "avec dix Doubles" (with ten variations), on a Renaissance dance pattern related to the Galliard.<br />
<br />
This is a rare solo recording by Folmer Jensen (1902-1966), whose forte appears to have been accompanying; tenor Aksel Schiøtz and clarinetist Louis Cahuzac are among the artists who secured his services for that purpose in the recording studios.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-70842605639445928372017-09-25T10:11:00.000-04:002020-02-06T12:35:27.716-05:00Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3 (Beecham)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="1455" data-original-width="1600" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw1wLRLkuKZSBrHX03vVGGYnVJejJhvzfUUqWL80E6-CoZsgw8DvoPs6P2HynePQRIkXgSHDcM3b7DINxddqgZi6UTZmuyKgCBRyAC4BVhD_6KicoDveAgswi77C4BKu4xES51FQkR8a4/s320/DM1279+cover.JPG" width="320" /></div>
Early in 1949, to honor the upcoming 70th birthday of Sir Thomas Beecham, RCA Victor put on the American market some half-dozen albums of the conductor's latest HMV recordings with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, all sporting the above generic cover created for the occasion. This was the largest of these sets:<br />
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Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29 ("Polish")<br />
Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra<br />
Recorded April, 1947<br />
RCA Victor set DM-1279, five 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="https://www.filefactory.com/file/22qtcsp2lw6b/Beecham%20-%20Tchaikovsky%203%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 113.12 MB)<br />
<a href="http://filefactory.com/file/1ty4raxcna5x/Beecham%20-%20Tchaikovsky%203%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 73.55 MB)<br />
<br />
Of the six Tchaikovsky symphonies, the Third seems to me the most ideal vehicle for Sir Thomas' talents. This is particularly true of the three middle movements, and how fortunate are we that these are played without cuts! The outer movements do have a few judicious cuts, but to be fair, I've never heard a 78-rpm version of this work that didn't have them. The pioneering version by Albert Coates, of 1932, hacked each of the middle movements down to one side, and Hans Kindler's of 1940 and Gregor Fitelberg's of 1946 each have cuts in the outer movements, the latter hacking the Finale to one side.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-2990210065477701832017-09-14T16:04:00.001-04:002017-09-14T16:04:46.840-04:00Nielsen by E. T.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizl6iPD3R7J3uTWN1zM6MrpC7GADFhuc_GEj_i8WdvG8uuHSToy6UCbSHB6A8kJQ_X9r50JWmQb-c_d0d1OCU13j4YUWm0G1ojApU6FOgkGH0ZuHZgsaV6U_HJbCbqsBM9rJ-lOmv_u-0/s1600/DDX17+label+A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="846" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizl6iPD3R7J3uTWN1zM6MrpC7GADFhuc_GEj_i8WdvG8uuHSToy6UCbSHB6A8kJQ_X9r50JWmQb-c_d0d1OCU13j4YUWm0G1ojApU6FOgkGH0ZuHZgsaV6U_HJbCbqsBM9rJ-lOmv_u-0/s320/DDX17+label+A.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
No, this post has nothing to do with extra-terrestrials! Several weeks ago, I had two different conductors with the same initials featured in one composer <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2017/07/mozart-serenades-by-e-f.html">at this post</a>. Just so, now I present two different conductors with the initials "E.T." performing Nielsen - more fruits of my recent splurgings on Danish 78s. The details:<br />
<br />
Nielsen: En Sagadrøm (A Saga Dream), Op. 39<br />
Copenhagen Royal Opera Orchestra conducted by Egisto Tango<br />
Recorded February 27, 1942<br />
HMV DB 5263, one 78-rpm record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4lkmd1x2dql/Tango%20-%20Nielsen%20Sagadrom%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 22.27 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/384u580azbjx/Tango%20-%20Nielsen%20Sagadrom%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 14.67 MB)<br />
<br />
Nielsen: Little Suite for Strings, Op. 1<br />
Danish State Broadcasting Orchestra conducted by Erik Tuxen<br />
Recorded April 7, 1948<br />
Columbia DDX 17 and 18, two 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/38dss84001tt/Tuxen%20-%20Nielsen%20Little%20Suite%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 38.74 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4h5qztipm87f/Tuxen%20-%20Nielsen%20Little%20Suite%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 23.71 MB)<br />
<br />
The Sagadrøm record is a real gem, and as for the Little Suite, has there ever been an Opus 1 as accomplished, and as fully characteristic of its composer?<br />
<br />
I didn't mean to be gone quite so long, but on top of computer problems, which I'm still working on, I've had to deal with Hurricane Irma, which we in Atlanta didn't get the full brunt of, as Florida did, but we got quite enough - sustained winds of 40 miles per hour, sometimes gusting to 60, and over 3 inches of rain in a single day. The past weekend saw me frantically elevating hundreds of records from the floor of my basement, in anticipation of water from the storm coming in, which, thankfully, didn't happen, but it's always better to be safe than sorry!Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-84267203116419684142017-08-29T22:12:00.000-04:002017-08-29T22:15:50.570-04:00Holmboe: Quartet No. 1 (Erling Bloch Quartet)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX27-XWQD5Sb9WZY5bQoFxWnCD79LLm9qjO8r4QU7DZa82G8Rox-Gv64CbbzqptDY8UWlox3gc3WFMRej1ebwrhOBxHUegEb6UvlMudnUdqvfXgnjeLcma0F0N6U-ldGJjLtfnpeNksPA/s1600/Holmboe+composing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX27-XWQD5Sb9WZY5bQoFxWnCD79LLm9qjO8r4QU7DZa82G8Rox-Gv64CbbzqptDY8UWlox3gc3WFMRej1ebwrhOBxHUegEb6UvlMudnUdqvfXgnjeLcma0F0N6U-ldGJjLtfnpeNksPA/s1600/Holmboe+composing.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vagn Holmboe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Twice in the past I have presented works by the most celebrated Danish composer since Nielsen, Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996): the <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2014/05/more-danish-chamber-music.html">Serenata, Opus 18</a> and the <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2017/02/danish-music-for-winds.html">Notturno for Wind Quintet, Opus 19</a> - together constituting two-thirds of the total works of Holmboe recorded on 78-rpm discs. Here now is the third and last of these pioneering recordings:<br />
<br />
Holmboe: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 46 (1949)<br />
The Erling Bloch Quartet (Bloch-Friisholm-Kassow-Christiansen)<br />
Recorded April 9, 1951<br />
HMV DB 20137 through DB 21039, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2vwcnuzrx9v1/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Holmboe%201%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 58.74 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2vwcnuzrx9v1/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Holmboe%201%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 38.75 MB)<br />
<br />
This fine three-movement quartet, the first of a remarkable series of twenty, was dedicated to, and premièred by, the Erling Bloch Quartet. Holmboe had, in fact, written no less than ten string quartets (not all of them actually completed) before the one he allowed to go out into the world as his First; at the time of its composition, he had already written six of his thirteen symphonies, and all but two of his series of thirteen chamber concertos. The first three of the numbered quartets were written in rapid succession, assigned consecutive opus numbers and recorded within five years - the Second by the Musica Vitalis Quartet for Decca, and the Third by the Koppel Quartet (the dedicatees), also for Decca. The latter was reissued on CD as part of the "Decca Sound - Mono Years" box set issued a couple of years ago.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-11052693820538130952017-08-20T22:25:00.000-04:002017-08-20T22:25:28.400-04:00Goldmark: Rustic Wedding Symphony (Howard Barlow)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_A2JsSJi_-IVGxvlsruuYbk3Ss2IZMqjdgcdXI0heZ4eteb1iWrveNQu5B0RjqYxqDgxyT371gxDPCde6TZFFQbBHkXsWZmBbleNN1BNWqKAkMRV4H_-rk5xId6m_jfVNj-Jxn4r6UME/s1600/Karl+Goldmark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="519" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_A2JsSJi_-IVGxvlsruuYbk3Ss2IZMqjdgcdXI0heZ4eteb1iWrveNQu5B0RjqYxqDgxyT371gxDPCde6TZFFQbBHkXsWZmBbleNN1BNWqKAkMRV4H_-rk5xId6m_jfVNj-Jxn4r6UME/s320/Karl+Goldmark.jpg" width="222" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karl Goldmark</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Shortly after I started this blog, seven years ago, <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2010/10/howard-barlow-conducts-vaughan-williams.html">I posted this recording</a> of Howard Barlow conducting Gordon Jacob's orchestration of Vaughan Williams' "English Folk Song Suite". In the comments section of that post, there was a request for Barlow's recording of Karl Goldmark's delightful "Rustic Wedding" Symphony, which I did not possess at the time. Well, now I do, and here it is:<br />
<br />
Goldmark: Rustic Wedding Symphony, Op. 26<br />
Howard Barlow conducting the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony<br />
Recorded June 19, 1939<br />
Columbia Masterworks set MM-385, five 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3k47kmidt7n/Barlow%20-%20Goldmark%20Rustic%20Wedding%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 92.83 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3mds2dpz419l/Barlow%20-%20Goldmark%20Rustic%20Wedding%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 69.18 MB)<br />
<br />
This was only the second recording of the work - the first had been made 10 years earlier, by the Vienna Philharmonic under Robert Heger, issued in the USA by Victor but deleted shortly after this fine account by Barlow appeared.<br />
<br />
The request for this recording was from Fred, of the excellent blog "Random Classics" which, unfortunately, he felt obliged to suspend four years ago. Fred, wherever you are, I hope you are able to enjoy this recording, seven years late...Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-70429972074090146232017-08-13T12:26:00.000-04:002017-08-13T12:31:09.023-04:00Bach: Harpsichord Concerto No. 7 (Anna Linde)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigyw-77ZXb5LdqI6tEK80xESHbquwsug-yIqKNjPfW08a4plXGCn85nYMxmukJJlDrDnCvSy9Rz_yXgGQP7hFQRdnPKB4AIKlcUWPDVxIirJw2_sfTt83tQujjGYn2E-hjbMRfaIDFncA/s1600/Anna+Linde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="612" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigyw-77ZXb5LdqI6tEK80xESHbquwsug-yIqKNjPfW08a4plXGCn85nYMxmukJJlDrDnCvSy9Rz_yXgGQP7hFQRdnPKB4AIKlcUWPDVxIirJw2_sfTt83tQujjGYn2E-hjbMRfaIDFncA/s320/Anna+Linde.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anna Linde</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last year, I presented on this blog what I believed to be the <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-first-electrical-recording-of-bach.html">first electrical recording of a Bach concerto</a>, a triple clavier concerto played by three French pianists. Now I present the first complete recording of a Bach clavier concerto played on the harpsichord - I say "complete" because Alice Ehlers had recorded two movements of the BWV 1056 concerto for Homokord in 1926, a recording which achieved nothing like the currency that this one did:<br />
<br />
Bach: Harpsichord Concerto No. 7 in G Minor, BWV 1058<br />
Anna Linde, harpsichord, with string orchestra<br />
Recorded October 8, 1928<br />
English Parlophone E 10879 and E 10880, two 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3b3my8j4m73p/Anne%20Linde%20-%20Bach%20BWV%201058%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 40.39 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/5d8b16myheob/Anne%20Linde%20-%20Bach%20BWV%201058%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 22.71 MB)<br />
<br />
According to Christian Zwerg's <a href="http://discography.phonomuseum.at/parlo/parlo020000.pdf">Parlophon discography</a>, the orchestra is that of the Berlin State Opera, and the conductor was Frieder Weissmann, Parlophon's house conductor. And the irony is that, although Weissmann's name is not on the labels, we know far more about his career than we do about the harpsichordist's, for Anna Linde is a figure shrouded in mystery. Here is what we have been able to find out about her (and I am indebted to Nick Morgan and his great sleuthing powers for this information):<br />
<br />
She was born Johanna Anna Pincus in Bromberg, Germany (now Bydgoszcz, Poland), in 1880. During the 1910s she studied with Wanda Landowska at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, and sometime after this adopted "Anna Linde" as her professional name. In the late 1920s she recorded a handful of sides for Parlophon, among them several with Paul Grümmer playing the viola da gamba (these can be heard at the <a href="http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/index.html">CHARM website</a>, as can two of her solo sides). Being Jewish, when the Nazis came to power, she was forced to flee Germany, and she went first to Italy, where she made several recordings for the anthology "Musiche Antiche Italiane" (producers of <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2017/05/happy-birthday-claudio-monteverdi.html">this first recording</a> of Monteverdi's "Orfeo"). After Italy became unsafe for Jews, she emigrated to the USA, took citizenship and appears to have settled in Denver, Colorado, dying there in 1968.<br />
<br />
The picture above is the only one I have been able to find of her, and appears to derive from Parlophon publicity material; my apologies for its awful quality but it was little better in my source, which was a reproduction in Frank Andrews and Michael Smith's discography of English Parlophone's 12-inch "E" series, published by the City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-59392747847892060902017-08-04T15:25:00.000-04:002017-08-04T15:25:30.268-04:00Bloch: Violin Sonata No. 1 (Josef Gingold, Beryl Rubinstein)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWPTNfvO6GS5NJmvhNgvP3pyeRGwH9F6l2WVXCq3ucvOc412NgJCDxne4oy16KFUuXXt9rVkbH8YkQQ6IXQ8oipBu61ow9NuU269X2UdXJl9K0XMa1ImbFxRiw5dbK_liO2r9JNn4EnN8/s1600/Bloch+1920s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="362" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWPTNfvO6GS5NJmvhNgvP3pyeRGwH9F6l2WVXCq3ucvOc412NgJCDxne4oy16KFUuXXt9rVkbH8YkQQ6IXQ8oipBu61ow9NuU269X2UdXJl9K0XMa1ImbFxRiw5dbK_liO2r9JNn4EnN8/s320/Bloch+1920s.jpg" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ernest Bloch, early 1920s</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Ernest Bloch wrote two violin sonatas in the 1920s, when he was serving as the first director of the Cleveland Institute of Music, and these have not lacked for performances and recordings from some fairly prominent artists, among them Heifetz, Isaac Stern and Louis Kaufman. The first recording ever made of either of them was for an independent New York label, Gamut, by the husband-and-wife team of Harold and Marion Kahn Berkley, in 1937. This is so rare that I have never encountered it. A year later, Victor recorded the same sonata, and it presumably received somewhat wider distribution, though it is scarcely less common:<br />
<br />
Bloch: Violin Sonata No. 1 (1920)<br />
Josef Gingold, violin; Beryl Rubinstein, piano<br />
Recorded c. January 1938<br />
Victor Musical Masterpiece set AM-498, four 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/o9xizc69co9/Gingold-Rubinstein%20-%20Bloch%20Violin%20Sonata%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 69.03 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/7bjxv1fmjip/Gingold-Rubinstein%20-%20Bloch%20Violin%20Sonata%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 49.67 MB)<br />
<br />
This recording affords us a rare opportunity to hear Josef Gingold (1909-1995) as a soloist; he was much more active as a chamber and orchestral musician, being in Toscanini's NBC Orchestra and in the <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2012/06/smetana-by-primrose-quartet.html">Primrose Quartet</a>. Beryl Rubinstein (1898-1952), on the Cleveland Institute's faculty while Bloch was there (and subsequently its director), was one of the dedicatees of Bloch's Second Violin Sonata, along with violinist André Ribaupierre; together they premièred the work in 1925. Curiously enough, another Rubinstein, Artur. participated in the première of the First Sonata, with violinist Paul Kochanski.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-44252110091845504172017-07-29T18:01:00.000-04:002017-07-29T18:01:20.109-04:00Mozart Serenades by E. F.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUtOpSS2ojW8AjvNRDWTKD_oFjmUNZac0yr7EM6MT8g5AjO7JD6cLJfUeHXFJTj_61KF1IKDfmHBAYfd4eQ24i0T8S-gKFdMBoGoaUibSMRPBDUkopdf9CrG32b4Ydexn0G-6NwnWt_zA/s1600/Vox+161+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1385" data-original-width="1600" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUtOpSS2ojW8AjvNRDWTKD_oFjmUNZac0yr7EM6MT8g5AjO7JD6cLJfUeHXFJTj_61KF1IKDfmHBAYfd4eQ24i0T8S-gKFdMBoGoaUibSMRPBDUkopdf9CrG32b4Ydexn0G-6NwnWt_zA/s320/Vox+161+cover.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Two albums containing Mozart serenades this week, the common denominator to both being that a conductor with the initials "E. F." leads a (presumably) hand-picked ensemble. Here are the details:<br />
<br />
Mozart: "Salzburg Serenades"<br />
(Concertante and Rondo from Serenade No. 9 in D, K. 320;<br />
Serenata Notturna in D, K. 239)<br />
Edvard Fendler conducting the Vox Chamber Orchestra<br />
Recorded c. 1945-46<br />
Vox Album 161, four 10-inch 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3l9a33y5u7fl/Fendler%20-%20Mozart%20Serenades%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 63.91 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/o7ykdqluocp/Fendler%20-%20Mozart%20Serenades%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 41.28 MB)<br />
<br />
Mozart: Serenade No. 10 in B-Flat, K. 361, for thirteen wind instruments<br />
Edwin Fischer conducting his Chamber Orchestra<br />
Recorded September 1939<br />
Victor Musical Masterpiece set DM-743, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/75jj7a822rc3/Fischer%20-%20Mozart%20Serenade%20No%2010%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 68.76 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/5c6538eo87wr/Fischer%20-%20Mozart%20Serenade%20No%2010%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 43.88 MB)<br />
<br />
Leipzig-born Fendler (1902-1987), who would appear to have left Germany with the rise of Nazism, ended up with conducting jobs in places as diverse as the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Mobile (Alabama) and Beaumont (Texas). He had made recordings in France before the war - among them, another version of this same <i>Serenata Notturna</i>. The "Vox Chamber Orchestra" was, I suspect, an <i>ad hoc</i> body of New York players.<br />
<br />
Edwin Fischer (1886-1960) was, of course, much better known as a pianist, but was a fine conductor as well, and he often combined the two roles, most notably with Bach. This recording, made in Berlin, manages to get Mozart's great <i>Gran Partita</i> onto three discs by omitting two movements and excising one of two trios of a minuet, and by scrupulously avoiding repeats. What remains, however, is very well played and conducted indeed.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-5566148842145340522017-07-23T10:51:00.001-04:002017-07-23T10:51:37.624-04:00More from Morton<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRd460Cs6o7Nk1FH0pH5yHVosjrPjQ8yhtiu3rligzk9m3ceuzjNRCq30IumluTrOsN77NUlJDJkvZGzDayqeTdtXBxjJmVjuJnLZz9v6mKDjy7ndBnnmX19CKOwOayAlgLqPZR3LUs7A/s1600/CM663+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1420" data-original-width="1600" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRd460Cs6o7Nk1FH0pH5yHVosjrPjQ8yhtiu3rligzk9m3ceuzjNRCq30IumluTrOsN77NUlJDJkvZGzDayqeTdtXBxjJmVjuJnLZz9v6mKDjy7ndBnnmX19CKOwOayAlgLqPZR3LUs7A/s320/CM663+cover.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover design by Alex Steinweiss</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For easy summer listening, this week I present two more albums of Morton Gould's popular song arrangements, made for Columbia after he had been promoted to green-label Masterworks status:<br />
<br />
String Time<br />
1. Body and Soul (Johnny Green)<br />
2. Laura (David Raskin)<br />
3. Holiday for Strings (David Rose)<br />
4. Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington)<br />
5. Solitude (Duke Ellington)<br />
6. Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen)<br />
7. The Surrey With the Fringe On Top (Richard Rodgers)<br />
8. Stormy Weather (Harold Arlen)<br />
Morton Gould and His Orchestra<br />
Recorded July 11 and 15, 1946<br />
Columbia Masterworks set M-663, four 10-inch 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2bl1fj4qvq1j/Morton%20Gould%20-%20String%20Time%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 63.38 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/65o6rof4tt1v/Morton%20Gould%20-%20String%20Time%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 43.86 MB)<br />
<br />
Music at Midnight<br />
1. Caravan (Duke Ellington)<br />
2. Moonglow (Will Hudson)<br />
3. Song of the Bayou (Rube Bloom)<br />
4. Deserted Ballroom (Morton Gould)<br />
5. Mood Indigo (Duke Ellington)<br />
6. Serenade in the Night (Cesare Andrea Bixio)<br />
7. Deep Purple (Peter de Rose)<br />
8. Swamp Fire (Harold Mooney)<br />
Morton Gould and His Orchestra<br />
Recorded November 14, 15 and 22, 1950<br />
Columbia Masterworks set MM-992, four 10-inch 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/1bdyhv5vvhir/Morton%20Gould%20-%20Music%20at%20Midnight%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 70.52 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3ip7tt0ddmj3/Morton%20Gould%20-%20Music%20at%20Midnight%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 46.93 MB)<br />
<br />
It will be seen that each collection contains two Duke Ellington tunes, and that "Music at Midnight" also has one of Gould's own compositions, originally a piano piece that <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2016/06/morton-goulds-first-decca-and-columbia.html">he had recorded a decade earlier</a>. To the expected string orchestra of "String Time" Gould's orchestrations add a harp and celesta, and, in the case of "The Surrey With the Fringe On Top" - played entirely pizzicato - also such appurtenances as sleigh bells, wood block, whip and even a banjo. "Music at Midnight" has the distinction of being Columbia's last Masterworks 78-rpm set to be released on a regular schedule concurrent with LP releases, in April, 1951. With the May releases 78s were dropped, although five set numbers (993 to 997) had been assigned, and after that, only selected Masterworks releases appeared as 78s, usually semi-classical in nature.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHHnWhcGleaKWnay7Z2PVG8ZlQZ-ScobKu2dWSOr_cOw4_WIgI_YOeD4w_04uFJLTLZbUHfaIxJG5xFrR0w6JSQGmvOBMQMWlUohky5uOi2B2QJqRG5ymnuqI9_6mKqs8EaUvfE9Cvg4/s1600/MM992+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1443" data-original-width="1600" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHHnWhcGleaKWnay7Z2PVG8ZlQZ-ScobKu2dWSOr_cOw4_WIgI_YOeD4w_04uFJLTLZbUHfaIxJG5xFrR0w6JSQGmvOBMQMWlUohky5uOi2B2QJqRG5ymnuqI9_6mKqs8EaUvfE9Cvg4/s320/MM992+cover.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover design by Alex Steinweiss</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-88190247918261975562017-07-16T17:04:00.000-04:002017-07-16T17:04:32.068-04:00Festive Ormandy<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMEkNEuUq5FOojgI50WF3bNjind-mZiwtIrEW3vuHT4NwUtAIeRJRK2Ll3yKWZXhNSQ38d8_dbEI0n2DVDurk-lEOcNIZpUmE45DYaRUBuEiazgEVBMtOQ5l_aoaQxt30Jd7CMRqluYo/s1600/MM707+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1431" data-original-width="1600" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMEkNEuUq5FOojgI50WF3bNjind-mZiwtIrEW3vuHT4NwUtAIeRJRK2Ll3yKWZXhNSQ38d8_dbEI0n2DVDurk-lEOcNIZpUmE45DYaRUBuEiazgEVBMtOQ5l_aoaQxt30Jd7CMRqluYo/s320/MM707+cover.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover design by Alex Steinweiss</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Of Ottorino Respighi's three orchestral suites celebrating his adopted home city of Rome (Fountains of Rome, Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals), I confess my favorite has always been the last one, mainly because it is the most fun. Respighi, like Liszt, seems to be most authentically himself when he can cut loose and play, and nowhere did he do so more than in this piece (unless it was in the kid-in-a-candy-store orchestrations of <i>Antiche Arie e Danze</i>). This is its first American recording to be released (since Toscanini's, with the same orchestra, from five years earlier, did not see the light of day until 1976):<br />
<br />
Respighi: Feste Romane (1928)<br />
Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy<br />
Recorded April 18, 1946<br />
Columbia Masterworks set MM-707, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/xeds93a9cz/Ormandy%20-%20Respighi%20Feste%20Romane%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 60.69 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/13g2p68r1lnn/Ormandy%20-%20Respighi%20Feste%20Romane%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 39.78 MB)<br />
<br />
About five years ago, <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2012/01/more-from-ormandy.html">I uploaded Ormandy's first Philadelphia recording</a> of Sibelius' First Symphony, along with his Minneapolis recording of Kodály's <i>Háry János</i> Suite. I noted the existence of an earlier recording of the same symphony from Minneapolis, and have now located a copy of that, and here it is:<br />
<br />
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 39<br />
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy<br />
Recorded January 16, 1935<br />
Victor Musical Masterpiece set DM-290, five 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/6rlpvgnidjph/Ormandy%20-%20Sibelius%201%20(MSO)%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 110.30 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/5suu5x3f8r2f/Ormandy%20-%20Sibelius%201%20(MSO)%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 66.42 MB)<br />
<br />
Originally issued with a generic cover, by the time of my pressing, c. 1940, the set was sporting this simple but evocative cover design:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGAtI_ubAD8BhMn78Y2mfNcP2ktIPGV_55gvtdIrGbptaobqLurtjCbIDbAOkeDkjxzu7eouqsFTndJXKziNlACmiK1GIAj3OO0PDe4QSCNLlgQSlT8vfyRN0O1G-cGhanlc8ID_ODsg/s1600/DM290+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1468" data-original-width="1600" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGAtI_ubAD8BhMn78Y2mfNcP2ktIPGV_55gvtdIrGbptaobqLurtjCbIDbAOkeDkjxzu7eouqsFTndJXKziNlACmiK1GIAj3OO0PDe4QSCNLlgQSlT8vfyRN0O1G-cGhanlc8ID_ODsg/s320/DM290+cover.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-31582136838183963662017-07-11T16:13:00.000-04:002017-07-11T16:20:53.613-04:00Herman D. Koppel<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZL722WOUzVu-0eBsn3RjfVk6iCCNTl2K8XVjtujkBRo7oXbdw9GLP2dPPctWAbe96-7qBj6RXhkCH5Wo_XseSncXf0tjNenv0x_m6EV_OkFSYgm5mez37i-Sh4O-fOljZ9f6ckEJH59M/s1600/koppel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="610" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZL722WOUzVu-0eBsn3RjfVk6iCCNTl2K8XVjtujkBRo7oXbdw9GLP2dPPctWAbe96-7qBj6RXhkCH5Wo_XseSncXf0tjNenv0x_m6EV_OkFSYgm5mez37i-Sh4O-fOljZ9f6ckEJH59M/s320/koppel.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Herman D. Koppel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Nineteen years ago this month, the world of Danish music lost one of its last living links with Carl Nielsen in the passing of pianist and composer Herman David Koppel (1908-1998). (His brother was the violinist Julius Koppel.) Of Jewish heritage, Koppel, who had to flee Denmark in 1943 when the Nazis placed the country under direct military occupation, had considered Nielsen a mentor and had played the composer's piano works in his presence. Koppel made multiple recordings of Nielsen's piano music, of which these appear to be among the first:<br />
<br />
Nielsen: Theme and Variations, Op. 40 <i>and</i> Chaconne, Op. 32<br />
Herman D. Koppel, piano<br />
Recorded December 13, 1940<br />
HMV DB 5252 through DB 5254, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/1d12swoa52r1/Koppel%20-%20Nielsen%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 65.99 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4qghk5v86kj9/Koppel%20-%20Nielsen%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 40.48 MB)<br />
<br />
Koppel died on Bastille Day, and here he is playing French music - only the second recording ever made of Poulenc's delightful Trio (after the composer's own, for Columbia, in 1928):<br />
<br />
Poulenc: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano (1926)<br />
Waldemar Wolsing, oboe; Carl Bloch, bassoon; Herman D. Koppel, piano<br />
Recorded c. 1950<br />
Metronome CL 3000 and CL 3001, two 10-inch 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3ng6htzpx0qx/Koppel%20-%20Poulenc%20Trio%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 32.22 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2stze7j00sop/Koppel%20-%20Poulenc%20Trio%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 18.71 MB)<br />
<br />
Metrnonome Records was an independent Swedish label founded in 1949 by two jazz enthusiasts, brothers Anders and Lars Burman. This was one of their few classical issues.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjujRnvi1CPF7rC49vKmwD1iDei3PV-HsixR8hcYGHOo15g5NnDMKin0fdChvuA5AvX5mciseQCbTTouWP1DPJ7B7FeTAA23gLPaxJngVB6V1wBMuCIbRXb5AI0c17lVevcT_1Xj-aHc4/s1600/CL3001+label+B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="900" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjujRnvi1CPF7rC49vKmwD1iDei3PV-HsixR8hcYGHOo15g5NnDMKin0fdChvuA5AvX5mciseQCbTTouWP1DPJ7B7FeTAA23gLPaxJngVB6V1wBMuCIbRXb5AI0c17lVevcT_1Xj-aHc4/s320/CL3001+label+B.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-90582577843569161602017-07-06T09:50:00.000-04:002017-07-06T23:04:23.144-04:00Florent Schmitt: String Trio (Pasquier Trio)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTBVYIzR55dnYZXHp3xLpIVsQ7yxag-ynfdRSUcbzOqKYfFKjieLGfJS1m4IFw0PSloqDWqgFv0OYOYrRC9eYwLKk6JNtP4u72DwIHkhm4BscBv_vIJ9Ob_j_MsXQP8ZwF6UU0KlL16Jk/s1600/florent-schmitt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="718" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTBVYIzR55dnYZXHp3xLpIVsQ7yxag-ynfdRSUcbzOqKYfFKjieLGfJS1m4IFw0PSloqDWqgFv0OYOYrRC9eYwLKk6JNtP4u72DwIHkhm4BscBv_vIJ9Ob_j_MsXQP8ZwF6UU0KlL16Jk/s320/florent-schmitt.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Florent Schmitt</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Best remembered today for his ballet "La Tragédie de Salome" and his choral-orchestral setting of Psalm 47, French composer Florent Schmitt (1870-1958) actually established his reputation as much with chamber music as with those two works, through his massive, hour-long Piano Quintet of 1908. He returned to chamber music towards the end of his life, writing, among other things, a string quartet, a saxophone quartet, a flute quartet, and this string trio written for, and dedicated to, the Pasquier brothers:<br />
<br />
Florent Schmitt: String Trio in E Minor, Op. 105<br />
The Pasquier Trio (Jean, Pierre and Étienne Pasquier)<br />
Recorded May 21 and December 3, 1946<br />
Pathé PDT 103 through 106, four 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/6yu5zxwznqj3/Pasquier%20Trio%20-%20Schmitt%20Op105%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 81.26 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4us2v7cnqczv/Pasquier%20Trio%20-%20Schmitt%20Op105%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 46.96 MB)<br />
<br />
This is a big, satisfying work in four movements, thickly scored (often, because of double-stopping, it sounds more like a sextet), and of immense technical difficulty. Perhaps this explains its comparative neglect, even among Schmitt's works. I believe it has been recorded only once since, in the early 1980s, on an obscure French label, Cybelia - a valiant attempt, but not equal to the one played by the dedicatees. The Gramophone Shop Supplement of October, 1948, reviewed this set (which sold for $10.48), calling it "music of savage power, strange harmonies, and relentless drive. One is hard-pressed to find what may be called 'beauty'..." The anonymous reviewer was certainly right about the power and drive, but there is nothing in the harmonies that would be out of place in, say, Fauré's late chamber music. For me the piece is a real find, as much so as the <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2016/05/loeffler-partita-for-violin-and-piano.html">Loeffler violin partita</a> that I posted last year.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-7883241786450555072017-06-30T16:18:00.000-04:002020-02-06T13:09:38.449-05:00A Boston Pops Miscellany<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2S2Xpsp2wO997W1ja_v92rcGfZ0SiIRkOtOXeQ92sr8U4jQBCGjKhmGI8JtaZSasTcHJ6tNIBLICeIyoWawLRKNgIQyf4OwHiwF9gRdKect_8jPQieaO7BYYwTsPHv03gQ86Fmksyykg/s1600/Fiedler.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1173" data-original-width="1157" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2S2Xpsp2wO997W1ja_v92rcGfZ0SiIRkOtOXeQ92sr8U4jQBCGjKhmGI8JtaZSasTcHJ6tNIBLICeIyoWawLRKNgIQyf4OwHiwF9gRdKect_8jPQieaO7BYYwTsPHv03gQ86Fmksyykg/s320/Fiedler.JPG" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arthur Fiedler, c. 1935</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Summer is here - traditionally the time when orchestras do their "pops" seasons, and none is more celebrated than those of Boston (though in latter days, rivaled by those in Cincinnati). The Boston "Pops" began making recordings 82 summers ago, and purveyed everything from standard repertoire to traditional and contemporary light music. All three are represented here in this batch:<br />
<br />
Wagner: Rienzi - Overture <i>and </i>Tannhäuser - Fest-Marsch<br />
Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler<br />
Recorded June 28-29, 1937<br />
Victor Musical Masterpiece set DM-569, two 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/36loiks03ech/Fiedler%20-%20Wagner%20Rienzi%20Overture%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 45.17 MB)<br />
<a href="https://www.filefactory.com/file/2umpmvmb9unj/Fiedler%20-%20Wagner%20Rienzi%20Overture%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 29.84 MB)<br />
<br />
Album of Strauss Waltzes<br />
(Wein, Weib und Gesang; Wiener Blut; Künstlerleben; Kaiser; Frühlingsstimmen)<br />
Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler<br />
Recorded 1936-37<br />
Victor Musical Masterpiece set M-445, five 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/710jkg176mtd/Fiedler%20-%20Strauss%20Waltzes%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 103.12 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/3jnja1urqde1/Fiedler%20-%20Strauss%20Waltzes%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 67.24 MB)<br />
<br />
Piston: The Incredible Flutist - Ballet Suite<br />
Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler<br />
Recorded June 29, 1939<br />
Victor Musical Masterpiece set DM-621, two 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/ihn82r9oovx/Fiedler%20-%20Piston%20Incredible%20Flutist%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 41.67 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/5lpcry1m4bw7/Fiedler%20-%20Piston%20Incredible%20Flutist%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 29.91 MB)<br />
<br />
Not being a Viennese waltz aficionado, I can't say how authentic Fiedler's interpretations of Johann Strauss may be, but I certainly enjoyed them - he plays them with all the zest and gusto one could want. The Piston recording is wholly delightful, but the solo flutist is unfortunately not credited. On Fiedler's later (1953) recording, James Pappoutsakis did the honors, and since that gentleman became the BSO's assistant principal flute the year this recording was made, it's quite possible he did the honors on this occasion also.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-29237616090235264162017-06-22T14:10:00.000-04:002017-06-22T14:10:20.387-04:00Von Einem: Concerto for Orchestra<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOi0umSBRPmAzycdRIhkJUm0AhBR5eGui4QARvweCFns5DmdVYgtFRKUQFTQEwJn_am3QUKErjCxDuFBp5AdFa8PR1-yagldYKBGjEA2ERsxogzccQQ2EptocdrPsYmD4siIfYChFQHQE/s1600/Von+Einem+1944.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="606" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOi0umSBRPmAzycdRIhkJUm0AhBR5eGui4QARvweCFns5DmdVYgtFRKUQFTQEwJn_am3QUKErjCxDuFBp5AdFa8PR1-yagldYKBGjEA2ERsxogzccQQ2EptocdrPsYmD4siIfYChFQHQE/s320/Von+Einem+1944.png" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gottfried von Einem, 1944</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Born into a wealthy Austrian family (his mother was a baroness), Gottfried von Einem (1918-1996) spent his formative years in Germany. The young man did not have an easy time of it under the National Socialist regime. His interest in the <i>Entartete Musik</i> of Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Hindemith (with whom he wanted to study, but whose exile from Germany prevented that ambition) antagonized the Nazis, as did his love of jazz. Despite his problems with the authorities, von Einem managed to achieve some success as a composer in these years. Herbert von Karajan commissioned him to write a Concerto for Orchestra, which was premièred in April, 1944. With its syncopations and sly allusions to "Jeepers Creepers" in the fast outer movements, it quickly landed its composer in more hot water. Propaganda Minister Goebbels himself ordered that this recording be made for "study purposes":<br />
<br />
Gottfried von Einem: Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 4<br />
Saxon State Orchestra, Dresden, conducted by Karl Elmendorff<br />
Recorded July 25, 1944<br />
Deutsche Grammophon set DGS-10, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/75r06ns3ye5t/Von%20Einem%20-%20Concerto%20for%20Orchestra%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 50.59 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/71m4ipgv8m57/Von%20Einem%20-%20Concerto%20for%20Orchestra%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 33.30 MB)<br />
<br />
It seems unlikely that this recording was intended for public consumption, but it did achieve limited circulation after the war, notably in the USA in London Gramophone Corporation's short-lived series of Deutsche Grammophon album sets. The Gramophone Shop Supplement of October, 1949, lists the set at $8.93 (a tidy sum in those days), and offers this in review: "It bears signs of nearly every well known composer of the 20th century, from Mahler, Strauss and Hindemith to Bartók, Stravinsky and even Morton Gould. The texture is essentially light, and occasionally sardonic, while the orchestration is extremely deft. Perhaps the best thing about this music is its very eclectic qualities, and he who has a sense of humor may find some quite enjoyable moments." Irving Kolodin, writing in the Saturday Review of August 27, 1949, was much less charitable, saying, "no tunes seem to occur to him. It is a hash of rather meaningless counterpoints and orchestral effects, without even the seasoning that sometimes makes hash a filling, if not palatable dish." Good old Irving - he never pulled punches!<br />
<br />
The Concerto for Orchestra does not appear to have been commercially recorded since, though a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0znz1k4Asbs">live performance</a> by Jeffrey Tate and the London Symphony is now available on YouTube, and makes for an interesting comparison with the present recording - for one thing, the last minute or so of the piece was apparently changed when published (in 1951).Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-36840387784419432072017-06-12T09:15:00.000-04:002017-06-12T09:27:07.239-04:00Khatchaturian: Piano Concerto (Levant)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83z_Hc6pCIGfRUMd5rK8sQkT9t2wsZiIY_Yyz6IuCrUgs9z5tn5MCIsGKPjqqNCVdGok1EoeIzkAe0XB_cgpeYR0oOak0RLfGyN8KQV-GaubI0iHHj3EW-qbAv7q6VlKJ3i2FKY4Ul5o/s1600/ML4288+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1548" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83z_Hc6pCIGfRUMd5rK8sQkT9t2wsZiIY_Yyz6IuCrUgs9z5tn5MCIsGKPjqqNCVdGok1EoeIzkAe0XB_cgpeYR0oOak0RLfGyN8KQV-GaubI0iHHj3EW-qbAv7q6VlKJ3i2FKY4Ul5o/s320/ML4288+cover.JPG" width="309" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover design by Alex Steinweiss</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There was a request for this recording at <a href="http://big10inchrecord.blogspot.com/">Buster's blog</a> recently, after he posted some of Oscar Levant's incomparable Gershwin playing. I dug around and found this nice early LP copy, complete with one of Steinweiss' more zany cover designs. This is one of three early recordings listed of Khatchaturian's wild and wacky piano concerto - the others are by Moura Lympany with Fistoulari on English Decca (the first to be issued), and William Kapell with Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony (Victor). Of these, I find Levant's the most convincing, for he cuts loose more than the others do, playing it with all the zest and panache that he brought to everything he touched:<br />
<br />
Khatchaturian: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1935)<br />
Oscar Levant with the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York<br />
conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos<br />
Recorded January 3, 1950<br />
Columbia ML-4288, one LP record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/lcaqqs42bgf/Levant%20-%20Khatchaturian%20Concerto%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 88.45 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/1nmlengw2p5r/Levant%20-%20Khatchaturian%20Concerto%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 58.03 MB)<br />
<br />
This recording was also issued as a 78 set (Columbia MM-905), and I am sorry to say I don't have that, nor have I ever seen it anywhere. It contains, as a filler, Levant's rarest recording, apparently unissued in any other form - Rachmaninoff's Prelude in D Minor, Op. 23, No. 3. It is so rare that it is on the <a href="http://www.lib.umd.edu/ipam/wants-list">wants list of the International Piano Archives</a> at the University of Maryland - although it would be easy to miss this, since they do not identify it as the filler for this Khatchaturian Concerto. If you have it, they would like to hear from you!Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-71447305090894999102017-06-03T20:21:00.000-04:002017-06-03T20:29:26.133-04:00More from the Erling Bloch Quartet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5eVsZBL3xiSwk0s-r8opDDLh0e2zIKQfde0lnV5fIlzuK6sc9hWN5fueqVcHVdvi6dcndhkptFd51ICKDtTG1FaPf4cCdTIyrPiwUsKLJDg8ab-OrSccQRp2_gYwNubPRjLOxd1VUx74/s1600/DB1-3+label+6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="805" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5eVsZBL3xiSwk0s-r8opDDLh0e2zIKQfde0lnV5fIlzuK6sc9hWN5fueqVcHVdvi6dcndhkptFd51ICKDtTG1FaPf4cCdTIyrPiwUsKLJDg8ab-OrSccQRp2_gYwNubPRjLOxd1VUx74/s320/DB1-3+label+6.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
In time for Carl Nielsen's birthday this year (June 9), I present the first recording ever made of a string quartet by him, done during the early months of the Nazi occupation of Denmark by the Erling Bloch Quartet. This recording does not appear to have been reissued on CD; Danacord passed over it in favor of the Koppel Quartet's 1954 account (though their 1984 LP set of early Nielsen chamber recordings did contain a rather inept transfer). I also offer two single discs by the Erling Bloch ensemble to ride, as it were, the coattails of the Nielsen. The details:<br />
<br />
Nielsen: Quartet No. 4 in F Major, Op. 44<br />
The Erling Bloch Quartet (Bloch-Pedersen-Kassow-Svendsen)<br />
Recorded October 26, 1940<br />
HMV DB 1-3, three 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/4n4fjq4ho631/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Nielsen%204%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 71.21 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/1vtdxoebji6r/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Nielsen%204%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 42.42 MB)<br />
<br />
Hakon Børresen: Scherzo (from Quartet No. 2 in C Minor, 1939)<br />
<i>and</i><br />
Schubert: Quartettsatz in C Minor, D. 703<br />
The Erling Bloch Quartet (Bloch-Friisholm-Kassow-Svendsen)<br />
Recorded November 19, 1942<br />
HMV DB 5282, one 78-rpm record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/5cswbdagk99v/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Borresen,%20Schubert%20FLACs.zip">Link</a> (FLAC files, 23.70 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2y2swn67rgvd/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Borresen,%20Schubert%20MP3s.zip">Link</a> (MP3 files, 14.98 MB)<br />
<br />
Stravinsky: Concertino for String Quartet (1920)<br />
The Erling Bloch Quartet (Bloch-Friisholm-Kassow-Christiansen)<br />
Recorded August 26, 1952<br />
HMV DA 5275, one 10-inch 78-rpm record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/acguwptlos9/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Stravinsky%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 13.81 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/77sdlcu4fx3d/Erling%20Bloch%20SQ%20-%20Stravinsky%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 9.16 MB)<br />
<br />
The delightful scherzo by Hakon Børresen (1876-1954), a Dane of Norwegian heritage who studied with Johan Svendsen, reminds me of the Scherzo of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, with its <i>pizzicato</i> main section and <i>arco</i> middle section. Yes, the Schubert is complete on one side, thanks to a brisk tempo and the omission of the repeat. The Stravinsky is, I believe, the ensemble's last recording to be issued as a 78,<br />
<br />
The issue series in which the Nielsen set found itself was HMV's first automatic set series in Denmark, most of whose numbers were recorded during the Second World War (except for one reissue). I am aware of the existence of the following issues in it:<br />
<br />
DB 1-3 Nielsen: Quartet No. 4 (Erling Bloch Quartet)<br />
DB 4-6 Schubert: Fantasia in C, Op. 159 (Erling Bloch, Lund Chistiansen)<br />
DB 7-9 Schubert: "Unfinished" Symphony (Stokowski, from 1927 Victors)<br />
DB 10-13 Beethoven: "Kreutzer" Sonata (Bloch, Christiansen)<br />
DB 14-16 Beethoven: "Spring" Sonata (Bloch, Christiansen)<br />
DB 17-20 Nielsen: Symphony No. 2 (Jensen, earlier recording from 1944)Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6631827761986497493.post-6994687647617182962017-05-28T11:23:00.000-04:002017-05-28T13:52:21.909-04:00Mozart: Wind Divertimenti (Danish Radio members)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2uZB0N1agd-Qd5cdvpQd6vHqbzutX_79Q4zNWr9BHyGo9zGVXD3-S_-ibX7dzNcf0nbfHufmyA2STFmDLfwEgnU0M4lhl8Yhwl0CmI_l-_dbhtXpaqtgkl3u4DFKQ7M7FR2i82eZS5o/s1600/DX1872+label+A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="829" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2uZB0N1agd-Qd5cdvpQd6vHqbzutX_79Q4zNWr9BHyGo9zGVXD3-S_-ibX7dzNcf0nbfHufmyA2STFmDLfwEgnU0M4lhl8Yhwl0CmI_l-_dbhtXpaqtgkl3u4DFKQ7M7FR2i82eZS5o/s320/DX1872+label+A.JPG" width="319" /></a></div>
Resuming my uploads of records from Denmark (actually, the one pictured above is from the <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2014/12/sir-thomas-only-issued-commercial-bach.html">reclaimed record pile</a>), I present two Mozart divertimenti for wind sextet. These were recorded five years apart, yet share three of the players between them, including the leader of the ensemble, oboist Waldemar Wolsing (1910-1993). Here are the details:<br />
<br />
Mozart: Divertimento No. 12 in E-Flat Major, K. 252<br />
Members of the Danish State Radio Orchestra:<br />
Waldemar Wolsing and Erik Hovaldt, oboes<br />
Ingbert Mikkelsen and Knud E. Olsen, horns<br />
Carl Bloch and Leif Carlsen, bassoons<br />
Recorded October 16, 1952<br />
English Columbia DX 1872, one 78-rpm record<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/1ush95hmy21/Wolsing%20et%20al%20-%20Mozart%20Divertimento%2012%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 19.57 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/22kr6jzlfrtn/Wolsing%20et%20al%20-%20Mozart%20Divertimento%2012%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 12.48 MB)<br />
<br />
Mozart: Divertimento No. 14 in B-Flat Major, K. 270<br />
Waldemar Wolsing and Hans Woldbye, oboes<br />
Ingbert Mikkelsen and Wang Breidahl, horns<br />
Kjell Roikjer and Carl Bloch, bassoons<br />
Recorded October 19, 1947<br />
HMV DA 5260 and DA 5261, two 10-inch 78-rpm records<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/1gg331po3mmz/Wolsing%20et%20al%20-%20Mozart%20Divertimento%2014%20FLAC.zip">Link</a> (FLAC file, 26.36 MB)<br />
<a href="http://www.filefactory.com/file/2mu2qfvoqt8b/Wolsing%20et%20al%20-%20Mozart%20Divertimento%2014%20MP3.zip">Link</a> (MP3 file, 16.01 MB)<br />
<br />
The HMV records do not identify the players as members of the Danish State Radio Orchestra, but I imagine they were. Two days prior to recording K. 270, Wolsing, Mikkelsen and Roikjer, as members of the Wind Quintet of 1932, participated in <a href="http://shellackophile.blogspot.com/2017/02/danish-music-for-winds.html">this recording of Vagn Holmboe's Notturno</a>.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00501152469280142504noreply@blogger.com6