[78-L] Capriccio Italien

[Don Cox]

On 10/03/2012, David Lennick wrote:

> 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. 

There appears to be still a market among radio stations such as
ClassicFM in Britain, which seldom plays more than one movement of a
symphony or concerto.

> 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
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Regards
-- 
Don Cox
doncox at enterprise.net