Here we go with one of my favorite discs of American music. Ignore the clunky cover - it has nothing to do with the music.
The works inside are two ballet scores written for the New York City Ballet. Hershy Kay's Western Symphony on very familiar western tunes, and Virgil Thomson's Filling Station, one of his lesser-known pieces from the 1930s.
The cover cites the choreographers as well as the composers - George Balanchine along with Kay, and Lew Christensen along with Thomson. I don't recall another record doing this for ballet scores - after all you are not getting the ballet along with the music itself.
Kay was mostly known as an orchestrator, and this piece is delightful in that regard. Thomson's contemporaneous works were The River and The Plow That Broke the Plains, which have been recorded several times. There is a modern recording of Filling Station, but I don't think it could be much better than this 1954 version by Leon Barzin and his New York City Ballet Orchestra, which was made shortly after the premiere of the Kay-Balanchine ballet.
The back cover of the record has informative notes by Balanchine, which I've included in the file. It also has a fuzzy photo of Barzin smoking a cigarette and leading the band.
NEW LINK (JUNE 2014)
15 comments:
Fantastic - thank you so much for uploading this and sharing it. I'm thrilled to hear this record.
On a not-really-related subject, but a really serious request, does *anyone* have the 7-inch disc of orchestral music from "West Side Story" that was conducted by Ramin and Kostal (the orchestrators), issued as "The Sound of West Side Story" [Cool, Cool Fugue, Maria, Mambo] (1958), conducted by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal. The Ramin-Kostal Orchestra. Vocals by the Honey Dreamers. RCA EPA 4184 (45 r.p.m., 7 inch).
Hi - I would very much like to hear that West Side Story item, which I don't have. For one thing, the Honey Dreamers are a favorite group of mine!
Thanks for your note!
I love your Blog! The stuff that you put up here is terriffic! It is stuff that you would NEVER see anywhere else. Thank You, for your time, and so much hard work!
I do have a request, (if you have it)I'm in search of a vinyl transfer of the album "Charge". It's on the Capitol label, conducted by Felix Slatkin and from the late 50's. One of the tracks is called "Bugler's Dream", which is the ABC Olympic theme. I would appreciate it very much if you could find it.
Thank You for all the cool stuff!
Hey, Honored General - glad to have you stop by! Thanks for the comment. I don't have that Slatkin album but I do see it now and again and will be happy to pick it up next time it appears. Cheers!
I've just started listening to this marvelous LP. Thanks for posting it!
Thank you very much for this.
David
Many thanks for the re-up, Buster. I missed this the first time round.
any possibility of a re-re-post?
much appreciated.... thanks
Evilbiggie - Did this disappear again? Aargh. I will repost.
New link:
Kay - Western Symphony; Thomson - Filling Station.zip 103.4 MB
https://mega.co.nz/#!OBtEDIia!MyLlpCY6tQ75385DQA5ET0dgVtUThxwBmueMR3ltVYg
so my son is now called buster bigglesworth III....
i thought i'd temper the evilbiggie part a little....
he just doesn't know it yet...
thanks.
The child is slated for great things - or a big record collection, one or the other.
Brilliant - I will really look forward to hearing this one.
Many thanks.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
Hello Buster! Your blog has given me so much pleasure over the years. You have introduced me to wonderful artists and music. I would like to express my humble thanks on this 4th of July by providing the stereo recording of Western Symphony by the New York City Ballet Orchestra from a few years after the Barzin disc, paired with Stars and Stripes. My transfer isn't as good as yours would be but it's listenable. I hope you enjoy it. https://mega.nz/file/gUJHGaQZ#gisOjNaEKFVSn9iSnjza2RzyWvZkgasj5NaydTuxCLg
Monsieur Guy - I am so grateful! This is very thoughtful of you. I'm very pleased that you have found some things to like herein!
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