[78-L] 78 Album Sets outside the US & Canada - Musik des Orients

[Han Enderman]

Very interesting information on this set.
A minor typo: first 8 x 10"; then 3x12" and another 10".

I have label images of the Deccas in the range 20120-31 (= Parts 1-24), confirming
the suggested range.
The set was evidently repressed, since there are 2 Decca label types of these red Deccas
(with different rim text).
Another large Decca set in this series was Two Thousand Years Of Music 
(of which I know that 20166 is Part 21-22).
Were both large Decca sets issued in (numbered?) Albums?

The UK Parlophone album has nr P-57 (= MO 100-111), 
and the 2000 Years album is P-58 (= R 1016-1027).
I have no info on other Parlophone albums, except an image of AP-19 (Mozart 7x12"; 
incl. SW-8007), and apparently they must be rare.

The Parlophones exist with 3 slightly different label types.
The orig. issue has prefix MO (without dots).
The later pressings show prefix as "M.O." but have different rim texts 
(the text along the complete rim is the last version).
Mx.nrs on the dubs (from 2 images) are CE 6456 & 6422 (MO 109 & 110), which will
give an indication of dubbing & issue dates (1934)
(based upon (C)E-6419 & 6457 by Harry Roy, recorded 18 Mar & 20 Apr 1934).
Pres. more info in The Gramophone.

The red German Parlophons & Odeons exist with 2 label types (without & with 'Radiosendung ... verboten'). 
They show a large letter 'K' (why?).
Par B-37034-37 are the only images I have found in this B-37000 series, and I also have never
seen other labels from the Od O-5100 series.
Odd that the Java Odeon has such a different cat.nr (O-1936); had it been issued before?

Han Enderman
===
>>> One of the most important European albums is 'Musik des Orients', published in Berlin by 
ethnomusicologist Erich von Hornbostel.  It contains 9  10-inch records and 3  10 3/4 inch 
discs, some on Parlophon, others on Odeon. The album covers early exotic music recordings
from North Africa to Japan (ca. 1908-1928). 

The set was originally published in May 1931 by Carl Lindström AG, and was subsequently 
re-issued on 10 inch Parlophones in the UK and on Decca in the USA.  The accompanying 
24 page large booklet with many photos makes this set historically valuable. 

However, Erich von Hornbostel and the Phonogrammarchiv in Berlin had published and sold 
a similar set about two decades before. It was a large 'multi-storey' crate containing about 
200 cylinders with early ethnographic music recordings from Europe, Africa and Asia (I do 
not know if any American recordings were included). 

Only about 5 or 6 of these sets may have survived. The wooden crate is of natural wood color. 
As it is not painted in white, I do not know if the crate qualifies as an 'album'. ;=) 

Benno Häupl
------------------
... in the original 'Musik des Orients' album there are- in the order of the 
tracks in the set : 

- first, 7 ten inch records 
  Parlophon B 37.034 (all red label)   1 & 2 Japan
  Parlophon B 37.035     3 & 4  Japan
  Odeon O-4490  (all blue label)   5 & 6  China 
  Odeon O-4491     7 China & 8 Java 
  Odeon O-1936     9 Java &  10 Java 
  Odeon O-4492     11 Bali & 12  Bali
  Odeon O-4493     13 Bali & 14 Bali 
  Parlophon B 37.036   15 Bali &  16  Siam
- then  3  10 3/4 inch records: 
  Odeon  O-5167   17 & 18  Vorderindien 
  Odeon  O-5168   19  Persien  & 20  Ägypten
  Odeon  O-5169   21 & 22  Ägypten 
- lastly  1 ten inch record: 
  Parlophon  37.037   23 & 24  Tunis

The British Parlophone set is all on 10 inch discs (dark blue labels) 
Track sequence as above, records numbered from M.O 100 to  M.O 111. 

The ten inch records in this Parlophone set are obviously master pressings. 
They have the the same font types for the matrices that were taken from 
different Lindström labels. While the original Lindström discs bear the pound 
sign for the Odeon or Beka matrices, the Parlophone copies have both the 
W in a circle and the pound sign.  

The three 10 3/4 inch discs in the Parlophone set are, however, dubs with new 
matrix numbers and completely different run-out grooves.  

The U.S. Decca set is identical with the UK Parlophone set: master pressings for 
the 10 inchers and dubs of the larger discs. Here, the Decca discs are pressed 
on an unusual prime quality wax. I do not have a complete set of these Deccas, 
but I think it runs in consecutive numbers from De 20120 to De 20131 (red label 
with subtitle: 'Authentic Imported Odeon Parlophone Recordings' right underneath 
the DECCA logo) 

The Hornbostel cylinder set was never published on modern media like LP or CD. 
Last time I spoke about it, many years ago, with Prof. Artur Simon (former head of 
the Berlin Phonogramm Archiv), he said that the extant copies that he knew were all 
incomplete and it seems that they were originally not 100% identical.  

I do not know which archives own these cylinder sets. Berlin does not have one. 

Benno 
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