Dimitri-in-the-Dell

Cover design by Alex Steinweiss
(restored by Peter Joelson)

The spotlight this week is on the great Greek conductor and pianist, Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960), who, at the time of these recordings, was the principal conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony.  Here, however, he is leading the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia (essentially the Philadelphia Orchestra) in a couple of their earliest recordings under that name.  To simultaneously play and conduct Prokofiev's extremely demanding Third Piano Concerto was a Mitropoulos specialty (he first carried out the feat in Berlin in 1930), and, in fact, I'm unaware of anyone who has done the dual role with this piece since.  (Since writing the above, I've learned that Van Cliburn actually did so, at a 1961 concert in New York that was a memorial for Mitropoulos! Stokowski was supposed to conduct, but was laid up from an accident, so Cliburn, who had taken conducting lessons from Bruno Walter, assumed conducting duties as well.)  And even if there are quite a few wrong notes in this performance, one can't help admiring Mitropoulos' gumption not merely in pulling it off, but in posing the challenge to its only competition in the record catalogues at the time - the composer's own recording of 1932:

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26
Dimitri Mitropoulos with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia
Recorded July 26, 1946
Columbia Masterworks set MM-667, three 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 71.05 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 38.43 MB)

In the next recording presented here, Mitropoulos reverts to his more accustomed role as conductor only, since for even so prestigious a talent as his, it would have been impossible to play both piano parts as well as conduct in the Mozart two-piano concerto:

Mozart: Concerto for two pianos in E-Flat major, K. 365
Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin, duo-pianists
Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos
Recorded September 21, 1945
Columbia Masterworks set MM-628, three 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 61.87 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 36.2 MB)

Gould: American Concertette

Cover by Alex Steinweiss

The more works by New York-born Morton Gould (1913-1996) I hear, the more I am convinced that he is one of the most seriously underrated of American composers.  I'm sure the abundance of popular-music stylings that pop up in his pieces hasn't helped his case any, nor has the fact that, in the 1940s and 1950s at least, he made his share of Kostelanetz-like arrangements of popular tunes which he recorded with his own orchestra.  But the best of his work has wit, charm and craftsmanship second to none for an American composer.  Typical is this gem of a miniature piano concerto from 1943, which he originally called "American Concertette" - it didn't receive the subtitle "Interplay" until turned into a ballet two years later:

Morton Gould: Interplay (American Concertette), for piano and orchestra
Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia
Morton Gould, pianist and conductor
Recorded August 1, 1947
Columbia Masterworks set MX-289, two 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC file, 39.55 MB)
Link (MP3 file, 20.96 MB)

The piece is in four short movements, the second of which is a quirky Gavotte, and the third a Blues that took on a life of its own as a solo piano piece.  Incidentally, the suffix "-ette" to denote works of smaller structure than full scale ones (e.g., "Concertette," "Symphonette") was Gould's invention, which he subsequently came to regret.

Vaughan Williams for Piano

When I was about 13, I discovered, and fell in love with, the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958).  I remember telling my piano teacher of this discovery, and her reply, "oh, my, but there's no good piano music!"  Well, as I have discovered since, that wasn't entirely accurate - there is some Vaughan Williams piano music, and it's all good, but it's rather hard to find.  Vaughan Williams preferred to work on a large canvas (and after all, why not? - he was a big man!) and so it's fitting that the piano work that most readily comes to mind in connection with his name is his fine Concerto, a big work in every way, written for Harriet Cohen in 1930, and recast as a concerto for two pianos in 1946.  Here is the first recording of either version, by the artists who gave the two-piano version its American première in 1949:

Vaughan Williams: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
Arthur Whittemore and Jack Lowe, duo-pianists
Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia conducted by Vladimir Golschmann
Recorded July 26, 1950
RCA Victor Red Seal set WDM-1597, three red vinyl 45-rpm records
Link (FLAC file, 61.44 MB)
Link (MP3 file, 32.19 MB)

This set had no 78-rpm issue, as by the time it appeared, RCA Victor had phased out the 78-rpm format in favor of their own 45-rpm discs.

Also written for Harriet Cohen was this charming Hymn Tune Prelude on a song by Orlando Gibbons:

Vaughan Williams: Hymn Tune Prelude (on Gibbons' Song 13) and
Gibbons: Five Keyboard Pieces
Harriet Cohen, piano
Recorded December 4, 1947
English Columbia DX 1552, one 78-rpm record
Link (FLAC files, 23 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 9.1 MB)

Finally, about three years ago, I presented a Sunday morning worship service at my church, the Unitarian Congregation of Gwinnett in Lawrenceville, Ga., devoted to Vaughan Williams - whose hymn tune arrangements have become basic material in most Protestant hymnals.  In lieu of a sermon, I presented a complete performance of his "Suite of Six Short Pieces" for piano, published in 1920, and later rearranged as his "Charterhouse Suite" for string orchestra.  I have posted this performance on Youtube at the following link:

Vaughan Williams: Suite of Six Short Pieces