[78-L] Capriccio Italien

[David Lennick]

If it was the late 1920s, there was probably still a market for "highlights" 
and abbreviated performances, a carry-over from simplified symphonies and 
overtures on acoustical discs. As late as the 1940s, works were edited to fit 
even numbers of sides, especially on Columbia (except when Stokowski said "If 
it takes 7 and a quarter sides, it takes 7 and a quarter sides and they come to 
buy me, not the music). My favorite performance of Le Boeuf Sur Le Toit has a 3 
minute chunk missing, but the tempos are perfect and it fits on 4 sides. 
Rodzinski had to cut symphonies to get the works onto less discs than Victor, 
and his Marche Slav is missing a chunk between the two sides that made a proper 
join impossible. Mitropoulos's recording of the Sebastian Ballet Suite wouldn't 
have sold if it had been on more than 2 discs, so it's edited and in one 
section, played at a horribly fast tempo.

dl

On 3/9/2012 7:06 PM, Philip Carli wrote:
> On line I noticed an Electrola pressing of this labelled "Aus dem 'Capriccio Italien'".  So evidently this was intended as an excerpted recording from the get-go.  Why? - I couldn't say.
> ________________________________________
> 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: Friday, March 09, 2012 5:06 PM
> To: 78-L at 78online.com
> Subject: [78-L] Capriccio Italien
>
> I don't usually play partial sets, but I do hang on to them if they're the only copy I have, hoping to find the missing discs.  But for years I've had Leo Blech's recording of Capriccio Italien, (that's how it's spelt on the label), sides 1&  2;  I've never found sides 3&  4.  Well today, since I really enjoy Blech's readings, I decided to listen to the one record I have, figuring I'll play the second record of another recording if my brain can't let it go half way through.  Well Land o' Goshen, the piece is complete on one record - that is side 1 begins with the first note of the piece and side 2 ends with the last note of the piece.  There's a lot missing in between!  This is on a full price red labeled HMV recording with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra.  The truncations are brutal!  Why would this conductor and this orchestra release such a travesty on a full price record?  There were lots of complete recordings of the work at this time -
>   it's not a piece that needs to be shortened nor can it be shortened very successfully.  If Mr. Blech didn't like the piece why did he record it at all?  Who did he think he was, Glenn Gould?  (Glenn Gould never hesitated to record a piece just because he didn't like it, he just performed it so badly that even someone who did like it would likely change their mind - i.e. The Appasionata Sonata of Beethoven.)
>
> db