[78-L] Continental 78rpm - classical

[Thomas Stern]

This billboard article would date the Bartok recordings
to 1945, but Billboard is not trustworthy, particularly
at this much remove from the actual date.

Best wishes, Thomas.


Billboard Apr 29, 1950
DISKERY UNVEILS CLASSICAL LP's
NEW YORK, April 22.-Continental Records, headed by Donald Gabor,
enters the classical long-playfield this week with three releases.  One
disk features the late Hungarian composer, Bela Bartok, playing 10 of
his own compositions on the piano.  These were cut several months before
his death, five years ago.  Another disk features the late Viennese
tenor, Josef Schmidt, in selections taken from the sound track of his
film, MY SONG GOES ROUND THE WORLD.  Elizabeth Wysor,  American Contralto
is featured in another package, doing eight operatic arias with the Vienna
Symphony.
  Continental's policy, according to Gabor, will be to issue waxings of
operatic and symphonic works not available on other labels.  In cases
where the artist has strong name value, however, there may be deviations
from this rule.
  Other artists signed for Continental waxings, some of which have already
been completed, are the tenor Giovanni Martinelli, and baritone Giuseppe de Luca, 
both veterans of many years standing at the Metropolitan Opera.  The
violinist-composer, Georges Enesco, baritone Ivan petroff, and Christina
Carroll, soprano formerly with the Met, are also cutting for the label.
Continental also owns longhair masters cut by the pianists ERNO BALOGH,
Stephan Lovacs, and Andor Foldes, and by soprano Anne Roselle.



-----Original Message-----
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
[mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com]On Behalf Of David Lennick
Sent: Monday, July 01, 2013 11:43 PM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: Re: [78-L] Continental 78rpm - classical


There are all sorts of vagaries on this site, but the note about Continental 
jazz states that Gabor founded the Continental label in 1942. Do we know this 
to be fact? Elsewhere, in the article about Laszlo Halasz, we're told that 
Halasz and Gabor made the Bartok recordings "in 1941 or 1942". I'd dated the 
Bartok discs to 1941 but I'm not sure exactly how, other than by comparison 
with other Reeves matrix numbers (I think). Could Gabor have wanted to get 
Bartok on record before he even had a label on which to issue him?

dl
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