tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67652435851947381142024-03-05T07:59:24.320+00:00Fluff on the NeedleRecords made before I was around to careJolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-38631081616721866662018-12-15T21:10:00.006+00:002022-06-26T15:21:56.808+01:00Kreutzer in khaki<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Albert Sammons (1886-1957) and William Murdoch (1888-1942) performed regularly together in chamber concerts during 1916 to 1917, both had joined the army and were travelling around the country dressed in khaki as part of the propaganda effort on the home front. Columbia in order to enhance their ongoing expansion into orchestral, instrumental and chamber music repertoire recorded the duo in a number of recordings including both the Beethoven's Spring and Kreutzer sonatas, incidentally the first recordings to be made of these two compositions</span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">, even though they were savagely cut</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. They were sonically primitive and even Columbia thought they needed replacing in the catalogues by 1923 when Murdoch was now paired with Arthur Catterall, Sammons having become an artist for Aeolian Vocalion. When the Western Electric system was introduced Sammons and Murdoch made their complete recording </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in 1926</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, again for Columbia.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Daily Mirror - Friday 26 May 1916</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Both musicians had to learn a new instruments as part of their army training, </span><span class="il" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Sammons</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> had to learn a wind instrument, (which one?) in the Grenadier Guards and </span><span class="il" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Murdoch</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> the </span><span class="il" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">trombone. Murdoch was unfit for service and sent to Scandinavia for light duties which effectively split the duo up.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZVHjR88NlRhsvIIZVmGU1NOt-cd2BQi5YKK9-4nLinJ0aPZa2H8ioIidbQVJEJS8ziyTZGBsHJpC2bwP6sfn7tUgTvW3dYTx4vWcw-xBTidaAiBT1hv-m-d4Vu_TqEF8VK3UKrms5Ntz/s1600/Columbia+L1210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="812" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZVHjR88NlRhsvIIZVmGU1NOt-cd2BQi5YKK9-4nLinJ0aPZa2H8ioIidbQVJEJS8ziyTZGBsHJpC2bwP6sfn7tUgTvW3dYTx4vWcw-xBTidaAiBT1hv-m-d4Vu_TqEF8VK3UKrms5Ntz/s320/Columbia+L1210.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Violin Sonata No.9 in A major, Op.47 (Kreutzer) : abridged</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Albert Sammons, violin & William Murdoch, piano</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I. Adagio sostenuto (A major) - Presto (A minor) II. Andante con variazioni (F major) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> III. Finale. Presto (A major)</span></div>
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</span> <b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Columbia L1210 & L1211</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">[Matrix :75488, 75489, 75490 & 75491]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Recorded April, 1917</span></div>
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</b></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/file/d9kajlttruuuvcv/Beethoven__-Violin_Sonata_No._9_in_A_Major%252C_-_Kreutzer_-_Albert_Sammons_and_William_Murdoch.flac">FLAC file 44.1kHz/16bit [54Mb]</a> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend </span><a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> player)</span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The work can also be streamed </span>as mp3 @ 192 kbps</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I have been away from posting anything for quite a while, and the main reason that I'm stuffing something onto the blog now is because I was not well satisfied with the way I was making my transfers and decided to try a different approach and see if anyone thinks it is an improvement. I'm not looking for a clean sounding reproduction, but instead an improvement in the dynamic and timbre of the instruments.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I have to warn you here this means my transfer are more than a bit noisy but hopefully with better fidelity to the original performance.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Albert Sammons in an interview for April 1924 issue of The Gramophone outlines the problem very well:-</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'One critic said that it wasn't always possible to pick out the melody in the piano part, and that the violin should keep under in parts to allow the piano a chance to stand out more clearly in its solo passages. This, however, is no fault of the ensemble of the players; both Catterall and Murdoch are pastmasters of chamber music playing, but to have as perfect a performance as one could get on the concert platform would entail more than the present amount of expense and work allowed for recording. It would be necessary to have two or three finished records, so that the player could (pencil and music in hand) mark every passage as they listened, so as to be able to give and take accordingly for the final and master record. Even then a good deal would be left to chance. At times it would be necessary for the violin to play very softly to allow the piano its equal share of tone; also the pianist would at times require almost to overplay in order to get the balance right, owing to the fact that in many passages of difficulty the violinist wouldn't always find it possible to play softly enough, and generally the piano is harder to "get through" when the two instruments are going full strength, unlike in a concert hall, where it is generally the reverse. Also the violinist is nearer the horn when recording.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'Producing records is, after all, an expensive venture, and it would need someone in the nature of a millionaire to make the possibilities of recording as we should like to have it, and to cater for the public requiring perfect records.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'Still, it is a hundred per cent better than it was a few years ago, owing to the experience of recorder and artist, the latter having to play quite differently from what he is accustomed to on the concert platform.'</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Now it is interesting that Sammons thought that the results in 1924 were 'a hundred per cent better than it was a few years ago' that is when he made the 1917 Kreutzer recording, and it is true that the recording, as fine as it is for 1917, is really something of a travesty when put against recordings from the introduction of the Western Electric system.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I decided to go back through the process I was using and try and work out a different way to re-balance early recordings, more particularly acoustic recording. I had concluded for quite a long time that it is not really possible to manipulate these recordings so that it might reproduce something like a 'modern balance' but I thought it could be possible to produce something like a 'modern sound.'</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There are two main factors in the original recording process that are against getting a modern balance, firstly the position of the instruments would not be that found in any normal setup, we know this from surviving photographs of recording sessions and Sammons describes above how it was in the studio when making a recording with piano. Secondly the room used was not designed for making a pleasing sound, say like a concert hall, but instead adapted to project as much of the sound into the recording horns as possible. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Our pioneering recording engineers, or 'experts' would have worked backwards from a successful recording, having previously noted down the position of instruments, together with the size and arrangement of the recording horn or horns etc. Over time this was refined until something that sounded marketable could be achieved. In the Kreutzer recording the violin was quite close to a recording horn, the piano however, producing as it does more sound energy, would be further away and probably two horns were used in this recording with one positioned to record each instrument at their optimum distance and then mixed down through a connector and directed to the recording diaphragm. Although the sound in the studio would be a bit odd and unbalanced to those playing, it would however translate into something approaching an identifiable performance a when played through a contemporary gramophone, although in order to avoid blast, or even broken grooves, especially in the lower octaves, the piano had to be recorded quieter.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The studios that these recordings were made in also produced quite a lot of reverberant hard sound, the size of the room was often modest and the walls were very often panelled with wood with no soft or absorbent materials being present. In early recordings this spacial ambience cannot be heard very well, however it holds that it must be in the grooves, as indeed should the timbre of the instruments should be too, if all a bit faint and distorted by the recording equipment.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Below is a photograph of the recording room that Sammons and Murdoch used as it appeared a few years later, it may give an idea of what this room probably sounded like.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_QmoFIOfRE0LtUUwrKnJrwp7JIarG8jUBjI5CkAm9qJ-ppvW7Lutz_bw-nljSixk7aZXfzsJ28PEavwhhJBR3PGYyToyhtvcGBVw5nnEt8BYXJiIKf6oFeRGHl_lW8e3fNM_ouDH3Xh6y/s1600/Columbia+studio+20+December+1921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1600" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_QmoFIOfRE0LtUUwrKnJrwp7JIarG8jUBjI5CkAm9qJ-ppvW7Lutz_bw-nljSixk7aZXfzsJ28PEavwhhJBR3PGYyToyhtvcGBVw5nnEt8BYXJiIKf6oFeRGHl_lW8e3fNM_ouDH3Xh6y/s400/Columbia+studio+20+December+1921.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Recording Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No.1 with the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra and Henry Wood in the Columbia studio in Clerkenwell Road probably on 20 December 1921.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYv5-l85J0UaJ9nDKXd2pqvzG0KkM3KqKdx_L8Go6nFOeEqeKTGGnfhMExLRAEmvMhyphenhyphenCOahwisa4fGL6t25prsmDxP-MnAnXZDc5fzlkFGCbuqyAMjYFfbOageiLbbGyLhSr0r6fLo3M9u/s1600/2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1054" data-original-width="1581" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYv5-l85J0UaJ9nDKXd2pqvzG0KkM3KqKdx_L8Go6nFOeEqeKTGGnfhMExLRAEmvMhyphenhyphenCOahwisa4fGL6t25prsmDxP-MnAnXZDc5fzlkFGCbuqyAMjYFfbOageiLbbGyLhSr0r6fLo3M9u/s400/2017.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The same room in 2017 - beams still there but panelling now gone</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So the sound I found myself looking for was to ignore the balance and approximate something as best I could to the timbre that instruments should make. This would mean also that the </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">instruments would be </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">unbalanced, and as Sammons states the loudness of the violin and piano would be reversed in comparison to a modern recording. Also some more obvious ambience should be now audible and hopefully result in, if nor all, at least a much greater increase in</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the upper and lower harmonics - something of a tall order. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZSRT7T1GdtUBfknM9ILsdPfqd5wpdUzzqbYltYtKOZyORmdIZ8aVIM01NH8m7Sj04TSo84jDS3Elkmmcg6pMWCNZsS7FeZaGFac3KflLIMLe0vZuymgyUi5Pl99iwKSWYvAyyYCo6b5a/s1600/102%25E2%2580%2593108+Clerkenwell+Road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1025" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZSRT7T1GdtUBfknM9ILsdPfqd5wpdUzzqbYltYtKOZyORmdIZ8aVIM01NH8m7Sj04TSo84jDS3Elkmmcg6pMWCNZsS7FeZaGFac3KflLIMLe0vZuymgyUi5Pl99iwKSWYvAyyYCo6b5a/s400/102%25E2%2580%2593108+Clerkenwell+Road.jpg" width="341" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Columbia's offices and recording studio at 102–108 Clerkenwell Road. London.<br />
The studio was on the top floor - the ridge board of the roof can just be </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">seen above the parapet on the</span> left</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">With that in mind I reverse engineered the recording to an approximation of the sound that could be heard in the recording studio and did this by looking at how the sound energy of each frequency could be equated to a modern recording over its frequency range, this method also avoided using any subjective balancing by ear. I found that the problems with using ones hearing, except in the fine tuning and final stages, is that you just can't help pulling towards the sound you want rather than the sound that is actually incised into the grooves, a process that results in introducing your own layer of sonic distortion.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There are two unfortunate 'side-effects' with my approach, the first is that the noise level is greatly increased as various recorded frequencies of the instruments are often masked by the surface noise of the original recording, sometimes quite severely. If filtered out, and as yet there is no way around the problem, we would quickly loose something of the music. The second problem is of course the balance of the instruments is a bit wrong. The piano in the Sammons and Murdoch Kreutzer recording sounds far away and generally fainter, but with the advantage of more fidelity, quite a lot of ambience together with the bonus of lower and upper octaves more easily heard as indeed are the overtones on both the instruments are too. The violin being so much closer to the recording horn produced a less resonant sound and in some places, as when the strings are plucked at the end of the first movement, you can hear quite well the sound echoed inside the recording horn with some incidental resonant frequencies of the metal horn making their appearance.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Although the surface noise can be more than a little bit annoying at first the filtering mechanism in our brains is well adapted to cope with it and hopefully to a greater or lesser degree allows us to more easily loose ourselves in the performance rather than having to make allowances for the odd acoustics of the original recording. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We often hear that the acoustic process could not record certain frequencies but this is not the case, they are there, but both a little messed up and then masked by a lot of noise - a purely mechanical recording process must pick the sound up but as when looking through an ancient window pane the light and image transmitted through the glass is all a bit distorted even though we find it difficult to work out what we are seeing light and image are transmitted through the glass. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This whole exercise would not be very commercial enterprise but then as I am looking to understand, enjoy and evaluate a performance, in this case one which is over 100 years old, I'd rather hear a 'warts and all' sound than iron out all the imperfections in the recording process and therefore kill the performance in the process of restoration.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Apart from the re-balancing of the recording only de-click, de-crackle and the removal of the more severe rumble below 100Hz or so has been applied.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As you may think this is all guff, any comments or suggestion are gratefully receive!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Well if you have got this far down the page I have added the Arthur Catterall (1883-1943) and William Murdoch version issued on the same catalogue numbers for August 1923. Still an acoustic recording but better in some ways although by this time the process of making records with a quieter shellac, and the recording equipment much modified and generally improved. The position of the two players however seems very much the same and if anything the piano has now been moved even further away.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Violin Sonata No.9 in A major, Op.47 (Kreutzer) : abridged</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Albert Catterall, violin & William Murdoch, piano</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I. Adagio sostenuto (A major) - Presto (A minor) II. Andante con variazioni (F major) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> III. Finale. Presto (A major)</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Columbia L1210 & L1211</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">[Matrix :AX71-1, AX72-1, AX73-1, & AX74-1]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Recorded Thursday, 7th June, 1923</span></div>
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</b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/file/rn81alarj92zg46/Beethoven__-_Violin_Sonata_No._9_in_A_Major%252C_-_Kreutzer_-_Arthur_Catterall_and_William_Murdoch.flac">FLAC file 44.1kHz/16bit [50Mb]</a> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend </span><a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> player)</span></span><br />
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<source src="http://www.mediafire.com/file/lg6ua64n2naed42/Beethoven__-_Violin_Sonata_No._9_in_A_Major%252C_-_Kreutzer_-_Arthur_Catterall_and_William_Murdoch.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source><br />
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Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-28520733832957473542017-03-28T21:02:00.000+01:002017-03-30T13:36:48.253+01:00A Musical Couple<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The cellist William Pleeth is probably best remembered for his association with Edmund Rubbra and as a teacher to Jacqueline du Pré. Alas his wife, the pianist Margaret Good, is maybe less well known and probably hardly remembered at all. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">From the late 1930's to the early 1970's the couple were to some extent fairly regular contributors to BBC programmes and also to concert life around Britain. Their main commercial recorded output was chiefly restricted to the early 1940's, together with the odd work doted about the following decades. A certain snobbishness for musicians with foreign, rather than British sounding names, is alluded to in Margaret Campbell's </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Great Cellist, </i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Gollancz, 1988. I wonder if this is the case for all performers who can only find proper acknowledgement </span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in foreign fields</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>William Pleeth, cello & Margaret Good, piano</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">London, West Hampstead - Tuesday, 27th May 1941</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Grieg: Cello Sonata in A minor, Op. 36</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I. Allegro agitato : II. Andante molto tranquillo : III. Allegro molto e marcato</span><br />
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<source src="http://www.mediafire.com/file/4caboe436z0ibb9/Grieg_-_Cello_Sonata_Op_36_-_William_Pleeth%2C_cello_%26_Margaret_Good%2C_piano.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source><br />
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<b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Decca K1048-K1051</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">[AR5429-5, AR5430-5, AR5431-4, AR5432-4, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">AR5441-4, AR5442-4 & AR5443-5]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhexp2gx8_SpnQGveY7IG6gTA8umNf97bQjt9akKJ6pGfGaD9nIhMAPPBrKNgxJ7f5NxskIZO_D6GV9Hm4q2cUM8gl1qEzj4FeBXKyhV1gch1J9gHofeGPS5amINtTNMuFvqv7IqGeQMK9Q/s1600/Decca+K+1051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhexp2gx8_SpnQGveY7IG6gTA8umNf97bQjt9akKJ6pGfGaD9nIhMAPPBrKNgxJ7f5NxskIZO_D6GV9Hm4q2cUM8gl1qEzj4FeBXKyhV1gch1J9gHofeGPS5amINtTNMuFvqv7IqGeQMK9Q/s320/Decca+K+1051.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Lyric Pieces, Op.38 No.1 - Berceuse </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">arr. by Joachim Stutschewsky & Isco Thaler</span><br />
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<source src="http://www.mediafire.com/file/rd96b0b88rkaeeq/Grieg_-_Lyric_Pieces%2C_Op_38_No_1_-_Berceuse__-_William_Pleeth%2C_cello_%26_Margaret_Good%2C_piano.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></source><br />
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<b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Decca K1051</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">[AR5444-4]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/file/rd82ad0o2uoym3m/Grieg_-_Cello_Sonata_%26_Beceuse_-_Pleeth_%26_Good.zip">Two FLAC selections in one Zip file 44.1kHz/16bit</a></span></b><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"> [87Mb]</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a> player)</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Both pieces can also be streamed </span>as mp3 @ 192 kbps below each label</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">All other Decca recording issued by these two fine artists can be listened to and/or</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> downloaded</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> from <a href="http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">CHARM</span></a> through this </span><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/sound/sound_search.html" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;" target="_blank">link</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The Recording</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I think [something I do need to check!] that takes -1, -2 and -3 were recorded in March 5th, 7th & 10th. All of these takes failed to be passed as satisfactory so another session took place on the 27th May. This session produced two takes of each side, -4 and -5, and it is from this session that sides for the published set were chosen.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In all probability the work was recorded in the smaller No. 2 studio in the basement of Decca's West Hampstead building. This studio was pressed into uses that it was not intended for during the war, and it may account for the sound we hear. Tension was maybe a bit high on the 27th of May, as a couple of weeks earlier, on the night of the 10th & 11th May 1941, London had endured it's worst bomb damage of the war. The quality for the recording is trifle close miked with not much reverberation, some forte passages are also bit full on, a combination that does not really help the piano tone much. The shellac of my copy is abominable and the condition is not to great either, still, being enthusiasts, we are not too concerned with these trifling distractions. The original recording wavers around 79-80 rpm to produce A at 440Hz [see my footnote on this].</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Performers</b></span></span><br />
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<tr style="text-align: center;"> <td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Decca publicity, February 1942</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Margarate Good was a very interesting pianist, she studied under the great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Matthay" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Tobias Matthay</span></a> and then evolved her own style with the incorporation of the Leschetizky 'method' - I'm not quite sure what that really means, except the playing is both very fluid, exciting, almost a hard driven sound, that still retains a very musical view of the composition without being simply technically brilliant.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pleeth is a true master of the cello, his most influential teacher was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Klengel" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #274e13;">Julius Klengel</span></a> (1859-1933). 'At thirteen Pleeth won a two-year scholarship to study with Julius Klengel at the Conservatory in Leipzig. He was the youngest person ever to receive this scholarship at the time. Pleeth much appreciated Klengel. He said: "He was a wonderful teacher because he allowed you to be yourself. He hated it if someone copied him. He wanted us to develop our own musicality - and we did, and we're all different after all. Emanuel Feuermann and Gregor Piatigorsky were both Klengel pupils and they were totally different in their style of playing. Klengel himself was a very simple, unsophisticated man whose integrity was unquestionable. He was always honest and I loved him for it."' [quoted in Wikipedia]. Again a very fine artist and up their with other great cellists</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Julius Klengel about 1914</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Klengel is important link between Grieg, for although Friedrich Ludwig Grützmacher premiered the first public performance of this work with Grieg at the piano on 22nd October 1883 in Dresden, it was Julies Klengel on the 27th October, again with Grieg, who gave the next performance at Leipzig. I hazard to even guess how the work developed in Klengel's mind over the next 50 years; further the very idea that Klengel ever produced a pupil that sounded anything like him is a misnomer. He would, I understand have guided Pleeth, but only in the possibilities the work afforded a player, not how Pleeth could interpreted it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Grieg looking youthful</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So we have a performance of the work which has connections with the composer but we can't really say more.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Contemporary Review</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It was not until February 1942 that the set was advertised and then the first 'review' in Gramophone appeared the April issue. Compton Mackenzie's was after all leading the Home Guard on the <a href="https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Barra&params=56.9833_N_-7.4667_E_"><span style="color: #274e13;">Isle of Barra</span></a>, so it looks as if it took a while for Mackenzie to get his hands on the records and delayed publication of any comments:-</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH2iWgL2o5zXD8iflr0Qpn41L3ygWbL4_bBGeBGMnKseSqzPph8nsgyLHq2GN74xBR_gno7LQVySN6EdB8TErtaBwRYT0TX_GCKwxxI1LUqX1FAjs3zHcazcvRYYFufkXXCxuP6YYddi31/s1600/Compton+Mackenzie+on+Barra+1936.jpg"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH2iWgL2o5zXD8iflr0Qpn41L3ygWbL4_bBGeBGMnKseSqzPph8nsgyLHq2GN74xBR_gno7LQVySN6EdB8TErtaBwRYT0TX_GCKwxxI1LUqX1FAjs3zHcazcvRYYFufkXXCxuP6YYddi31/s400/Compton+Mackenzie+on+Barra+1936.jpg" width="256" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Compton Mackenzie surveying his domain in 1936</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'... a most delightful recording on four Decca discs of Grieg's Violoncello and Piano Sonata in A minor, played by William Pleeth and Margaret Good. This is a tender work full of simple melodies, and requiring from the string instrument just what Mr. Pleeth provides with his performance. It is almost easier to sentimentalize the violoncello than the violin, and when this is done the result is more nauseating. The same is true of the human voice. The lachrymose tenor or contralto is more trying than the lachrymose soprano, and, let me add, much more frequent. On the other hand, there is the danger of pomposity to' which the violoncello virtuoso is apt to succumb in the interpretation of a major opus, and all too often in the interpretation of a minor one. I alluded last month to the restraint and depth of emotion conveyed by Mr. Anthony Pini in that superb recording of the First Rasoumovsky Quartet by Columbia. That is an example of what I mean by avoiding pomposity. There is no pomposity to avoid in Grieg's A minor Sonata, but it would be all too easy to plunge into sentimentality, and this Mr. Pleeth avoids with complete success. The balance between the violoncello and the piano (yes, I realise I am being illogical in not writing pianoforte) is- beautifully preserved, and these Decca discs have given me particular pleasure. The eighth side is taken up by an arrangement of Grieg's Berceuse, which I do not think is found on any other disc.' [Gramophone April 1942, p. 176]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The records remained in the catalogues to 1948 or thereabouts, dispatched to the deletion list when lots of other pre-FFRR recordings appeared together with the first tentative LP's.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Biographies of Good & Pleeth</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Instead of the obituaries etc., readily available online, I have transcribed the entries of this musical team from publication nearer in date to the recordings. Russell Palmer's <em>British Music</em>, London, Skelton Robinson, [1947]. These entries, I hope give a better idea how they, or possibly their agents Ibbs & Tillett, thought to have the couple promoted.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis6s45H5W39ohz0HDyKd7keoGnZROtTPzWF6fGegvV_TRSDnn2IgKkZj4dpFMZ0PdIq9_QOKbocdvEQdvi_8WYPVZqw0tdgmxfElpkBaZ222hKAxjGH6pr7dNHrbMJQ_f_ji5qZnNwxast/s1600/Goodman+and+Pleeth.jpg"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis6s45H5W39ohz0HDyKd7keoGnZROtTPzWF6fGegvV_TRSDnn2IgKkZj4dpFMZ0PdIq9_QOKbocdvEQdvi_8WYPVZqw0tdgmxfElpkBaZ222hKAxjGH6pr7dNHrbMJQ_f_ji5qZnNwxast/s320/Goodman+and+Pleeth.jpg" width="252" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><strong>Good, Margaret.</strong> Pianist, b. London (date not for publication [27 April, 1906]). Showed a love for the piano at the early age of five, took her first lessons at seven, and a year later played at her first concert. While at school she also studied the violin, and wrote several small compositions. She gained a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music when she was sixteen, where she studied piano and gained several prizes, including the coveted Macfarren Gold Medal. She took lessons for a very short time with Tobias Matthay, and during this period appeared several times with orchestra under the late Sir Henry Wood at Queen's Hall, London. She was the first musician to be made an Associate of the R.A.M. while still a student. Her first broadcasting began in 1930, playing solo works and sonatas with her brother, Ronald Good, the violinist. This partner-ship continued until he joined the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra a year or two later. After leaving the Academy, Margaret Good studied the Leschetizsky method of piano technique, and her present system is evolved from a combination of the Matthay and Leschetizsky methods. In 1937 she met and formed a partnership with William Pleeth, the 'cellist, whom she later married (see separate entry). They broadcast together from 1938 onwards, and gave their first recital as a combination at Wigmore Hall in the same year. They record for Decca, and have given recitals all over the country, as far north as Dunfermline. Margaret Good played in Paris, 1938, and was prevented from doing so again the following year by the outbreak of war. She has always been particularly interested in contemporary music, and has given many first performances of works by young British composers, including Herbert Murrill, Alan Bush, Elizabeth Maconchy, Grace Williams, etc. She has broadcast the solo part of many piano concertos under Boult, Raybould, Lambert, Julius Harrison, etc., and has appeared in Promenade Concerts. Perhaps her greatest love has always been chamber music. With the Silverman Piano Quartet she made records of the Dvorak <em>Quartets in D Major, Op. 23</em> and <em>E Flat, Op. 87</em> for Decca, and has immersed herself in a great deal of other chamber work in company with Harry Blech and William Pleeth. She has a small daughter, born in March, 1946. [d. August, 2000]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><strong>Pleeth, William. </strong>'Cellist, b. London, [12, January] 1916. Came from a family of well-known musicians, and began to study the 'cello at the age of seven, afterwards gaining a scholarship to the London 'Cello School where he was trained by Herbert Walenn. At thirteen he won a scholarship to the Leipzig Conservatoire, and there studied with the distinguished teacher Julius Klengel, at the same time taking piano lessons from Paul Klengel, brother of Julius. Two years later, William Pleeth made his debut as a 'cellist in Leipzig with the Conservatoire Orchestra under Walter Davidson, playing the Haydn <em>Concerto</em>. Subsequently Pleeth was engaged to perform with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Bruno Walter, and was the only 'cellist besides Feuermann to gain this distinction at such an early age. Returning to England in 1932, Pleeth gave his first recital and made his first broadcast during the following year. In 1936 he joined the Blech String Quartet, and in 1937 formed a partnership with Margaret Good, the pianist, who later became his wife (see separate entry). The two artists have played together since 1938 in most of the important centres of music in England and Scotland, apart from a deal of recording activity for Decca. William Pleeth plays a beautiful old 'cello by Stradivari, dated 1732 ; he has used his skill equally in the spheres of chamber music and solo repertoire, this latter in association with our leading conductors. He served for four years as an N.C.O. during the second world war, during which duties he met and worked with Edmund Rubbra, the composer. As a result of this association, Rubbra wrote his <em>Soliloquy for 'Cello and Orchestra</em> for Pleeth, who first performed the work in London, 1945. The<em> 'Cello Sonata</em> which Rubbra has just completed at the time of writing is dedicated to Pleeth and his wife. [d. 6 April, 1999]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">First page of the manuscript score</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I have dubbed this recording at A = 440Hz. This is not to claim that the recording was actually recorded at 440Hz for when played at 78rpm it is actually at a quite acceptable A = 435Hz. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">However their is a trace of a 50Hz hum, now all thing being equal that would be a good baseline to calculate the correct speed. This was after all the frequency used for most of the UK alternating current mains electricity at this time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Or rather it would be nice to use this baseline but in this recording the hum is around 49Hz at A = 440Hz. So it should follow that the recording maybe be then in a higher realm and play even faster at say around A= 445Hz. Ah but there is here a fatal flaw in this argument. Unfortunately <i>this</i> 50Hz cannot really be relied on to solve our pitch problem. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During times of scarcity (wartime), or high usage (when everyone put the radio on for the 6 o'clock news whilst plopping the kettle on for a soothing cuppa) the national grid did drop the standard alternating frequency of 50c/s a tad so that there is less strain on the system. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The net effect for users is their voltage stays constant but your kettle takes longer to boil</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- A digression:</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> their is a neat way they avoid this problem today which you can see </span><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruachan_Power_Station" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During wartime this frequency could drop as low as 47c/s which in turn would produce a hum of 47Hz. Much below this frequency you can collapse the grid system and cause blackouts. So the hum actually proves very little, so to avoid madness, I have recorded at the supposed standard in the UK for this period at A=440Hz. </span></div>
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Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-57894599491322252242017-01-02T21:33:00.001+00:002017-01-03T13:30:34.209+00:00<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've been away from this blog since 2015 so as this is a New Year and time for resolutions, I thought also to do something to distract me from the real world. Not sure if my resolution or the world will stop first but I won't think too deeply about that for now and just stick to the music.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Edward de Jong, flute & [Madame Adami], piano</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">c. Wednesday, 8th May 1907</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Traditional : Auld Robin Gray</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stephen Foster : Old Folks at Home - The Swannee River</b></span></div>
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<b style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/file/w8llxxyhg260wsf/De_Jong.zip">Two FLAC selections in one Zip file 44.1kHz/16bit</a></span></b><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"> [23Mb]</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a> player)</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Both pieces can also be streamed </span>as mp3 @ 192 kbps below each label</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Edward de Jong (1837-1920) is the oldest surviving flute player to have recorded. I find it quite staggering that someone who played flute with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in the 1850's can even be heard today, but that he also played with Jullien's Orchestra also before he went on to become first principle flute of the Hallé Orchestra at its inception 160 years ago even more amazing.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwZWixy7sTO6nqQrzO-z-cdxekI6u_FPUddx9W2q95DHQOT4GpUrjxjPAFBbeYnX4VJaMyuGWMR55-yP4dICzVZKGgByKyrbrhRc9Bnf7A5d4Z-V9LhQBzw1nkT7GWHdCirdUtuvR66MdB/s1600/Edward+De+Jong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwZWixy7sTO6nqQrzO-z-cdxekI6u_FPUddx9W2q95DHQOT4GpUrjxjPAFBbeYnX4VJaMyuGWMR55-yP4dICzVZKGgByKyrbrhRc9Bnf7A5d4Z-V9LhQBzw1nkT7GWHdCirdUtuvR66MdB/s320/Edward+De+Jong.jpg" width="219" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Edward de Jong</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">De Jong studied at the Cologne Conservatory until 1850 when he moved to Leipzig to take private lessons with Wilhelm Haake (1804-1875). A pupil of the flautist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Bernhard_F%C3%BCrstenau" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Anton Bernhard Fürstenau (1792-1852)</span></a>. Haake had joined the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1821 and de Jong often deputised for him in the Gewandhaus Orchestra. At this period the orchestra was conducted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Rietz" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Julius Rietz (1812-1877)</span></a> who if he is remembered today is through his most celebrated pupil Sir Arthur Sullivan. It was at this time that de Jong met with Franz Liszt, whe encouraged the young flautist and gave him a number of letters of introduction. In 1855 de Jong had moved to become a flautist in the Amsterdam Orchestra under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Manns" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">August Mann (1825-1907)</span></a>, but being dissatisfied there he travelled in 1855 to London arriving so he said with with only 1s 6d of Dutch money in his pocket, nevertheless he still succeeded in joining the famous Jullien's Orchestra. [One wonders if he actually travelled back with Mann, who had incidentally only gone to Amsterdam to conduct the orchestra before returning to London to take up the conductorship at the Crystal Palace?]</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIAv3be7_Z2twTTstCBKKAv3DKhudsbNwFC6RY-i6Pe9Fw01w151tvAZMBuygAzFU3XfFnYE9N6ShLLLBTkf2zp1pyEJb9uqb9Is3x6S7-sUKtMnaBFXWLdvMIlEnYajQFoUc_LK3KC0r6/s1600/Louis-Antoine+Jullien.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIAv3be7_Z2twTTstCBKKAv3DKhudsbNwFC6RY-i6Pe9Fw01w151tvAZMBuygAzFU3XfFnYE9N6ShLLLBTkf2zp1pyEJb9uqb9Is3x6S7-sUKtMnaBFXWLdvMIlEnYajQFoUc_LK3KC0r6/s320/Louis-Antoine+Jullien.jpg" width="196" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Louis Antoine Jullien in the late 1850's</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Antoine_Jullien" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Louis Antoine Jullien (1812-1860)</span></a> is now rather difficult to assess, he was certainly a showman, probably a charlatan, certainly a bankrupt fleeing his Paris creditors and lastly mad. Little wonder that his career was so interesting having to live up to his full name of Louis George Maurice Adolphe Roche Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre Noë Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas Pierre Arbon Pierre-Maurel Barthélemi Artus Alphonse Bertrand Dieudonné Emanuel Josué Vincent Luc Michel Jules-de-la-plane Jules-Bazin Julio César Jullien. Despite the bejewelled baton, the gold chair and certain enhancements of the storm sequence of Beethoven's Pastoral symphony by shaking vigorously a large box of dried pees, Jullien generally did try to bring more 'serious' music to his concerts despite the boos from his devotees!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7GWSKlNDIGpAP1D_RwLB8qMTu1vtCyBc4p_ftVcdWD0LaRapnIXKXw9xDaPTkczkWp5Liqyxvjqmi-VgCzU73bAzy_DstXEp14_Yfs6FyFNVhB1CeeVH-EkqfpAyELnAa_nWeFzyriDph/s1600/tn_Art+Treasures+Exhibition+1857.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7GWSKlNDIGpAP1D_RwLB8qMTu1vtCyBc4p_ftVcdWD0LaRapnIXKXw9xDaPTkczkWp5Liqyxvjqmi-VgCzU73bAzy_DstXEp14_Yfs6FyFNVhB1CeeVH-EkqfpAyELnAa_nWeFzyriDph/s400/tn_Art+Treasures+Exhibition+1857.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition, 1857 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I digress, but this image is looking east from Saloon A to C - the picture to the right of the empty </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">frame leaning on the floor in the middle distance is Franz Pourbus the Younger's Portrait </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">of Henry Duc de Guise. This was exhibit 514 and lent by the Spencer family at Althrop. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It is still there in the same frame, so to add some colour it is shown in at the foot of this page.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In 1856 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hall%C3%A9" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Charles Hallé</span></a> was asked to form an orchestra for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Treasures_Exhibition,_Manchester_1857" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Art Treasures Exhibition</span></a> at Manchester that scheduled to open the following year. The first concert was held on the 6th of May 1857 and it is quite probable that the jubilee of this event prompted de Jong to make his recordings fifty years later. De Jong, recalled that he had been interviewed by Hallé in London before going to Manchester </span>to perform with the Orchestra at Manchester which was made up from an amalgam of Jullien's and Hallé's musicians. This event must have been of some significance to de Jong by 1907 and surly prompted the recordings. This exhibition although not as famous as some, probably had the largest collection of art put ever put together in one place. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtE4NwA5kRYUMlAQsYc9MRum6-Xp3jR19wNNfiEq6y07ZZlaIQWnki4TC0Q3XW5KwPYFmphGcvNJTfMbc8sBtoe_rWNEz_HqrdetGwB1uaapUhNT2Shcu5cVrawtccuPBB8Y79hg463Puf/s1600/Edward+De+Jong+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtE4NwA5kRYUMlAQsYc9MRum6-Xp3jR19wNNfiEq6y07ZZlaIQWnki4TC0Q3XW5KwPYFmphGcvNJTfMbc8sBtoe_rWNEz_HqrdetGwB1uaapUhNT2Shcu5cVrawtccuPBB8Y79hg463Puf/s320/Edward+De+Jong+2.jpg" width="215" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Edward de Jong looking left!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He clearly preferred to stay in Manchester and on the founding of the Hallé Orchestra in following year de Jong became their first principle flute participating at their inaugural concert on the 30th of January 1858. De Jong held this position until 1870 when he left to established his own orchestra at Manchester, much to Hallé's ire. Much of de Jong's time was then taken up as an active conductor at the large exhibitions and popular resorts including posts as Musical Director of the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, Southport and Buxton. He was something of a showman in the Jullien way, although without anything like the same extravagance, he did not as Hallé aim to satisfy the public with too serious a program of classical music but aimed at the lighter and more popular music of his day. From 1893 until 1906, de Jong taught flute at the Royal Manchester College of Music before retiring from this position in 1907 at the age of 70.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRsk9cpR5qQsztWEFrKVEh6HQXObV0QN8Pfg53rZEPO6zUogahYs7q-fTDsv3mSU4G18aPkr2mE4cXI5PDpDxjTdJvD-QZ2cq2jwOh7HfSzTvOyKy9ymsme7kjiO3Dw2SNI41E4q91X0rR/s1600/RAM+Manchester.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRsk9cpR5qQsztWEFrKVEh6HQXObV0QN8Pfg53rZEPO6zUogahYs7q-fTDsv3mSU4G18aPkr2mE4cXI5PDpDxjTdJvD-QZ2cq2jwOh7HfSzTvOyKy9ymsme7kjiO3Dw2SNI41E4q91X0rR/s320/RAM+Manchester.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Royal Manchester College of Music c. 1911</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A fuller account of Edward de Jong career and the other flautists of the Hall<span style="text-align: center;">é can be </span>read and downloaded through this link <a href="https://archive.org/stream/HalleFlutes/HallFlutesPdfcomplete#page/n0/mode/2up"><span style="color: blue;">Stuart Scott's</span></a><i><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://archive.org/stream/HalleFlutes/HallFlutesPdfcomplete#page/n0/mode/2up"> <span style="color: blue;">Hallé Flutes: Flautists of the Hallé Orchestra 1858-1993. Historical account surveying the contributions made to music making in Manchester (UK) by the Hallé Orchestra's flautists over a period of 135 years</span></a></span></i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/HalleFlutes/HallFlutesPdfcomplete#page/n0/mode/2up"><span style="color: blue;">. Sale, Chester, 1998</span></a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">By good fortune there is a contemporary review of of these two records given in <i>The Manchester Guardian,</i> this must have been one of the earliest sustained series of record reviews to appear in a British newspaper for this time. In the July 16th 1907 issue the following was penned 'Another good record is the one of Mr De Jong's flute-playing which must be still in the memory of older concert-goers in Manchester. The flute tone in very well reproduced; the lower notes are remarkably real. But the kindly, inoffensive old."Swannee River" is surely, getting too venerable to be subjected to such irreverent variations.' </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alas the copies I have are not in the best of conditions. They appear not to have lasted in the catalogue more than a year although <i>Auld Robin Grey</i> got to a second stamper showing some popularity but <i>The Swannee River</i> may only have managed a first stamper. With the opening of the Hayes pressing plant it appears not to have proved worthwhile to transport these matrices with the other 'English' titles from the Hanover pressing plant and instead they would have been destroyed with other redundant material. The spelling 'de Jonge' on </span><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">The Swannee River</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> label is likely to have been miscommunication between London and Hanover, indeed the name is spelt 'De Jange' on the recording sheets, seems very unlikely that the record was withheld for such a reason a more likely reason was the records wore out quickly on earlier gramophones. Another point worth pointing out are that very few recordings were issued of the flute by G&T up to this time. In total twelve 7" sides and seven 10" had been issued before De Jong's two sides came out with only a further nineteen solo, concerted or concerto sides issued before 1927 in any format marketed by G&T and HMV. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwC1N0Az6uLCY4RO-rfOz6P4Y8OHO47R-fY1FHmWEm7JLbbIB_dvpobyDgfgphneC0cOa-difQKVZ1XlAeZUPgt8Lh-tLexgOzla6gba1gLClpot19grmIwvFl_G7fkWT4VAJQNIZzAlK6/s1600/Gaisberg+Brothers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwC1N0Az6uLCY4RO-rfOz6P4Y8OHO47R-fY1FHmWEm7JLbbIB_dvpobyDgfgphneC0cOa-difQKVZ1XlAeZUPgt8Lh-tLexgOzla6gba1gLClpot19grmIwvFl_G7fkWT4VAJQNIZzAlK6/s400/Gaisberg+Brothers.jpg" width="185" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fred & Will Gaisberg 1912</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Dating of the records</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Only the dedicated discographer need read further but I thought I could explain the dating of these discs and thereby by default the probable dates of Vladimir De Pachmann's first recording. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Will Gaisberg who recorded these records returned from the Bombay on the Wednesday 1st May 1907 and so is known to have begun recording at the City Road studio sometime that month. On his return the block of 10" matrix numbers was restarted at 6001e the last number used by Will in India being 5560e. Vladimir De Pachmann was the first person recorded by Will Gaisberg on 6001e, 6003e and 6004e [6002e was not issued], there is then a short gap before de Jong's two issued matrix number 6008e and 6011e [</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">6009e and 6010e no doubt being rejected]. There is then a long gap of twelve unknown matrix numbers before a choir composed Fishermen of the North Sea Trawlers (in conjunction with the National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen) recorded three selections beginning with 6024e. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Will Gaisberg doubtless took a couple of days off after the voyage so probably did not actually start recording again until Monday 6th May. So to get a fix on the date of de Jong's recording sessions so I suggest the following chronology. De Pachmann gave his last concert in London before his two year tour to America on Wednesday 8th May and the </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The North Sea fishermen must surely</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> be connected with the annual meeting of the </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">National Mission </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">held at Exeter Hall on Friday May 10th 1907. This last was advertised as including 'One Hundred North Sea Fishermen [who] will attend and take part in the proceedings.' So these recordings by the fishermen could very probably have been made on the following day, I would presume that working fishermen were very unlikely to remain in London too long after the meeting was over. I suspect the recordings </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by de Jong </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">were made on or about Wednesday the 8th May just a few days after de Jong had celebrating his jubilee. I also suspect that De Pachmann recorded on Monday or Tuesday that week but also feel he returned to the studio for a second second session on the Thursday</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or Friday. It is this second session that may partly account for the missing matrix numbers after de Jong's 6011e. There is a similar gap of four matrix numbers in the De Pachmann's 12" series recorded at the same time, so it is also possible that de Jong may have attempted a longer composition during his recording session.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrfX3sHrL2wlI1srExBFukqPzAFy3nLRH1pTflWASMwP1Ye2T0aMdkIfwCGQceA9T9rreboEe2fP64nm72j8-EdtF117w4dYzAn1XFz5oT5hUlKo1hRajaA2b6PaAtO6gLeUpgLJz4ZFc1/s1600/De+Pachmann.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrfX3sHrL2wlI1srExBFukqPzAFy3nLRH1pTflWASMwP1Ye2T0aMdkIfwCGQceA9T9rreboEe2fP64nm72j8-EdtF117w4dYzAn1XFz5oT5hUlKo1hRajaA2b6PaAtO6gLeUpgLJz4ZFc1/s320/De+Pachmann.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Vladimir de Pachmann </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is all quite speculative but but it would seem a sensible plan as The Gramophone &d Typewriter Ltd may have thought to make enough good recordings of De Pachmann before he went abroad for a two year period of concert tours, Enough time then to have tests approved before De Pachmann left the UK sometime in the middle of June 1907 [he arrived at New York on the 27th June].</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One final point is that I have ascribed the piano playing to Madame Adami with no proof whatsoever. although it is very probable that she is playing on these records for from 1907 she had become the house pianist at G&T and featured quite prominently in some publicity at this time - more about this mystery woman in a later post.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESD4WqmhewAkZVajDUappli6VwbWVJ4nGy_Vqy7rLvrYISJ9SrcvVH6-W6vonV-jNRLfy3ByrlcvpmdkEoz5CJFomO_ig1GVoleijhtjHX963I1XfOGsCQ9KuTd7IVX0LcAZTQ6jhMpuz/s1600/Franz+Pourbus+the+Younger%2527s+Portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESD4WqmhewAkZVajDUappli6VwbWVJ4nGy_Vqy7rLvrYISJ9SrcvVH6-W6vonV-jNRLfy3ByrlcvpmdkEoz5CJFomO_ig1GVoleijhtjHX963I1XfOGsCQ9KuTd7IVX0LcAZTQ6jhMpuz/s320/Franz+Pourbus+the+Younger%2527s+Portrait.jpg" width="219" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-size: 12.8px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Franz Pourbus the Younger's Portrait</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">of Henry Duc de Guise</span></div>
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Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-76969688573809429132015-08-08T17:10:00.000+01:002015-08-08T17:28:02.040+01:00Jack and the Gipsy<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">Edward German </span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">Gipsy Suite - Four characteristic dances</span></span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">Symphony Orchestra </span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">conducted by the Composer</span></span></span></h3>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">HMV D189 & D473</span></span></b></h3>
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</b> <b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/u9i7ufu9pi9ehbt/German_Jack_and_the_Gipsy.zip" target="_blank">Two FLAC selections in one Zip file 44.1kHz/16bit</a></span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"> [79Mb]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a> player)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5xvbaNIielLvEXiDW6gEpEIFRgipxTHXwMamwQyNC1ToEdKmHdpSvguvAvdg2uOAhDve3wUGcxCG4czS1QmsiYD7hZx97m6Qq7xhD3r5g6mOsZHfEMhu2D1YWQd40OPUi20eBshJZ6ndg/s1600/img018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5xvbaNIielLvEXiDW6gEpEIFRgipxTHXwMamwQyNC1ToEdKmHdpSvguvAvdg2uOAhDve3wUGcxCG4czS1QmsiYD7hZx97m6Qq7xhD3r5g6mOsZHfEMhu2D1YWQd40OPUi20eBshJZ6ndg/s320/img018.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>No. 1 - Valse melancolique (Lonely life)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">HMV D189 (2-0889) [HO2742af]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Thursday 19th July 1917</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8OcisZlrUzkDlJy0WDXrtQWPY5plWs9fs1GZUlJAG2D0KUsADnKQ5N5SCACOChb2iaYLaqFk5IPRG13PnSgJk66zR7HWwDTVU8AIcYvOXZNUcIDKWSEZHdrOVbYbSPd3izWB-Bs3has2e/s1600/img023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8OcisZlrUzkDlJy0WDXrtQWPY5plWs9fs1GZUlJAG2D0KUsADnKQ5N5SCACOChb2iaYLaqFk5IPRG13PnSgJk66zR7HWwDTVU8AIcYvOXZNUcIDKWSEZHdrOVbYbSPd3izWB-Bs3has2e/s320/img023.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">No. 2 - Allegro di bravvura (The Dance)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">HMV D189 (2-0913) [HO2745af]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Thursday 19th July 1917</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz79Eu5bLYuPMN7NbkqnH5QGLNs4knR9Imoe_rluRMmG5wEJN6F_0oBI1kwmMpSGlhAPIbvl1gEV-upJjMr8DOha8F7v634RWwkTLOlJtvfXZEa3cXFHzsd2sc2tXFPPStGn9QuNgIKd1a/s1600/img020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz79Eu5bLYuPMN7NbkqnH5QGLNs4knR9Imoe_rluRMmG5wEJN6F_0oBI1kwmMpSGlhAPIbvl1gEV-upJjMr8DOha8F7v634RWwkTLOlJtvfXZEa3cXFHzsd2sc2tXFPPStGn9QuNgIKd1a/s320/img020.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">No. 3 - Menetto (Love Duet)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">HMV D473 (2-0986) [HO2988af]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Friday, 30th November, 1917</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO6u2jS_EfEf7g5b1b_0BlkBAB4zU9H9piBdTuU8HaCewepKiS8QMcZHynaPNp22x9n-5dkfW0su-B8IbKBP8TwEisdbG99ItXDoRJHJIF_y4iuZ-jLEz0wMdcO-bCh124QYK9KU76QcrD/s1600/img021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO6u2jS_EfEf7g5b1b_0BlkBAB4zU9H9piBdTuU8HaCewepKiS8QMcZHynaPNp22x9n-5dkfW0su-B8IbKBP8TwEisdbG99ItXDoRJHJIF_y4iuZ-jLEz0wMdcO-bCh124QYK9KU76QcrD/s320/img021.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">No. 4 - Tarantella (The Revel)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">HMV D473 (2-0987) [HO2989af]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Friday, 30th November, 1917</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Edward German began to conduct his own compositions for HMV at the end of 1916 and continued to record for the company until the early 1920s. HMV certainly thought he was worth recording for he was second only to Edward Elgar for the number of recordings he made of his own compositions by the acoustic process.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The earliest notice I have found of the <i>Gipsy Suite</i> is in an article for the newspaper <i>Daily News</i> of Friday, 4th December 1891 ‘Mr Manns has accepted, for the Crystal Palace concerts, a new “Gipsy suite” for orchestra, by Mr. Edward German, and it will be produced on Feb. 20, It will be in a somewhat lighter style than his symphony in E minor, and it will, indeed, consist of four movements - viz., a<i> valse pensive</i>, an<i> allegro di bravura</i>, an <i>allegretto grazioso</i>, and a <i>tarantella</i>, three of them being dance movements.’</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lvoCb1lv4M06Xwo2BetAV-o1vQe4lY-QEuO4lsmO-sfVCLWHIqk7EVwcHYwbF5ALt6HdCrgvPudv8lwzrym1CR7pDlPv5vVDuJvk-JKUVqHCBh99cJXUgIBR_mo62Ukl-pf3rVpeeCsT/s1600/p01br199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lvoCb1lv4M06Xwo2BetAV-o1vQe4lY-QEuO4lsmO-sfVCLWHIqk7EVwcHYwbF5ALt6HdCrgvPudv8lwzrym1CR7pDlPv5vVDuJvk-JKUVqHCBh99cJXUgIBR_mo62Ukl-pf3rVpeeCsT/s320/p01br199.jpg" width="257" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Edward German in 1892</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> A further notice was given in <i>The Pall Mall Gazette</i> for Saturday, January 9, 1892 ‘Mr. Edward German, the composer of the excellent incidental music to <i>“King Henry VIII.</i>,” has all but finished a gipsy suite, which will be performed for the first time by Mr. August Manns's Crystal Palace orchestra on February 20. The suite is in four numbers, the first of them being a<i> dance melancholic</i>, the second a pure gipsy dance, the third an <i>allegretto grazioso</i>, and the last a very light and characteristic<i> tarantella</i>. Mr. German has entirety completed the first, second, and fourth numbers, and is at present putting the finishing touches to the <i>allegretto</i>.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYdz1jH2CZbbmXcJBxc0PAmF9jI2SO99HfzTjRaXF-xyHDX9eUVZp0YSLiyi7eS-Hjaw_Vtdwyb9l8mQQyg0CGJhaI8mHRjp7X8TYOHwujD0CvDWjMEnweiLABebA6h4kTp6w_5TWRlwa7/s320/Chrome+Legacy+Window+03082015+161226.bmp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Electrical Exhibition, Chrystal Palace 1892</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The concert was duly given on Saturday 20th February 1892, the programme staring at 3pm at the vast Crystal Palace, the other ‘show’ pulling in the crowds that weekend was the Electrical Exhibition, the Crystal Palace being quite equal to holding both these events consummate ease. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have illustrated the notice from the <i>Morning Post</i> which gives the full details of that days possibilities.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVEYa2vcUj1ZfP2J-SU4GaEnmP-xnpQQssR5z057Jn0zEwqdnxolluT0wJPsd5a7qTg_MdrYSS9YgKYnyOdkEXWWCzZd05P0PNIANfE8_7A996srwJkiW0v9EhwK8yR6H0qHEgqwY2Ftt/s1600/Morning+Chronicle+20+feb+1892.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVEYa2vcUj1ZfP2J-SU4GaEnmP-xnpQQssR5z057Jn0zEwqdnxolluT0wJPsd5a7qTg_MdrYSS9YgKYnyOdkEXWWCzZd05P0PNIANfE8_7A996srwJkiW0v9EhwK8yR6H0qHEgqwY2Ftt/s1600/Morning+Chronicle+20+feb+1892.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> If any one was wondering, [I very much doubt that anyone is but I will stick this in for good measure] what the ‘(MS)’ in the line of the announcement ‘first performance of Gipsy Suite (MS) (E. German)’ it tells us that the work was being performed from manuscript. This gave notice to publishers of the day that they may want to hear it; and to the public that they might not hear it again!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphen8sp8913OhgGQOROyVVeAFcogVbxSNv62iNshRJhzOS3KZn0Bn7yN51Y7P1nPzAYfJqwKsQV163dh7LjdlVIPqLkV_0mVGOer0Jgcisg8Qx09w2TAsQ4v9FmLGQm6dpCQYZn64j8KMCw/s1600/August_Manns_Vanity_Fair_13_June_1895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphen8sp8913OhgGQOROyVVeAFcogVbxSNv62iNshRJhzOS3KZn0Bn7yN51Y7P1nPzAYfJqwKsQV163dh7LjdlVIPqLkV_0mVGOer0Jgcisg8Qx09w2TAsQ4v9FmLGQm6dpCQYZn64j8KMCw/s400/August_Manns_Vanity_Fair_13_June_1895.jpg" width="265" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">August Manns conducting something in 1895</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> The work elicited decent, if not quite rave reviews on the following Monday the 22nd. <i>The Times </i>described the work as ‘an interesting novelty was brought forward in the shape of a “ Gipsy Suite” by Mr. Edward German, consisting of four movements very cleverly written and orchestrated with conspicuous ability. The opening <i>“Valse melancolique"</i> is not especially characteristic, excepting in a quaint episodical phrase ; the <i>allegretto grasioso</i> is a little wanting in distinction; but the <i>allegro di bravura</i> and the final<i> tarantella</i> are full of life and originality, and the work as a whole should not be long in becoming as popular as it deserves to be.’ <i>The Standard</i> review mentioned ‘It was, perhaps, to be regretted that the new “Gipsy Suite,” by Mr Edward German, was placed at the end of the concert, but the position was justified by the light character of the music. That the young composer can write successfully in more serious forms of art is we know by his overture and incidental music to<i> Richard III.,</i> and his symphony in E minor performed at the Crystal Palace fourteen months ago. The suite is in four brief movement, all piquant and dance-like in character, the effect being enhanced by Mr German’s felicitous orchestration. Opinions may differ as to which is the most charming section but the majority of hearers the choice will probably lie between the opening <i>Valse Melancolique</i> and the <i>Allegreto grazioso</i>, somewhat in the manner of a minuet.'</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiis4QWPGy-AY5OIu-epuRYMPJib7189eZ3kjdeXj5wneeL0tC98Z73EIqFuYNLvSX4bfE5-dEm3I_EZI7-OKdu4mtoBkvzy7mqjDgARdBEu4Q57m7u7PTKclpHNWjM588Bs7y7a90_L8Ml/s1600/crystal-palace-south-london-1928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiis4QWPGy-AY5OIu-epuRYMPJib7189eZ3kjdeXj5wneeL0tC98Z73EIqFuYNLvSX4bfE5-dEm3I_EZI7-OKdu4mtoBkvzy7mqjDgARdBEu4Q57m7u7PTKclpHNWjM588Bs7y7a90_L8Ml/s400/crystal-palace-south-london-1928.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The concert was held in the large central section; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the Electrical Exhibition being contained in the right hand section</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> The <i>Glasgow Herald</i> described it as ‘The only novelty in the programme was a “Gipsy Suite” of four dance movements by Mr Edward German. They are light, pretty, and quite unpretentious, and the first two movements - respectively a <i>“Valse Melancholique”</i> and a gipsy dance - pleased best.’ <i>The Illustrated London News</i> on the Friday 27th of February believed they ‘thought it somewhat in the manner of Bizet’. Naturally enough <i>Musical Times</i> gave the fullest account in its March 1892 issue ‘At the Concert on the 20th February. Mr. Manns introduced a “Gipsy Suite” from the pen of Mr. E. German, who has already claimed favourable attention as a writer of instrumental music. The Suite is in four movements - a <i>Valse mélancolique</i> in A minor; an <i>Allegro di Bravura</i>, 4-4, in D minor; an <i>Allegretto grazsioso</i>, 3-4, in G major; and a <i>Tarantella</i> in A minor-and is a clever, richly scored, and eminently enjoyable composition. -We like Mr. German best in his vivacious moods, for in the <i>Allegretto</i> there is a slight lack of distinction in the principal melody - reminding one somewhat of that familiar type of piece entitled “Air of King Louis the --th”; and all waltzes nowadays are so very melancoliques that Mr. German has not much scope for the display of individuality. But the <i>Allegro </i>and <i>Tarantella</i> are immensely spirited and bright, while the orchestration though a little “thick” in places, is remarkable for its sonority and ingenuity. The Suite, though placed last on the programme, was most cordially received, the applause continuing until Mr. German appeared to bow his acknowledgements from the platform.’</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdj0Z-5pXmemcHM8eSBSRB-pH7Ze50wLa_osqsVZpxRuHaXDKNtJ-ALvYpoTqhgKeDYbLAfYC-_BUP2kU3bDKrFCGI7ItprkfLHbnNxbMZ3D04cKRgVidFI9hyvdGbdokaTe6x5BXF2YSO/s1600/434px-Georges_bizet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdj0Z-5pXmemcHM8eSBSRB-pH7Ze50wLa_osqsVZpxRuHaXDKNtJ-ALvYpoTqhgKeDYbLAfYC-_BUP2kU3bDKrFCGI7ItprkfLHbnNxbMZ3D04cKRgVidFI9hyvdGbdokaTe6x5BXF2YSO/s320/434px-Georges_bizet.jpg" width="231" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bizet very likely not thinking about Gipsies</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> I might add that two other items of note given that day were a Mozart aria, a nod to the centenary of Mozart’s death, and that the child prodigy Master Otto Hegner, now sixteen, had to call off his performance due to ‘influenza.’ With but two hours notice Adelina de Lara, a little older at twenty, stepped in to play ‘Schumann's concerto in a manner which, it is not too much to say, entitles her to a place among the greatest living pianists.’ Heaven knows how the orchestra managed. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirhrfGqSVhkl3ULjdKdhXVRynynxRmWv0W9qTnM56Tgli7jUpxzRihAelcfeniyA3E15O5y-RiwZ5QqZVLxMRfUMteNVhMQWUcj4is80PPAXWBzBbZwip7Wz-3eu7qzO1fGPTVKsm4DFC9/s1600/De+Lara.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirhrfGqSVhkl3ULjdKdhXVRynynxRmWv0W9qTnM56Tgli7jUpxzRihAelcfeniyA3E15O5y-RiwZ5QqZVLxMRfUMteNVhMQWUcj4is80PPAXWBzBbZwip7Wz-3eu7qzO1fGPTVKsm4DFC9/s1600/De+Lara.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Adelena de Lara in 1900</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Adelina </span>de<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Lara is a name to conjure with, and if you have not been introduced to her you might listen to the clips on </span>YouTube<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> at about 8:30 in the this particular clip you can hear her in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0H0P6094-8" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">snippet from the </span></b></a></span><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0H0P6094-8" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Schumann concerto</span></b></a>. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The work then toured around the country and was performed at Birmingham, Cardiff and other musical towns before at last being taken up by Henry Wood with his Queen’s Hall Orchestra at the proms in 1895. Taking the proms as something of a bellwether in music popularity I see this was the first and last time the Gipsy Suite was given an outing. If it is, as I suggest, a bellwether then I’d better note that the last year any of Edward German’s music was performed at the Proms was in 1937 the year after his death, until a single piece from Merrie England in 2010 given as part of a reenactment of the Last Night of the Proms of 1910</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Brain Rees in his biography of German [<i>A Musical Peacemaker: The Life and Music of Sir Edward German</i>, Kensel, 1987 ]</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">described the suite as ‘more like ballet music in the light Italian style than bohemian and does not have the peculiar rhythms or intervals that characterize gipsy music. It was pointed out that the </span><i>tarantella</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> is an Italian dance and there are few gypsies in Italy. Nor are many likely to have danced a minuet round the camp fires. Possibly some of he ideas had been set down for the projected ‘Hungarian’ opera. The first movement does contain suggestions of the Zigeuner tuning his instrument and as Romany is a vague and indefinable place some critics thought the </span><i>allegro</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> and </span><i>tarantella</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> were strongly tinged with gipsy character.’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I hazard a guess that the composer’s connection to HMV was through his long-standing friendship with Landon Ronald. What induced HMV to record the piece I can’t think why else for it was not a popular piece then much in fashion. However each of the dances can fit neatly onto one side which few orchestral movements could manage without some heavy handed cutting.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0fAWDzfN_5pSghgyqb1HW98aShnw5luJjezKKnCiCHwrFSZSDf6SbBHVzgu2BDQV1SlREqjVZ8-v1Mhgxk4eaWpl7JYMevYnEMquTO7lhm1kkvWxMuetCgbTnGvzDvrWlwyqax5adR0U/s1600/Landon+Ronald.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0fAWDzfN_5pSghgyqb1HW98aShnw5luJjezKKnCiCHwrFSZSDf6SbBHVzgu2BDQV1SlREqjVZ8-v1Mhgxk4eaWpl7JYMevYnEMquTO7lhm1kkvWxMuetCgbTnGvzDvrWlwyqax5adR0U/s320/Landon+Ronald.jpg" width="239" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Landon Ronald looking thoughtful in 1920</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> German made his first attempt at recording the Gipsy Suite on the Tuesday 26th June 1917, two takes were made of each dance totalling eight matrices and allocated matrix numbers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another slight digression to explain that many more waxes could, and would, have been cut that day but many would necessarily have been rejected. The recording engineer or conductor could dish them for a whole host of problems including mistake in playing, blast, distortion of the grooves, etc. Unfortunately for both German and HMV all that days efforts were rejected for one reason or another. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Experiments in recreating the acoustic recording process have been ongoing at the Royal College of Music in the last year and <a href="http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-03/the-art-and-science-of-acoustic-recording/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;"><b>this link</b></span></a> has an excellent article on trying replicate the difficulties our musicians had to face before 1925.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">German returned to the studio at Hayes on the Thursday 19th July 1917 when there was only time to record four matrices of the Gipsy Suite, these being two takes of each of the first two dances. Of these four, one take for each dance proved successful and ultimately became an issued disc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The time limit was imposed because Percy Pitt also had the use of the orchestra that day. Presumably he had the afternoon session which was used to record a number of operatic items with the soprano Miriam Licette. Due to wartime shortages, and the fact that part of the Hayes plant was converted to munitions production, the expense of hiring an orchestra and bringing it down to Hayes really had to be justified and fully exploited.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Instead of pushing on with the Gipsy Suite HMV instead allotted the remaining time to make a recording of German’s patriotic setting of Kipling’s poem <i>Have you news of my boy Jack?</i> Hence my inclusion of this track.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCM850sFw8n18RdgbuHVgwD6wmm2UpcTGzfKWajnHFdq78-Vd4iAQnSDriKXnEYVzUhsMmjyngd1DfJv8HVMLxEPjcq2jdoolzlDnmKMZblsWQVLEXIVO4JriXw160Rmp7rtGDehNO3X-P/s1600/Clara+Butt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCM850sFw8n18RdgbuHVgwD6wmm2UpcTGzfKWajnHFdq78-Vd4iAQnSDriKXnEYVzUhsMmjyngd1DfJv8HVMLxEPjcq2jdoolzlDnmKMZblsWQVLEXIVO4JriXw160Rmp7rtGDehNO3X-P/s320/Clara+Butt.jpg" width="267" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Clara Butt looking emotional </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">as Orfeo</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> This work was written for Clara Butt, however she had had a tiff with HMV in the middle of 1915 and was now under contract to Columbia. Naturally when she came to record the song in March 1917 it was with one of Columbia’s roster of conductors. So it is that the Thomas Beecham’s version is today version, if known at all, is better known today. The Columbia performance is clearly modelled on the first performance of the song as given at the Royal Philharmonic concert at the Queen’s Hall on Monday 26th February 1917.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Musical Times for April 1917 noted that the programme of the February concect ‘included Dr. Ethel Smyth’s <i>The Wreckers</i>, Mozart’s <i>Symphony in C</i> (K. 425), Cesar Franck's <i>'Le Chasseur Maudit,'</i> Balakirev's wonderful <i>'Thamar'</i> (which loses so much away from stage action), and Ravel's now well-known <i>'Pavane.'</i> A great audience was attracted, probably mainly to hear Madame Clara Butt, who sang Handel's<i> 'Lusinghe più care,'</i> two Russian songs in their original language [that might have been interesting!], and a new song-setting of Kipling's <i>Have you news of my boy Jack?</i> composed by Edward German in his effective and characteristic style. The song was conducted by the composer, and encored. Sir Thomas Beecham conducted all the other numbers.’ <i> The Guardian</i> of the 4th March was perhaps more honest when it reported that Clara Butt ‘is unquestionably heard to more advantage in songs by Handel, Rachmaninoff, and Gretchaninoff; than in the setting by Edward German of Kipling's recent poem,<i> “Have you news of my boy Jack”</i> a lyric that would test the powers of most composers if the would avoid the commonplace.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Clara Butt gave another performance on the Saturday 17th March at Queen’s Hall under Henry Wood and on Monday 4th June at the Crystal Palace which was once again conducted by the composer. By June a new arraignment of the work had been made as it was now augmented with a choir. This is the version of the score that HMV recorded in its answer to the Columbia Butt/Beecham version that had speedily appeared in April.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEJY7e7JwlyUO8H2rybyhzPvHteUbCtAVGJKT-9yEvPEJ1hfyKs1yKY_uNR6MPHVzjlMXEWY4_bQEACJUTIYQ41J00QtxD_T2OD6qNuW8yQJmyLFLwqU-rS7IxOuVwbFJxJ7vjt9EgxPij/s1600/Kirkby+Lunn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEJY7e7JwlyUO8H2rybyhzPvHteUbCtAVGJKT-9yEvPEJ1hfyKs1yKY_uNR6MPHVzjlMXEWY4_bQEACJUTIYQ41J00QtxD_T2OD6qNuW8yQJmyLFLwqU-rS7IxOuVwbFJxJ7vjt9EgxPij/s320/Kirkby+Lunn.jpg" width="228" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Louisa Kirkby Lunn maybe looking for Jack</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> HMV used their leading British contralto Louise Kirkby Lunn. Well I say it’s the version used by HMV but the Crystal Palace ‘orchestra of hundreds led by the LSO’ was drastically cut down to about thirty-five with the choir decimated from 2,500 to just four voices!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJOAnz2ira3gWs7wh7ev6BWCCOMHp8VUPGHcOpTR3zLO81XGQN8-XJH1Vz_ghYsdQg52aZp25sUBO2LXBs5Kmm3YtH20i2CJT-No7qf9YIeckeur-gesqQQP8u7S5eMjxwho_RQPgot8UU/s1600/img017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJOAnz2ira3gWs7wh7ev6BWCCOMHp8VUPGHcOpTR3zLO81XGQN8-XJH1Vz_ghYsdQg52aZp25sUBO2LXBs5Kmm3YtH20i2CJT-No7qf9YIeckeur-gesqQQP8u7S5eMjxwho_RQPgot8UU/s320/img017.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Have you news of my boy Jack?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Louisa Kirby Lunn, contralto with Female Chorus </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">HMV 03572 [HO2748af]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Friday, 30th November, 1917</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Although not credited on the label the four other voices are Bessie Jones, soprano, Eda Bennie, soprano, Elsie Williams soprano and Nellie Walker mezzo-soprano. Three takes were cut and each given matrix numbers, of these three waxes the last was thought good enough to issue. I now wonder if really was good enough for at the beginning there is certain amount of throat clearing and Kirby Lunn sounds somewhat hoarse in a few places and indeed at one point very slightly flat too. Added to this there is some talking at the end the take, German probably, which sounds something in the tone of ‘do it again.’ Kirby Lunn and company were probably flagging by this time and who knows how many actual attempts were made. They would be running out of time in any case, called it a day and thought to come back at some future date to attempt another recording. In the event HMV decided to go ahead and press one of the ‘satisfactory’ matrices as it stood, for Edward German was now to become unwell.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I won’t go into the whole story of the Rudyard Kipling and Edward German combination as is a whole other story and so just stick in the lyrics.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwTmg8BwpB7PDoIInsTooGXI_Jj_APKHQigDHi3lKY529tW3UgbiptKWfXG-e2DmFBQ6pXAlHqRZEjsh_vmCTdDpV_IiTAVAIoAnTeGHB-oGwzIr6MVIXED7c-0Gs4D1SZibjEgg2q47R/s1600/Sea+Warfare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwTmg8BwpB7PDoIInsTooGXI_Jj_APKHQigDHi3lKY529tW3UgbiptKWfXG-e2DmFBQ6pXAlHqRZEjsh_vmCTdDpV_IiTAVAIoAnTeGHB-oGwzIr6MVIXED7c-0Gs4D1SZibjEgg2q47R/s400/Sea+Warfare.jpg" width="275" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The poem as it appeared when </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">first published in Kipling's <i>Sea Warfare</i>, 1915</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">According to German’s earlier biographer [William Herbert Scott. Edward German an Intimate Biography. London: Chappell & Co. Ltd, 1932] our composer ‘In the summer of 1917 had rheumatic troubles which confined him to bed for some weeks, and when he was able to travel his doctor persuaded him to try a course of treatment at Llandrindod Wells. This was his first absence from London of any duration since the war started.' </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Llandrindod Wells - Pump House to the left.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'By the end of September he was feeling more like his old self, but returning to London found the constant menace of air raids more than ever nerve racking.’ Clearly a bit unsettled he wrote on the 5th of November ‘On Wednesday night [31st October] I was sitting in my room here expecting every second to receive a bomb on my head. The whistling of shells and the bursting of shrapnel and the ominous hum of the engines overhead all made an inferno for some two hours.’ This event was the German night attack of 22 Gotha Bombers, apparently the bombs did little damage but the sheer tonnage of ammunition that fell from the skies that was fired off by anti aircraft guns during these raids did kill a few people!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6YCnTOyFFouj6UPfGuf49YPxiQYX5ehm6UiTSHtjCXJKbS7FKYaxWP1l4vaBQuGitbw7WGRthBpEtuxUvJqtt4xkylnC_67o2nOV5Si_TqzgY8V6D9EjZJTUqlJcRfh7Rlm4N-4mML00v/s1600/Gothg4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6YCnTOyFFouj6UPfGuf49YPxiQYX5ehm6UiTSHtjCXJKbS7FKYaxWP1l4vaBQuGitbw7WGRthBpEtuxUvJqtt4xkylnC_67o2nOV5Si_TqzgY8V6D9EjZJTUqlJcRfh7Rlm4N-4mML00v/s400/Gothg4.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gotha Mark G.IV type used for heavy bombing in 1917</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Anyway German seems to have been well enough to travel down to Hayes on the Friday 30th November 1917 to complete the Gipsy Suite recording.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sadly dear reader you will have suffer another little diversion. At this time Edward German lived at 5 Hall Road, Maida Vale in London and in order to get to Hayes he would have arraigned a taxi to Paddington Railway Station (he liked taxis but that is yet another story), taken a train to Hayes station and then walk to the studio. All in all to get to his destination, even giving him a generous amount of time to make this journey, I calculate he could do the trip in 1 hour 15 minutes. By happenstance German wrote a letter in 1917, otherwise undated to his sister Rachel ‘I still go gramophoning. I have a session on Friday next and shall have to be up by 6.45 – cold work these mornings.’ We can deduce that this letter refers to the 30th November session as it happens to be the only Friday in 1917 that Edward German made any recordings. Getting up at 6.45, and giving himself say half an hour to get ready, I feel sure that his appointment at the recording studio was at 8.30 am. This whole taradiddle is but an excuse to include a film taken of steam trains from the window on HMV’s factory at Hayes. Not any old film mind, a very special film, the first in stereo back in 1935 by the great Alan Blumlein.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/O8hOOuVtcX4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O8hOOuVtcX4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Anyway that day six matrices were sent for processing two each for the third and fourth dances from which the published sides were selected. The last two matrices, one twelve and one ten inch that were cut that day were devoted selections from German’s <i>Tom Jones</i>. One of these <i>Tom Jones</i> sides was issued in May 1918 and the other in February 1919, however for some reason the whole of the <i>Gipsy Suite </i>was delayed much longer. By 1917 their we shortages of material to produce records and this is clearly evident in quality of the pressing of <i>Have you seen my boy Jack?</i> Issued in the autumn of that year. The mean looking label bears a monochrome copy of the trademark and the pressing material is of poor quality, noisy and pimply looking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It was not until December 1919 that HMV thought the time was favourable to begin issuing the <i>Gipsy Suite</i>. As was common practise of the time the records were fed out one at a time over a number of months, orchestral selections then predominately designated for the HMV black label. The first dance on 2-0889 was issued in December 1919; the second dance on 2-0913 in February 1920. It was probably intended to issue next two dances in at a two monthly rate but a change of policy in the middle of this sequential issue by HMV meant that the first two single-sided records had to be withdrawn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">From February 1918 the first double-sided black label records began to make an appearance, by April 1920 they had got up to number D56 and HMV then decided to bite the bullet and convert all the current single-sided issues to double-sided format thus in that month a block of numbers from D 57 to D 460 came out.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkMAwGXtlu3BCM-drT8ge9iEplsdplCGYP6S_SOK9e2QQYKov3atcG6lNpvmos3VD_FOsmTBB1_9r-ExUZ_752dHZ6cjANZzJ_pBSkE4qtvYtT-XTmCPrlAvmbsKHNW9QtEnnqbVGeN30/s1600/img022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkMAwGXtlu3BCM-drT8ge9iEplsdplCGYP6S_SOK9e2QQYKov3atcG6lNpvmos3VD_FOsmTBB1_9r-ExUZ_752dHZ6cjANZzJ_pBSkE4qtvYtT-XTmCPrlAvmbsKHNW9QtEnnqbVGeN30/s640/img022.jpg" width="443" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">HMV catalogue of May 1921 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">showing the double-sided grouping of sides</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> This block itself divided into sub-blocks, Elgar’s discs were on D175 to D181 and Edward German’s issued sides being on D184 to D189. This explains the rather glaring gap in numbering between the two double-sided discs. Dances one and two were doubled on D189 with dances three and four, never having been issued as single-sided on D473. Actually D473 had to wait until August 1920 almost three years after the recording was made. The records were of moderate popularity and lasted in the catalogue until December 1925 when the electrical recorded discs began displacing the acoustic recordings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As for Kirby-Lunn’s disc of <i>Jack</i> it continued in the catalogues first as a purple label before advancing with all Kirby Lunn’s other discs to the celebrity red label status. When the inevitable doubling up of the red celebrity records happened in 1923 this song was probably thought to be a bit dated and quietly deleted. In truth with the Clara Butt’s record as competition it probably did not really stand a chance and may have been a bad seller.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZX7YsBtY2bTcr8VCpjj9W4Ks5ikFdwNum5P5OXOTZIzmvMIibEDV_lQgGd6-AImTdOJbfLbnDVZPYZ9eVXj7KVb6bpHP5nIcMPqFvYchLTfEayc3vFgUxefruBjdPyKsJbXBEa6YyqKl/s1600/mw59496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZX7YsBtY2bTcr8VCpjj9W4Ks5ikFdwNum5P5OXOTZIzmvMIibEDV_lQgGd6-AImTdOJbfLbnDVZPYZ9eVXj7KVb6bpHP5nIcMPqFvYchLTfEayc3vFgUxefruBjdPyKsJbXBEa6YyqKl/s400/mw59496.jpg" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edward German striking the same pose in 1920 as he did in 1892</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can find but one contemporary review of the<i> Gipsy Suite </i>recording, or rather half of it in <i>Musical Times</i> of January 1921.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">‘Edward German's 'Gipsy Suite' (H.M.V.) is a good orchestral reproduction. I have heard only two of the four movements the <i>Menuetto</i> and <i>Tarantella</i>, on a double-sided. A surprisingly large proportion of instrumental details emerge, especially from the clarinet and flute, a rapid chromatic gurgle by the latter being a specially enjoyable feature. The Tarantella is the better movement of the two - German at his effervescingest.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The recording is only slightly abridged with a repeat in each of the outer movements cut. You also just hear Edward German giving encouragement to his players at 0:11. The odd noise you hear at about 4:08 and in several other places in the second dance is very like a loose recording diaphragm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Just one last useless piece of information from me concerns Sir Thomas Beecham, his discography shows that he recorded only two Edward German compositions, the aforementioned <i>Jack</i> of 1917 and at the end of his life the <i>Gipsy Suite</i>. The latter item, not approved by Beecham, was released after death and can be heard here on YouTube.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJlZwK9STl1d9FW3JEZhGvpXWEl46xnBkk58CB8sJ-Ha2QGVjCLkZh1iMlbjjANBG11zLa8VS_l94GaMex1ut3-vaeuOVuXVd3z1TcDrlwJ1iD05fWFejmaqlLPq91DoAjJUuUO_zcuPf4/s1600/Gipsies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJlZwK9STl1d9FW3JEZhGvpXWEl46xnBkk58CB8sJ-Ha2QGVjCLkZh1iMlbjjANBG11zLa8VS_l94GaMex1ut3-vaeuOVuXVd3z1TcDrlwJ1iD05fWFejmaqlLPq91DoAjJUuUO_zcuPf4/s400/Gipsies.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gypsy encampment on Putney Heath by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_von_Herkomer" target="_blank">Hubert von Herkomer</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Published in <i>The Graphic</i> 18 June 1870.</span></td></tr>
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<br />Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-22496915556838943852015-07-18T18:20:00.002+01:002015-07-18T18:42:14.113+01:00Copyright Rage<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Nothing new about copyright upsetting some people, but more ado about that further down the blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The London Flute Quartet</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Robert Murchie, Gordon Walker, Frank Almgill, Charles Stainer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/gm0tbkon9cunn2b/London_Flute_Quartet.zip" style="color: #33aaff; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Four FLAC selections in one Zip file 16bit</span></a></b> [68Mb]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a> player)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-3I91oJJ7t8DCTGN7pbv4fzlsqE3-C3AwN7UcNyKdH2GQ3mZ9Qs3S14nhu2YAYfXvDrA8fjh2766xen-EwIfDevbfD_diu5l5X7celXScuR56aJyBXply4cYgiaDC8zE_lk17ldZF64a/s1600/img014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-3I91oJJ7t8DCTGN7pbv4fzlsqE3-C3AwN7UcNyKdH2GQ3mZ9Qs3S14nhu2YAYfXvDrA8fjh2766xen-EwIfDevbfD_diu5l5X7celXScuR56aJyBXply4cYgiaDC8zE_lk17ldZF64a/s320/img014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>a) Salomon Jadassohn : Scherzo, Op.57</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>b) Rimsky-Korsakov : ‘Flight of the Bumble-Bee’</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Columbia 4215 (ⓦA 4197-1)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkWHW8P45vMb1CaDQuU1VgEdEwH7YUySem-rDBiBqNYTVbc0lzgSbfqjt8h4GhLmPqGb-53qhiW-Wt2raj4CTid-Z85zuKXkxBMA_jXOwHihqUqu2Dq98hf2N83PYQVl9_6RLKuPDwW2T/s1600/img011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkWHW8P45vMb1CaDQuU1VgEdEwH7YUySem-rDBiBqNYTVbc0lzgSbfqjt8h4GhLmPqGb-53qhiW-Wt2raj4CTid-Z85zuKXkxBMA_jXOwHihqUqu2Dq98hf2N83PYQVl9_6RLKuPDwW2T/s320/img011.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Briccialdi : ‘Il Carnival di Venezia’ op. 77 (arr. by Charles Stainer)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Columbia 4155 (ⓦA 4198-1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Traditional : “Scotch an Irish Airs” (arr. by Charles Stainer)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Columbia 4155 (ⓦA 4199-1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>a) Grieg : Lyric Pieces, Op 12 No. 4 ‘Dance of the Elves’ (arr. by William Alwyn)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>b) Chopin : Prelude in A major Op.28 No.7</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>c) Grieg : Lyric Pieces, Op 12 No. 6 ‘Norse’ (arr. by William Alwyn)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Columbia 4215 (ⓦA 4200-1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recorded: Friday, 1st or Monday 4th October 1926 in London</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Issued: January & March 1927</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> The London Flute Quartet was formed, I believe, not long before their first run of four sides for Columbia in 1926. The four flautists, in the order given in the Columbia publicity material, were Robert Murchie (1884-1949), Gordon Walker (1885-1965) Frank Almgill (1881-1966), Charles Stainer (1885?-1947?) who were all top flight instrumentalists in the London orchestras in the 1920s. [see below for more fulsome biogs.] </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Robert Murchie, Frank Almgill, Gordon Walker</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Charles Stainer (on bass flute)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The quartet also made a few more recordings in 1927 for Edison Bell and then Parlophone which may account for the group not being asked back by Columbia. They broadcast a few times for the BBC during 1927 and 1928 but apart from an outing in aid of the Musicians Benevolent Fund in 1934 they did not apparently perform again, at least visibly, until 1936 and 1937 when the BBC made a couple more broadcasts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have ordered the recordings above chronologically although each side was paired in a different order when issued.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As was common practise the two records were staggered over the two months of January and March 1927. Columbia 4155 was described as 'a delightful novelty' in the puff for their January supplement:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Now for the reviews, as usual these come from <i>The Gramophone</i> by Peter Latham and <i>The Musical Times</i> by the as yet unidentified Discus:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'Columbia 4155 (10in., 3s.), on which we hear the Carnival of Venice - Variations (</span>Briccialdi<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, arranged Stainer) and Scotch and Irish Airs (arranged Stainer) played on four flutes (the London Flute Quartet), the lowest instrument being, I think, the rather uncommon bass flute. It is a strange experience to listen to these four flautists twittering away together, though perhaps hardly a satisfying one musically. A curious effect, as if a reed were joining occasionally in the concert, is probably due to the rather clarinet-like quality that the gramophone gives to the lower notes of the flute. </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Gramophone</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, February, 1927 p. 373.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'The London Flute Quartet (</span>Murchie<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, Walker, </span>Armgill<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, and Stainer) gives us a novel type of record. I wish the brilliant playing had been spent on worthier material than showy variations on Scottish and Irish airs, and 'The Carnival of Venice.' The flute is one of the best of recording instruments though four together are apt to become a little shrill, and to set up too much in the way of harmonics. Let us hope that this admirable and unusual ensemble will find some first-rate music, composed or arranged, to take the place of the superficiality to which the instrument is usually condemned when heard alone. </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Musical Times,</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> February, 1927 p. 142.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now this record was quite innocuous but not so the second release in March. Again a clipping from the Columbia supplement with yet more enthusiasm this time for their 'electric recording.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The reviews again come from the same two journals:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'4215 (10 in., 3s.), into which the London Flute Quartet manages to squeeze five pieces - no mean achievement. They are Dance of the Elves (Grieg), Prelude No. 7 (Chopin), Norse (Grieg), Scherzo (</span>Jadassohn<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">), and Flight of the Bumble-Bee (</span>Rimsky<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">-</span>Korsakov<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">). The Chopin does not come off, but I was simply delighted with the Bumble-Bee (the flutes turn the beast into a bluebottle, but that doesn't matter), and in its way I thought this record as [a] great a triumph... .' </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Gramophone</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, March 1927 p. 417</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'The London Flute Quartet has made a greatly improved choice of music for its second recording - two of Grieg's Lyrical Pieces and the Chopin Prelude in A, a Scherzo of </span>Jadassohn<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> and </span>Rimsky<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">-</span>Korsakov's<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> 'Flight of the Bumble-Bee.' All are not equally happy, but the success of the; Bumble-Bee' piece alone is sufficient to make the record well worth while (4215). </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Musical Times.</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> April, 1927 p. 346</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Chopin which 'not come off' is partly due to problems with Columbia's early Western Electric recording equipment as indeed the mention of '</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">harmonics' in 4155</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. Certain 'booming sounds'' and resonances affected the microphone during recording</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> but particularly so in the Chopin,</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> on the whole though there remarkably simple recording equipment managed wonderfully.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">William Alwyn gets into trouble</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Well that seems all fine and dandy but then came a bombshell. It all has to do with the two Grieg pieces in arrangement by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alwyn" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">William Alwyn (1905-1985)</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> – yet another flute player by the way, but a quick glance over the </span>Wikipedia<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> entry shows him to be very much 'a man of parts'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'In the summer of 1927 Alwyn secured a fortnight's engagement with the local band at Broadstairs, summoned as a replacement for a flautist who had been hired but left for a more lucrative assignment. The orchestra of ten performed in 'a rickety bandstand on the sea front doing our best to intone In a Monastery Garden in the teeth of what seemed a perpetual gale! It was a wet, depressing August, with rehearsals conducted by a Captain Waterhouse (a veteran of the Great War) in a soggy marquee, rehearsals often for concerts that were cancelled because of the dismal weather ... Coming down to breakfast one morning in the back-street boarding house where he lodged with some of his fellow bandsmen, Alwyn found two letters waiting for him. Opening the first, Alwyn was dismayed at what he read. Grieg's publisher wished for an immediate explanation of why Alwyn had infringed the composers copyright by arranging Grieg's Lyric Pieces for four flutes. Court action was mentioned as a possibility. These arrangements had been written for the London Flute Quartet, in complete innocence of any matters relating to copyright and its infringement, mechanical rights or performing rights, all things of which Alwyn was quite unaware. It was to Gordon Walker, the leader of the Quartet, that Alwyn turned for help, and Walker's tactful intervention calmed the situation. Because it was a sunny morning, Alwyn had to hurry to the bandstand for a concert, and it was only during an interval that he remembered to open the second letter. It was the offer of a contract as Third Flute and Piccolo in the London Symphony Orchestra for Septembers Three Choirs Festival at Hereford. [Adrian Wright <i>The Innumerable Dance: The Life and Work of William Alwyn</i>, Woodbridge: The Boydel Press p. 49.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It does not seem, from the above, that Alwyn and the quartet were in <i>too</i> much hot water but Walker's ‘tactful intervention’ was apparently quite an heated affair. In his article in <i>The Times</i> newspaper [Friday, Feb 4, 1966] in a piece titled 'The Mysteries of Copyright' the music critic William Mann fleshed out more of the story:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">‘In the current issue of <i>Recording Rights</i> Journal Mr. William Alwyn recalls the terrible episode which resulted, in 1927, from his arrangement for four flutes of Grieg's Lyric Pieces, a work which he had undertaken to enliven the repertory of the virtuoso London Flute Quartet and boost the reputation of a dead and perhaps underestimated composer. Grieg's music was still in copyright, and a row ensued, as a result of which the quartet's leader. Gordon Walker (a universally respected musician) reported: “I had to hand over your manuscript, and the publisher tore it up in front of my eyes, and then I was given the biggest dressing down I have ever received in my life." Mr. Alwyn would not have suffered if he had offered the London Flute Quartet an original composition of his own; altruism was his undoing (though 2LO, as the B.B.C. then was, might have been less willing to broadcast a work by a young and unknown composer).'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now what of the record? Well it was not withdrawn as you might expect but continued on in the Columbia catalogue until at least 1935. Indeed it outlasted the other record of the London String Quartet in the listings! The Grieg recording was actually broadcast three times by the BBC in 1935 & 1936.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">T<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">his puts me in a quandary. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Grieg is out of copyright, well I do hope he is but one never knows these days, but Alwyn is still very much in copyright and will be so even when I'm dust. So if the arrangement was never copyrighted then maybe the only surviving artifact of the arrangement Grieg's <i>Lyric Pieces</i> is in the recording. Does this mean that Alwyn's musical executors or heirs can now transcribe the pieces from my posting and then ban everyone from hearing it again, me excluded of course as I still have my 78, for another 75 years. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So then, hear it while you can people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Flute Players</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have below given outlines biography of the players below all culled from Susan Nelson's formidable discography <i>The Flute on Record</i>, Scarecrow Press, 2006</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Frank Almgill (1881-1966)</b>; studied flute with Staniland Hall and Edward de Jong. He was the principle flautist of the London Chamber Orchestra, second flautist and piccolist of the London Symphony Orchestra, and piccolist at Covent Garden. Beginning in 1923 he had an active broadcasting career as a member of the 'BBC Wireless Orchestra' and continued as second flautist when the BBC Symphony Orchestra was officially founded in 1930 (he left in 1945),. He was a member of the Kneale Kelley Quartet, sometimes known as the '2LO Instrumental Quartet.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Robert Murchie (1884-1949)</b> won a scholarship to London's Collage of Music in 1906 and studied flute there with W. Barrett, Early in his career, he was a remember of the 'Royal Victory Band. an ensemble that recorded for the British Victory label ca. 1912. Murchie performed as a member of the Queen's Hall orchestra, the London Symphony orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Society (ca. 1925-32). in addition he was a founding member of the London Wind Quintet, and the London Flute Quartet, he was principle flautist of the BBC Symphony orchestra from 1930-1938 and professor of flute at the Royal Collage of Music in London.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Charles Stainer (1885?-1947?)</b> was born Carl Steiner changing his name to Charles Steiner at the Proms in 1898 [was he really born around 1885?} and on the outbreak of war in 1914 made a final name change. Studied flute with A.P. Vivian at the Royal College of Music in London and thereafter became a noted orchestral performer, soloist, and composer of flute solos. he was a member of the Royal Philharmonic Society and performed with the BBC Military band and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (130-1933). especially when an alto flute was called for. He taught at the Royal Academy of music between ca 1928 and 1945.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Gordon Walker (1885-1965)</b> Walker was primarily self-taught and began his musical career in Edinburgh, Newcastle and Blackpool (ca, 1906-1911), after 1911 he went to London and played with various orchestras and opera companies, notably the British National Opera and the London Symphony Orchestra. He was principle flute of the Royal opera, Covent Garden (ca.1925-1929) and the London Symphony Orchestra (1926-1946), and he is also mentioned as a member of the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Society. In addition to playing in the London Flute Quartet, Walker formed the Cellini Trio of flute cello and piano and the Lyra Quartet of flute, violin, viola, and harp.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And finally an apology: this is my first post for 2015, a terrible admission but I just ran out of steam and needed a kick from <a href="http://grumpyclassics.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Grumpy's Classic Cave</span></a> to get me out of my torpor.</span></div>
Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-24090833970899681142014-12-24T18:08:00.003+00:002014-12-24T18:08:38.259+00:00Something for Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Harry Amers was and now never will be a household name. He however did his part to promote music to the masses in the first third of the 20th century at the seaside resort of Eastbourne</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> on the South Coast of England</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> for which we really should be grateful.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Amers: All on a Christmas Morning, Idyll [1920]</span></b></span></div>
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<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Amers: The B'hoys of Tipperary, Patrol [1915]</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Eastbourne Municipal Orchestra conducted by Harry G. Amers</span></span></b></div>
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<b style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Columbia 5400</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(ⓦAX 8896-2 & <span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">ⓦAX 8894-2</span><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recorded: Thursday, 18th April 1929 at Eastbourne</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Issued: mid June 1929</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/kcnawnwn2uurh3s" style="color: #33aaff; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Two FLAC selections in one Zip file 16bit</span></a></b> [18Mb]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a> player)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">‘Harry’ Henry Gallon Amers (1875 - 1944) was born in Newcastle to a musical family. Harry’s Grandfather was a band sergeant in the Newcastle Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry and his father J.H. Amers may also have been a member of this same regiment but due to delicate health we find him conducting a string band that also grew large enough to be called and ‘orchestral band’ that gave entertainment at various shows and functions in the in the Newcastle area. Most notably as musical director to the Royal Jubilee Exhibition of 1887. Harry started as a chorister in St George's Newcastle and as a youth he played a solo by command before the Princess of Wales and several times before King Edward VII - unfortunately I do not know which instrument he played.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Harry Amers around 1908</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Harry was to joined the same regiment, now renamed the Northumberland Hussars Imperial Yeomanry, on 24 March 1896 as a ‘Bandmaster.’ This was just a month after his father’s death so the two events are probably connected for Harry either joined in order not to be a drain on the family finances or to help support his mother and siblings. In 1898 he can be found conducting the Elswick Military Band at the Pleasure Gardens at Saltburn and seems to have conducted various military bands in popular and classical music throughout the North-East. He may have been with the Hussars during the Boer War however he was certainly in the UK in 1906 to record a number of pieces, including some of his compositions for the Homochord label. Harry apparently re-enlisted twice firstly in June 1906, roughly when the Homochord records were issued and again in June 1908. One has the feeling that Harry’s health was also delicate for although receiving his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal when war broke out in August 1914, Harry, still only 39 he was found unfit for service. Despite this he still seems to have seen action as he was wounded in action. Harry remained with the Hussars and sometime after 1915 took charge of a prisoner of war camp. Once hostilities had ended he received the rank of captain in the reserves on his leaving the army in 1920. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Inside the Eastbourne Pavilion.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Amers soon afterwards was employed by Eastbourne corporation to form a municipal orchestra that was based at the Devonshire Park both in the Pavilion auditorium and the Theatre for the next fifteen year the orchestras conductor. He conducted his small orchestra throughout the year, the orchestra being augmented with musicians down from London once the session there had ended. He clearly had good connections in the music world for he very soon instituted a music festival. The first of these remarkable festivals was in 1923 and was reviewed in the December issue of Musical Times.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Devonshire Park - the Theatre to the left and the Pavilion behind the trees.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Eastbourne.- A notable Musical Festival was held by the Municipality at Devonshire Park on November 8-17,with the Municipal Orchestra under Capt. H. G. Amers. The interest and popularity of the Festival were maintained from beginning to end. The British music included Sir Edward Elgar’s <i>Violin Concerto</i>. Herbert Howells’s new <i>Pastoral Rhapsody</i>, Alfred Wall’s <i>Thanet and Lucretius</i>, Mr. David Stephen’s <i>Coronach</i>, Holst’s <i>Fugal Concerto</i> and <i>Fugal Overture</i>, Dame Ethel Smyth’s <i>Prelude</i> to <i>The Wreckers</i>, Maurice Besly’s new Suite, <i>Chelsea China</i>, and works of Holbrooke, Eric Coates, W. H. Reed, Granville Bantock, John Foulds, Roger Quilter, Howard Carr. and A. W. Ketelbey, who all came to conduct their own compositions [!!!]. Franck’s <i>Symphony</i> was conducted by Sir Henry Wood. The choir appeared only once - in [German's] <i>Merrie England</i>. The Municipality is to be congratulated on the excellent management and success of its new venture.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The festival continued annually, even the redoubtable Thomas Beecham came to conduct together with international soloists as Elizabeth Schumann, Arthur de Greef, and Guilhermina Suggia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">During the late 1920s Amers and the Eastbourne Municipal Orchestra broadcast on the BBC a number of summer programmes from Devonshire Park. I understand that in the summer concerts were given in the Pavilion and in the winter in the Theatre. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Film of the the North-East Coast Exhibition 1929.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The present recordings are connected to the North-East Coast Exhibition, a world fair held in Newcastle between May and October 1929. Recorded in Eastbourne in April 1926 the orchestra then headed north to Amers home town for the Exhibition. The record was issued by Columbia in their mid-June supplement when a total of eight sides which included these two of Amers own composition/arraignments.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Columbia Supplement mid-June 1929</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1929 was probably the high watermark of the Eastbourne Municipal Orchestra’s success, a combination of economic distress and the Corporation of Eastbourne wanting a more popular fare with their new Band Stand caused the orchestra to be disbanded in May. 1936. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The last Festival was held at Devonshire Park on November 25-December 1 ‘The principal works in their programmes being as follows: Sir Hamilton Harty - Beethoven’s <i>Seventh Symphony</i>. Elgar’s ‘<i>Cello Concerto</i> (Mr. Michael Cherniavsky), </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">‘</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>In Ireland</i></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> (Harty); Sir Thomas Beecham - Schubert’s <i>Sixth Symphony</i>. Sibelius’s <i>Four Historical Themes</i>. Beethoven’s <i>Sixth Symphony</i>; Sir Landon Ronald - Mozart’s <i>Violin Concerto in D</i> (Miss Orrea Pernel). Tchaikovsky’s<i> Fourth Symphony</i>; Dr. Adrian Boult - [Elgar's] <i>Cockaigne</i>/ Brahms’s <i>Variations on a Theme by Haydn</i>. Beethoven’s <i>Fourth Piano Concerto</i> (Miss Myra Hess), Bax’s ‘<i>Tintagel</i>’; Sir Henrv Wood-Moussorgsky’s ‘<i>Peep-Show</i>’ Sibelius’s ‘<i>En Saga</i>.’ On the Friday afternoon Capt. Amers conducted a programme that included Rachmaninov’s <i>Second Piano Concerto</i> (Orloff) and Mozart’s <i>Symphony No. 34 in C</i>. Mr. Gordon Jacob conducted his <i>Passacaglia on a well-known Theme</i>. The festival concluded with a performance of ‘<i>The Messiah</i>’ under Capt. Amers with Miss Isobel Baillie. Miss Betty Bannerman, Mr. Heddle Nash, and Mr. Harold Williams as soloists. It transpired that the Corporation intended to disband the Municipal Orchestra when its present contract expired next April. At the end of his concert Sir Thomas Beecham made a vigorous speech against this decision.' [<i>Musical Times</i> January, 1929].</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Opening of the new Eastbourne Bandstand in 1936 - at 28 seconds there is what maybe a </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">glimpse of our </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Capt. Amers standing behind the dignitaries at his last official function</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Harry 'was a handsome fellow; it seems, always immaculately dressed with a red carnation in his buttonhole and red hair to match. Much admired by lady members of the audience it is said ... . He had flair and a good sense of showmanship and never arrived until the second item on the programme, allowing his deputy to start the concert off. He appeared, as did the orchestra, in uniform during the day but in the evening he put on evening dress and became Captain Amers and his Famous Orchestra' (<a href="https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/wwwfileroot/legacy/educationlibraries/tbp/historyofmusic.pdf" target="_blank">Pegg: Newcastle's Musical Heritage</a> - unfortunately with a number of inaccuracies but with further information on Amers the contribution to the North-East Coast Exhibition)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I suppose Harry Amers probably went into retirement and is invariable recorded as having died in 1936 however Harry lived until 1944 and died at West Hills, Ottery St Mary in East Devon. He was at the time of his death married to Kate Amers but he was also married to a Beatrice in 1907, but that ended in divorce in 1910. Harry was cremated and his ashes were interned with his parents John Hall Amers (1840-1895) and Frances Gallon Amers (1846-1906) and his siblings John Richardson Amers (1865-1946); Frances Amers (1874-1941); Hilda Amers (1881 - 1891) and Richard Amers (1884-1885). </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Debussy at the Grand Hotel Eastbourne taking a photo of the sea -<br />probably not really thinking about <i>La Mer</i> which he happened to compose there!</span></td></tr>
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Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-55043309492249608972014-12-07T21:36:00.001+00:002014-12-07T21:38:31.647+00:00Fauré in London<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A long introduction before I get to the point I’m afraid on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Squire" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">W.H. Squire</span></a>'s recordings of Fauré</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>William Henry Squire cello & [Hamilton Harty?], piano</b></span><br /><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b><br /></b></span><b>Columbia L1759</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">(ⓦAX 1225)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recorded: Wednesday, 23rd December, 1925</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Issued September 1926 & deleted August 1931</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/jdhdbf786a4547y" target="_blank">FLAC file 16bit</a></span></b> [15Mb]</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS9EiM5ytFDslnmD6TNxw8csXEGt9cBVIXlblsO7JsfyP1bvMi-iGgeOb1Tx4N4m1Wv-I8umEJAuICjZFpPcHUiMoDQxnLl5eVF8rNaSAkZPB_Vx7loFlQ1t_Ox3k4wpgCtGyr-t0tKHoO/s1600/img006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS9EiM5ytFDslnmD6TNxw8csXEGt9cBVIXlblsO7JsfyP1bvMi-iGgeOb1Tx4N4m1Wv-I8umEJAuICjZFpPcHUiMoDQxnLl5eVF8rNaSAkZPB_Vx7loFlQ1t_Ox3k4wpgCtGyr-t0tKHoO/s1600/img006.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>Papillon for Cello & Piano Op. 77 [1898]</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">William Henry Squire, cello & [Hamilton Harty?], piano</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">(ⓦAX 1248)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recorded: Friday, 15th January 1926</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Issued June 1927 & deleted August 1930</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/lb6u0q9lla2as5z" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">FLAC file 16bit</span></a></b> [13Mb]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a> player)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">During March and the beginning of April 1898 Gabriel Fauré spent a vacation with his friend and music patron <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Schuster_%28music_patron%29" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Leo Frank Schuster (1852-1927)</span></a>. ‘Schuster was a music-lover and patron of the arts in the United Kingdom. His home overlooking St James's Park at 22 Old Queen Street, London, part of which now contains offices of The Spectator magazine, became a meeting-place for artists, writers and musicians, including Siegfried Sassoon, John Singer Sargent, Walter Sickert, Sir Edward Elgar and Sir Adrian Boult. He was a particular patron of Edward Elgar, and also did much to make Gabriel Fauré's name known in England’ [Wikipedia]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Film of Fauré having a smoke in 1913</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It was on this visit that a meeting was set between Fauré and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Patrick_Campbell" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Mrs Patrick Campbell</span></a> by Schuster. Mrs Campbell had been rebuffed by Debussy when asked if he could provide incidental music for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Maeterlinck" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Maurice Maeterlinck</span></a>’s <i>Pelléas et Mélisande</i> which she wanted to be produced in London in a translation by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Mackail" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Jack Mackail</span></a>. Mrs Campbell must have heard Fauré’s work and immediately set forth to commission Fauré to provide music in the places she felt most called out for music in the play. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mrs Patrick Campbell</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fauré composed some nineteen numbers very quickly and ‘On 21 June 1898 Fauré himself conducted the orchestra of the Prince of Wales' Theatre, Piccadilly (Coventry Street) for the premiere of the English version of <i>Pelléas et Mélisande</i>. In the audience were Maeterlinck, Charles van Lerberghe, Reynaldo Hahn, the Princess Edmond de Polignac (who was to be the dedicatee of the orchestral suite), the painter John Singer Sargent and all Fauré's London friends. The production was a great success with the public and the critics. Maeterlinck himself wrote an enthusiastic letter to Mrs Patrick Campbell which finished: in a few words, “you... filled me with an emotion of beauty the most complete, the most harmonious, the sweetest that I have ever felt to this day.”’ [See Jean-Michel Nectoux:<i> Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life</i>.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today only the Suite <i>Pelléas et Mélisande</i> of four of the nineteen pieces is regularly played: Prélude-Fileuse-Sicilienne-La mort de Mélisande.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Sicilienne had been originally written in 1892 as part of the incidental music for a production of Molière’s <i>Le Bougeois Gentilhomme</i> that never reached the stage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The question, which is open to a lot of conjecture, is this. Had Fauré sent Squire the scores of both <i>Papillon</i> and the <i>Sicilienne</i> prior to Fauré’s stay in London from March 1898. I can’t be sure of this as I have not tracked down a programme for a concert given on the 12th February 1898 at the Queens Hall in which ‘Mr W.H. Squire produced three little violoncello pieces by Godard and Fauré with much success’ [<i>The Musical Times</i>, March 1898]. Another notice of the concert appeared in The Observer ‘Three graceful little pieces for violoncello and orchestra, by Godard and Fauré respectively, were brought forward by Mr. W. H. Squire, for the first time in London. Their value is not great, but as played by that talented artist and the Queen’s Hall orchestra they were pleasant enough to hear.' [<i>The Observer,</i>13 February 1898]. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This asks another question, was Squire playing the <i>Sicilienne</i> in its <i>Le Bougeois Gentilhomme</i> form, and did it even have a title yet, or was he playing just the <i>Elégie</i> Op.24 which had been arranged for orchestra in 1895 and the other two pieces were by Godard? At least one of these pieces <i>would</i> have been played, one hopes anyway. Another anomaly is this, did Squire play them again at Schuster’s house from which Mrs Campbell approached Fauré to compose the incidental music? Squire is known to have played at the Schuster house frequently.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGxuv5d_wHka2VdKV42VsEkYaRKGOgLivB6UPqrQaw7PJSD0jnRrEpGD_kNh2DhpwCuCgGQngbelUCdU_ddQ6JfzuymXhLNDqvrfKM-XWroUGQdbCrB16nRbtxpHOjAnalaL2rymiiE0G/s1600/22-Old-Queen-Street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGxuv5d_wHka2VdKV42VsEkYaRKGOgLivB6UPqrQaw7PJSD0jnRrEpGD_kNh2DhpwCuCgGQngbelUCdU_ddQ6JfzuymXhLNDqvrfKM-XWroUGQdbCrB16nRbtxpHOjAnalaL2rymiiE0G/s1600/22-Old-Queen-Street.jpg" height="400" width="282" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One fact from this mountain of hypothetical conjecture was that Fauré, on his return to Paris, dedicated the score of the <i>Sicilienne</i> and inscribed the manuscript 'To Mons. W. H. Squire Sicilienne pour Violoncelle et piano Paris 16 avril,1898, Gabriel Fauré’. [This is now held in the Eugene Istomin Collection, New York]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’m not wholly sure when Squire first met Fauré but they had met by 1896 for in a concert of the 1st May 1896 included Fauré’s piano quartet Op. 15 with the composer at the piano together with Adolph Brodsky, violin, Alfred Hobday, viola, and W.H. Squire, cello.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIkqjzocpf00qZ4PdSdN-FSueC61Te9ouxpCNUlGXKD7HS1v22BXLjFXY5vMIeaqaawGHz21FLsqeKkyqJeUfBNESKhX6MVHtrN2QcHcBPBOb1EFQn2r294dfgKqJbskKsHss88CP18ha/s1600/WH-Squire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIkqjzocpf00qZ4PdSdN-FSueC61Te9ouxpCNUlGXKD7HS1v22BXLjFXY5vMIeaqaawGHz21FLsqeKkyqJeUfBNESKhX6MVHtrN2QcHcBPBOb1EFQn2r294dfgKqJbskKsHss88CP18ha/s1600/WH-Squire.jpg" height="320" width="267" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">William Henry Squire</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now as far as I can judge Squire had not previously recorded any Fauré and was not to do so again. Were these two early electrically recorded Columbia sides made as homage to the composer who died the previous year? Did he think that the subtleties of the work could be brought out better with this new process? Had he just decided that Faure might just become popular! Very little of his work, appart from the songs, were recorded by the mid 1920s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Also single potpourri pieces that Squire had so often recorded for both HMV and Columbia had by this time begun to give way to longer concertos and chamber works. With a new generation of cellists competing for gramophone recognition, Squire’s was, with his ‘old fashioned’ playing style, being slowly being ousted from the studios.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These two recordings can probably be regarded as ‘creator version.’ The <i>Papillon</i>, although written in 1884 was not published until 1898, is played so much slower than cellist play it today. In fact most cellist take it as some sort of exercise in prowess, rather than the delicate butterfly hovering about on a sunny afternoon. The <i>Sicilienne</i> too is also played quite slowly and both recordings use what today would be thought excessive portamento, but then I like </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">portamento and I </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">don’t think that it's a dirty word. The piano accompaniment is excellent and although the pianist is unknown it may well be Harty as he was the de facto accompanist for most of Squire's pre-electric recordings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Both these recordings are not in the best condition the <i>Papillon</i> appears to have a pressing problem, this was noted in The Gramophone and so was not given a review and may also account for the delay in issue - both recordings are a bit noisy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I should mention what is on the 'B' side of each of these pieces: L1759 has W.H. Squire's <i>Slumber Song </i>and L1977 has Herbert Hughes' arrangment of <i>The Sally Garden.</i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fauré and Mrs Patrick Campbell,1898</span></td></tr>
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Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-29468250444360087732014-11-30T17:16:00.002+00:002014-11-30T17:16:24.843+00:00Patriotic Gramophone Records<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now that 100 years have past since Europe decided to fight it out I thought I would share this fragment of the initial enthusiasm.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">Allies in Arms - </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Selection 1</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Opening </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hearts of Oak – England</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">La Brabançonne – Belgium</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">St Patrick – Ireland</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Russian Hymn – Russia</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rule Britannia – England</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">See the Conquering Hero –England</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finale</span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">Allies in Arms - </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Selection 2</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Le Marseillaise – France</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Garb of Old Gaul – Scotland</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Maple Leaf – Canada</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Marcia Reale – Italy</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Men of Harlech- Wales</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">God Save the King – England</span></i></div>
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Metropolitan Military Band</b></span><br /><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>conducted by Arthur Crudge</b></span><br /><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b><br /></b></span><b>HMV C 378</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Al8088f & Al8089f)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recorded: Monday, 17th August, 1914</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/i21i1jj8jq0arb8" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Two selections in one FLAC file 16bit</span></a></b> [28Mb]</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a> player)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Gramophone Company was taken completely by surprise on the outbreak of war in 1914. Sales of records ground to a complete halt, as did recording. One feels a general panic in the recording industry as no one really knew what to do. Louis Sterling of Columbia was quickest off the mark and probably the first to see the possibilities of patriotic songs and music.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The recording schedule at the Gramophone Co. Ltd shows that it all but halted for a couple of weeks until they knew how to handle the crises. This particular patriotic record was recorded and rushed out and it probably was just the thing to be played at recruiting events. My example is both worn and cracked, so it has had a rather tough life of patriotic playing.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLKTXzkX5H9sjfypPJa_zQEWhTDG3h3P07SIHkfyFDWSvX0SGn5vuAAfL0QnPul56texOdLHaVd7M0zy7H0wnyu9VYYVMpZBpVPeNoXgzyBhBenyThfOt8rem4OFzu3aX5LK-y2-epdNCO/s1600/ww1recruit3.jpg" height="322" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recruiting in Trafalgar Square, London in 1915</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLKTXzkX5H9sjfypPJa_zQEWhTDG3h3P07SIHkfyFDWSvX0SGn5vuAAfL0QnPul56texOdLHaVd7M0zy7H0wnyu9VYYVMpZBpVPeNoXgzyBhBenyThfOt8rem4OFzu3aX5LK-y2-epdNCO/s1600/ww1recruit3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Arthur Crudge is the anonymous conductor probably of his own Imperial Orchestra under the name of the Mayfair Orchestra. This was the name given to the Gramophone Company’s ‘House’ Orchestra which had a fluid personnel, and several directors or conductors over several decades.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This the sum total of what i know of the conductor: Crudge was born near Hanover Square, London in 1862 and married a Laura Sapey in 1887. From 1900 his Imperial Orchestra began to entertain the public at such events as the Richmond Royal Horse Show, the conversazione of Committee of the London Schools. Crudge renamed his orchestra the British Imperial Orchestra sometime during the war. Apparently he got divorced in 1923, or at least he seems to have gone to the US in 1921 at the same time as divorce proceeding were wending through the court, later he married again to a Evelyn Ada Scheitlin. His orchestra was still performing in 1931 as Arthur Crudge’s Orchestra although he seems to have died in 1930! I believe he may have had a son, also Arthur, so this could be the explanation. Again as with so many of these minor players, information is in short supply. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As the additional label on side one of this record makes clear ‘All profits yielded by this series of records of which this is one are paid to the National Relief Fund.’ I believe this equated to about 1d per record or about 2% of the cost price of 5s 6d. I do not know what the other record in the series were as I have never seen another record with this label; or indeed with the patriotic flags on the other side. Oddly the selection included Italy who were not persuaded which side to enter the War on until 1915.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of the nice things about this recording is that you can plainly hear in a few places Crudge enthusiastically exhorting his players on. The music is a bit of a patchwork that may have been knocked together at fairly short notice by Crudge for the players do sometimes seem slightly lost - I wonder if it is Fred Gaisberg who is giving the Russian Hymn on the tubular bells, one of his specialities in the early days of recording.</span></div>
Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-63882640144508488692014-11-18T22:00:00.001+00:002014-11-18T22:00:41.646+00:00'My teacher was Ferruccio Cusinati' - Maria Callas<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Is it not curious how some names fall by the
wayside, Ferruccio Cusinati (1873-1953) seems to have pretty well
sunk without trace - but not quite yet!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>Act II Scene 2: Per te d'immenso giubilo ... Per poco fra le tenebre</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>(arranged for military band)</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>Rossini: Semiramide Overture - final </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>Banda munipale di Verona </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>conducted by Ferruccio Cusinati</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><b>Favorite 2-33013 & 2-33014</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(Matrix Nos. 184-p & 185-p)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Recorded or fabricated Wednesday 21st October 1908?</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdtul6f49w3M9wqYYGxiKTGdLOyZJnOp-k_XfW2Jir-_9uCHVUfv_mk278rBOnXgM4WllfyJhwyQfw-yLO6ja0A6HPIVpWiXrZzRPMpGj-mSeMNZxaCKuCja8eDTiA5ojR3dW9A4W9yupT/s1600/tn_img002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdtul6f49w3M9wqYYGxiKTGdLOyZJnOp-k_XfW2Jir-_9uCHVUfv_mk278rBOnXgM4WllfyJhwyQfw-yLO6ja0A6HPIVpWiXrZzRPMpGj-mSeMNZxaCKuCja8eDTiA5ojR3dW9A4W9yupT/s1600/tn_img002.jpg" height="319" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b style="color: #33aaff;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/gd9n17f17ehbw9w" target="_blank">ZIP with 2 FLAC files 16bit</a></span></b> [28Mb]</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a> player)</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hard
to believe with so much written about Maria Callas that Cusinati's
part in her education has not really elicited much more than footnotes. Maybe his role is exaggerated, I really don't know, but will give the bare outlines of his career and so add my quota to the mountains of stuff already written on Callas.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I assume that he was born and brought up in Verona and probably had his musical education there also and maybe never strayed much from his home town. Cusinati
wrote the music for at least two operas both of which were produced
in Verona. The first was a two act opera called <i>La Tradita</i> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">[Betrayed!] </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">given in
1892.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'The
first performance, in the course of this month, of an opera, <i>La
Tradita! </i>by a very promising young Italian composer, Signor Ferruccio
Cusinati, is looked forward to with much interest at the Ristori
Theatre. Verona. [<i>Musical Times</i> Sept. 1892]</span></div>
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<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/AVvXsEiVaIBSh5rHILWc4HOg8bo-k0kJvLn-56Www2NdCci1A4oKAhhoTRM5mBzK0tmNffhyphenhyphen53m20G6_1C7b8I48Y2o246yiTcuGTRLE8Brqn0cJuRuqkfrVsfhQ8yaIULPuReeMd0q5QzlqlOVc/s1600/Teatro-Ristori-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaIBSh5rHILWc4HOg8bo-k0kJvLn-56Www2NdCci1A4oKAhhoTRM5mBzK0tmNffhyphenhyphen53m20G6_1C7b8I48Y2o246yiTcuGTRLE8Brqn0cJuRuqkfrVsfhQ8yaIULPuReeMd0q5QzlqlOVc/s1600/Teatro-Ristori-1.jpg" height="228" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The recently restored Teatro Ristori, Verona</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A
brilliant success is reported from Verona of a new opera, entitled <i>La
Tradita</i>, brought out last month at the Ristori Theatre of that town.
The composer, who conducted the performance, is a young Maestro,
Signor Cusinati, hitherto unknown to fame. The natural anxiety on the
part of the leading Italian towns to discover another Mascagni in
their midst may have influenced in a measure the enthusiastic verdict
pronounced by the audience on this occasion. [<i>M.T.</i> Dec. 1892]</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Two
years later in 1894 Cusinati wrote his second opera, this time of four acts, again <i>Musical
Times</i> gave a review:</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Verona - At the Ristori Theatre, <i>Medora</i>, a grand opera in four acts, composed
by Signor Ferruccio Cusinati, was brought to a first hearing on
November 29. The novelty was unsuccessful. [<i>M.T</i>. January 1895]</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cusinati
possibly gave up all hope of being an opera composer after this disappointment but he
still pursued his career as a conductor. Apparently the Verona municipal band broke up
in 1903 and Cusinati reformed it two years later. It is this band
that we can hear on these recordings. The band was not to last much more than a decade for it was depleted by
conscription during the First World War and was then abandoned. It
was however revived, again by Cusinati, but 30 years later after the Second World War.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The
next mention I have of him was when Giovanni
Zenatello, one of my favourite tenors by the way, had the idea of using the Roman arena at Verona for opera in order to celebrate the Verdi centenary of 1913:- "My father was sitting at a
table at the Löwenbrau," recounts Nina Zenatello Consolaro,
daughter of the tenor Giovanni Zenatello, "together with the
Maestro Tullio Serafin, Ferruccio Cusinati, Ottone Rovato [opera
impresario] and the singer Maria Gay [Zenatello's long time partner, both operatically and every other way, but not Nina'a mama I think].
They were talking about music, of course, opera music and Giuseppe
Verdi. Suddenly my father pointed to the Arena and with triumph in
his voice said, 'Look, this is the theatre I’m looking for. This is
where performances unique in the world could be held.'" </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<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/AVvXsEjkCvybkVmtiUPaDeDuiN_7holGMNRzRSIAOwnO6SeQ4yq6lQWQekrM7ddLfdj5Lr0Ql0xDela132s_QDz4N6lKoaDjPowOP78-A2VBJv8XHNCG0wmTz-Ddm117jpdXPmT_rMH90g6YLcZk/s1600/Loewenbraeu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkCvybkVmtiUPaDeDuiN_7holGMNRzRSIAOwnO6SeQ4yq6lQWQekrM7ddLfdj5Lr0Ql0xDela132s_QDz4N6lKoaDjPowOP78-A2VBJv8XHNCG0wmTz-Ddm117jpdXPmT_rMH90g6YLcZk/s1600/Loewenbraeu.jpg" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Löwenbrau - Verona</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Zenatello
financed the original undertaking himself, he and Maria Gay gave
freely of their talents, Maestro Serafin set to work to complete the
casting and it was he who was in charge of the first performance together with Cusinati who trained the chorus. From 1913 until his death in 1953
Cusinati was the leading chorus master at the Verona Arena but also discovered he worked at La Fenice in Venice in the early 1920s too.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">I
have really nothing much to add to these years until the story of
Cusinati is picked up again by Giovanni Battista Meneghini's. When he
met Callas in 1947 at Verona Meneghini was a director of the 'Verona
Opera Association of the Arena' which also included on the board Tullio Serafin,
conductor; Augusto Cardi, Stage director, and Cusinati still as
chorus master. </span>
</span></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<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/AVvXsEix4I-eYllhk13aPp-fwIX7dYEPtc549-ASia4xXsL75KlnbgcmS1KiZ7vcjly-Ie865h0xyQ8TAkN3edmLPb83QUv6KEokriFxiN63SOKIupOLvBZUqZN3K5WFXCRGSW5Sfs18FZbIKdHb/s1600/tn_img003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix4I-eYllhk13aPp-fwIX7dYEPtc549-ASia4xXsL75KlnbgcmS1KiZ7vcjly-Ie865h0xyQ8TAkN3edmLPb83QUv6KEokriFxiN63SOKIupOLvBZUqZN3K5WFXCRGSW5Sfs18FZbIKdHb/s1600/tn_img003.jpg" height="400" width="256" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Callas and Meneghini in 1948</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It
is through Meneghini biography <i>My Wife, Maria Callas,</i> New York, 1982,
that we have some more information on Cusinati's abilities. 'In Verona
there was a voice teacher, Ferruccio Cusinati, who was also chorus
master for the operas in the arena. I knew him very well and had
enormous respect for him, he had a thorough understanding of the
human voice ... Even though he did not have the renown that he deserved
he was a professional of rare accomplishment. I took Maria to him,
and after listening to her, told me that she indeed had a truly
remarkable voice. “She is at your disposal” I said. “you must
help her to make her voice more flexible, more supple, and in short,
eradicate any faults. From now on, she will come for lessons every
day... from that moment, Ferruccio Cusinati became Callas's
teacher ... Elvia de Hildalgo taught Maria the technique of singing
and she opened up the world of music to her, but it was Ferruccio
Cusinati who taught Maria all the operas in her repertory ... His
name never appeared in any of the biographies of Maria, but he was
Callas's teacher, Maria herself has commented in some manuscript
notes which she prepared, to refute a Time magazine article that was
full of misinformation: “It is not true that my husband asked
Tullio Serafin to coach me in my roles and that it was he who taught
them to me. My teacher was Ferruccio Cusinati.”' </span></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Apparently
Cusinati continued until the year of his death in 1953 as Callas's teacher so
it is somewhat surprising that so little is written about him. I
can't think why really. I believe he also taught the bass </span>Nicola Rossi-Lemeni (1920-1991) prior to meeting Callas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<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/AVvXsEjkYWJBkes94P-is-ccE0TUgyRCT3fA0BfiEQXl6JAlqMYtRWQZDqbFQj3UkPP37XaDkOVN0CDGMllD8pGgdrsw4JqZG1QU8Hb0vDOtu_2joe4818E241_tdftWHvg93KtxYSS0wKlrv3Dj/s1600/hotel_in_centro_a_verona_arena_di_verona.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkYWJBkes94P-is-ccE0TUgyRCT3fA0BfiEQXl6JAlqMYtRWQZDqbFQj3UkPP37XaDkOVN0CDGMllD8pGgdrsw4JqZG1QU8Hb0vDOtu_2joe4818E241_tdftWHvg93KtxYSS0wKlrv3Dj/s1600/hotel_in_centro_a_verona_arena_di_verona.jpg" height="198" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Verona Arena</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It
is probably fortunate that he recorded at all. Clearly he knew the Donizetti
and Rossini repertoire and how to extract that visceral excitement that
such opera demands. </span></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">The performances put me in to mind of the opera episode in E.M Forster's <i>Where Angels Fear to Tread </i>set in the fictional town of </span>Monteriano:-</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
Citizens came out for a little stroll before dinner. Some of them stood and gazed at the advertisements on the tower.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Surely that isn't an opera-bill?" said Miss Abbott.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
Philip put on his pince-nez. "'Lucia di Lammermoor. By the Master Donizetti. Unique representation. This evening.'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
"But is there an opera? Right up here?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
"Why, yes. These people know how to live. They would sooner have a thing bad than not have it at all. That is why they have got to have so much that is good. However bad the performance is tonight, it will be alive. Italians don't love music silently, like the beastly Germans. The audience takes its share--sometimes more."</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Cusinati's recordings are sparse and comprise a group of records cut
for the Favorite label in October 1908, i don't think anything esle survives except his part in any 'off air' recordings from the Arena. Unfortunately my copy of this record was well liked and played so has rather suffered, especially so at the beginning of the 'Lucia' selection.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The playing of this Band of 44 is spirited, a bit hapahzard in places but then it has that rhythmic drive and panache that is just so often missing in performances of Rossini and Donizetti. I have just no idea what Cusinani's influence was on Callas but something of his style must have rubbed off.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">These recordings are not
listed by Claude Arnold in his comprehensive discography <i>The Orchestra on
Record 1896-1926</i> or indeed anywhere else, however the <i>Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek</i> has a few including a copy of the one I have dubbed. Looking at the matrix numbers it would seem two recording session must have taken place in 1908 - the suffixes -o indicate 10 inch, and -p indicate 12 inch discs. I have assumed the date printed on the label is probably a fabrication date and the recording where probably cut slightly earlier. </span>From the gaps in the sequence I would estimate that Favorite issued a couple of dozen records by the band.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-fFZSnp3WFu8mBcrUqucQYf50YTlq_P8xgQBdcDS3DGzRrtKAPQ1Ux916dmTOohtCf-E8sF3ibEYuXgVwuzKM820NcGVUthEtsr4SIiNYG8K2d2AS3mv3vcoYa0DTTtbMLuNk52NuZAJ/s1600/Cusinati+Discography.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-fFZSnp3WFu8mBcrUqucQYf50YTlq_P8xgQBdcDS3DGzRrtKAPQ1Ux916dmTOohtCf-E8sF3ibEYuXgVwuzKM820NcGVUthEtsr4SIiNYG8K2d2AS3mv3vcoYa0DTTtbMLuNk52NuZAJ/s1600/Cusinati+Discography.jpg" height="187" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;">That is the sum total of my knowledge of Ferruccio Cusinati - I have also sadly not been able to turn up any photograph of him.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-pTyrjy6vDss%2FVGpgktbYiTI%2FAAAAAAAAEQw%2FhUp-DfU12_k%2Fs1600%2Fhotel_in_centro_a_verona_arena_di_verona.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkYWJBkes94P-is-ccE0TUgyRCT3fA0BfiEQXl6JAlqMYtRWQZDqbFQj3UkPP37XaDkOVN0CDGMllD8pGgdrsw4JqZG1QU8Hb0vDOtu_2joe4818E241_tdftWHvg93KtxYSS0wKlrv3Dj/s1600/hotel_in_centro_a_verona_arena_di_verona.jpg" -->Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-4005924307861835842014-06-21T18:42:00.003+01:002014-06-21T18:42:32.929+01:00'one can hear the far too numerous twiddly bits'<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Liszt<span style="background-color: white;">: Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Themes </span>S123 </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Arthur de Greef, piano &</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Royal Albert Hall Orchestra</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> conducted by Landon Ronald</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">HMV D523 & D528</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Matrix Nos. HO 4573af; Ho4574-2af; HO 4575af & HO 4576-3af)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wednesday 27th October 1920</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJY3qYpAAsrwrsJrXkgUntU2gJ5okNn5jfQls3jEtHCqkM_i9CQoIsvXbqwq8iDzmpWLUDyfAuSvhFBdmAU73MSauPLRr8vQV_M8gqwMn7xO97qabTd2HVcQu2nz_1PW3m4D690Blz57cQ/s1600/HMV+D523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJY3qYpAAsrwrsJrXkgUntU2gJ5okNn5jfQls3jEtHCqkM_i9CQoIsvXbqwq8iDzmpWLUDyfAuSvhFBdmAU73MSauPLRr8vQV_M8gqwMn7xO97qabTd2HVcQu2nz_1PW3m4D690Blz57cQ/s1600/HMV+D523.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/nwrv9vhl76vv29q" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">FLAC file 16bit</span></b></a> [91Mb] or <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/bvi86j5b2c6uojf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;"><b>FLAC File 24bit</b></span></a> [167Mb]</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(If you are not familiar with FLAC I can recommend <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/download" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Foobar2000</span></a> player)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have always had a fondness for Arthur de Greef's playing and don't mind posting something that has been reissued before. A few months ago APR produced a 3CD set of de Greef's recordings that included the 1927 electric remake of the 'Hungarian Fantasia.' This post is partly to supplement and advertise their reissue available <a href="http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=APR7401" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;"><b>here</b></span></a> but also to test out an alternative method of making a transfer [more of which below]. I don't think I could add much to the excellent notes by Jonathan Summers for the APR issue that can be had<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/917401-B.pdf" target="_blank"><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #38761d;">here</span></b></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHumnXF_yxtH18VvfYi2mpm3S96C2e9UCHKBr5-wB45xBCMoquN8iPpMk0CKl_lDpSPQK8C-h-7ePyXJXQbacvXzHut3zxXJz7bAwI1WJZcM0Ek-R-vuCVnuHI3sRtFpORQjCWMSsEAZw/s1600/Arthur_De_Greef.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHumnXF_yxtH18VvfYi2mpm3S96C2e9UCHKBr5-wB45xBCMoquN8iPpMk0CKl_lDpSPQK8C-h-7ePyXJXQbacvXzHut3zxXJz7bAwI1WJZcM0Ek-R-vuCVnuHI3sRtFpORQjCWMSsEAZw/s1600/Arthur_De_Greef.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The 1927 recording runs to 16m.12s. whereas the acoustic version is faster at 15m. There is in fact plenty of room left on three of the four sides so it was not a case of rushing the performance. The month before the recording de Greef had given a performance at the Proms with Henry Wood and the New Queen's Hall Orchestra on Saturday 11 September 1920.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wood was contracted to Columbia and De Greef to HMV so there was no way they would have been able to make a recording together. The standard practise was for extended classical works to be issued over several months hence the numerical gap between the record numbers D523, issued in February, 1921, and D528 issued in March. In the May 1921 issue of <i>Musical Times</i> 'Discus' reviewed the records in his <i>Gramophone Notes</i> column :- </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Another old friend turns up in Liszt's ' Hungarian' Fantasia, with de Greef at the pianoforte, and Landon Ronald and the Albert Hall Orchestra, H.M.V., two d.-s. records. The pianoforte tone is especially well reproduced - so well, in fact, that one can hear the far too numerous twiddly bits with patience. What a long while Liszt is getting under way in this work! One feels inclined to say, with Macbeth, 'Come, fellow, leave thy damnable faces, and begin.' Of these two records the first is the more enjoyable, not because it is a better record, but because the musical interest is on the whole greater. But the pair should be in the cabinet of all who want a particularly good sample of pianoforte-cum orchestra.'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have taken a somewhat different approach to this transfer than others on the blog, the sound is slightly noisier but I hope it is also a lot clearer and more balanced. This 'new process' is a work very much in progress, so any comments on it would be appreciated. I have the usual version of FLAC file at 44.1Khz 16bit but the 24bit version is better sound a lot better with less surface noise, although the downside is it is almost twice a large.</span></div>
Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-26021933129784313282014-05-31T20:54:00.001+01:002014-06-01T12:37:38.694+01:00Dirigible Music<br />
<div style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Herman</span><span style="background-color: white;">n Männecke</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">: </span></span>"Graf Zeppelins" Weltreise </span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rund um die Erde - Großes Potpourri. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Orchestra of the Berlin Staatskapelle </span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">conducted by Dr</span><b><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">Fri</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">ed</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">er</span></b><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> Weissmann</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Parlophone E10951</span></b></span></div>
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</span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">(Matrix Nos xxB 8393-2 & xxB 8394-2</span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tuesday, 10th September, 1929</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHLaqZTITEdTaMSA0qRza7KipgVzQucm5Z-AxgZYwRpjdKzoPENvGl9h-nxXrGKqjG5eWkYXnlHHQfoIf7RzfYSx5F-9Ec6tkPOs_YKIK7sxhAtHPjo1lzPIV5oV3XT61fFvLl1rgXI6q/s1600/Parlophone+E10951.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHLaqZTITEdTaMSA0qRza7KipgVzQucm5Z-AxgZYwRpjdKzoPENvGl9h-nxXrGKqjG5eWkYXnlHHQfoIf7RzfYSx5F-9Ec6tkPOs_YKIK7sxhAtHPjo1lzPIV5oV3XT61fFvLl1rgXI6q/s1600/Parlophone+E10951.jpg" height="320" width="319" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">One Flac file, </span><b style="line-height: normal; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/10szb582jbzar83/Mennecke_-_Graz_Zeppelin_-_Berlin_Staatskapelle_Weissemann_rec_1929_.flac"><span style="color: #274e13;">Here</span></a></b><span style="color: #38761d; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">at Mediafire. [about 24Mb]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #333333;">The label on this British issue as you can see only gives half the story of this once 'topical' record and for some odd reason drops the name of both orchestra and conductor too. I can understand the wish to miss out the Zeppelin name because of the fairly recent raids during the First War but it is more likely that the loss of the British </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R101" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Airship R101</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> in September 1930 may have caused a label change! </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: #333333;">The composition celebrates the airship </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_127_Graf_Zeppelin" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> circumnavigating the globe in 1929. It was really a trip round the northern hemisphere and depending on which starting point you want to pick the trip either started and finished at </span><a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakehurst_Naval_Air_Station" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Lakehurst in New Jersey</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> or </span><a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichshafen" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Friedrichshafen</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> in Germany.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvxp2_3RKRFaNNP8aGGIGmlt0jtMv109HjFAchwMipqows0q0VlQx4W353Is0m05muff0QG8Wo-xsSnq8PM9JpDKD3tDaltaW6Q941G6bOP5Y3lt5NLft0fH6Qbpl1xjSnhwljoBjI64jl/s1600/Mi_423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvxp2_3RKRFaNNP8aGGIGmlt0jtMv109HjFAchwMipqows0q0VlQx4W353Is0m05muff0QG8Wo-xsSnq8PM9JpDKD3tDaltaW6Q941G6bOP5Y3lt5NLft0fH6Qbpl1xjSnhwljoBjI64jl/s1600/Mi_423.jpg" height="232" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">Thus each leg of the journey was as follows:-</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Friedrichshaften-Lakehurst: August 1, 1929- August 4, 1929</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Lakehurst - Friedrichshaften: August 7, 1929 – August 10, 1929</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Friedrichshafen – Tokyo: August 15, 1929 – August 19, 1929</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Tokyo – Los Angeles: August 23, 1929 – August 26, 1929</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Los Angeles – Lakehurst: August 27, 1929 – August 29, 1929</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Lakehurst – Friedrichshafen: September 1, 1929 – September 4, 1929</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Wikipedia et al take the Lakehurst position but our composer clearly preferred the Friedrichshafen one. He must have dashed the piece off in August 1929 for the recording was made within a week of the Graf Zeppelin landing back home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Of Hermann Männecke (1879-1950) I have little to tell and can only transcribe the information in Wikipedia. Hermann was born and studied music at Hanover, he conducted his own band Blasorchester Hermann Männecke made a number of recordings and broadcasts. In 1931 Männecke became head of the orchestra class at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. He made a large number of adaptations of classical music, but also wrote his own work. Along with other composers and arrangers (Georg Haentzschel, Gerhard Winkler, Hans Mielenz etc.) on November 29, 1950, he founded the Vereinigung Deutscher Musik-Bearbeiter eV (Association of German Music Arrangers). </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">This is a film of the Graf Zeppelin over the Netherlands dropping a mail sack as it passes by.</span></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyWWdYVb-hyKEn59hvouVo4YSFvWBbAYSx8WAT14wNs0_2kB5Dy58Sp73k-jQhwH_ZJMUltwtsbSevsPwvJbQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-CG0-DOxrBdQ%2FU4ov-V4FSYI%2FAAAAAAAAEOw%2Foc3P5x3CUCw%2Fs1600%2FParlophone%2BE10951.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHLaqZTITEdTaMSA0qRza7KipgVzQucm5Z-AxgZYwRpjdKzoPENvGl9h-nxXrGKqjG5eWkYXnlHHQfoIf7RzfYSx5F-9Ec6tkPOs_YKIK7sxhAtHPjo1lzPIV5oV3XT61fFvLl1rgXI6q/s1600/Parlophone+E10951.jpg" -->Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-74586788267518383772014-04-16T22:45:00.000+01:002017-01-02T21:05:30.142+00:00Even more duplication<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tchaikovsky<span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">: </span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Symphony No. 6 in B minor, 'Pathétique'</span></span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">3. Allegro molto vivace -abridged</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The New Symphony Orchestra </span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><b style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">conducted by Landon Ronald</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>HMV 0757</b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">(Matrix Nos.</span><span style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">al5864f</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">)</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Saturday 6th January 1912</span></div><div style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheQaO1B1b9Y2O_3v0AZEbfbl-sYGM7pTSN5Nqhfo2IOZuqkH6B-TQ8WMvgfZE0uYJzsqdJEZ8TrPnFHzsu6io4pPTQR2Wx90mEi7Ug1nk-pFa9tA6fHkdJ7w60Uveh07_XPRDH5AJVw7xB/s1600/HMV+0757.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheQaO1B1b9Y2O_3v0AZEbfbl-sYGM7pTSN5Nqhfo2IOZuqkH6B-TQ8WMvgfZE0uYJzsqdJEZ8TrPnFHzsu6io4pPTQR2Wx90mEi7Ug1nk-pFa9tA6fHkdJ7w60Uveh07_XPRDH5AJVw7xB/s1600/HMV+0757.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">One Flac files , </span><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/xhmpk14r79sl1mo" style="color: #888888; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Here</span></b></a><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">at Mediafire. [about 21Mb]</span></div><div style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>I meant to add one more tract to my last post but entirely forgot.<br />
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Thought I would also try out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundCloud" target="_blank">Soundcloud</a> to see how it worked and indeed if it worked! I have however left my usual link to the recoding for download by ye olde tried and tested method as it has probably better fidelity.<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/144872547&color=38761d&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Not much to say really other than this is Ronald's first attempt at recording a part of the Symphony. Same orchestra but before the name change a few years later. This recording lasted an even shorter period in the catalogues that the 1923 'full' version posed a few days ago. HMV decided to re-record the excerpt in 1915 with another attempt under the same issue number. Clearly a much smaller orchestra than the forces used in 1923 but still Ronald and his 'band of merry men' managed to pack a lot in all the same. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">You will hear through this recording a bit of 'rumble' that is prevelent usually when the trombones are playing. I have a feeling that the lower harmonics may have mechanically vibrated the recording machine, either through the floor or to some part of the machine was exposed to their blast - anyway I have left this in the transfer as a sort of curiosity.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAp5rLFdDzBrt9uqO2qfJJ9oLs8H_MMJuuJOiTIgWhkKKbAFhgsigf_lmobNsGTfy7OlxhFhbpavq88qNyJnEF7B5z00dyNlSiGIpoMR7yTumVnM4-QBbhw_xZY5FmLgg04z8pqBXraM_4/s1600/Lanndon+Ronald+NSO+1912.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAp5rLFdDzBrt9uqO2qfJJ9oLs8H_MMJuuJOiTIgWhkKKbAFhgsigf_lmobNsGTfy7OlxhFhbpavq88qNyJnEF7B5z00dyNlSiGIpoMR7yTumVnM4-QBbhw_xZY5FmLgg04z8pqBXraM_4/s1600/Lanndon+Ronald+NSO+1912.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Landon Ronald & the New Symphony Orchestra c. 1912</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I just love the wording from the October 1912 HMV <i>New Records</i> supplement below. At 19 years of age the work was indeed a 'landmark of modern orchestral music.' I can't think the adjective 'barbaric' would be used today though.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4FKN5-MBI-sYjANfYrs-OcMce3uuTQMKguKzuiQXdAd-StICwzC1aOlBDs-TKH1GvUj6wU60hIddTwAX1qwLz61wdlGx_iViE556yHurLpwp_ipy0-EluBr5Bbi5UU6lEGfmxQ1bdz2eQ/s1600/HMV+New+Records+-+October+1912.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4FKN5-MBI-sYjANfYrs-OcMce3uuTQMKguKzuiQXdAd-StICwzC1aOlBDs-TKH1GvUj6wU60hIddTwAX1qwLz61wdlGx_iViE556yHurLpwp_ipy0-EluBr5Bbi5UU6lEGfmxQ1bdz2eQ/s1600/HMV+New+Records+-+October+1912.jpg" width="395" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">I can't help wondering what the public of 1912 felt about these recordings. Ernest Newman article ‘The Essential Tchaikovsky’ [published in the <i>Contemporary Review</i>, June 1901] succinctly summed up the general opinion a few years early 'It cannot be said that our ordinary musical audiences know Tchaikovsky very well...for the great majority of people Tchaikovsky may be said to be represented by the Sixth Symphony, the '1812' Overture, and the <i>Casse-Noisette</i> Suite - the first earning him the reputation of a hopeless pessimist, the second that of a semi-barbarian, the third that of an adept in graceful trifling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justified;">Barbarian and Tchaikovsky synonymous then.</div><br />
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Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-43212914486600650742014-04-13T20:23:00.002+01:002014-04-13T21:37:53.395+01:00Yet more duplication<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tchaikovsky<span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">: </span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Symphony No. 6 in B minor, 'Pathétique'</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">1. Allegro non troppo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">2. Allegro non grazia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">3. Allegro molto vivace</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">4. Finale, adagio lamentoso</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Royal Albert Hall Orchestra </span></b></div>
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<b style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">conducted by Landon Ronald</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>HMV D 713-D 717</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">(Matrix Nos.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">Cc2463-4; Cc2916-2;
Cc2917-2; Cc2918-2;</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> Cc2919-4; </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Cc2920-1; Cc2921-1; Cc2984-2; Cc2985-4
& Cc2986-7</span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Side 1 on 30th January 1923 ~ Sides 2,3,4 6 & 7 on 1st May 1923 ~ side 8 on 15th May 1923</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> sides 5 & 9 on 29th May 1923 ~ side 10 on 23rd June 1923 : [see chart below]</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja4lqovy3TH_z8EMsRycQIxWOokUTDAzvAKbdv31aYQN61edF_T3LejDGyurODrKG-uN9wZPwh0rKT_DQJ4ppvyUEfwsSAbTsDJ-m6_sXsr-8km00YhgBIJq21S_Bx3YGDJ6ku-coBtxAk/s1600/HMV+D713.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja4lqovy3TH_z8EMsRycQIxWOokUTDAzvAKbdv31aYQN61edF_T3LejDGyurODrKG-uN9wZPwh0rKT_DQJ4ppvyUEfwsSAbTsDJ-m6_sXsr-8km00YhgBIJq21S_Bx3YGDJ6ku-coBtxAk/s1600/HMV+D713.jpg" height="319" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Zip of 4 Flac files , </span><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/j1n67nuhz4h53u6" style="color: #888888; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Here</span></b></a><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">at Mediafire. [about 99Mb]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Oh no! not another </span><i style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;">Pathétique</i><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> I hear you say, and yes it has been done before by others, but as I was doing this for my own selfish interest anyway, I thought I could also bore others with my enthusiasm. </span></span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;">It is not quite complete as the two repeats in the second movement and fourteen bars at the end of the final movement are cut, plus a couple of notes of timpani between the third and fourth sides of the first movement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">It might seem curious that Landon Ronald was chosen to conduct the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">'Pathétique' rather than Albert Coates the new conductor on the roster of HMV, however Ronald's association with the piece had a long gestation period. In his two autobiographical works he makes several references to the piece and more than did his part in popularising it in the UK.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Ronald began conducting in 1892 but it was really from 1904 that he started to conduct larger orchestral works. His career really took off as a byproduct from Henry Wood and Thomas Beecham's fall out over the deputy system that was then prevalent with orchestras. Basically a time honoured substitution system that allowed another player to deputise during rehearsals. Henry Wood sacked the Queen's Hall Orchestra in 1904 because he could no longer tolerate the deputy system, with the member reorganising themselves into the London Symphony Orchestra Ronald became one of their conductors. The orchestra employed </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 14.5600004196167px;">Nikisch</span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> and Richter for special concerts with Frederick </span>Cowan<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">, Edward Elgar, Alexander Mackenzie, Max </span>Fiedler<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">, </span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Felix Weingartner</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Wilhelm Mengelberg</span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">, and Ronald taking a half dozen or so concerts each. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaAeCDGbbcFb_P3wjyDPLUswNHb3CQz-7YuG8S05PikAChJk7jVvk2uMUalUzrxDwCzE1QFzMjLnxmEsQL4v871JD4SWC7V9KSMmrgCSJ3e0GZC0VQyaMaYqegM7mgsNiWV7_WTEsAH3Rk/s1600/Wood+&+Ronald.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaAeCDGbbcFb_P3wjyDPLUswNHb3CQz-7YuG8S05PikAChJk7jVvk2uMUalUzrxDwCzE1QFzMjLnxmEsQL4v871JD4SWC7V9KSMmrgCSJ3e0GZC0VQyaMaYqegM7mgsNiWV7_WTEsAH3Rk/s1600/Wood+&+Ronald.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Landon Ronald & Henry Wood, 1909</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Beecham</span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> at this time was also beginning his path to fame and created his own orchestra, he too fell out with his players and so his New Symphony Orchestra became a self governing orchestra from 1909. Ronald was asked if he would conduct some concerts with this orchestra and found himself conducting both the </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">LSO</span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> and the New Symphony Orchestra from 1909. The policy of the LSO was not to have a permanent conductor, Ronald wanted to advance his career and although he never sought any permanent position he was disappointed that the orchestra restricted him to between six and eight Sunday concerts per year. 'Had they had any foresight they would undoubtedly have realised that an ambitious young man like myself would not be content to sit down and take crumbs thrown him by the the Directors of the London Symphony orchestra.' (see Landon Ronald: <i>Myself and others</i> [1931]) So it was that Ronald became the chief conductor of the New Symphony and conducted for forty Sundays each year at the Royal Albert Hall.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">The New Symphony had quite an amazing group of players for the time, now alas for the most part all but forgotten; the leader was </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: justify;"> John Saunders with his pupil Albert Sammons, deputy leader; Waldo Warner lead the violas; Jean Prewvenners the cellos (until 1911 when succeeded by Warwick Evans); Charles Draper first clarinet; Arthur Forman, first oboe; Aubrey Brain, first horn; Peter Anderson and H. Goddard, trumpets; Eli Hudson first flute and chairman of the orchestra; and F.C. Barker, harp. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">With the series of concerts every Sunday at the Albert Hall with the New Symphony Orchestra Ronald was able to bring his orchestra to HMV and pioneer a number of orchestral recording experiments. This is why this orchestra and a number of its players individually began to be employed by HMV around this time. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;">When the New Symphony Orchestra renamed itself the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra in 1915 Ronald was named as its permanent conductor, a position he held until the orchestra ceased to exist after 1928. Under Ronald it also became the first orchestra in Britain to have a recording contract, naturally enough with The Gramophone Company.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLsZINsFNwNEmhGR375tWPq2WbGpaRXwYAsbyvn4mz-wgKdIWMvq8MapQt5Dmd6CkSDK6Dd-dYR4F09pD4VecCxKj1AWlTeKPIbt8ILuTmnV9pqPmiStEkis1k72u5tsPqqKvzv8zxz_jC/s1600/Landon+Ronald+-+Bassano+1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLsZINsFNwNEmhGR375tWPq2WbGpaRXwYAsbyvn4mz-wgKdIWMvq8MapQt5Dmd6CkSDK6Dd-dYR4F09pD4VecCxKj1AWlTeKPIbt8ILuTmnV9pqPmiStEkis1k72u5tsPqqKvzv8zxz_jC/s1600/Landon+Ronald+-+Bassano+1920.jpg" height="400" width="297" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ronald in 1920</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;">Now why the </span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;">Pathétique?</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;"> Well quite simply he played it more often than anyone else between about 1910 and 1920. According to his autobiography Ronald relates 'It had been our custom to give the audience a voting paper during the season, and ask them to place a cross against any particular item which they would care to have performed at the last concert. I always counted the votes most carefully myself, and the program was duly advertised in the papers two or three days before the concert. As a matter of interest I may mention that nearly all the Plebiscite programmes I have conducted in London and the Provinces as a rule contained the same items. The Symphony receiving the greatest number of votes was either Tchaikovsky's<i> </i></span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;"><i>Pathétique</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> or Beethoven's</span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> No. 5</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> the Overture chosen was generally </span></span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><i>Tannhäuser</i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">, </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> Meistersingers</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> or </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Leonora No. 3</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">, and the two most popular suites were the </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Casse Noisette</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> of Tchaikovsky and the </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Peer Gynt</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> of Grieg - The Delibes Suite </span></span>de<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> Ballet </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Sylvia</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> running the two very close.'</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">All of the above compositions were recorded by Ronald and the New Symphony or Royal Albert Hall Orchestra. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1ApARrxc42c0S7TacIm88fjNbUZEDmMilik7zVeye5MKXaZNC0EQEVtxGiD8m7G8HROlsHBLwcDER8vzJnrluA5PO8CtAZqkVV97Hz98Z2kyd_C6cDccjHCJhRBGI3M2ePAyoAQPLhDv/s1600/The+Times+26+April+1919.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1ApARrxc42c0S7TacIm88fjNbUZEDmMilik7zVeye5MKXaZNC0EQEVtxGiD8m7G8HROlsHBLwcDER8vzJnrluA5PO8CtAZqkVV97Hz98Z2kyd_C6cDccjHCJhRBGI3M2ePAyoAQPLhDv/s1600/The+Times+26+April+1919.jpg" height="281" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This advert from <i>The Times </i>of 27th April 1919 clearly shows all the other items on the bill were also recorded by Ronald. I presume that these were 'Ronald's' pieces and although quite a number of them were the plums of the concert repertoire it would seem he had first pick not only because of his position in the Gramophone Company but was one of the few conductors prepared to take on the arduous task of recording them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The recording of such a long piece was fraught with difficulties. Side 1 took four takes on the 30th of January 1923. I have a gut feeling that these four takes, the only waxes recorded by Ronald and the Orchestra, were all sound tests. They would have worked out various different positions for the players at this session and probably many more takes were cut than the four which were mastered. Only these four proved technically, or at least visually, alright when the waxes were examined before processing. This supposition seems to be born out by the general clear run of recordings on the 1st of May. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The last movement though proved to be a bit of a problem. The sheer volume of sound produced by trombones, trumpets, horns, timpani etc. not to mention the tuba replacement for double-bass all playing over long sections of the recording must have been just a bit too much for the small recording diaphragm and the wax grooves. HMV were not happy until a 7th take was made on the 23 June 1923 although it appears that they initially passed the 4th take of 29th May that lasted only a month or so before being replaced, it would be quite interesting to hear this take too. The sound scape changes a bit on this last side indicating some form of damping taking place although I have ameliorated this in my transfer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway for the lunatics like me around the world I have charted the recording session takes with <span style="color: blue;">blue</span> = issued and <span style="color: #38761d;">green</span> = initially issued but then withdrawn. Interesting also to note that Tuesday seemed to been the main free day for recording of this orchestra. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSjni2_LkwCCMfuJJoD7JOoCfMoEHiPXK4n_Mb593GNyQvYXOf5htH5RfOx4LLGUbt_OP_oI0_myyWzF_nAnqpmvItbnh0zJNCsPKGxuB-FakPusM01Ii4vGHE0mG8YYBaXQaIjMzu7sfH/s1600/Tchaik+6+Ronald+Matrix+info.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSjni2_LkwCCMfuJJoD7JOoCfMoEHiPXK4n_Mb593GNyQvYXOf5htH5RfOx4LLGUbt_OP_oI0_myyWzF_nAnqpmvItbnh0zJNCsPKGxuB-FakPusM01Ii4vGHE0mG8YYBaXQaIjMzu7sfH/s1600/Tchaik+6+Ronald+Matrix+info.jpg" height="358" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;">The set was marketed in July 1923 but was effectively replaced by Albert Coates and the 'Symphony Orchestra' (actually the LSO) new electrical recording issued on HMV D1190-1194 in March 1927, </span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;">Ronald's version still lingered on until June 1927.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Well as topical as one can be about something made and played long ago:-</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Landing through my letterbox today was the Spring 2014 edition of <a href="http://crq.org.uk/highlights.php" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Classical Recordings Quarterly</span></a>. An article on violinist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Hall" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Marie Hall</span></a> (1884-1956) has prompted me to make a few transfers of her playing. Her late recordings are scarce and I don't think these discs have ever been made available except in their original format.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Marie Hall <i>violin</i></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">Sinding<span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">: </span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>Romance, Op.9</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Sinigaglia: </span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>Capriccio all'antica, Op.25 No.2</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Goossens: </span></b><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>Old Chinese Folk Song</b></span></span><b style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">, Op.4, No.1</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Holst: </span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>Valse-Etude, H.56</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>HMV E340 </b></span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">(Bb 4227-1; Bb 4238-3)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>HMV E348 </b></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Bb 4236-3; Bb 4237-1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">All recorded on 20 February 1924 with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> <b>Marguerite Tilleard</b>, <i>piano </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">excepting the</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>Sinigaglia</b> which was recorded on the 21st February 1924 with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>Charlton Reith</b>, <i>piano</i>.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTK7z-v_a8G1HTgdYeNZMmZeXbHGB9YPs6Wt7VxjExNYUmde2oWjSf_uba9te6HaaEbr6Tkd1eBQzHE10R_qMiKGVkTugSqgVCjIhoWTR0uL51oooA3N9eNfq0vHX6x9Kk64D_UP72Hne2/s1600/HMV+E348+Holst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTK7z-v_a8G1HTgdYeNZMmZeXbHGB9YPs6Wt7VxjExNYUmde2oWjSf_uba9te6HaaEbr6Tkd1eBQzHE10R_qMiKGVkTugSqgVCjIhoWTR0uL51oooA3N9eNfq0vHX6x9Kk64D_UP72Hne2/s1600/HMV+E348+Holst.jpg" height="320" width="319" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Zip of 4 Flac files , </span><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/8rf677oby8rmpul" style="color: #888888; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Here</span></b></a><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">at Mediafire. [about 35Mb]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">These four pieces must have been part of her repertoire in 1924, coincidentally a recent post on another blog <a href="http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/encouraging-british-music-marie-hall.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Land of Lost Content</span></a> transcribes a letter from Marie Hall in which she encourages British music. As is pointed out, the three pieces she played at a Wigmore Hall recital in 1922 have disappeared. The other correspondent, John Ireland no less, suggests several other piece that have subsequently stood the test of time. I wonder if Marie Hall career was leaning towards modern music but unfortunately for her the wrong sort of 'modern' music. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPCCfSVJ_y1nIMKfl0D6KsqhBYmEOqbc4kGeodZyYYQaXe6LLIZw9eAcqaOMGdRG6WqDVmT5OD39qMK0JAlGDl4B54ycfsp5QlD928GBtDtrVMEyHhx2soSEal7Pdcck_5rtuEIT54Y56F/s1600/Marie+Hall+1904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPCCfSVJ_y1nIMKfl0D6KsqhBYmEOqbc4kGeodZyYYQaXe6LLIZw9eAcqaOMGdRG6WqDVmT5OD39qMK0JAlGDl4B54ycfsp5QlD928GBtDtrVMEyHhx2soSEal7Pdcck_5rtuEIT54Y56F/s1600/Marie+Hall+1904.jpg" height="400" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marie Hall about 1904</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">What of the pieces, the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Sinding" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Sinding</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> and the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leone_Sinigaglia" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Sinigaglia</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> were both fairly standard repertoire in their day and do crop up from time to time on record and probably formed part of Hall's concert material. The</span><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Aynsley_Goossens" target="_blank">Goossens</a></span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> was played by Marie Hall on the 19th September 1922 at a concert in Portsmouth, so this too was maybe also in her repertoire. Apparently Goossens</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> researched authentic material from London’s Chinese quarter in Limehouse, I wonder what else he got up to in that quarter of London in his youth.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imogen_Holst" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Imogen Hols</span>t</a><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> in her article on recordings of her father </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Holst" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Gustav Holst</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> for </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Recorded Sound</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"> (No. 59, 1975 p. 440) noted that ‘The early violin solo, <i>Valse-Etude</i>, was recorded by Marie Hall, the dedicatee, in 1924 (HMV E348), and as she had first performed it in 1903 she would have known his wishes.’ I might add that </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px; text-align: center;">Marguerite Tilleard was apparently Marie Hall's accompanist from 1902 so would all likelihood have premiered the work with Hall.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAk_1sQcW3fLtpbsugODKYEoPOBiFhAvF6_g_24rk0HW3xGLI99D5DdoyshZoo7Pib6MO86Kf_GJFeW2uy0MO38kzffeC8h17eZk6yCBlsKBj4SIwrI-iExuc6X3uB0WFmEmGoaCsLbwBu/s1600/Holst+1923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAk_1sQcW3fLtpbsugODKYEoPOBiFhAvF6_g_24rk0HW3xGLI99D5DdoyshZoo7Pib6MO86Kf_GJFeW2uy0MO38kzffeC8h17eZk6yCBlsKBj4SIwrI-iExuc6X3uB0WFmEmGoaCsLbwBu/s1600/Holst+1923.jpg" height="293" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gustav Holst in 1923</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">These records come from what appear to be Hall’s last recording sessions. Fascinating for they show them juxtaposed with four remakes of <i>La précieuse</i> (Couperin-Kreisler); <i>Humoreske</i> (Dvořák); <i>Minuet in G</i> No. 2 (Beethoven) and <i>Le cygne</i> (Saint-Saëns) made in order to replace sides on HMV E16, E17 & E18. I think the deal may have been to re-record replacement masters and see if there was a market for her newish repertoire. Apparently the new records did not sell very well as E340, issued in May 1924, and E 348. issued in August 1924, were both deleted in December 1925. Only her <i>Humoreske</i>, survived any length of time until finally discarded in 1934. She was not asked back to make electric recording, maybe HMV just had too many already violinists on the books already.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx7D5Zp7vTeZb8za9IocPkOSdDDdOrwQKn8qC87Dy9ZZgu_tznvuakiUml5ou5Dw8sG5YnOTOX0OZA_Heffqvx-f9TSSO8RSK9-WVe0CtR6zAhY5S8j-3lWpRmGvp9GWhNp0IpFnQG-1A/s1600/Christian_sinding_1890.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx7D5Zp7vTeZb8za9IocPkOSdDDdOrwQKn8qC87Dy9ZZgu_tznvuakiUml5ou5Dw8sG5YnOTOX0OZA_Heffqvx-f9TSSO8RSK9-WVe0CtR6zAhY5S8j-3lWpRmGvp9GWhNp0IpFnQG-1A/s1600/Christian_sinding_1890.jpg" height="400" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christian Sinding in 1890</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There are only a few contemporary reviews of these discs:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For E340 only 'Discus' gave a review in <i>The Musical Times</i> for June 1924. '</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">A first-rate violin record is a 12-in. d.-s. of Thibaud in a couple of Granados's Spanish Dances, arranged by Kreisler and the player himself. Less good, because of the poorer quality of the music, is a 12-in. [</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">sic</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">] d.-s. of Marie Hall-Sinding's Romance and Sinigaglia's Catriccio all' antica.'</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDxZI3v_yLv2KTkAmC8Rhi5HTl5FXCA5mMgpP53SrLdARIRCOZ89Ny-DEOJOOO7n8Gi0FgO9dEb2MSwthDDXm6eBEFw-DwPfLuX6YDuEVoE80_aUbkLYYjd7a_5Tyl8i46qfF21KwZnXi1/s1600/Leone-Sinigaglia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDxZI3v_yLv2KTkAmC8Rhi5HTl5FXCA5mMgpP53SrLdARIRCOZ89Ny-DEOJOOO7n8Gi0FgO9dEb2MSwthDDXm6eBEFw-DwPfLuX6YDuEVoE80_aUbkLYYjd7a_5Tyl8i46qfF21KwZnXi1/s1600/Leone-Sinigaglia.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leone Sinigaglia</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For E348 there are two reviews 'Discus' again <i>The Musical Times </i>for<i> </i>September 1924 </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">'The only violin record received is above the average of interest - Marie Hall playing Holst's 'Valse-Etude' and Goossens's 'Old Chinese Folk- Song' (10-in. d.-s.). The former gives us an unfamiliar aspect of Holst, and an engaging one. The playing is delightful in freedom and delicacy. I don't know whether the Goossens piece deals with a genuine Chinese folk-song, or whether it is just the composer's idea of what such a song might be; but the result - especially in regard to some of the pianoforte harmonies - is excellent.' </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Also </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alex Robertson in <i>The Gramophone</i> for August, 1924. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">'The names of Goossens and Holst suggest an outburst of modernism, but you need have no fears. Holst's piece is just what its title tells us, and completely unambitious; and Goossens' nice “travelling" tune (pace Walford Davies) never originated in China and is cousin to some of Madame Butterfly. Both pieces are fastidiously and well played.'</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQs54wxty-YH_1pjc-hKyjKNTLtV663GpTVemT96ZZueudT7RLYp5dzASaTjbiLLShVVCbyAiUTC1Rn0yvBi-wK_yvHsyH0v9v9uLVfOtRHYdhp5Hs_dOz1jn_EjYQYvkxii4HwbL8bLE/s1600/Goossens+1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQs54wxty-YH_1pjc-hKyjKNTLtV663GpTVemT96ZZueudT7RLYp5dzASaTjbiLLShVVCbyAiUTC1Rn0yvBi-wK_yvHsyH0v9v9uLVfOtRHYdhp5Hs_dOz1jn_EjYQYvkxii4HwbL8bLE/s1600/Goossens+1920.jpg" height="400" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eugene Goossens in 1920</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have included a couple of scans from the HMV Supplements for May, 1924 and August, 1924 too. I just love the statement ‘It was daring of Marie Hall to choose for her records pieces of modern British music whose work is so widely and hotly discussed as is that of Goossens and Holst.’ That the pieces were inked in 1912 and 1903 respectively they may have been just 'daring' enough for the recording executives to take a risk, sales however were poor but at least they tried to extend the taste of a rather conservative record buying public. Also note the issues coincided with more expensive red-label issue of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Thibaud" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Jacques Thibaud</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Three contemporary articles on Marie can be found at the blog <a href="https://songofthelark.wordpress.com/category/women-violinists/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Song of the Lark</span></a>. Well down the page you have to search for it!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnr1aCh3Wjcrw8GQ4iltNb6vVIry2oreAqNIAAD5zyjTx8mivHg1fpF-by8rH0iJcNvtcCEH6TpExPTUlBSVX5-I3IML7-50icnFUJQpw6XiuLaFtcKJUmbme_cC0yIA8JROmxPo0noxgE/s1600/Violin1709_1Viotti+Marie+Hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnr1aCh3Wjcrw8GQ4iltNb6vVIry2oreAqNIAAD5zyjTx8mivHg1fpF-by8rH0iJcNvtcCEH6TpExPTUlBSVX5-I3IML7-50icnFUJQpw6XiuLaFtcKJUmbme_cC0yIA8JROmxPo0noxgE/s1600/Violin1709_1Viotti+Marie+Hall.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Stradivarius 1709 ex “Viotti-Marie Hall”</td></tr>
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<br />Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-88606503901996940792014-03-23T16:57:00.003+00:002014-03-23T16:57:45.116+00:00Music to sooth the ears of a treacherous commander<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; text-align: start;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_von_Wallenstein"><span style="color: #274e13;">Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein</span></a> (1583-1634) was a rather nasty sort who came to a sticky end. He caused mayhem during the Thirty Years War and had a pack of soldiers who could do anything they wanted as long as they took orders in battle. Schiller wrote trilogy of plays on Wallenstein's exploits and Smetana took one of these up as a symphonic poem. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Smetana<span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">: </span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Symphonic Poem - Wallerstein's Camp, Op. 14</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Czech Philharmonic Orchestra </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">conducted by </b><span style="background-color: transparent;">Rafael</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span>Kubelík</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>Mercury 16000 & 16001</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">(Matrix Nos. KMC 044048 - KMC 044051 from </span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Supraphon</span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Prague? 1st December 1943</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Dk8HwdfnxxfpFUQzIHi7lDEDSVW6dvfULJdgENspYkl6cpE-RnHufjQ4Mj5lfph_13Civan51zKION81Lg5HBrq6ChiM_vnlDPQ6VmL5xNJEJld304AYaPPaQqrW0bmH8Ifi5u0Wy0BG/s1600/Mercury+16000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Dk8HwdfnxxfpFUQzIHi7lDEDSVW6dvfULJdgENspYkl6cpE-RnHufjQ4Mj5lfph_13Civan51zKION81Lg5HBrq6ChiM_vnlDPQ6VmL5xNJEJld304AYaPPaQqrW0bmH8Ifi5u0Wy0BG/s1600/Mercury+16000.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">1 Flac , </span><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/jd7bad7kc0cdkb7" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Here</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #38761d; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">at Mediafire. [about 83Mb]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This recording has been released on CD but the sound is pretty poor. I think it took real skill to record this so badly; more probably the depredations of war took its toll on both the engineers, equipment and the venue in occupied Prague. The photograph below is in all likelihood taken at the session and shows the placement of the microphone, I can't identify where it is for I am sure that it is neither the Smetana Hall or the <span style="background-color: white;">Dvořák Hall in the Rudolfinum. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Kubelík recorded for Supraphon three tone poems in December 1943. He began with Wallenstein's Camp op. 14 on the 1st December, before setting down Hakon Jarl op.16 on the 10th and Richard III op. 11 on the 13th.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqKSLEUZmPb_3nI9n9ofWsiPtXfBd6eSYSQCC0_mgx6sdeUlgBMz3z6ZX2GR-6_DnuUBCnrN4glQtJOWhxQujN1gvtVxlCUkALAbSWKLPIJy4LMSurVg_b2TJWBurx0xJ1RA0LmVopRQu/s1600/kub-old.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqKSLEUZmPb_3nI9n9ofWsiPtXfBd6eSYSQCC0_mgx6sdeUlgBMz3z6ZX2GR-6_DnuUBCnrN4glQtJOWhxQujN1gvtVxlCUkALAbSWKLPIJy4LMSurVg_b2TJWBurx0xJ1RA0LmVopRQu/s1600/kub-old.jpg" height="400" width="316" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The excellent site <a href="http://vagne.free.fr/kubelik"><span style="color: #274e13;">http://vagne.free.fr/kubelik</span></a> has all you need to know on Rafael Kubelík and his recordings so I won't repeat what has already been said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The recording is problematic. When played at 78rpm the first side is some quarter of a tone higher than the following three, the microphone seems to have been moved or possibly the musicians too. There are number of wrong notes and also some rather odd sounds coming from the orchestra, in a couple of places the sound is either compressed or almost inaudible. Despite this it is just fantastic, Kubelík and the orchestra drive the music along and just about hold it all together. The work really needs to prevent it becoming either stodgy or boring, something I think afflicts many recordings of the piece. During the war Kubelík really had to struggle to keep the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra going and even had to defend Czech music in its programs; how he was allowed to set anything down is a wonder in itself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I assume that the Mercury pressing were issued before Kubelík defected to the West in 1948. The recording was also issued on an LP too - I wonder if that sounds any better.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQukW24yi8R0jUm-VKsddlXZdQ1s_Bn62oNp7yw9RNDpYsVPhnZg5mkV8q8Qh14kdzqEDkeH4QN_hfZznIClmi2atbFV7ip-6I7t85dJjALtS5fc7GtfCyNTzKxU9C5w_agr9fqZmQ1GM-/s1600/comp_601_836.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQukW24yi8R0jUm-VKsddlXZdQ1s_Bn62oNp7yw9RNDpYsVPhnZg5mkV8q8Qh14kdzqEDkeH4QN_hfZznIClmi2atbFV7ip-6I7t85dJjALtS5fc7GtfCyNTzKxU9C5w_agr9fqZmQ1GM-/s1600/comp_601_836.jpeg" height="320" width="291" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Mrs Smetana [No. 2] & Mr Smetana in 1862</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have included with the music an image of the record album together with the notes by David Hall that accompanied the records.</span><br />
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<br />Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-50015590706160624912014-03-16T21:07:00.003+00:002014-03-16T21:17:01.567+00:00'Complete' in just under sixteen minutes<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Tchaikovsky<span style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">: </span></span><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Symphony No. 6 in B minor, 'Pathétique'</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">1. Allegro non troppo</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">2. Allegro non grazia</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">3. Allegro molto vivace</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">4. Finale, adagio lamentoso</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The Imperial Symphony Orchestra </span></b></div>
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<b style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">conducted by [Lilian Bryant]</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">Path</span><span style="text-align: start;">é</span></b><b style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"> 2079 & 2089</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">(Matrix Nos.79629; 79630; 79659; 79660)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b></b></span></span><span style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;"></span><span style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;"></span><span style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;"></span><span style="line-height: 18.479999542236328px;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">London: March & June, 1912</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8WLKZHbrSgW46fRCkZwZNTbzrgnCDvYnjjPe2Dz6hWeSY_2kzCTOLXV4Tgk1nE_tlMPS2xm9ITmSbF6kuOc_Kbwx9NKkGsaXy7u6FOKDteIgycboBq7JqH_EA0B2B1ujz6sFbwNwIyAM6/s1600/Pathe_2079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8WLKZHbrSgW46fRCkZwZNTbzrgnCDvYnjjPe2Dz6hWeSY_2kzCTOLXV4Tgk1nE_tlMPS2xm9ITmSbF6kuOc_Kbwx9NKkGsaXy7u6FOKDteIgycboBq7JqH_EA0B2B1ujz6sFbwNwIyAM6/s1600/Pathe_2079.jpg" height="320" width="319" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;">1 Flac , </span><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/bpzpikpzdch1h3w" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; line-height: 20px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Here</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #38761d; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;">at Mediafire. [about 48Mb]</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">There is everything to like about these records. It is the first Tchaikovsky Symphony to be recorded, it is conducted by a woman, it has not been heard much, the records are uncommon, difficult to play and equally hard to transfer and listen too in decent sound. What more could a record buff wish for!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcBOcvn-f5zJOIcvGlr7NjqDQJaVtxqMAGvyXYqMxzT8ptvEDrC5AUg3V9CqH_Ni3aR4YXqgkToXun1ACkQwN_2FKhT-qF9k6l32kailmtj90WRn6g0CZzBUvYOP6o6bKbfrmgfnUGnq10/s1600/rome-tchaikovsky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcBOcvn-f5zJOIcvGlr7NjqDQJaVtxqMAGvyXYqMxzT8ptvEDrC5AUg3V9CqH_Ni3aR4YXqgkToXun1ACkQwN_2FKhT-qF9k6l32kailmtj90WRn6g0CZzBUvYOP6o6bKbfrmgfnUGnq10/s1600/rome-tchaikovsky.jpg" height="320" width="243" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The symphony is more than a bit curtailed for some two-thirds of music has been lopped out, but by some very clever arranging the essence of the work still somehow holds together. One wonders why Lilian's name did not appear on the records for Pathé in March 1912 mentioned that The Imperial Symphony Orchestra directed by Lilian Bryant was increased to 30 players. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Anyway this i</span>s the first attempt at a complete recording of the Pathétique; indeed one of the earliest 'complete' anything symphonic from this period. Landon Ronald and the New Symphony Orchestra recorded the third movement, or at least 4 minutes of it in January 1912 and in 1913 recorded the second movement, maybe they where thinking to do more but nothing came of it. It was not until 1923 that all four movements were attempted again and this time the work was indeed complete running to 20 sides and once again conducted by Ronalds.. As the symphony was performed every year at the Proms from 1898 to 1974 excepting 1927 (three time in 1898, 1899 and 1904 and often twice in several other season) it was certainly then, as now, very popular.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzdvABCJlYFztLcF_U_mbaxDXP_vq99BZ876XZfBTeaVkQzyWIuP7EbOmJKdlJoknOYmUe1ljaEeRUEduEmjCFlSwRKtgC2PQYNbSuFRifsq3rgCivGkyvAS55qtBJBMzcTA_kpNFV8Gnm/s1600/Lilian+Bryant.jpg" height="320" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="231" /></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzdvABCJlYFztLcF_U_mbaxDXP_vq99BZ876XZfBTeaVkQzyWIuP7EbOmJKdlJoknOYmUe1ljaEeRUEduEmjCFlSwRKtgC2PQYNbSuFRifsq3rgCivGkyvAS55qtBJBMzcTA_kpNFV8Gnm/s1600/Lilian+Bryant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a></div>
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<b>Lilian Bryant</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">'Lilian Bryant might not be a household name to many music lovers and record collectors today, as it but rarely appears undisguised on the many thousand recordings she was heard on between the late 1890s and 1928. One of the pioneers of the British recording industry, she became "musical director" for the Edison-Bell cylinder recording studio shortly before the turn of the last century - a position that meant rehearsing with singers and instrumentalists, playing piano accompaniments for them, but also arranging and orchestrating music for recording purposes, and last not least conducting the in-house orchestra. As the early studio orchestras consisted mainly of wind instruments that registered well on the primitive recording equipment, they were mostly recruited from local military bands and led by military bandmasters. It is thus a particular exception to find a woman in this position, apart from the fact that woman conductors and composers were anyway considered an oddity in late-Victorian England. Despite these unfavourable circumstances, Mme. Bryant made her career, that had started at the very beginning of commercial record production in London, with various major companies over more than two decades: From 1905 to 1908 she was employed by Louis Sterling, in whose studios both Sterling cylinders and Odeon discs were recorded, to conduct for stars like John McCormack, and organize the first complete recordings of Gilbert & Sullivan operas ever. When Sterling had to sell his enterprise to Pathé Frères, that company promptly dismissed their former musical director in her favour. With the "Imperial Symphony Orchestra" under her direction, British Pathé produced pioneering recordings of symphonic and concert music. Beside all this studio work, Bryant found time to tour as piano accompanist (e.g. for Peter Dawson), compose, and conduct theatre orchestras in and around London. When the Great War put an end to Pathé's London studio, she worked as rehearsal pianist for HMV for several years (occasionally recording under her married name "Mrs. George Baker"), and in the 1920s, she resumed her career as mu<span style="background-color: white;">sical director in the recording studio, this time for the newly-founded Crystalate company ("Imperial" and "Chantal de Luxe" labels). Her final recordings were made for Columbia in the mid-1920s.' <a href="http://www.truesoundtransfers.de/Titellisten/TT3111.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">This biography from taken from True Sound Transfers</span></a></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Pathé records</b></span></div>
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14" records are difficult to play, the rumble on these records is appalling. Pathé recorded onto master cylinders and through a mechanical pantograph mechanism could transfer the master cylinder onto different sizes of disc. The unfortunate byproduct of this process was a lot of rumble. I have alleviated it a lot but did not want to loose any more of the lower frequencies than I really had to. On the other hand because they used such a large master cylinder the sound that was captured was often very good even though quite faint. A short article on this method of recording can be found at <a href="http://78records.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/more-on-the-pathe-cylinder-masters/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">The Mainspring Press Record Collectors' Blog</span></a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As was usual practise at this time the two records were announced at separate times with the first two movements issued in April 1912 and the last two movements in July 1912. The records were deleted, as were all 14" discs at the end of 1916.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Understanding </span></span><span style="text-align: center;">Pathé numbering</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The record label, or rather etched lettering infilled with an ochre dye, at first looks a bit confusing. The record number is within the lozenge at 6'oclock [2079]; below this another number is the transfer number for the pantograph process [81098 - R.A.] and the matrix number is at 7'oclock [79629].</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9IdcU9Q1DwkXhyphenhyphenfmJFUvDRYb-5ZRVPcPIEU5oPdjV-fqsKsgu3azy-yOpcAwOafHFdDdRd6M1zWoirJvH9ySvRXwhRif9pxYqK6pb2Znzn3wnDLdKZay51slgzzV9ktrqSScnWAjBsk6/s1600/Pathe_2080+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9IdcU9Q1DwkXhyphenhyphenfmJFUvDRYb-5ZRVPcPIEU5oPdjV-fqsKsgu3azy-yOpcAwOafHFdDdRd6M1zWoirJvH9ySvRXwhRif9pxYqK6pb2Znzn3wnDLdKZay51slgzzV9ktrqSScnWAjBsk6/s1600/Pathe_2080+detail.jpg" height="182" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">One other interesting facet of these records is a very, very faint date that can be discerned to the left of the transfer number. This mirror image scratched in gives us the day on which the stamper was made. Only the fourth side in this set has this complete reading '28/9/12' - side 3 just having 8/9 and side 2 with just letter 'B' this may just equate to side 2. In any case it gives a date that the recording could not be after. I have flipped and and inverted the image above to make it a this a bit clearer.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7gzMY4CI1Go55S0SFmpDySGcNhyphenhyphenYeFKVlYNHE2U65X4d5l85e249n-01CY18BqgyspONjyRlM1nydBClKG4QZ9V_qt4hOl9mc5XV7oSg7KSZwJ_iV2KkBHkVVpEQkftg6EOXNiIe0mbef/s1600/Pathe_2080_detail_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7gzMY4CI1Go55S0SFmpDySGcNhyphenhyphenYeFKVlYNHE2U65X4d5l85e249n-01CY18BqgyspONjyRlM1nydBClKG4QZ9V_qt4hOl9mc5XV7oSg7KSZwJ_iV2KkBHkVVpEQkftg6EOXNiIe0mbef/s1600/Pathe_2080_detail_2.jpg" height="182" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe not the best day to push something Russian onto 'my public' just one of those coincidences.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-79052650294625688582014-02-02T18:06:00.000+00:002014-02-02T18:35:28.435+00:00Use your gramophone every morning and Slenderise<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.479999542236328px; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Elisabeth Ann Loring [& W.T Best <i>piano]</i></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">How to Slenderise</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Columbia DB 1327 </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(CA14236-1 & CA14327-1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(recorded 5th January. 1934)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIdZprE8G55GD0hB_mLb1X-957vN8AH5ESPjsl9pYfbkbnqk23OImORly5j1Hf8cBYyLi-ll7smq1fifrGjzatWSyzWVEG8-5fooptabmlNIDpPKr4U5PNzq_Wv4nd3cfkHXCgxT6cm5XS/s1600/Columbia+DB+1327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIdZprE8G55GD0hB_mLb1X-957vN8AH5ESPjsl9pYfbkbnqk23OImORly5j1Hf8cBYyLi-ll7smq1fifrGjzatWSyzWVEG8-5fooptabmlNIDpPKr4U5PNzq_Wv4nd3cfkHXCgxT6cm5XS/s1600/Columbia+DB+1327.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;">1 Flac , </span><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/52wb8fm81nk0jtm" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Here</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;">at Mediafire. [about 18Mb]</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Well it is the time of year for a bit of exercise. We ‘Gramophonists’ are apt to sit about all day listening to 'stuff' and looking at </span>blogs<span style="text-align: start;"> so flab is a certain unwelcome byproduct. Thankfully a number of helpful records were issued to combat this problem. Our record comes with a nice card showing the delectable 'Elisabeth Ann' showing you idlers the way to fitness through her movements whilst you listen to her firm instructions.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydmDEE9nOTzH0e36Aw4MQFn5ePEZLOiDziDWaDuJ5-QwI8oT5U_vKxPJEWIfAvLVgn0Ve04Wdq-DB3EWi144mcGrV8RYITpO34H_yHBU_pk105V9aPgb_DBX7rGe-uWnu_gQcbPI6BT6y/s1600/Columbia+DB+1327-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydmDEE9nOTzH0e36Aw4MQFn5ePEZLOiDziDWaDuJ5-QwI8oT5U_vKxPJEWIfAvLVgn0Ve04Wdq-DB3EWi144mcGrV8RYITpO34H_yHBU_pk105V9aPgb_DBX7rGe-uWnu_gQcbPI6BT6y/s1600/Columbia+DB+1327-a.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Miss Elisabeth Ann </span>Loring<span style="font-family: inherit;"> was the ‘Woman's Page’ editor for the </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Sunday Dispatch</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, and </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Modern Weekly</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, using her first names as her pen name. She was born in London in 1908, although I have not been able to confirm this, and her accent is redolent of a cross between Miss Jean Brodie and Margaret Thatcher,</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> maybe it is just the result of some elocution lessons or my imagination. She appears to have started out as a novelist with</span><i style="font-family: inherit;"> Ladies' paradise. The story of a fashion in marriage</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> of 1933 the earliest work I have been able to trace. She studied diet and became the beauty editor for a number of women's monthly magazine and was the creator, Bread and Butter Diet for Slenderising. Further contributions under her pen name found their way into the likes of </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Good Housekeeping</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Woman's Journal</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Modern Home</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Miss Modern</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Woman and Beauty</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, etc. together with a number of books with such titles as </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Beauty adorned, the cultivation of personal loveliness</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> 1935. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">She made a special study of physical culture and hormone therapy, but was still turning out the odd novel with titles that included <i>Night After Bond Street</i>, 1936; <i>Designs by Jo</i> 1936; and <i>Bronze Angel</i> 1937. During the war she turned out the unlikely title<i> Hutchinson's knitted comforts for the forces</i> 1940 and later in a similar practical work <i>A Book for Women </i>1946. Later ‘Elisabeth Ann’ became the editor of Portland Publications and a director of Medistat until her death in 1978.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgTAoulvRjr-aMVXMTO90bnCP2fTCvwoI9sl-QWn5ea34PZpnKguRhF1FOHVZVYlfrZUyn4P4WKsVkPN4VPg5rFINNBqwG_QXBTISbDZUR9e1prIE5jNTDF4t4Uzp4Zd4q9Bkxp_5I0Kv/s1600/Columbia+DB+1327-b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgTAoulvRjr-aMVXMTO90bnCP2fTCvwoI9sl-QWn5ea34PZpnKguRhF1FOHVZVYlfrZUyn4P4WKsVkPN4VPg5rFINNBqwG_QXBTISbDZUR9e1prIE5jNTDF4t4Uzp4Zd4q9Bkxp_5I0Kv/s1600/Columbia+DB+1327-b.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The unnamed pianist, accompanying with strict tempo versions of well known classics, is one W.T. Best. He is something of a mystery and although he worked for Columbia throughout the 1920s & 30s & 40s with various singers and instrumental groups I have been unable to trace anything about him. His equivalent on </span>HMV<span style="font-family: inherit;"> was the ubiquitus Madame </span>Adami<span style="font-family: inherit;"> who is just as mysterious, does anyone even now know what her full name was by the way? W.T. Best disappears from the recording rooms during the mid 1940s when Gerald Moore generally takes over his role in the 'better class of material'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For some reason recordings of the voice, where the record has enormous amounts crackle as here, seem to start gurgling. I assume this is due to the smoothing of the ticks and pops which in turn create some sort of distortion in itself. In these UK pre-war recordings the noise is about 7-10% of the recorded time so some sort of distortion is apt to take place with this sort of intervention. Anyway it sounds none too bad for all that.</span></div>
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Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-42275665361710348142014-01-25T20:03:00.001+00:002014-01-26T15:08:37.429+00:00'Dwarfish, sharp-tounged, conservative, and not a little paranoide...'<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Robert Schumann</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 140</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">1. Andante con moto - Allegro di molto (D minor)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">2. Romanza: Andante (A minor)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.479999542236328px;">4. Largo - Finale: Allegro vivace (D major)</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">conducted by Hans Pfitzner</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Polydor 69625, </b><b>69627 & </b><b> 69627 </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(1406as, 1407as, 1408as, 234az, 232az & 233az)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(recorded October-December 1923)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5H6jF6vlzDKv6AaXTOFQq_AhgDgB9xjaxp_OruWtBk9LrA5ebJOYPb_a_ajaDvnItggJ28MXCabyJyj8puM3v4h2plJ70so3eO-qwFZaMpQnx9Gp5WrxLxabVhy2oHIUZEPGz82nY8kLl/s1600/Polydor+69625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5H6jF6vlzDKv6AaXTOFQq_AhgDgB9xjaxp_OruWtBk9LrA5ebJOYPb_a_ajaDvnItggJ28MXCabyJyj8puM3v4h2plJ70so3eO-qwFZaMpQnx9Gp5WrxLxabVhy2oHIUZEPGz82nY8kLl/s1600/Polydor+69625.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">1 Flac , </span><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/9mpjovc3rs533c4" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Here</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #38761d; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">at Mediafire. [about 62Mb]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">1 Flac , </span><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/9uyozgcolrc7cjc" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Here</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #38761d; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;">at Mediafire. [about 115Mb] - with Spatial Enhancer [see below]</span></span></div>
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Being a bit tardy in stuffing things on my blog, will try and be a bit more 'proactive'<br />
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Anyway my quote continues '... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Pfitzner" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>Hans Pfitzner</b></span></a> was perhaps his own worst enemy. But his pronouncements have been misread and his intentions misconstrued, and certain aspects of his life have been held against him, so that thirty-five years after his death he remains an unjustly neglected figure.' Greene's<i> Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers</i> 1985.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZkOS5dI0iSGMyPBsGiHC7l6QwfnKmDoTdWWuj9yofJncSF5SdjLfWnHmd9_JwsbRs2t80nMjUy12XgQDYMevpW6dvubj4EkGasLNKg_aBD-5G5w9LrVVDPvOpPGu19voYnGQa4Kde4H6k/s1600/Hans+Pfitzner.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZkOS5dI0iSGMyPBsGiHC7l6QwfnKmDoTdWWuj9yofJncSF5SdjLfWnHmd9_JwsbRs2t80nMjUy12XgQDYMevpW6dvubj4EkGasLNKg_aBD-5G5w9LrVVDPvOpPGu19voYnGQa4Kde4H6k/s1600/Hans+Pfitzner.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a></div>
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As a conductor Pfitzner made a good number of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon in the 1920s and '30s and as he was responsible for dragging Schumann out of oblivion, into which he was falling at that time, it is not surprising and appropriate that he was chosen to conduct the only acoustic recordings of any Schumann Symphonies. Nos. 1 & 2 where recorded in 1925 and 1926 with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra however No. 4 was the first to be recorded at the end of 1923 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.<br />
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Unfortunately the<i> Scherzo </i>was not issued with the set and I have some reason to believe it was recorded for matrix 1409as is otherwise unallocated to any other recording. Issuing a 7 sided set (plus a filler for the 8th side) of an unpopular symphony in the middle of an epic hyper inflationary period may have been thought as too risky for DG/Polydor so the Scherzo may have thus dropped. Compton Mackenzie review in <i>The Gramophone </i>for October 1925 of the first Polydor recordings to be available in Britain gives a quick notice 'The Fourth Symphony of Schumann is the only Schumann symphony on the gramophone, and the Polydor version of it may be recommended as a good workmanlike production. Unfortunately, the scherzo has been omitted, so that the symphony is not complete.' The fact that the recording was issued once electrical recordings had already got underway may have stifled sales under the Polydor label. At any rate it seems uncommon and I have never seen it issued anywhere.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpaOcDefY1pqEFYHEcyZGgqEaWMuyeHwSCC1y9tNKaT3J2-i12IRlC8PYLn5GQaeDOEqRIfvn-eQcOnlPJNgGBPYuXgyBpPZvXN7Mrf8_Yt-33awmdRP5n_DmcUEVZ5vbhK1bcDlQgTi6/s1600/439px-Schumann-photo1850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpaOcDefY1pqEFYHEcyZGgqEaWMuyeHwSCC1y9tNKaT3J2-i12IRlC8PYLn5GQaeDOEqRIfvn-eQcOnlPJNgGBPYuXgyBpPZvXN7Mrf8_Yt-33awmdRP5n_DmcUEVZ5vbhK1bcDlQgTi6/s1600/439px-Schumann-photo1850.jpg" height="320" width="234" /></a></div>
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Anyway rather than me gassing on about the relative merits of this or that performance I defer to Peter Guttman who has reviewed a great number of recordings of this symphony at his website <a href="http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics3/schumannsym.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>Classical Note</b>s</span></a> including the electrically recorded remake by Pfitzner issued in 1928.<br />
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As with the majority of acoustic orchestral recordings several things are immediately noticeable, firstly the reduced number of players, maybe only six first and second violins, brass substituting for the lower strings, also placement of various instruments near to the horn for particular passages all don't help with the balance. The Danish violinist<span style="color: #274e13;"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Holst" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>Henry Holst (1899-1991)</b></span></a></span> is very likely the leader of the orchestra in this performance and he can be best heard playing in the trio section of the Romanza. It would be nice to know who the other players are in these recordings and also something of their careers.<br />
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I have joined the movements into one track to give some idea of a continuum as Schumann intended, this means that we jump from the second to the fourth movements which might give you a bit of a jolt.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">*Spacial Enhancer - The blurb say that '<strong style="background-clip: padding-box; line-height: 20.15999984741211px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SHEPPi</strong><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.15999984741211px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.15999984741211px;">(Stereo Haas Effect Ping Pong Inverter) is a stereo image enhancement tool modeled after the</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.15999984741211px;"> </span><a href="http://www.kvraudio.com/get/3160.html" style="background-clip: padding-box; line-height: 20.15999984741211px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="background-clip: padding-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #274e13;">K-Stereo Ambience Processor</span></strong></a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.15999984741211px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.15999984741211px;">by Algorithmix. SHEPPi imparts a subtle, natural sense of space thanks to a combination of EQ'able synthetic early reflections, M-S widening and inverted stereo delay feedback. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.15999984741211px;">This plug-in has been enhanced for both track insert as well as aux send applications, making it an excellent tool for both mastering and stereoizing purposes.' </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.15999984741211px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oooh it all sounds a bit technical and mucking about with recordings in this way is not seen by some to completely ethical - Still it is worth playing around with as it does indeed help with the separation of the instruments and gives space for the sound.</span></span>Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-2163387794392901842013-11-10T21:29:00.001+00:002013-11-12T12:41:03.587+00:00My little contribution to the Verdi bicentenary<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>Verdi: Giovanna D'Arco - Overture</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>The Philharmonia Orchestra </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>conducted by Igor Markevitch</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;"><b>HMV C3965</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">(2EA 14031-1A & 2EA14032-2)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.176136016845703px;">(Thursday, 30th June 1949)</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfroIHSGExiWYNZ0jzdYIzcrT3hupzwCWPdSv8N0tpLV5Rln0Nd5XgfvLCMh2915HWfup8_MZ63JxQBPmFM1pSwZuO1LpVD4r0FoGzZhKCnCqSuAsNvQrvHXUcv1pp91vi25TpHidYFQGV/s1600/HMV+C3965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfroIHSGExiWYNZ0jzdYIzcrT3hupzwCWPdSv8N0tpLV5Rln0Nd5XgfvLCMh2915HWfup8_MZ63JxQBPmFM1pSwZuO1LpVD4r0FoGzZhKCnCqSuAsNvQrvHXUcv1pp91vi25TpHidYFQGV/s320/HMV+C3965.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/ql1ushhm0ybj530/Verdi_-_Giovanna_d_Arco_-_Overture_-_Philharmonia_Markevitch.flac" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Link</span></a></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> to FLAC files (about 37Mb)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As this is Verdi’s 200th birthday year I thought I had better add my little bit to the piles of stuff already put out. Also being a lazy I have filled the the page out with photos.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFtNOq9XSrJZ9svBGWjKEVWDDxMV2N9v7TUAWlVY0WP820QY7k_Yb6xn6dzHtaHglKduXFJ2ypg8JqJzYGS4xbv606xET5gWTyJ21Az4XnG6MSk7UHBpj7EQhH3DWn016OGZbhPQ8tzZY/s1600/Giuseppe-Verdi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFtNOq9XSrJZ9svBGWjKEVWDDxMV2N9v7TUAWlVY0WP820QY7k_Yb6xn6dzHtaHglKduXFJ2ypg8JqJzYGS4xbv606xET5gWTyJ21Az4XnG6MSk7UHBpj7EQhH3DWn016OGZbhPQ8tzZY/s320/Giuseppe-Verdi.jpg" width="223" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Verdi</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Markevitch" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Igor Markevitch’s</span></a> first London recording for HMV and his first with the Philharmonia. Made in the wonderful acoustic of the Kingsway Hall (alas no more) the recording has not only great verve but also the attraction of a trio section played by flautist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Morris" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Gareth Morris</span></a> (1920-2007) Oboist, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jul/12/guardianobituaries3" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Sidney "Jock" Sutcliffe</span></a>, (1918-2001) and Clarinetist, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Thurston" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Frederick “Jack”Thurston</span></a> (1901-1953).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXygR6XQ5wQ4rp5A2u-79zO6PlucGorXNkqKt0VbX5-BkELlGsGk6o49OSDS1yVn5nn9wi3jtMPuiWB_PjglcRlYsNt8VmIK1wctAhnhSUNyhkHuZsxTxC2O96Bpj-IfDrghj7UhLbKDR/s1600/Igor+Markevitch+markevitch151.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXygR6XQ5wQ4rp5A2u-79zO6PlucGorXNkqKt0VbX5-BkELlGsGk6o49OSDS1yVn5nn9wi3jtMPuiWB_PjglcRlYsNt8VmIK1wctAhnhSUNyhkHuZsxTxC2O96Bpj-IfDrghj7UhLbKDR/s1600/Igor+Markevitch+markevitch151.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Igor Markevitch</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I do not believe that Markevitch’s early recordings have been re-released, or if they have I can’t see them anywhere! Although he was in London during the last week of June and first week or so of July 1949 it appears he did not conduct any concerts. Possibly he was in the UK to have his memoir <i>Made in Italy</i> translated and published, negotiate a contract for recordings and plan a concert series for the following year. His first concert was held on the Sunday the 14th of February with the Philharmonia Orchestra, but I'm unsure where this took place. His first London Concert, again with the Philharmonia was not until Thursday 25th May 1950 at the Royal Albert Hall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Edward Sackville-West and Desmond Shawe-Taylor’s in their <i>The Record Guide</i> of 1951 gave the disc two stars ‘A long and attractive <i>andante pastorale</i> section is one of several features in this brilliant overture which recall Rossini’s <i>William Tell</i>. The performance has a splendid vitality (and were required, a delicacy) which make the hearer wish that Igor Markevitch could be engaged to conduct some of the Italian repertory at Covent Garden.’ </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSkSis0b4Adrnij0xSWsIGYCQVsSk_Kp8omlwqSQY3hUOw1_fCeMnK6-_qgvvr5PclntdqtPfll807q7wFZqD5fzVWYIbyeeYza8yjU0Wc9YTsbj6Zfe5OmmLOLGKSoXSKySXDBoDP3eg/s1600/oboist_Sidney_Sutcliffe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSkSis0b4Adrnij0xSWsIGYCQVsSk_Kp8omlwqSQY3hUOw1_fCeMnK6-_qgvvr5PclntdqtPfll807q7wFZqD5fzVWYIbyeeYza8yjU0Wc9YTsbj6Zfe5OmmLOLGKSoXSKySXDBoDP3eg/s320/oboist_Sidney_Sutcliffe.jpg" width="249" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Sydney Sutcliffe</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The Gramophone</i> for April 1950 was a bit more grudging about the music. ‘As far as I can judge, having never heard this music before or seen the score, this is a keen and cordially reproduced performance. It is an early Verdi, containing one or two ingratiating tunes. Most of the overture is gentle; there is a march, and a bit of characteristic blood-and-thunder. A pretty bit of solo and duet work is very tasty (side 1), and a touch of pathos is sweetly limned. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGHjYPUJ0p5fgZTmaS3VMkMxlvI5fnqYptfiaRhWdlhLw9yX7Y2zRdVKHIo_G-9jfIUaI_GxVjR9B7-F17JhdswIYeNzNewoYYhgTNg-MnqiQPQpHKM1i7Zopg8xMbbYz5FIS8xuTTuxv3/s1600/Gareth+Morris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGHjYPUJ0p5fgZTmaS3VMkMxlvI5fnqYptfiaRhWdlhLw9yX7Y2zRdVKHIo_G-9jfIUaI_GxVjR9B7-F17JhdswIYeNzNewoYYhgTNg-MnqiQPQpHKM1i7Zopg8xMbbYz5FIS8xuTTuxv3/s320/Gareth+Morris.jpg" width="216" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Gareth Morris</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Part of side 2 shows the conventional weaknesses only too well. Gaps fill slowly. Foreign recordings of this overture are listed, but I remember no British one. The opera, loosely (and mostly, un-historically) based on Schiller's <i>Maid of Orleans</i>, came out in 1845 at Milan. Love reared its inevitable head, the supernatural was a flop, and the work, which, one reads in Hussey, has a touch of <i>William Tell-ish</i> "grand" quality and size, had "an ephemeral success and soon disappeared.'' Toye finds " something to admire in every act," though much to mourn. These were early days for Verdi, who was writing from 1839 to 1893. Titles before this, that we can recall, are <i>Nabucco</i>, I<i> Lombardi</i>, and <i>Ernani</i>. Two years later came <i>Macbeth</i> (more supernatural trouble, but also more imagination, to help us to forget those weak witcheries). The bite and blare come out well. Nothing, then, to demand preservation in Verdian archives, but a useful testing-sample of the early style. W.R.Anderson.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglB6nmnVJgFnBQ-YTMocTxqtV5bJyo3lDaQWDe3SrQinWIk-MRvrBStAl5xplRsEFz3Y6W74NqJJ4VXXOZ-D4hG-PpeqgSkWse3tJ1oE4oKeVIDw9aTuhq2f9WxF0TjzFeveP5GbdAnuvw/s1600/Thurstona.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglB6nmnVJgFnBQ-YTMocTxqtV5bJyo3lDaQWDe3SrQinWIk-MRvrBStAl5xplRsEFz3Y6W74NqJJ4VXXOZ-D4hG-PpeqgSkWse3tJ1oE4oKeVIDw9aTuhq2f9WxF0TjzFeveP5GbdAnuvw/s320/Thurstona.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Frederick Thurston on the right</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The substance they used to press records in during the post war period is a nightmare to restore - the crackle is extreme – I’ve tempered it a lot but even so some distortion is evident in the final result. Maybe this is the reason the records have not been reissued for I doubt if the original metals survive at Hayes and as no vinyl pressing for dubbing are available to process into CDs. The record cost me all of 10 pence ($0.16 cents or €0.12), so how can I complain. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKPG8-OLwSgkmlhtMhHY56K_s0D1CGRct2_7Gt8ZBDYCponWipRYUzLO2i3yrviKMSrogRFMJ6ElfhGApWQo3toCW_mmP19NXrrQu899fQNyayxQocKJyDx2txIkbXEc16K5O3XcxxV6rt/s400/Giovanna+d+Arco+Score.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Title page of the original edition</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKPG8-OLwSgkmlhtMhHY56K_s0D1CGRct2_7Gt8ZBDYCponWipRYUzLO2i3yrviKMSrogRFMJ6ElfhGApWQo3toCW_mmP19NXrrQu899fQNyayxQocKJyDx2txIkbXEc16K5O3XcxxV6rt/s1600/Giovanna+d+Arco+Score.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div>
<br />Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-28463241204117785552013-11-03T18:18:00.000+00:002015-10-20T14:32:10.417+01:00Complicated lives<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWG3P5rjFeha6WogRKzs7gz-sHZiEAlKJnHY1PWbAWMKTxW2WvBGV-MMGaG4IyMAYjwdZXXiuME7iLrU_4vOgdZ7h5L6Hgu7KdP0RVRLieqjGkeZ1_KDUPtNDsbksMDYeQ_FB5Bisw20d/s1600/Columbia+D1421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWG3P5rjFeha6WogRKzs7gz-sHZiEAlKJnHY1PWbAWMKTxW2WvBGV-MMGaG4IyMAYjwdZXXiuME7iLrU_4vOgdZ7h5L6Hgu7KdP0RVRLieqjGkeZ1_KDUPtNDsbksMDYeQ_FB5Bisw20d/s320/Columbia+D1421.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Robert Coningsby Clarke: Desert Love Song</span>s - <span style="font-family: inherit;">song cycle</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1) I will await thee 2) My heart's desire 3) The burning hours </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">4) The dove 5) The hawk 6) Yellow slippers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Hubert Eisdell - tenor</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Unnamed orchestra cond. by Hamilton Harty</b></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Columbia D1421 & D1422</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(69690, 69691 & 69692)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Recorded February/March 1920</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdO7LINE93xVhTckaKEDGzN1BZuTyAkdpZeD8tQvR2FVTo6W2YwYrpa7YgWy9psP0cXkwS_yHEIC0racIONKDQ0v2ChvpdMc-pVrf6OPwJnUebJN1gMhs2innX_1hrL37OE2wLrP6hi81s/s1600/Columbia+D1422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdO7LINE93xVhTckaKEDGzN1BZuTyAkdpZeD8tQvR2FVTo6W2YwYrpa7YgWy9psP0cXkwS_yHEIC0racIONKDQ0v2ChvpdMc-pVrf6OPwJnUebJN1gMhs2innX_1hrL37OE2wLrP6hi81s/s320/Columbia+D1422.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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<b>Ernest Bristow Farrar: Brittany Op. 21 No. 1</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Hubert Eisdell - tenor</b></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: inherit;">Piano accomp. by Hamilton Harty</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Columbia D1422</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">(69709)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Recorded March 1920</span><br />
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<span style="color: #274e13;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/yo293d13dazz0wt/Clarke_-_Desert_Love_Songs_-_etc_Eisdell_Harty.rar" target="_blank">Link</a></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> to FLAC files (about 37Mb)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My copies of these two discs are a bit worn in places but I have patched them up as best I can. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Robert Coningsby Langton Clarke has almost sunk without trace as a composer. He was born in 1879 at Old Charlton in Kent, now a suburb engulfed in South-East London. His father was Col. F.C.H. Clarke, Surveyor General of Ceylon (1842-1894) and a writer of military books etc. Educated first Marlborough, Clark became a pupil of Sir Frederick Bridge at Westminster Abbey in 1898 and then went up to Trinity College, Oxford where I think he studied the organ. As a back up to his musical proclivities he also took a BA in jurisprudence, which may account for his becoming a partner in the Carron Iron Works. He enlisted in 28th County of London Regt. (Artists’ Rifles), in 1914; was Lieut the Worcestershire Regt, 1915; and then with the Salonika Field Force, 1916–17. After the war he continued writing music but really by this time his output started to decline until his death in 1934. A bad year on the whole for British Composers with the death of Elgar, Delius and Holst.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radclyffe Hall 'John'</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As far as I can judge Clarke composed these songs containing the text of Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall's poems because, together with his wife Dolly, they all lived at the same house at No. 1 Swan Walk, Chelsea, opposite Chelsea Physic Gardens. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOz8jTi8dZkqlg1SaEWPfsqOhJAokLDOZsMIQZEr1nE-US3MF3F-TZu_cLBpvkSErZZTSxu5FmlnLdyQn2MI5hecciKWh37qe8W_jSv9aF9Is77KrJJUje_CFaIUnl_KtSd5SXBnmJrdHo/s1600/Fullscreen+capture+27102013+172018.bmp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOz8jTi8dZkqlg1SaEWPfsqOhJAokLDOZsMIQZEr1nE-US3MF3F-TZu_cLBpvkSErZZTSxu5FmlnLdyQn2MI5hecciKWh37qe8W_jSv9aF9Is77KrJJUje_CFaIUnl_KtSd5SXBnmJrdHo/s400/Fullscreen+capture+27102013+172018.bmp.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No. 1 Swan Walk, Chelsea (too the right with the garden)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Clerke's wife, Dorothy Diehl, was Radclyffe Hall’s Pennsylvanian cousin. </span>Dorothy, or Dolly as she was called, <span style="font-family: inherit;">arrived in the UK about 1906 adged 18 and swiftly became </span>Radclyffe-Hall'<span style="font-family: inherit;">s lesbian lover. However </span>Radclyffe-Hall'<span style="font-family: inherit;">s affection then turned to Mabel Batten, a well-known amateur lieder singer. It was Batten who introduced Radclyffe-Hall to Coningsby Clarke as a composer to help set some of her poems.Mabel gave </span>Radclyffe-Hall the nickname 'John' a name she was generally known by and so I will use this symbolic re-christening hereafter.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dolly was dependent on John financially, John had inherited £100,000 from her father so could do pretty well what she liked. When John and Dolly broke up Dolly first returned to the USA but was back by July 1909 and quickly decided to marry Clarke. The marriage took place at St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge on 19th October 1909 with John as their witness. That they where all living in the same house seems to indicate some sort of interesting arraignment. <i>Who’s Who</i> lists Clarke’s hobbies as croquet, bridge, fishing, reading, sea-bathing, and travelling, maybe he had other interesting hobbies too. Anyway it seems to have been an unconventional life as Dolly occasionally became John's lover from time to time. R. Coningsby Clarke, as he preferred to be called on his musical compositions, also wrote many songs set to poems by John Masefield and W.E. Henley but the only song he is remembered today by is <i>The Blind Ploughman</i>.Something I can't quite fathom is why John continued to pay Dolly after her marriage, she had a couple of children by Clarke and he left some £21,000 on his death so money was not really a problem. Maybe it was a form of control that John wished to maintain over Dolly.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">This then is the connection between John and Clarke, however there is another</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiseqONmEPuS6y1SpdUFads9GYQdfgfpnOx8QO4kXWgHZk7PLS-ghWmEjekuoAAt5jE-p0xmn_pBKXCutOchaicKEvFQ3yJAy35lp_P3-BUtBcHNxkFhx_gqibLCBv41ckTuv9k-idHb4Mq/s1600/Agnes+Nicholls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiseqONmEPuS6y1SpdUFads9GYQdfgfpnOx8QO4kXWgHZk7PLS-ghWmEjekuoAAt5jE-p0xmn_pBKXCutOchaicKEvFQ3yJAy35lp_P3-BUtBcHNxkFhx_gqibLCBv41ckTuv9k-idHb4Mq/s320/Agnes+Nicholls.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">John's mother Mary Jane Hall, after a messy divorce from John's father Radclyffe Radclyffe-Hall (a great lack of imagination by his parents I feel), remarried Alberto Antonio Visetti a singing teacher with a reputation as a ladies' man, he also made indecent advances on John who thereafter referred to him as 'My disgusting old step-father.' He was a founding professor of the Royal College of Music and included among his pupils Louise Kirby-Lunn, Muriel Foster, Keith Faulkner and Agnes Nicholls. </span>John in her teens used to hang about the room next to Visetti's studio where students met before and after lessons. This room became her hunting ground for lovers. In 1898 the 22 year old Agnes Nicholls became the 18 year old John's lover, not sure who seduced who, but they became an 'item.' This intense relationship lasted until about 1901 by which time Agnes was starting on her professional career. Now in 1904 Agnes married none other than Hamiton Harty the conductor of these records. It is very likely that he would therfore arranged the piano score of the songs for orchestra. Harty and Nicholls marriage was a bit of a failure and they lived apart after about 1928.<br />
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<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/AVvXsEhz6pcJvDpcEL9-GC3VXMkVPyfqLgEkfCQLGOvOmFRYuy-GboOY_r64BlP-mMTnkdFdZTVXLX9Z9OYxFRLiitCjeN0cCNv6QROlZQlVYIMP7LHh-GA3-IS_VnNT38aINmRMyvA2jzYomMan/s1600/Hubert+Eisdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz6pcJvDpcEL9-GC3VXMkVPyfqLgEkfCQLGOvOmFRYuy-GboOY_r64BlP-mMTnkdFdZTVXLX9Z9OYxFRLiitCjeN0cCNv6QROlZQlVYIMP7LHh-GA3-IS_VnNT38aINmRMyvA2jzYomMan/s320/Hubert+Eisdell.jpg" width="194" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hubert Eisdell</td></tr>
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The only other other connection I can find, as if we don't have enough for one recording, is one between Clarke and Eisdell. Eisdell was in some respects a protege of Gervase Elwes and both sang very similar repertoire, He recorded several other of Clarke's songs a number of which may have been dedicated to, or at least first performed by him. I have not been able to find a concert he gave including this particular cycle, indeed the cycle was not given very often, the first two songs featured at the Proms in 1915 and 1916 but do not appear to have been lastingly popular. Eisdell did sing at other proms, in 1913 and from 1921 to 1923, other of Clarke's songs. Hubert Eisdell was well known and rather me write his biography a thoroughly good one can be found <a href="http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/028011-1074-e.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">here</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEhJd8KF3jYHsP2y1VZgPLL_sBsBeB6_fDkN3e8YeYnaE0lI9f1XpBKjImGJ4IoXqYPGIjLDayjwtInTuXX3nVEjPnPRLxzDlfZdqUlUlZQkx8BqvlNe3j-Lf0IUrWUNaGSCjs-_TAh-WJ/s1600/Desert+Love+Songs+.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEhJd8KF3jYHsP2y1VZgPLL_sBsBeB6_fDkN3e8YeYnaE0lI9f1XpBKjImGJ4IoXqYPGIjLDayjwtInTuXX3nVEjPnPRLxzDlfZdqUlUlZQkx8BqvlNe3j-Lf0IUrWUNaGSCjs-_TAh-WJ/s400/Desert+Love+Songs+.JPG" width="290" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m sorry to say I have yet to locate the full text for the cycle, I did however find a contemporary review published in the <i>The Music Trade Review</i> Vol. LVIII No. 20, p. 50: May 16 1914. when the work was issued in the US.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Desert Love Songs</i> by Clarke. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Brilliant Cycle of Six Song by Robert </span>Coningsby<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Clarke, the Young Composer, Published by </span>Chappell<span style="font-family: inherit;"> & Co. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps when the young composer [actually 34, so there is hope for us all] of these <i>Desert Love Songs</i> gets a little older he may be unable to write music so spring-like and expressive only of youth and the halcyon days of love. His landscape is aglow with budding flowers and the emerald of opening leaves, yet there is a note of plaintiveness in these songs, a tone of longing. Robert Coningsby Clarke, however, is not a musical trifler. His expression is earnest and his style is elevated. Such a song as "My Heart's Desire," for instance, is dignified as well as impassioned. "The Burning Hours" has an Oriental touch and is full of romance. "I will await thee." the first song of the volume, is delightfully tender; and the last song, "Yellow Slippers," is the exuberance of youth at its best. In "The Dove" the composer has an easy and spontaneous melody with a rippling accompaniment suggestive of light wings and airy flight. "The Hawk" has a more insistent rhythm and a melody of stronger character, as befits the predatory nature of that bird that killed the swallow. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">This album of six songs, with words by Marguerite </span>Radclyffe<span style="font-family: inherit;">-Hall and music by Robert </span>Coningsby<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Clarke, is published by </span>Chappell<span style="font-family: inherit;"> & Co., New York.</span><br />
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<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/AVvXsEiXzgKDJcIWFvFOcF60L7fQFtmC9r3dZr_pOmSMfhzOCHHpgorzkdIRlibVOn95gqR8pSdrVdLkRIUlNgY91igzLVphyK-6TXcaAV-XasYhq2p7uELT1TY6j84Vcr_56cXAWMGZ0DrzARXi/s1600/Ernest_Farrar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzgKDJcIWFvFOcF60L7fQFtmC9r3dZr_pOmSMfhzOCHHpgorzkdIRlibVOn95gqR8pSdrVdLkRIUlNgY91igzLVphyK-6TXcaAV-XasYhq2p7uELT1TY6j84Vcr_56cXAWMGZ0DrzARXi/s320/Ernest_Farrar.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-align: start;">Ernest </span>Bristow<span style="text-align: start;"> </span>Farrar</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a filler Columbia recorded <i>Brittany</i> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Farrar" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Ernest Bristow Farrar (1885-1918)</span></a> a native of Lewisham in London, I only mention this as I live in thjis neck of the woods, his biography can be found on wikipedia. He managed to produce a fare amount of work before being killed on the Western Front. Farrar is perhaps best remembered as the teacher of Gerald Finzi. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Coincidentally Gerwase Elwes also recorded this song about June 1917 but this recording was held back until 1921. Columbia was not to know that Elwes would be killed in a tragic accident in January 1921 and so issued his version in March as a sort of tribute. This duplication could not have helped the sale of the <i>Desert Love Songs</i> much.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The words by E.V Lucas formed the third poem in a series on Easy Lessons in Geography that was published as part of the anthology called <i>Another Book of Verses for Children</i> in 1909. A pretty book which a later issue of which can be seen <a href="https://archive.org/details/anotherbookofver00luca" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">here</span></a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In Brittany the churches</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">All day are open wide,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That anyone who wishes to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">May pray or rest inside.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The priests have rusty cassocks,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The priests have shaven chins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The poor old bodies go to their.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">With lists of little sins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In Brittany the churches</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Are cool and white and quaint,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">With here and there a crucifix</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And here and there a saint;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And here and there a little shrine,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">With candles short or tall</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That Bretons light for love of Him</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Lord who loveth all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-54321483225563977462013-10-20T19:12:00.002+01:002013-10-20T21:57:10.162+01:00On Margate sands<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;">Well not quite on Margate sands but hard-by to them are the Winter Gardens host to Laurel & Hardy, The Beatles and various political party conferences. But also once the home to the Margate Municipal Orchestral during the heyday of such watering places before the 1950s.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOKcXYjhF8dUsC77athmITJoh9expKlAGoE_Z3G01_-l6MLqh1ArcHfeHBnEYIyIgUmAamlryJhk3mJns2OQ7fcSukhuWRsaYL-BzoiZgh_H23-Oc5ylkgmblEJvdLRVAVjFLk9fAUI98/s1600/Dominion+A185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOKcXYjhF8dUsC77athmITJoh9expKlAGoE_Z3G01_-l6MLqh1ArcHfeHBnEYIyIgUmAamlryJhk3mJns2OQ7fcSukhuWRsaYL-BzoiZgh_H23-Oc5ylkgmblEJvdLRVAVjFLk9fAUI98/s320/Dominion+A185.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Tunelandia - Orchestral Selection arranged by Lodge & Franks</b></div>
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<b>The Margate Municipal Orchestra</b></div>
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<b>Conducted by Herbert Lodge</b></div>
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<b>Dominion A.185</b></div>
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(1254-2, 1255)</div>
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Issued November, 1929 but recorded about July, 1929</div>
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<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/eyv7n4jutpi3zjx/Lodge_-_Tunelandia_-Margate_Municipal_Orchestra_Lodge.flac" target="_blank">Link</a> to FLAC file (about 15Mb)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;">First a quick tour through Margate's musical history. Margate employed Herr Moritz Würm's 'Red Viennese Band' as their municipal band from the 1890s and later by Karoly Klay and his 'Blue Hungarian Band' in 1903 when Würm had been tempted away by Folkstone. The musicians in these band were predominately British players dressed up in quasi military uniforms in various colours – Holst being a trombonist in one, and bitterly regretting it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;">In 1904 Margate formed the Royal Meister Orchestra of seventeen or so musicians and employed Edmund Maney, a violinist of the newly formed LSO, as conductor. As the years progressed the orchestra increased to twenty-five, thirty-six which was bolstered to forty-one as the season got going in August. In 1911 a new pavilion and winter garden was built at a cost of £26,000 and the orchestra was renamed Margate Municipal Orchestra. The municipal purse was then strong enough to attract soloist that included Tetrazzini, Melba, </span></span>Clara Butt, Kreisler and Backhaus. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhza2mKy1gRkzTEMfyWBw-W0RypUTPrsIyaldZSkB7p9ISLxMkI1bdrqgWcDaJBWqT7ub6xlipUxx9Sl1dCpTeGR7BWCS9rxmdxiQbOpiD2_4BdcDPQ55oEtwQOXGZ4c4l5Q3rVSIEyHW2H/s1600/Marg-WintGdns4-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhza2mKy1gRkzTEMfyWBw-W0RypUTPrsIyaldZSkB7p9ISLxMkI1bdrqgWcDaJBWqT7ub6xlipUxx9Sl1dCpTeGR7BWCS9rxmdxiQbOpiD2_4BdcDPQ55oEtwQOXGZ4c4l5Q3rVSIEyHW2H/s400/Marg-WintGdns4-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Orchestra had to be reformed after the World War when G. Bainbridge Robinson took over as chief conductor. He instituted the Robinson's Music Festival that ran from mid-September to the end of the season attracting other conductors including Landon Ronald, Cowan, Sargent and Holst. These concerts were not financially stable and Robinson departed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZCFt_EJZa9ub02SgDApkVhX3XRJVFXzlK1aSZ5uELFoqLc-7Vgawpip2XZwhZ9tY23Kue-Z4YCdAGVW7bgZll1Y5XLObpaoS8YVmFSuZm-Keg9Lwh9mmj0X1283lnFWPJeVbeh4hZi2t/s1600/Marg-WintGdns3-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZCFt_EJZa9ub02SgDApkVhX3XRJVFXzlK1aSZ5uELFoqLc-7Vgawpip2XZwhZ9tY23Kue-Z4YCdAGVW7bgZll1Y5XLObpaoS8YVmFSuZm-Keg9Lwh9mmj0X1283lnFWPJeVbeh4hZi2t/s400/Marg-WintGdns3-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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In 1928 Herbert Lodge, a fine bass player became the new conductor. He studied at the Royal Academy and Berlin, played for the Kroll Opera House and then in the Royal Opera, Covent Garden 1913-21, LSO 1921-31 and Royal Philharmonic 1932-35. He also claimed to be the first bass player to make a solo gramophone record, broadcast, and to feature in a talking picture, this apparently in 1931, the film still survives and can be watched <a href="http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-double-bass-a-little-experiment-by-herbert-lod/query/Herbert+lodge" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">here!</span></a> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><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;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbm4LrLeWYAbk4dctwGYnilsFSLyA18O9TjYR7PmTB5ZLIpFmNF8pnewjdSkXY3y9Ze-wiQBygtzdwK-C4uNFRr9bTlw-FU3oeT4I9O2KN4RINRd3WXeGBLLjKhbQPz7lpmXzC70RLL-p6/s400/Herbert_Lodge.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="292" /><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 1em;">Herbert Lodge conducting at Worthing 195</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 1em;">0</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;">With experience of playing in various orchestras to a circus and apparently appearing at times in London cinemas with an all saxophone band this short, dark and dapper man with a wide experience made him the perfect conductor for Margate. He played light classical concerts at the Margate Oval on Friday mornings but also concertos and symphonies at the Winter Gardens but had to accompany all sorts of acts and act as the house dance band. The Second World War killed the orchestra off and Lodge became conductor of the 'Southern Orchestra' to entertain factory workers and troops. He managed to reform the orchestra in 1946 but it lasted only a season before fading out. Lodge had already been conducting the orchestra at Worthing from the mid 1930s but after the war this was loosing money and came to an end on Lodge's retirement, through ill health in 1954</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><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/AVvXsEh8p3LxGBxw-G8UaXyKr4qzAVsugC4Ge174SCH-mF6ERUASGODP1fC-0grtdr-5MjXJK3iq6W358i9LgoI6Jy6Jgqw7TMYPpNcNybpIkWslc76aFkbNTM8jGdYgnOBKQ-GlGyEvgmuCCAtd/s1600/Margate+WintGdns+from+air.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8p3LxGBxw-G8UaXyKr4qzAVsugC4Ge174SCH-mF6ERUASGODP1fC-0grtdr-5MjXJK3iq6W358i9LgoI6Jy6Jgqw7TMYPpNcNybpIkWslc76aFkbNTM8jGdYgnOBKQ-GlGyEvgmuCCAtd/s400/Margate+WintGdns+from+air.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">The Winter Gardens from the air</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lodge composed or arranged various orchestral items to entertain the seaside goers, and <i>Tunelandia</i> was typical of the entertainment that was given at Margate. I do not believe it has ever been published; i also do not know what 'Franks' had in the piece or indeed who he/she was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dominion Records first supplement appeared in September 1928 but by July 1930 it was all over and declared bankrupt. The company was part owned by an American company called Cameo records, a number of whose recordings where pressed here in the UK under the Dominion label. Cameo went bust in 1929 and the UK end of the business struggled on. The records are pressed on very cheep and noisy shellac and this copy is not in the first flush of youth. I'm not altogether sure what recording system they are using but it is quite probably a bespoke system to avoid paying royalties to Western Electric; the sound although quite boxy still has a verydecent high frequency response and fine violin tone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black;">The
previous conductor, Robinsoin, had recorded the orchestra on the Edison Bell
label so naturally enough did Lodge when he took over. He recorded Lizst </span><span style="color: black;"><i>Hungarian
Rhapsody No 14</i></span><span style="color: black;"> for
Edison Bell but when issued in May 1929 this 'New Margate Municipal
Orchestra' effort was badly reviewed 'I am sorry I cannot
commend this. The music is taken much too fast, without poise or
style. Some of the instruments appear to be indifferently in
tune. We must have better work than this nowadays.' In October
1929 Lodge and the Margate where demoted to the Edison Bell Winner
label for their next release. Maybe this was the reason for the move
to Dominion. When </span><span style="color: black;"><i>Tunelandia</i></span><span style="color: black;"> was
issued in November 1929 the review was a bit more supportive 'Those
who like a medley of well-known airs, or rather a musical switch,
will much appreciate <i>Tunelundia</i>, by the Margate Municipal
Orchestra.'</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Winter Gardens was damaged in the last war and the original way it functioned has changed. The interior shows the stage where the orchestra performed, behind them was a semi circular glass wall which can be seen on the next photograph, The idea was to have the orchestra facing the sea so that the facing glass wall could be opened to the sea and the southern breeze would waft through the building with the audience partly inside and partly on a large veranda in deckchairs facing the music. This sea veranda has no been built over as can be seen in the ariel photograph.</span></div>
<br />
</div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></div>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdtgTQBbFrd36K6AiBioCOsd-VZdShDMOCNzJzAgaWJZObRhmr3kPCIhrTX0pITN1E06YKyJ65ujGy9eU7toqqnUmX2kVWUof3N5qe0PSHAg7F5QYKKatpxIPvG7dhnR53goWgQJZqKCP/s1600/McGill+PC+Margate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdtgTQBbFrd36K6AiBioCOsd-VZdShDMOCNzJzAgaWJZObRhmr3kPCIhrTX0pITN1E06YKyJ65ujGy9eU7toqqnUmX2kVWUof3N5qe0PSHAg7F5QYKKatpxIPvG7dhnR53goWgQJZqKCP/s400/McGill+PC+Margate.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-35857394499211806652013-10-13T19:08:00.000+01:002018-12-18T13:05:08.431+00:00'That brutal selfish ill-mannered bounder ... that brute Coates'<h2>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
</h2>
<h2>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3CfjeNmBWk4Boyj3LYPy3Wjfzcu_tmllYNE-D74SRMSkRQ3QETRlGeyvB1XrxqRO7ujIyC4vthIkUOoXU6fR0q5XK8zYiI-FzWvP03KPzlrzd5cxKWUK5zBlRNZVOfeCVe1W3OFHCCi_k/s1600/bolg032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3CfjeNmBWk4Boyj3LYPy3Wjfzcu_tmllYNE-D74SRMSkRQ3QETRlGeyvB1XrxqRO7ujIyC4vthIkUOoXU6fR0q5XK8zYiI-FzWvP03KPzlrzd5cxKWUK5zBlRNZVOfeCVe1W3OFHCCi_k/s320/bolg032.jpg" width="319" /></a></span></div>
</h2>
<h2>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><b style="text-align: center;"></b></span><br />
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Scriabin: </span></b><span style="line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: small;">Le Poème de l'extase, Op. 54</span></span></span></b></div>
</div>
<b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">
</span></b></div>
</h2>
<h2>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">London Symphony Orchestra </span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">conducted by Albert Coates</span></div>
</h2>
<h2>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Columbia L1380-L1382</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">(74060-2, 74061-2, 74081-1,74082-2, 74062-1)</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Recorded Saturday 25th April 1920 & Wednesday 5th May 1920</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
</div>
</h2>
<h2>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlVkFxnTd-H7dTulVVgmsvjWMXeTHYz2awNXBSqwhDNzYY5p6KabE2fXauPRtt5_SLB3xrOBhEmnVhI4vY2BNH_hJRXwOjh5w2iuuXBsL7SxghDFAntg_L5OljROwGRxqJoGCHPblxNKlf/s1600/bolg031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlVkFxnTd-H7dTulVVgmsvjWMXeTHYz2awNXBSqwhDNzYY5p6KabE2fXauPRtt5_SLB3xrOBhEmnVhI4vY2BNH_hJRXwOjh5w2iuuXBsL7SxghDFAntg_L5OljROwGRxqJoGCHPblxNKlf/s320/bolg031.jpg" width="318" /></span></a></div>
</h2>
<h2>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Lecocq: La Fille de Madame Angot - Entract Act III</span></div>
</h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;"><div>
Sir Thomas Beecham's Light Opera Orchestra</div>
<div>
Conducted by Eugene Goossens III</div>
</span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; text-align: center;"><div style="font-weight: normal;">
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small; text-align: center;">Columbia L1382</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">(76569-2) </span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">Recorded July/August 1919</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/5815xv7z3a3yz0v/Scriabin_%26_Lecocq.rar" target="_blank"><span style="color: #274e13;">Link</span></a> to Flac file (about 70Mb)</div>
</span><div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The Scriabin is a bit noisy I'm afraid but then I don't want to loose the little dynamic that has survived the recording process, might have another go sometime but this is the best I can manage for now - the Lecocq is much less of a problem.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Although Scriabin's<i> Le Poeme d'Extase</i> had been given a
first hearing in the UK under Serge Koussevitzky at the Queens' Hall in
1910 but it was not until after the First War, when Albert Coates returned
to conduct in the UK, that the work was given its next outing. Unfortunately Scriabin was becoming decidedly unfashionable, Compton Mackenzie writing but a few years later in <i>The Gramophone</i> probably voiced a
general sentiment 'Opinions may differ about Wagner. I am only just
emerging from a decade of hating Wagner and everything that Wagner
ever did; a hatred I have now transferred to Scriabine. No doubt, in
another 20 years, if God will and if His Master's Voice issue
(perhaps) a special Scriabine supplement, I shall have reached a
final opinion about him.' Not a very favourable endorsement for
anyone wishing to buy this set of three records issued by Columbia in
November 1920.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<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/AVvXsEg4S5FZGCExf22OBQ-0Dmsu9MrGGV1-STVPPVRjjMi4YN1gRtpLMi9Aqj9_z8tkR4incQYtiM3hiMsuo6Vn1-NJFr0CcOAZLiWcmqe1S1Xg1UXsB76n8N99omPD_nkbqaaY-2z157jYxbn7/s1600/Albert+Coates+1932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4S5FZGCExf22OBQ-0Dmsu9MrGGV1-STVPPVRjjMi4YN1gRtpLMi9Aqj9_z8tkR4incQYtiM3hiMsuo6Vn1-NJFr0CcOAZLiWcmqe1S1Xg1UXsB76n8N99omPD_nkbqaaY-2z157jYxbn7/s320/Albert+Coates+1932.jpg" width="252" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Albert Coates in 1932</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Coates personally knew Scriabin and probably through the
Siloti concerts at St Petersburg conducted a number of his work. When he returned to London Albert Coates became conductor to London Symphony Orchestra at the end of 1919. He had already
announced his arrival from Russia with a series of concerts at the
Queen's Hall, the orchestra is not mentioned in the publicity but was
likely to be the Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra.</div>
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><div style="text-align: center;">
Second London Performance</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Sciabin was one of the pieces then played. 'A third
concert, given by Mr. Coates on May 6, 1919 was devoted to Russian
music. Tchaikovsky loomed rather largely in the scheme, being
represented by his 'Romeo and Juliet' and B flat minor Pianoforte
Concerto, played by Miss Katharine Goodson, but it was interesting to
hear Rimsky-Korsakoff's Suite from 'The Legend of Tzar Saltan' with
its invigorating rhythms, and Scriabin's ' <i>Poeme de l'extase</i>.' This
latter work had been heard only once before in London, if memory
serves correctly, and had made a strong impression with its richly
woven design. Intervening years have enabled us to perceive the
strands of the texture more clearly, and to know them as harmonies
which, once considered exotic, are now becoming typical of Marylebone
and Kensington. The skill of Scriabin's weaving is however none the
less open to admiration.' (<i>Musical Times</i> for 1 June 1919) Even at this juncture Scriabin was thought by this critic to be on the side of being a bit passée.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><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/AVvXsEjUXfmGUtGACuy3AEO4nqi3Rn2xUxqEjfBcuQlI5TTp8BWTs5tifZces4-zJ-Aptm4aPJJj8WLEULMwKhkG-GNOui6JyDADmw0x9uTbFmIL54iKA2F2zYE9hzNJXcOzJ59SnheNcHBo8hRm/s1600/scriabin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUXfmGUtGACuy3AEO4nqi3Rn2xUxqEjfBcuQlI5TTp8BWTs5tifZces4-zJ-Aptm4aPJJj8WLEULMwKhkG-GNOui6JyDADmw0x9uTbFmIL54iKA2F2zYE9hzNJXcOzJ59SnheNcHBo8hRm/s320/scriabin.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scriabin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This series of concerts changed the course of Coates' career as they where so well received that he decided to stay in Britain.
The LSO was then trying to re-establish itself after the war and
Coates was quickly appointed their conductor. He decided to forgo any payment for the
first six concerts when he was trying to knock the orchestra into shape. A member of
the orchestra of that time described his rehearsal methods 'Coates
had a lot to give – and he gave it all' (Pearton <i>LSO at 70</i>, p. 60)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
Disaster</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The effort to get the orchestra up to scratch caused
other problems. The initial series of concerts contained a lot of
music new to the LSO and this may account for at least one disastrous
premier.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
'The concert of the 27 October 1919 included the first
performance of Elgar's cello concerto, conducted by composer, 'the
rest of the programme was conducted by Albert Coates, who
overran his rehearsal time [by an hour it seems] at the expense of
Elgar's. Lady Elgar wrote, "that brutal selfish ill-mannered
bounder ... that brute Coates went on rehearsing”. The critic
of The Observer, Ernest Newman, wrote, "There have
been rumours about during the week of inadequate rehearsal. Whatever
the explanation, the sad fact remains that never, in all probability,
has so great an orchestra made so lamentable an exhibition of
itself'' (Wikipedia).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
I can't actually find a balanced opinion on this concert
as both Elgar and Coates supporters seem to be at odds over what
happened that evening. My own speculation is that it was probably
Coates being over ambitious in his programming and the orchestra not
being yet strong enough to cope and things just got a little bit scary. </div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To Liverpool</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
Still, Coates persisted with the Scriabin, taking the LSO on a tour they
played the piece again at Liverpool. 'The second Philharmonic concert
on November 11th, was in the nature of a personal triumph for Mr.
Albert Coates, who likes to remember his early experiences as a
schoolboy at the Liverpool Institute—a school which has turned out
many clever men—and later as a student of chemistry at the
University of Liverpool, under Sir (then Prof.) Oliver Lodge. Mr.
Coates's fame as a conductor was clearly upheld on this occasion,
when he had drawn up a programme largely of Russian music, with which
he has such intimate acquaintance and evident sympathy. It contained
his master, Rimsky-Korsakov's, 'Procession of Princes,' from
'<i>Mlada</i>,' Liadov's '<i>Eight Russian Folk Songs</i>,'characteristic trifles,
and Scriabin's ' <i>Poeme de l'Extase</i>,' which was kept to the last and
overtopped all else. Mr. Coates secured a performance of this
extraordinary music which will long dwell in memory. He certainly
managed to convey to his listeners much of the marvel, mystery, and
mastery of the amazing score, which requires seven horns and five
trumpets, gong, bells, celesta, with extra harp, and organ. It is
without doubt a stupendous creation, but ordinary people will find
little comfort in it as music. More pleasure, if less psychology, was
found in Cyril Scott's two 'Passicaglias,' (<i>Musical Times</i> 1 December
1919)</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Ezra Pound having an opinion</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
The Scriabin was programmed yet again for a performance
at the Queen's Hall on the 17<sup>th</sup> December 1919 and was again
reviewed with some condescension. 'The starred number was the Scriabin
"<i>Poeme d'Extase</i>." Here, as in the Korsakov, Coates showed
his realisation of the capacities of his orchestra, but the extase is
senescent; it is manifestly not the extase of youth; the long
beginning is like the prose of its era, heavy as Henry James or as
Charles Louis Phillippe, <i>fin de siecle</i>, of an extreme and laborious
sophistication, Coates doing admirably, Scriabin conscientiously
avoiding the obvious in everything save the significance, and
treating one of the oldest topics with anatomic minuteness, though
possibly unconscious of his humour, anatomic even to the notes given
on the triangle, spurring one to quotations from Gamier's "<i>Carmen</i>."
The double basses superb, but one longed, possibly, for the older
spirit of English May-day. It is too late to emend the title; we
quarrel with no work of art because of title lightly or sarcastically
given, but we think Scriabin would have been kinder to his audience
if he had labelle this poeme "Satire upon an Old
Gentleman," or possibly "Confessions of Trouble,"
supposing all the time he "knew." We entertain doubts,
however, as to just how far his awareness extended. (Ezra Pound <i>The
New Age</i> 15 January 1920, p. 175)</div>
</span><div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Belfast unimpressed</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
By
this time the LSO must have know the piece very well indeed. For
a concert at Belfast on the 16<sup>th</sup> February 1920 Coates
attempted the Scriabin with another orchestra. 'Chief among these …
was the appearance of the Beecham Symphony Orchestra, with Mr. Albert
Coates conducting, when Belfast musicians and music-lovers had a
treat such as they had not known for a long time. The first part of
the programme was of Wagner numbers, while the second part comprised
Cyril Scott, Liadoff, and Scriabin. The selection was admirable,
although there were probably not many auditors who could honestly say
that they appreciated the ' Poeme de Extase' of the last-named
composer. (<i>Musical Times</i> 1<sup>st</sup> April 1920)</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
On his return to London the LSO took to making the
recording. I think the recording has given us a
performance both very well rehearsed and still new enough not to have
become routine. I have listened to several other performances and the energy and subtlety that the LSO and Coates has given us is quite special.</div>
</span><div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The recording</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
I confess I was at first slightly confused by sides 1, 2 & 5
being recorded on the 24<sup>th</sup> April 1920 and sides 3 & 4
on the 5<sup>th</sup> May 1920 with each session having consecutive
matrix numbers. I believe that the first intention was to market it
as a three sided set with a filler piece. This original intention was
changed when it was thought to try for a complete, or near complete version.
Unfortunately a miscalculation was made when it was found that the
music for the central section could not be fitted onto two sides, and
worse, if the music was stretched to three sides then the records
would look a bit short and buyers would feel short changed. The only
expedient way to avoid making all the sides again was to make a cut, thus a minute of music between sides 4 & 5 is missing,
unfortunately they also managed to loose a couple of bars between
sides 2 & 3. I would think that these points would not be noticed
much when playing the original consecutively, but does cause a bit of
a problem when the whole work is joined together. Still I have done
what I can.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Perils of Recording</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Pearson in his book on the LSO at 70 gives an account
of a Coates recording session from the diary of the principle
violinist of the LSO, H. Wynn Reeves. This appears to recount a
recording session for the either the 8<sup>th</sup> or the 11th
December 1922 or the 18<sup>th</sup> July 1923 or at least a
conflation of two different events.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
'Most of the recording took pace in a small room, the
orchestra being reduced to its lowest possible limit, and we were
crowded together in the endeavour to propel whatever we had to play
into one or two recording bells. Occasionally we did excerpts from
the Ring – this was sheer murder.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
'I remember a series we undertook in midsummer one year,
the strings were reduced to 2 ×<span style="text-indent: 0.64cm;"> 1sts, 2 </span>×<span style="text-indent: 0.64cm;"> 2nds, 1 va. 1 cello, 1 bass,
the minimum of woodwind, brass and percussion; Billy Reed and I were
playing into No. 1 bell (or horn), our bows being not more than 2
inches from the rim. The music being away back under the bell
necessitated stooping down to see what we had to play; it was my job
to turn the pages; woe betide me if the music rustled or if my bow
touched the bell. Standing behind us with their music stands leaning
on our shoulders, were the woodwind blowing into our ears as loudly
as possible; behind them again were the brass.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.64cm;"><br /></span></div>
<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/AVvXsEhOc3zUN6Jd6T58IrzZgK69RjyT5k4iSH5PeWiRGqX-d7AYy5XQJvxaEQaDqSs8RkWxpAGs5wFNFNH2GUMd4LQ_rnHmFscuRM-N30gMSLtKUmetPYkj7mAY-a-1kUZ6P_vqNNteW7y76k19/s1600/LSO+Brass+1922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOc3zUN6Jd6T58IrzZgK69RjyT5k4iSH5PeWiRGqX-d7AYy5XQJvxaEQaDqSs8RkWxpAGs5wFNFNH2GUMd4LQ_rnHmFscuRM-N30gMSLtKUmetPYkj7mAY-a-1kUZ6P_vqNNteW7y76k19/s400/LSO+Brass+1922.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LSO Brass 1922</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
'High up on my left was Albert Coates conducting.
Immediately below him stood Florence Austral, as Brünnhilde. Coates
quickly discovered that some of her notes jarred the bell, so grabbed
her hair, pulling her forward into the bell for some notes, and
pushing back for the dangerous ones. Try to imagine interpreting
Brünnhilde under these circumstances!</div>
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
'On the right was another bell for the male chorus of six
and two principles, Robert Parker as Wotan and Robert Radford as
Hagen, the routine being the principles ducked when the chorus had to
sing and vice versa. There was constant pushing and shoving to make
way, all this causing repercussions on the bow arm. High up was an
electric fan on a block of ice perfectly useless as the temperature
registered 95° Fahrenheit!'</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
This was a more complicated recording arraignment than
that used in the Scriabin which I think had two horns – one for the
main orchestra, strings to the front, brass to the back, and another
side horn for the woodwind. If any of you are still reading this I
give another note, a brief one, below re the the filler side and why the recordings sound different.</div>
</span><div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The very Leninism of music</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;">
The last contemporary review I shall give of this composition,
again from <i>Musical Times</i>, perhaps best of all sums up the sheer
excitement that the LSO under Coates bring.</div>
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
'During last Whitsuntide [week beginning 24 May 1920],
Mr. Cyril Jenkins, who is the moving spirit of the Welsh Musical
Festival,. temporarily took the matter into his own hands by holding
a two days' competition at Mountain Ash and, by engaging the London
Symphony Orchestra to give two concerts in that town and concerts at
Cardiff,Swansea, and Newport. The five days' Festival, organized on a
lavish scale, was devoted almost exclusively to contemporary music,
and among the British composers represented were Sir Edward Elgar,
Granville Bantock, Julius Harrison, Cyril Jenkins, Dr. Vaughan
Thomas, Delius, Josef Holbrooke, and Dr. Vaughan Williams, the first
five of whom conducted their own works; in addition there was music
by Wagner, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Scriabin (<sup>'</sup><i>Le Poeme
d'Extase</i>'), Dukas and others. These composers, familiar enough to
every concert-goer in London and in the larger provincial towns of
England, are little known in Wales ; so novel were they indeed, and
so incomprehensible to the only partially educated musicians of Wales
were the idioms employed, that one heard on all hands, both from the
Press and the public, that adjective of execration 'revolutionary.'
What to us is familiar daily food is to Wales the very Leninism of
music.</div>
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But not all the music proved caviare to the general, for
an overwhelming surprise awaited us at Mountain Ash. The huge
pavilion there accommodated an audience variously estimated at from
5,000 to 7,000 people, most of whom were of the so called working
classes - miners, engineers, and the like. One would have expected
that so novel and hectic a composition as Scriabin's <i>'Le Poeme
d'Extase'</i> would leave such a gathering bored and contemptuous; but
the exact contrary proved to be the case. Mr. Albert Coates's
interpretation whipped his listeners to an enthusiasm that found vent
in a physical demonstrativeness such as the Albert and Queen's Halls
can never have witnessed: at one point it appeared as though the
complete work would have to be played a second time. It was this
demonstration that made those of us interested in the musical welfare
of Wales feel that we had underestimated the capacity of the working
man in that country to assimilate and understand the more difficult
compositions of modern times; and it was this demonstration which
indicated that, if orchestral music were supplied with some approach
to regularity, Wales would provide the necessary support. (<i>Musical
Times</i> for 1 July 1920)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<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/AVvXsEjUAW5FAkZbcHlHujVCCC-IQuLISMjZfcKeuNnGVAu7zLh6bvY6Aw6kaQJlpO6-EFtWyu3N6OUN78a3tThE0N80cUasUuuSy-2TDIjH1nK9_UdD2d3myb7q8tg6_8I0_IAYwb4D9O8uIWQZ/s1600/charles_lecocq_1832_1918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUAW5FAkZbcHlHujVCCC-IQuLISMjZfcKeuNnGVAu7zLh6bvY6Aw6kaQJlpO6-EFtWyu3N6OUN78a3tThE0N80cUasUuuSy-2TDIjH1nK9_UdD2d3myb7q8tg6_8I0_IAYwb4D9O8uIWQZ/s320/charles_lecocq_1832_1918.jpg" width="259" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Lecocq</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
Lecocq <i>Daughter of Madam Angot</i> </div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The question of what to put on the 6<sup>th</sup> side looks an odd choice. An abridged recording of Lecocq <i>Daughter of
Madam Angot</i> was cut by Columbia in August 1919. Seventeen sides
were made, the matrix numbers of these records running from 76568 to
76584. Of these, sixteen sides were issued in an album containing
eight records numbered L1370-1377 in February 1921. This left matrix
76569 without a coupling so some wag thought to put it as the coupling
to the Scriabin – probably giving the purchaser some light relief,
certainly this side has been played a bit more than the other five.
This recording is a very good example of what appears to be a one horn recording –
very clear and well balanced – the album of records where almost
all ensemble pieces so other horns would have been attached for
these but for the orchestra alone they would have been removed. It would have been more complicated and time consuming to
rearrange the orchestra just for a couple of orchestral sections so
the recording room was set up with the orchestra facing one horn and
the singers and chorus other horns. As I have mentioned elsewhere on this blog<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> if you play into one horn some of the sound goes towards cutting the disc but also a certain amount comes out of the other horns - this is not a problem here and so the sound is not as fuddled or unbalanced as that of for the Scriabin.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<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/AVvXsEhonfy2qMUROJWl3qYfqu-sGLZTmNqSGLE5hIr_isKRjiSCxe0Ht4ab97_Wt199PQpdUiJDTpeGUwxXfX9UK3WKB18KaXcW-o-VmdpnOat-CH7EyDVOryelhUX_XblV91IeCJ1DAY0JRBCw/s1600/goossens3b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonfy2qMUROJWl3qYfqu-sGLZTmNqSGLE5hIr_isKRjiSCxe0Ht4ab97_Wt199PQpdUiJDTpeGUwxXfX9UK3WKB18KaXcW-o-VmdpnOat-CH7EyDVOryelhUX_XblV91IeCJ1DAY0JRBCw/s320/goossens3b.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eugene Goossens III</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
</span></span></h2>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: 0.64cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6765243585194738114" name="__DdeLink__60_1531022651"></a></span></div>
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</div>
Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-44303842875029950272013-10-06T16:15:00.004+01:002013-10-11T17:33:08.369+01:00'A capital performance.'<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><b>Mendelssohn: </b></span></span><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><b>Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 'Italian'</b></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><br />
</span> <span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Allegro vivace (A major)</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Andante con moto (D minor)</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Con moto moderato (A major)</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Presto and Finale: Saltarello (A minor)</span><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTJ_WcOvvcUAfAudJd5oQTJSJIzNcOrN1WXgDGUwpBVA4hdiKwA4vohtgXhMYAVumui_7g7WU9pBo7Tmar_GDlrt_djPEpsFbhJzqjzrUq1xjoDulubH7mUYxCxWpKXBg8_5b854-D08TW/s1600/Aeolian+Vocalion+K-05148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTJ_WcOvvcUAfAudJd5oQTJSJIzNcOrN1WXgDGUwpBVA4hdiKwA4vohtgXhMYAVumui_7g7WU9pBo7Tmar_GDlrt_djPEpsFbhJzqjzrUq1xjoDulubH7mUYxCxWpKXBg8_5b854-D08TW/s320/Aeolian+Vocalion+K-05148.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><b><br />
</b></span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aeolian Orchestra cond. by Stanley Chapple</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></b><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aeolian Vocalion K-05148,</span></b><b> K-05149</b><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> &</span></b><b> K-05150</b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal;">(03781xx, 03782X, 03783, 03788X, 03789, 03790)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">(recorded January/February 1925)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span> </span><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/j4i0y00naslhpqu/Mendelssohn_Symp_4_Aeolian_Orch_Chapple.rar" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Link</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> (FLAC files, 70 MB)</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Prior to Chapple’s recording with the Aeolian Orchestra only two movements had otherwise been issued of this, or indeed any, Mendelssohn symphony. The Victor Concert Orchestra under Walter Rogers recorded the 2nd & 3rd movements in March 1915 and at about the same time as Chapple's complete recording the New York Philharmonic under Henry Hadley issued a 2nd movement on the Ginn & Co. label in April 1925.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table 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/AVvXsEjAW3MNseLQEEOxAqhJSYGpsQHIsDWanXs9FKHpJAtQctKABC3w68Oe8aRLOTsUe2EvHGcy9agRxrFR1qm58GWKnb0dtFP6UYjcg9iOfLMAG182H20WfObWlA6KDEL1XTiArLf65LV6How3/s1600/Mendelssohn+pic+of+Italy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAW3MNseLQEEOxAqhJSYGpsQHIsDWanXs9FKHpJAtQctKABC3w68Oe8aRLOTsUe2EvHGcy9agRxrFR1qm58GWKnb0dtFP6UYjcg9iOfLMAG182H20WfObWlA6KDEL1XTiArLf65LV6How3/s320/Mendelssohn+pic+of+Italy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ink drawing by Mendelssohn of the Amalfi coast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The performance is almost complete, bar repeats, with only a small section in the first movement omitted. Discus in <i>Musical Times</i> for May 1925 had room for only a very brief review in a general ‘catch-up’ article but thought the record ‘a capital performance.’ Seemingly Compton Mackenzie was a bit more hesitant on the qualities of the recording and the music. In his April 1925 review for <i>The Gramophone</i> he begins with an analytical discussion of the work leaving the merits of the recording until the end. </div>
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‘The orchestration, as I have suggested, is full of interest and novelty. The only weakness is the brass. Mendelssohn was writing for the natural instruments that we find in Beethoven's symphonies and earlier. It was not until later that the invention of the valve horn and valve trumpet enabled composers to feel at home with this part of the orchestra. Mendelssohn's treatment of his trumpets in particular is rather clumsy; it seems a pity that he didn't leave them out altogether; they are not really necessary here. The playing, too, has aggravated rather than minimised this defect, and the rest of the orchestra is occasionally swamped by a blatant and pointless blare. In this set of records, too, there is once or twice a miscalculation with the drum, which is sometimes too loud and at others quite inaudible. Apart from these minor drawbacks I have nothing but praise for a notable achievement that will, I fancy, be welcomed with acclamation by many.’ [The full review included with the recording]</div>
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<br /></div>
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<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/AVvXsEjhZk0XLpK_ws2FOPHI7nSnlh8aJopNjQ39qUrJREuFNg216UzbS82M7CbFrgK9Yt_sGBDg52F9oeMJar0AYdNW9eNFq0yAu8sdQO0uZcthAtMdz9WSRk2lhbeP07m3LtcBLH_uXjowSQQJ/s1600/Mendelssohn+at+24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZk0XLpK_ws2FOPHI7nSnlh8aJopNjQ39qUrJREuFNg216UzbS82M7CbFrgK9Yt_sGBDg52F9oeMJar0AYdNW9eNFq0yAu8sdQO0uZcthAtMdz9WSRk2lhbeP07m3LtcBLH_uXjowSQQJ/s320/Mendelssohn+at+24.jpg" width="254" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mendelssohn at 24</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mackenzie retracted his statement on the quality of the recording the next month as having tried a new gizmo attached to his soundbox he set about re-evaluating 600 or so records in one fairly extend listening session. He decided that after all the recording was fine.<br />
<br />
As with all acoustic recordings a certain amount of substitution and contraction of forces is practised, here the bass line has some excellent tuba playing particularly in the second movement, I don't think there are any cellos or basses present and would guess the 1st and 2nd violins total about eight players. The line up for the recording would be 21 players that included 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and 8 strings with a tuba. </div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Odd as it may seem to us today Mendelssohn started to go out of fashion at the end of the nineteenth century and probably hit his lowest point in popularity in the early 1920s. So unfashionable indeed that no one thought it worthwhile to make another complete recording of the ‘Italian’ symphony until HMV issued a performance of La Scala Orchestra under Panizza in October 1931. Why Chapple and Aeolian Vocalion thought it was worth recording is not known to me but one wonders if the coincidence of Chapple having recently been made music director of the company together with the further coincidence of Mendelssohn composing the symphony when he was 24 and Chapple recording it when he was 24 had anything to do with it. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1xG4n4F_KpXTfCh04uGV-laKNq4bFaNShVNBvNldubQRCGt6yqOkz9o4exxfckHapnZdUiHSoltE8Bu-cWpwrnV91RbCarcy7MwCr1M__RdHN8eUkaAAd-_DEKLV7mShKgCqFcoIVq0C/s1600/Stanley+Chapple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1xG4n4F_KpXTfCh04uGV-laKNq4bFaNShVNBvNldubQRCGt6yqOkz9o4exxfckHapnZdUiHSoltE8Bu-cWpwrnV91RbCarcy7MwCr1M__RdHN8eUkaAAd-_DEKLV7mShKgCqFcoIVq0C/s400/Stanley+Chapple.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Stanley Chapple is a bit of a forgotten conductor, I have pulled stuff from various reference books and the web to give some sort of idea of his career.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Stanley Chapple was born in 1900. He studied at the London Academy of Music where he was successively student, professor, Vice-principle and until 1936 principle. In 1920, at the age of nineteen, he was hired as director of the City of London School's opera, but more importantly for us he was also hired by the Aeolian Vocalion Company as and piano accompanist. By 1924 he became music director, a position he held about 1929. [A fascinating article by Chapple was published in the <i>Gramophone</i> in 1929 which I have included with the zipped up file of the recording].</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
By 1922 he had been invited to appear as a guest conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra; and shortly after he was made head director, although I can find no mention of this in the history of the LSO publish a few years back. In 1930 the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra invited Chapple to appear as guest conductor, and by the end of the decade he had become one of the most coveted guest conductors on the European Philharmonic circuit, travelling to Vienna, the Hague, and Warsaw.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Chapple also frequently travelled to the USA making his first voyage I believe in August 1931. Chapple’s dream of going to Russia was ruined when war broke out in 1939. He was in Boston at the time when the tour to Russia had to be cancelled. Philip Kerr, Lord Lothian then British ambassador in Washington D.C. asked him to stay in America to ‘promote good will’. During the war, Chapple conducted the National Symphony in the Watergate concerts. In 1940, the director of the Boston Symphony opened a school for conductors and orchestra musicians in Massachusetts; and made Chapple its director. Thus was born Tanglewood, a music academy that is still going strong today. Leonard Bernstein was Chapple's first student there. Chapple was invited to teach at the University of Washington and to be its director of the University of Washington School of Music in 1948, when the active dean of the department heard him at Tanglewood. When the Seattle Symphony lost its conductor in 1950, Chapple took over and virtually remodelled Seattle's culture. He used the Symphony as a means of introducing Seattle to the opera, ballet, and the theatre. During his tenure as conductor, he greatly enhanced the professional level of symphony players In 1962, Chapple became director of symphony and opera at the University of Washington, and when he retired in 1971, Mayor Wes Uhlman asked him to direct the Seattle Senior Symphony (Musicians Emeritus) a program providing ‘encouragment and help to former music-makers wishing to resume their participation in music-making’. For the next fourteen years Stanley Chapple was the much beloved conductor of Musicians Enmeritus Symphony Orchestra and Thalia Symphony Orchestra. Chapple died in on 21st June 1987 at Seattle, King, Washington.</div>
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<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/AVvXsEgkZL4U2dYx5okub5k9eKKNPMnIiPO6wvTfj8JXAaXgy0Axd2oDVUux8wJX9sfJ13Ujsffdnobnpc2nd_aKAXPZJr16wBTtof_vUFnJy01QdhBL2jW5Of9wpVcewf4T0Vt41e6H6EPMkN6H/s1600/Mendelssohn+Review+16th+May+1833+The+Morning+Post+cutting.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZL4U2dYx5okub5k9eKKNPMnIiPO6wvTfj8JXAaXgy0Axd2oDVUux8wJX9sfJ13Ujsffdnobnpc2nd_aKAXPZJr16wBTtof_vUFnJy01QdhBL2jW5Of9wpVcewf4T0Vt41e6H6EPMkN6H/s320/Mendelssohn+Review+16th+May+1833+The+Morning+Post+cutting.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clipping showing the first performance on 15th May 1833</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Lots on the symphony itself on the web however I thought tocould include with the recording a clipping of the first performance review from The Morning Post 15th May, 1833 from which the above pic is taken.<br />
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Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-62163659246993574432013-07-27T15:48:00.001+01:002013-07-29T13:04:13.388+01:00Victorian melodrama<br />
<i>The Broken Melody</i> is one of those pieces that make many of us groan but before you pass this up this a recording with a difference.<br />
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It is difficult to get a real idea of what Victorian melodrama was like, early cinema was just in time to give a visual record but still it is nice to know that a very few fragments of sound have also survived. Unlike all other recordings this particular composition the example sets the music within the stage play as van Biene intended. The declamatory style and sentimentality can be heard performed here with all the passion one could expect of the period.<br />
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<b>August van Biene, (1849-1913) cellist & actor</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgux2THZFcAqXr70k24CYvFGg2eF94v4M-0izOzPGZ31WIsNSmIXg-TAt3qjoPOu0GMqpVbbNW-VmKSr84ApXkFuiMhJQUNgMlRX4Qbnqq76rCEeKetMxjCvTMt8R7Ujhcf8_kVQeqTgEhK/s1600/G&T+07853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgux2THZFcAqXr70k24CYvFGg2eF94v4M-0izOzPGZ31WIsNSmIXg-TAt3qjoPOu0GMqpVbbNW-VmKSr84ApXkFuiMhJQUNgMlRX4Qbnqq76rCEeKetMxjCvTMt8R7Ujhcf8_kVQeqTgEhK/s320/G&T+07853.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;">August van Biene: The Broken Melody</span></span></b><br />
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Cello Scena with orchestra</div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><b>Gramophone Co. Ltd 07853 </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">[2010f</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;">Recorded: on or about </span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;">Friday,</span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;"> 20th</span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;"> September 1907</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/a7xy9zsspzenbg4/Auguste_van_Biene_-_The_Broken_Melody_-_Scene_with_cello_from_the_play.flac" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Link</span></a> (FLAC file, 9 MB)</div>
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Auguste van Biene commissioned<i> The Broken Melody, A Musical Comedy-Drama in Three Acts</i>, from Herbert Keen and James T. Tanner with the first performance given at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London on Thursday evening the 28th July 1892. The critics thought it was terrible but the public just kept coming and van Biene eventually gave something approaching 6,000 performances worldwide. As he cast himself in the role of the main protagonist it meant that he had to perform in every one of these performances so it is hardly surprising that he decided in 1912, as much for his own sanity as anything else, that he really ought to stop.<br />
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I have not been able to locate a copy of the play in print, doubtless it was never printed although a copy would have been lodged with the Lord Chamberlain for his seal of approval and should still be lodged in the Dept. of Manuscripts at the British Library. In any case, as the play was reviewed wherever it has staged, it has not been too difficult to construct a general synopsis of how it was staged by van Biene.<br />
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I have italicised the section that the record presents:<br />
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The leading character is Paul Borinski, (August van Biene) a musician and composer of genius, The first act of the play he is shown struggling along with his young and devoted wife in London lodgings, and trying to dispose of a much-rejected opera. The genius of Borinski has attracted the admiration of the Duchess de Verviers, who does the musician at once a service and an injury, for while she uses her influence to gain acceptance for his opera, she, desirous of supplanting the young wife in her husband's affections, tells her that Borinski has been discovered by General Ivanoff (of the Russian police) to be a proscribed Polish count, and that his only hope of safety lies in her instant flight. The explanation of the position is a little complicated, but the distracted Mabel Borinski is convinced, writes a letter of adieu to her husband, and hurries off. <i>When Paul Borinski returns in the hour of his triumph - that is with his opera accepted - he finds his wife gone and only a letter remaining, the interpretation of which is distorted in friendly way by the Duchess, and makes it appear that his wife has left him for ever.</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOlqCkZJuTzmOXHrfPtJ5Fd9eS2MUJs5pLHn7ToVijiSEIGcMprIkbX-iU9H8yQAhTWYTaqvJhdf4MZ7KdH9UKnVbT7t8wGeiTGasNQqsRT8DgQgiXHFcbpnEUhyaD94ozHl7-LBfkrAr/s1600/Van+Biene+Phil+May.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOlqCkZJuTzmOXHrfPtJ5Fd9eS2MUJs5pLHn7ToVijiSEIGcMprIkbX-iU9H8yQAhTWYTaqvJhdf4MZ7KdH9UKnVbT7t8wGeiTGasNQqsRT8DgQgiXHFcbpnEUhyaD94ozHl7-LBfkrAr/s640/Van+Biene+Phil+May.JPG" width="518" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Van Biene as sketched by Phil May for <i>Black & White</i> magazine, 1902</td></tr>
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In the second act Paul, now all honoured composer, is seen as the lion of an evening at the Parisian salon of the Duchess, where, he gives a 'cello recital that affords the audience great enjoyment. Paul's wife is also in the house, but she has been warned by the Duchess that in the presence of Ivanoff, who is happens to be a guest, she must continue to deny her husband, which she has had to do once already to Ivanoff, and in consequence a dramatic scene ensues, in which Paul's passionate appeals to his wife are met with a cold denial, and which culminates when Paul reveals his rank and name to Ivanoff, strikes him, and challenges him to the duel, the latter having presumptuously interfered between husband and wife.<br />
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In the third and final act Borinski, convalescent as the result of the duel and pretty well heartbroken by his wife's apparent faithlessness, is shown apparently more than ever in the toils of the Duchess. His enlightenment is at hand, however, and the revelation of the true character of the Duchess is due mainly to Ivanoff, who produces and gives to Paul the portion of his wife's letter that her rival had suppressed. Convinced that his wife has been cruelly wronged the lonely musician takes up his 'cello once again, and plays the melody that his wife loved, and had been "broken" by the discovery or her flight, and, as faltering he drops his bow, he looks up to find his wife has stolen to his side, and their lives are then happily reunited.<br />
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Not a dry eye in the house one feels – I'm sure that with so many performances Van Biene must have got it down to a fine art. It also allowed for several cello pieces to be played including Kol Nidrie, Home Sweet Home and Salut d’amour etc. He made several versions for various recording companies but as far as I am aware nobody has reissued this particular dramatised version and in truth I was only aware of it myself once I read the label and played the record. The record seems to have been popular as it had already reached an eighth stamper by the time my copy was pressed. Stampers wore out after about 500-1000 pressings so even including mishaps several thousands would have been sold. Too few of the pressing seem to have survived as this type of record not being a for a long time thought worthy of collecting and so many copies would have been destroyed or recycled.<br />
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<b>Early collectors of this type of record</b></div>
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However there where a few intrepid collectors, one being Frederick Burden Junior who contributed an article for the <i>Gramophone Magazine's</i> Collectors Corner in January 1941 on musical theatre – he at least saw the value of these records – He mentions the 10” version on GC 7878 but it was much later in an answer to another correspondent to the magazine in a letter published in July 1955 that the present record is described for the first (and seemingly last) time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQQIgEUkr6o8KGMSoVe-bbd7Q7TYazxo6fykajGE-RTVGzrsDrTcVLSZCOY7LElZwNuBuQrr2dXwT3F_3BwoQWkVYkSDAMBzfs_FhCNLeTpFi8DNd4LqTpKaAMXnnqMg2RHGKRCF6yWmV/s1600/van+Biene+autograph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQQIgEUkr6o8KGMSoVe-bbd7Q7TYazxo6fykajGE-RTVGzrsDrTcVLSZCOY7LElZwNuBuQrr2dXwT3F_3BwoQWkVYkSDAMBzfs_FhCNLeTpFi8DNd4LqTpKaAMXnnqMg2RHGKRCF6yWmV/s320/van+Biene+autograph.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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'The Broken Melody - In reply to the letter from Mr. J. F. C. Newitt of Wolverhampton in the June issue of the <i>Gramophone</i>, I trust the following information will help clear up several of the queries regarding the late Van Biene.<br />
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Apart from the records mentioned by Mr. Newitt, [Edison Bell 3355 apparently recorded two days before the cellist death!] Van Biene also made a ten-inch single-sided disc for Gramophone & Typewriter in 1903, [<i>GC 7878 (6464b) 9 Jan 1905 reissued on Zonophone X-47852</i>] a twelve-inch double-sided Zonophone in 1909 (Broken Melody/Koi Nidrei) [<i>Zonophone A60 (ac5545f/ ac5546f) 6th Oct 1911</i>], and finally a twelve-inch single-sided Gramophone Monarch No. 07853, also in 1909 [<i>GM 07853 (2010f) on or about 20 Sept 1907</i>], which was described as a Cello Scena spoken and played by Auguste Van Biene, this, of course, being a condensed version of the famous music-hall sketch that he played all over the world for so many years. He died on the stage at the Brighton Hippodrome rather tragically on January 23rd, 1913. He went right through his sketch without faltering, as usual, and as he reached the final scene he fell back in his chair and the bow slid from his fingers. This had been the end of the sketch for many years, but in this instance it was the passing of the famous old 'cellist and performer. I have all three of the above records mentioned above in my own collection. A graphic account of the above incident is given in <i>Vaudeville Days</i> by W. H. Boardman, published in 1935 and also in<i> The Talking Machine News</i> for 1913. Peacehaven, Sussex. Frederick Burden.<br />
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The errors in dating discs are due, in part to a lack of knowledge of matrix numbers. – a topic for another day<br />
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<b>Van Biene's biography and technique</b></div>
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A short biography of van Biene by Dr Brenda Scott of Duke University can be found at this <a href="http://www.j-music.es/FileUpload/articulos/vlc043-Auguste_Van_Biene.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">link</span></a> although there is plenty to find on the web. Of van Biene's playing Arthur Broadley in his <i>Chats to 'Cello Students</i> 1899 is depricating 'Van Biene is of the exaggerated artistic order, all the time he is playing constantly striking some fresh attitude. If Van Biene had again to take to concert work, I have no doubt that he would calm down a little in this respect, his exaggerated style while being very effective on the stage, would not be tolerated on the concert platform.' No matter the public could not get enough of his act and I think the illustration by Phil May gives a fairly good impression of the theatricality of his role in the illustration above. The portamento is possibly a bit excessive, but then it had to be to bring the house down.<br />
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<b>Recording in 1907</b></div>
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Anyone who has got this far down the page may be interested in how this was recorded - As far as I can judge there would have been two horns used, one directed at the cello,and one directed at the orchestra with van Biene in between. In the picture below, also from 1907 it shows the arrangement for Edward Lloyd (tenor), Madam Adami (piano) and I think W.H. Squire cello. For the van Biene recording the orchestra would be place where the piano is and further back with van Biene directly in front with two horns directed at the bridge of the cello and another to van Biene's face.<br />
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Thus van Biene's head being blocking some of the orchestral sound and it is only at the end of the recordwhen he would have moved his head aside the the orchestra volume increases. There may actually have been yet another horn directed towards a Stroh cello [a modern YouTube video can be found through this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6bNKmjw2Fk"><span style="color: #38761d;">Link</span></a> and gives you a good idea of the sound it makes], this together with a tuba can be heard enhancing the the lower notes of the solo passage.<br />
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The arrangement of the horns meant that they had to be fixed together with a hard rubber joint - fluid dynamics come into play in this arrangement - if you play into one horn some of the sound goes towards cutting the disc but also a certain amount comes out of the other horns - that together with the internal resonance of the horns themselves meant that some notes sound 'odd' - in the photograph can be seen a couple of bands of tape round one of the horns to dampen this problem. one of these problems of resonance can be heard on the A note at 1.42.Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765243585194738114.post-47468654673678850522013-06-30T14:38:00.001+01:002013-06-30T17:28:33.942+01:00A British take on Bohemian composition<div style="text-align: start;">
I have written on the London String Quartet before for my website <a href="http://www.jolyon.com/"><span style="color: #38761d;">www.jolyon.com</span></a> [admittedly not updated for a year or more because its a complete faff and much easier to post on a blog] I can't think I have ever seen this Dvořák Quartet re-issued so thought it needed an outing.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">London String Quartet</span></b></div>
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John Pennington (first violin) Thomas W. Petre (second violin)</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Harry Waldo Warner (viola) Charles </span>Warwick Evans, (cello)</div>
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;">Dvořák: Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, S. 116</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Allegro ma non troppo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lento</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Molto vivace</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Finale: Vivace ma non troppo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;">Recorded: </span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;">Monday</span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;"> 21</span></span><sup style="color: #333333; line-height: 20.796875px;">st</sup><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 20.796875px;"> November 1927</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/hgqt1p197ehet1b/Dvorak_-_Quartet_in_F_maj_Op_96_-_LSQ.rar" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Link</span></a> (FLAC files, 73 MB)</div>
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The leader of the London String Quartet was originally Albert Sammons then James Levy and by 1928for this recording it was John Pennington. Pennington was born in Bournemouth in 1902 and by 11 was playing in Sir Dan Godfrey's symphony concerts - probably just as illegal then as now. He became a member of the LSO, Covent Garden Opera Orchestra, leader of he first Wireless Orchestra during 1923-24 and concert master of the San Francisco orchestra from 1934 when the Quartet was disbanded for a time. I have not been able to find a photograph of the line up at the time the recording was made. The viola player Harry Waldo Warner had to retire in 1929 due to ill heath so I have instead included a photograph with his wife at the foot of this post.<br />
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An excellent article by Tully Potter can be found in <a href="http://crq.org.uk/archive.php" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Autumn 2010 issue of Classical Recordings Quarterly</span></a><span style="color: #6aa84f;"> [</span>Very well worth subscribing to by the way] He calls the performance 'so-so' I shall drop him a line on this as he may not have heard the performance in goodish sound - there are a few pitch problems in the set too that have been corrected here.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">The London String Quartet. <br /><i>Top to bottom</i>: Warwick Evans, cello; John Pennington, first violin; <br />William Primrose, viola; Thomas Petre, second violin.</span></td></tr>
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<i>The Gramophone</i> contains the following review for June 1928 'This is as fine a performance as one expects it to be with this excellent ensemble. The recording, though faultless, is slightly on the thin side, a fact which makes me wonder all the more whether it was a very happy idea of Dvořák's to use these tunes as material for a romantic string quartet which - small wonder - has a good deal more to do with the land of the Czechs than with U.S.A. I honestly feel that the fruitiness of the negro-idioms is far more suitable in shows like "The Black Birds " and others than in the little string quartet, however well written it is.'<br />
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'Discus' in <i>The Musical Times</i> for June 1928 has a brisk review and liked the performance 'Chamber Music recordings have a popular addition in Dvořák s 'Nigger' Quartet, played by the London String Quartet, who give a sensitive performance of this beautiful quartet.'<br />
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The unfortunate appellation of the 'N' word was quite universal at this period, as can be seen from the label illustrated above. This thankfully starts to die out by the 1940s when the more acceptable 'American' was substituted. Neither is correct as Dvořák never gave any title to the work.<br />
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Probably the performance was thought to sound too British without enough Bohemian vitality and edge in it, but having listened to it a few times I think it has a spirit all of its own. The set was issued by Columbia in May 1928 and withdrawn probably around January 1933 when Columbia replaced it with a performance given by the Lener String Quartet.<br />
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The Columbia Supplement for May 1928 seems slightly unsure of the recording quality as they explain in their blurb that 'The ensemble is so perfect that the four play like one instrument. The fact that the beautiful viola playing of Mr Waldo Warner stands out a little above the rest is entirely due to the prominent place that Dvořák gave this instrument. it does not stand out a moment longer than it should and thus shows the perfect artistry of the quartet. The recording is very rich, and the string tone is perfectly reproduced.'<br />
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I quite like old W.W. Corbett's description of the piece in his <i>Cyclopedia of Chamber Music</i> OUP 1929 'Dvořák spent eight months in the chaos of metropolitan life in a society and nation quite strange to him, in journalistic world both sensational and polemical, amid vociferous praise and celebrations given in his honour; then suddenly he found himself in the strangely quiet beauty of the the heart of America, surrounded by a circle of Czech agriculturalist, worthy farmers, lusty peasants, cheery priests, and kindly old wives, who listened with tears in their eyes to the old church music of their native Bohemian villages which the musician played for the them on the organ at mass. here then, is the origin of the fundamental mood which inspired this charming, quickly written (in three days) [sometime between 8-23 June 1893] but detailed work, touches the places with painful yearning, yet with smiling, idyllic sentiment prevailing throughout.'<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY3xE6bkEqHmapxdbwxPOXpDKDZj_Q9cBNSGAdsWf7-Nmz95qVUbHtQHrQSWmnYdAsfrL_L_xlRxVYUAaz7YA_yCZ4vWmmRAVlFaPBgQH-NN5ftU_qqJKygUbBPf9PKC1RRKeZpoRqU947/s500/h-waldo-warner-and-wife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY3xE6bkEqHmapxdbwxPOXpDKDZj_Q9cBNSGAdsWf7-Nmz95qVUbHtQHrQSWmnYdAsfrL_L_xlRxVYUAaz7YA_yCZ4vWmmRAVlFaPBgQH-NN5ftU_qqJKygUbBPf9PKC1RRKeZpoRqU947/s400/h-waldo-warner-and-wife.jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rose & Harry Waldo Warner</td></tr>
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Going completely off at a tangent the Rose in the photograph was born <a href="http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence/biog/display/?bid=Pett_R" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Rose Amy Pettigrew</span></a> and was to marry Harry in 1896. Daughter of a cork cutter, and one of 13 children she became, from an early age, a model who sat for Rudolph Onslow Ford, William Holman Hunt, Frederic Leighton, John Everett Millais, Edward Poynter, Val Prinsep, John Singer Sargent, Walter Sickert, Philip Wilson Steer and James McNeill Whistler. <br />
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<br />Jolyon50http://www.blogger.com/profile/01331882838796428888noreply@blogger.com8