[78-L] Rex Battle

[Philip Carli]

I wonder what Rapee's reaction was that night.  He could be exceptionally nasty when taken by surprise; one of my teachers at IU had played under him at Radio City Music Hall in the 30s, and said he could be a terror.  I'd be curious if there was a review of the concert in any of the Toronto papers.  Philip Carli
________________________________________
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of DAVID BURNHAM [burnhamd at rogers.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 3:50 PM
To: 78-L at 78online.com
Subject: [78-L] Rex Battle

Could have been done as a favour for Battle. He made some legitimate recordings
for the Compo label and also allowed his name to appear on Apex as leader of
dance band records which were actually Joseph Samuels, Eddie Peabody, Adrian
Schubert, Bar Harbor Society Orchestra etc.

Now if only Percy Grainger's broadcast of the Grieg with Reginald Stewart
conducting that same orchestra would turn up!

dl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I doubt very much that Rex Battle would have wanted this recording to get around
for reasons noted below.  By the way, in the previous posting I said it was a
four record set, it was actually three records.  In Jan of 2010, I wrote of my
experiences with this recording with the following posting:

I'm just in the process of copying a fairly rare set of records over to CD.? I
came across a point where the record skipped, repeating a revolution a couple of
times.? I took it off and cleaned it as well as I could, didn't help.? I tried
every different size stylus, adjusted the anti-skate, adjusted the weight, blew
on the side of the arm, nothing worked.? Then I noticed two curiosities: first,
that it always skipped twice and then carried on and second, (this is where I
slap the side of my head and say "duh"), that it was skipping at a rate
corresponding to a 33 1/3, even though it was a 78!? Actually it was skipping at
a rate considerably faster than an LP but certainly not a 78.? That's when I
checked the pitch and found out that the work was?not in?the proper key,
(knowing from my vast store of knowledge that Grieg never wrote a Concerto in B
minor.? When I corrected the pitch, (sorry Michael), the period of record skip
was exactly that of
an LP.? So this record was "issued", (I don't think it actually ever was), with
the skips included.

For anyone who's not bored yet and is still reading this posting there is an
interesting story attached to this recording, (which, by the way, is Grieg's
Concerto in A minor performed by Rex Battle with Erno Rapee conducting the
Toronto Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, recorded September 30th, 1943).? The
opening piano entry and several other points of the recording are full of almost
comical mistakes.? I was once describing this recording to a local violinist,
Eugene Kash, who exclaimed that he was the concert master at this performance.?
When it came to the end of the concert, it was his duty to congratulate the
soloist on the performance but knew it was pretty bad.? He walked up to RB and
said "Well, Mr. Battle, that was...." and Rex Battle cut him off saying, "Don't
say a word.? I learned something tonight - I discovered that you can't play the
piano wearing French cuffs."? Apparently these were a fairly new invention in
1943 and every so
often, the cufflinks would get attached to each other and he couldn't separate
them.

Another couple of anomolies about these records -?it's a three record set but
every record is numbered 10300.? Also there is no company's name on the label.?
They were "Processed and pressed by Compo Co. limited, Lachine, Que" but that's
all it says.? I know Rex Battle made other recordings on the Apex label and
these labels look like Apex labels , (Canadian Decca blue), but without the
name.

There's also an interesting, barely readable, note written on the 6th side label
in ink the same colour as the label:

"To Herbert - a guy that knows something about music..? With my very best to
you.? Rex Battle 1943"

There's also writing on side 1 in the same ink which just says "Herbert
(something)".? It's very unclear - looks like he was writing it while the record
was playing.

db
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