[78-L] Columbia classics

[samhopper at mail.com]

I totally disagree with your comments re: Columbia orchestra recordings.


After writing 250 pages of my pet project - the Columbia Masterworks 78 rpm discography and having listened to hundreds of Col. recordings - I can say that there are countless excellent electrical recordings released by Columbia of US orchestras!


One example comes to mind:
SYMPHONY NO. 5, Op. 47 (Shostakovich)
Artur Rodzinski conducting Cleveland Orchestra
Set M-520
Recorded: February 22, 1942


A review of the recording stated:
"Comparison of this recording with that of the same work by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Stokowski [RCA Victor - Set M 619] is entirely to the advantage of the Clevelanders and Rodzinski. There is little to choose between the sounds produced by the instrumentalists themselves. But the Rodzinski reading reveals whole areas of meaning that Stokowski passed over in what seems to have been a desire to thrill through surface brilliance. Its tempos are just throughout, whereas the Stokowski reading (requiring two more twelve-inch record sides) erred in dragging the beautiful third movement to the edge of bathos.


Columbia’s engineers have given superbly transparent recording worthy of the performance, recording that astonishes by the verisimilitude with which it reproduces such “difficult” instruments as celesta and tympani. Here is what may well turn out to be Shostakovich’s major composition in performance and recording of the very first rank...”
[From] Gramophone Record Supplement; October, 1942; Page 8


And this is what the respected reviewer, David Hall had to say about Columbia recordings in the late 40's


‘The sound of Columbia’s domestic orchestral recording today is of notable clarity and brilliance, if not as sheerly overwhelming in dynamic range and richness as the best English product. The recordings of the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra under Stokowski, Bruno Walter and others have been highly satisfying on the whole. The same is true of the recent Philadelphia Robin Hood Dell Orchestra discs. Records by the Philadelphia Orchestra have tended to be either of extraordinary brilliance and power.’ Records: 1950; David Hall; Alfred A. Knoff; New York; 1950; Page 31


By the way, you can see the progress of my discography here:
http://masterworks.gramophile.com/


SAM





-----Original Message-----
From: DAVID BURNHAM <burnhamd at rogers.com>
To: 78-L at 78online.com
Sent: Wed, Jan 27, 2010 7:19 pm
Subject: [78-L] Columbia classics


Rant for the day!We've been talking about the advent of electrical recording, has anyone ever heard a decent electrically recorded orchestral performance on 78 done by Columbia in the USA?  I can't even think of many Viva~Tonal Columbias of USA orchestras, the only one that comes to mind is "Karma" on which the sound quality is very poor.  Structurally, Columbia made a fine product;  I'll listen to a mint condition Viva~Tonal of almost anything and enjoy its smooth quiet surface.  In this regard they were head and shoulders above Victor or anyone else.  But even when they got into recording American Orchestras the recordings were distorted, wooden sounding, over amplified and really hard to listen to.  When Sony issued the Mitropolous recording of Mahler's 1st Symphony and some Bruno Walter recordings by NYPO, they proved there was a lot more quality tucked away in the master grooves than was ever evident on the issued 78s.  There are many pieces which only exist on one recording, (and I know some of us may say that's one recording too many), pieces like Harl McDonald's "My Country at War".  That's one of the few 78 sets which I purchased new from a record store and even the new discs had a dreadful sound.  Contrast this with the numerous recordings which Columbia issued from British and European stampers and you have a whole different world of sound.  The combination of Columbia's quiet surfaces and the recording quality from Europe always gives a very fine product, superior even to the equivalent European pressings.  I don't know why Columbia ever bothered with the Blue records because, in my experience, they don't sound as good as the black records - I have a few sets which are made up of intermixed blue and black records.\db_______________________________________________78-L mailing list78-L at klickitat.78online.comhttp://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l