[78-L] test pressing query

[Mike Richter]

Donna Halper wrote:
> This is not my area of expertise, so perhaps somebody on the list can 
> advise.  A friend of mine found a big album of 78s at a flea market-- 
> he didn't know what they were (I mean, he knew what 78s are, but as 
> you will see, this confused us both) and was curious about several things.
> 
> First, the album contains about 18 records, all of which say "TEST 
> PRESSING, Columbia Recording Corporation."  Some have greenish-blue 
> labels, some have white labels.  None identifies the artists, but all 
> say "Budapest" on the label.  A couple of the matrix numbers:  XLP 
> 8021-16, and the label reads "Beethoven Q'tet, Budapest." Another 
> reads XLP 9774-!E, and another reads XLP 8020-16.  Some have the 
> words "Op. 18" on them (I assume that's Opus).  Later in the 
> collection of test pressings, it sames "Brahms" rather than Beethoven 
> but still says "Budapest" and "q'tet" on all of them.
> 
> When might these have been recorded and by whom?  And typically, who 
> would have received this heavy album of 18 test pressings-- 
> reviewers?  Concert promoters?  I doubt they would have been sold to 
> the general public with no name of the group, would they have?   

Beethoven's Op. 18 is some 27 minutes long; the first Budapest Quartet 
interpretation was issued by Columbia as a 78 set (MM4444) as well as on 
LP. I don't have much more information, so would guess the year as 1950. 
Note that the Budapest Quartet was Hungarian originally, later 
Russian/Romanian, and in 1938 moved its base of operations permanently 
to the U.S. - all under the same name and always among the greatest 
chamber ensembles in the world.

Someone else will have to advise on who would have received test 
records; in the LP era, they were frequently sent to reviewers with such 
identification and marked "Not for resale".

Mike
-- 
mrichter at cpl.net
http://www.mrichter.com/