[78-L] ...and what about non-opera classical?

[Iñigo Cubillo]

Roger Holtin... About Kreislers and Rachmaninoff... and classics in
general... I am not youngster at all (51 now) but I started collecting 78s
at 15, and since the very beginning I always collected and revered the
classicals you mention... I love Kreislers, Koussevitskys (the Ravel's
Bolero.. ah).

Among the very first 78s I bought 36 years ago they were parts of
Tchaikowsky's 6th Pathetique by Koussy, parts of HMV Cavalleria of 1915,
Mozart's Magic Flute overture by Toscanini (great record), London Symph
Varsaw Concerto, Rachmaninoff records, Kreislers and Heifetzs (I almost
prefer Heifetz to Kreisler, my favourite being the Estrellita records. Even
Stokowski has always been one of my great favorites... I started with
Walkyria excerpts, and followed with great classics as Night on the Bare
Mountain, Danse macabre, Liszt's 2nd rhapsody and the like. Now I own 70
stokys, a few Koussys and Toscaninis, couple dozen Rachmaninoffs, some 15
Kreislers, 20 Heifetzs... Many classical 78s (near 600 in total). I never
denied orchestral records, although my favourites are small combos (chamber
music) and the violin and piano, cello and piano, etc. selections. Also
many soloists like harp, the almighty organ, piano solos, etc. Think that
classical records are not much appreciated, so they are cheap. You can get
many of them in great shape at low prices, and even first pressings... !
And there are real treasures among them. Think about La Plus Que Lente by
Heifetz, for instance... or the great Cortot and Paderewski records.

And I was grown-up listening to Rachmaninoff's 2nd concerto, which has
always been one of my parent's all-time favorites. I longed for years to
get a complete 2nd concerto, and I finally acquired two of them... one was
patiently joined disc by disc, and the second I bought it complete (auto
drop sequence) some 10-15 years ago.

I love them classical...