[78-L] Columbia classics [FWD]

[Michael Shoshani]

On Thu, 2010-01-28 at 03:03 -0500, martha wrote:

>  So, to finally make a point:  Columbia concentrated on making cheap 
> dime-store labels after 1925, and barely had any money for fancy orchestral 
> recordings - especially when they could draw from European masters.

And even then the classical issues pressed from European masters were
probably not huge sellers. I have at least three albums in my basement,
maybe four, of Columbia Masterworks recordings that were originally
issued anywhere from 1929 to 1937. The booklets and record labels have
such copyright dates, and the record labels themselves are the labels
from that period with the cartouche at the top with the Magic Notes
emblem, and the word COLUMBIA in a sharp-edged sans-serif typeface - but
the actual ALBUMS are from the early 1940s, with the post-1938
dual-circle "microphone / notes" Columbia trademark, and with OPA
ceiling prices listed.

Then again, on the flipside (ha), I probably have a similar number of
RCA Victor classical albums that contain scroll-label pressings of
material recorded in Europe during the late 20s and early 30s.  Either
Victor and Columbia were making new albums and selling pressings that
were old stock, or the pressings were new but they were using up labels
printed in some cases a decade before. 

MS