[78-L] classical stuff

[David Lennick]

Which Wood? Aside from an acoustical version in 1919, Sir Henry recorded it 
with the New Queen's Hall Orchestra on English Columbia 9313/5, issued as 
American Set 41, and with the LSO on English DX 551/3, US 68302/4D in set M216. 
WERM lists the Schalk only as Odeon O-6813/5 but US Columbia had it in print by 
1931 (Gramophone Shop catalog) as Set 122. Presumably it was a more up to date 
recording than Set 41.

dl

simmonssomer wrote:
> Word was out that the Mascagni "Cavelleria" was one of the worst recordings 
> of that opera ever made. It was allegedly a matter of tempo, in that the 
> maestro rushed through the score in an unprecedented manner. It was a huge 
> surprise to the cognocenti. "Who better than Mascagni to conduct his own 
> opera?" went the popularly held babble. Well, apparently the maestro was in 
> his dotage and perhaps he just wanted to go home.
> 
> Al Simmons
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "DAVID BURNHAM" <burnhamd at rogers.com>
> To: <78-L at 78online.com>
> Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 2:14 AM
> Subject: [78-L] classical stuff
> 
> 
> I realize that while there is an abundance of knowledge about classical 
> recordings on this list, there isn't a huge amount of discussion about 
> classical music here. I have come across a lot of interesting facts about 
> pop recordings during the last few years here but it really isn't a forum 
> for indepth discussions on the classical side of things.
> 
> The reason I mention this is because I just received a shipment of 
> interesting classical 78s from e-bay and I would like to share my delight 
> with these items. Included is a mint copy of the, (in my experience), rare 
> recording of W. H. Squire performing the Elgar Cello Concerto with Hamilton 
> Harty. I think this recording received little attention even in its day 
> because the composer's own recording with Beatrice Harrison was much more in 
> demand, but Squire was a very well respected artist amongst cellists. 
> Another set which arrived today is the Schubert Octet on, (once again), near 
> mint Viva~Tonal discs. I had never heard of this recording before and 
> stretching as it does across 6 discs, it would have been a rather expensive 
> purchase at the time. I also got the Schubert "Unfinished" conducted by 
> Franz Schalk on Columbia Blue pressings. It's curious that Columbia would 
> have issued two recordings of this work at the same time, this one and Sir
>  Henry Wood's; I don't know which one came first but they must be very close 
> in age. Another first for me was Felix Weingartner's Beethoven 7th with the 
> Royal Philharmonic. I have both the acoustic and the later Vienna recordings 
> but it has been a long time since I've been able to add a new Weingartner 
> recording to my collection. He was the first, and on 78s, the only conductor 
> to do a complete Beethoven cycle, (most of them recorded two or three times 
> or more), as well as a complete Brahms cycle. The most interesting 
> Weingartner Beethoven recording is the rare 5th Symphony recording by an 
> unnamed Symphony Orchestra. This was apparently never released in Europe 
> and, (so I've heard), released by accident in the US. I've never heard the 
> definitive version of the story about this recording. The notes with a CD 
> release of the recording states that it wasn't released for technical 
> reasons - that it was recorded at too low an amplitude - but
>  another Weingartner recording of the Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic 
> is recorded at the same level. Another story is that the orchestra didn't 
> play well so they decided to re-do it. It's like the many stories abounding 
> about the Toscanini Philadelphia recordings. Anyway, the rest of the records 
> I received were Enrique Arbos conducting Images on Viva~Tonal; Albert Coates 
> doing the Eroica on Victor Scrolls, (very shiny and new looking), and what 
> looks like an also near mint copy of Cavalleria Rusticana conducted by 
> Mascagni. All of these records arrived in excellent condition. In fact, I've 
> only ever received one disc from e-bay which was broken when it arrived - of 
> Hanson's Nordic Symphony. The seller refunded the money without discussion 
> and shortly thereafter, I found another copy of the work.
> 
> Anyway, that was a day in the life of a classical record collector.
> 
> db