[78-L] Columbia US classical

[DAVID BURNHAM]

Sam Hopper wrote:

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.

(Nothing here about the recording quality, only the readings)


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

(I have not heard an English pressing of the Shostakovich 5th by Rodzinski, maybe it fared better than the American pressings. I also don't know what the English did about the pre-emphasis which all American recordings used at this time.  Playing an American recording on a British Gramophone would certainly sound brilliant.)


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

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This quote is from 1950 and he's talking about "The sound of Columbia's domestic orchestral recording today...".  By then, one would assume that magnetic tape was being used for master recordings.

Commenting on the 1st Symphony in 1947, David Hall said: "Artur Rodzinski's recorded performance of the brash and youthful symphony is one of astounding brilliance; and the reproduction, THOUGH HARSH AT TIMES, is realistic in the extreme."

I have this recording but don't recall ever listening to it, (like Mr. Barr, I pick up any classical album if I don't already have it).

Hall makes no comment about the sound of the 5th Symphony, only comparing the Stokowski and Rodzinski readings.

In his introduction to the 1947 Record Book, however, he has this to say about Columbia's recordings of Mitropoulos:

".....Dimitri Mitropoulos, is one of those who have suffered scandalously at the hands of the recorders.  Still in the prime of life, Mitropoulos' brilliance as conductor, pianist and all-around musician is such that he could well become the Toscanini of his generation.  Yet of the very considerable catalog of recordings made for the Columbia label in Minneapolis, only one comes anywhere near doing justice to his work, namely the Mahler First symphony.  The others, almost without exception are marred by faulty instrumental balance, lack of room resonance, or both.  ........  we have heard too many superb concert hall performances by this artist to have any other conviction but that most of his Columbia discs are a gross misrepresentation."


As a child, the only recording I heard of the 5th symphony, (which I loved, even as a five year old), was the Rodzinski.  I can well remember the thrill of hearing another recording of it in the 50s, (another Columbia by Mitropoulos and NYPO).  I don't know when this was recorded but it's on their "5th anniversary" series so I assume it was in 1953.  This was also about the time that I started to notice the sound quality as well as the music.  By the '50s, Columbia, (IMO), had gotten their act together and were making fine recordings in Philadelphia and New York and elsewhere.  The sound of Bruno Walter's Beethoven and Brahms cycles with the NYPO are outstanding.

db