[78-L] 10" vs. 12" LPs

[DAVID BURNHAM]

I always admire Michael Biel's knowledge of recording history.  I'm glad he doesn't live in my area, I'm regarded as something of a 78 Guru in my small gathering of friends and if he was my next door neighbour I'd just have to shut up.

One interesting development was, as I've mentioned before, Columbia's habit of issueing two 10 inch Lps with the same title and cover art but one with fewer numbers than the other.  Another maybe not so strange one was releasing a 10 inch version of a 12 inch Lp with fewer numbers - once again with the same cover art.

I don't know if it was a first but I remember first hand the "Music Treasures of the World" introductory release of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and Schubert's Unfinished.  This was hailed as a first with this much music on a disc, (Beethoven's 5th is over half an hour long).  I don't recall if any other records had this indication but I think all of the MTOTW had the words "variable pitch" at the bottom of the label.  Of course it would have been impossible to pack this much material on a disc without variable pitch.

db