[78-L] How a Columbia Record is Made

[David Lennick]

And the sign on the door threw me as well. Looks as if most of the footage is 
from England with the Strawinski clip from France.

dl

On 10/7/2010 6:27 PM, Kristjan Saag wrote:
> Bob Pinsker wrote:
>> My guess is the Danse Russe from Petrouchka; 2/4 time and a xylophone.
>> Two harps and a piano, the third harp may well be playing the piano part.
>> --
>
> David Lennick wrote:
>
>>   Stravinsky's 20s recordings were made in Paris, not London, so this could just be for show.
>
> --
>
> The recordings Stravinsky made in 1928 were "Firebird" and "Rite Of
> Spring" in Paris and "Petrushka" in London.
> As for "Rite Of Spring" the piece has neither xylophone or harps in its
> instrumentation.
>
> As for "Firebird": The ballet instrumentation of "Firebird" (1910) had
> xylophone and three harps, and the first of the Concert Suites (1911)
> kept the original orchestration. But the 1919 reworking had only one harp.
> According to
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky
> the 1928 recording of "Firebird" was of the "Original Concert suite",
> which could mean the 1911 version with three harps.
>
> Petrushka has xylophone and two harps, but as Bob points out, for
> recording purposes it could well have been three.
>
> What should settle the matter is the sign: "Please do not attempt to
> enter this room while the red light is glowing" which is written in
> English, not in French.
>
> But Californian pianist, music teacher and writer Scott Foglesong writes:
> "The /Firebird/ was recorded at the Columbia studios in the Théâtre des
> Champs-Elysées on November 8-10, 1928. The release was a major event;
> French Columbia threw a big gala celebrating the recording, including a
> bit of silent film of Stravinsky conducting -- which I'm including here:"
>
> An "here" is this webpage:
> http://www.scottfoglesong.com/examiner/stravinsky_on_the_podium_and_at_the_piano_1.html
> So what do you know?
>
> Kristjan
>