On Wenlock Edge

On Wenlock Edge, Vaughan Williams' setting of Housman for tenor, string quartet, and piano, is one of the seminal works of 20th century English music. Both composer and poet are associated with pastoralism, although that is a simplistic way of categorizing both men's work.

Housman published A Shropshire Lad in 1896 and Vaughan Williams set several poems from it in 1909. The sense of yearning for something lost that permeates the words and music is beyond nostalgia, for there is little pleasant about it; it is marked by death.

When war broke out soon after Vaughan Williams' composition was published, the music seemed to capture the sense that the world had changed irrevocably. It was influential among other English composers - directly so for composer and war poet Ivor Gurney, who himself set poems from A Shropshire Lad after hearing Vaughan Williams' work. Another was Peter Warlock, whose Yeats setting, The Curlew, rivals Vaughan Williams for memorability.

The Vaughan Williams has been recorded many times, especially in recent years. In contrast, when this version came out in 1953, it was the first LP issue, or so I believe. It has not been reissued. The tenor is the very fine Alexander Young; I am much more favorable about his work than was The Gramophone's Alec Robertson, in a perceptive contemporary review that is included in the download.

The other side of the LP was taken up by seven songs from Vaughan Williams' staged setting of The Pilgrim's Progress, which had only recently been completed. These songs with piano accompaniment are variants of the music in the staged version, and have not been otherwise recorded, to my knowledge.

The contemporary Argo ad (below) touts the quality of the sound, but Robertson in his review complains about it. The critic is right - the strings are steely and the sound gets congested at fortes. I have tamed the steeliness, but some congestion remains. The voices are backwardly balanced, unusually.

NEW LINK

Walter Gross Returns

Longtime followers of this blog, assuming there are such creatures, may recognize the name Walter Gross from an early post of the music from a Joan Crawford film called Torch Song. Gross played piano on that LP, and accompanied singer India Adams.

Torch Song featured Gross' big song hit, Tenderly, and my friend Mel surprised me by saying he had been looking for that record for many years.

This one may also be a surprise to Mel - it's another Walter Gross record featuring Tenderly. This one is from 1950, and appeared in a series that Columbia called Piano Moods. Not that Gross was what you would call a moody pianist - the two side-long medleys on this record are quite chipper, in fact, and make a pleasant way to spend 25 minutes. This music is in a style that later would be called cocktail piano; Gross was a very good exponent of the genre.

Gordon Jenkins at the Oscars

This is a relatively obscure Gordon Jenkins record that Gil requested a while ago. It's a little outside the usual time period of this blog - it dates from 1959. But we've been exploring Gordon's output here, so why not.

Note that the cover says the Jenkins conducts the music. These actually aren't his arrangements. They are by Wayne Robinson, of whom I know nothing. Also, this is the mono version of an album that was recorded in stereo. Nevertheless, it's a very enjoyable listen in vivid sound.

More Tony Bennett

Awhile back, our friend Scoredaddy asked me if I had this Tony Bennett album. I didn't then, but I do now! A copy jumped out at me at a swap meet recently, and here it is. (Scoredaddy owes me a dollar.) 

The cover was worn, but the sound has come up nicely - and doesn't even have as much plastered-on reverb as Columbia usually employed on its reissues back then. 

All the tunes except "Sing You Sinners" have Percy Faith arrangements, which I always enjoy. (The "Sinners" chart is by Marty Manning.) The recordings are from 1950-53.

Note (July 2023): This LP has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

Celebrating with Salome

We've come to the one year anniversary of this blog, and what better way to celebrate than with a favorite post from last year in a new and much improved transfer.

It's George Duning's beautiful music from Salome, which came wrapped in this eye-popping cover (or uncover, in this case) featuring Rita Hayworth and her not terribly concealing veils. These are new scans of the cover and back cover (below).

There's more about the recording under the original post.

Thanks to all who have stopped by during the previous year, especially those who have commented. Much appreciated. I have learned a lot from you and made many friends, which is very rewarding.

No thanks to those who come by, take the many rare items here, and then pawn them off on other blogs as their own work. It has taken me many years to acquire these items, and it takes many hours to prepare them for this blog. It's a labor of love, but believe me, there is no love lost on those who leech.

Ah, but why waste the moment on complaints. I enjoy doing this, and my fond hope is that you enjoy listening.

REMASTERED VERSION

Omar Khayyam; The Mountain

Continuing our series of film soundtracks on 12-inch records, here are two fine scores from 1956-57.

Victor Young is always terrific; in the Omar Khayyam score he is inspired by Borodin and Russian composers. Quite the cover illustration, too.

You don't hear much these days about Daniele Amfitheatrof, but The Mountain is an atmospheric score that is most enjoyable and must have fit the tale of a mountain rescue quite well.

This is in response to a request at Mel's place on Franklynot.

The Manhattan Tower 78 Album Graphics

I've mentioned on a number of occasions that the graphics for 78 rpm albums often were much more elaborate and colorful that the graphics for the LP issues of the same material.

The first version of Manhattan Tower (not the later "complete" version directly below) is a good example. The LP issue was spartan, but the 78 album was very colorful and better represented the work itself. The cover of the 78 album is above.

78 albums sometimes had insert booklets, similar to the booklets that accompanied LP box sets. Manhattan Tower had a six-panel folder - its cover is shown below.

The download includes the album cover and scans of the booklet. Hope this is of interest to the many Manhattan Tower aficionados.

Note: the new link in the comments below contains both the 78 graphics and the LP transfer and graphics.

The Complete Manhattan Tower

Some time ago, after I featured the original version of Gordon Jenkins' Manhattan Tower, I had some requests for the expanded version that appeared in 1956.

The 1946 original had been so well received that Jenkins added a great deal of music to it for this 12-inch LP. The main performers are the same as on the earlier record - Elliott Lewis and Beverly Mahr.

The second attempt is even more effective that the first; the added music is excellent, and the story doesn't seem so elliptical. True, if this was a movie, it wouldn't have much of a plot and the scenes would seem contrived, but it all works somehow, if only as an evocation of a time when the US in general and New York in particular seemed to represent aspiration and glamour.

Capitol produced some fine sounding recordings in the late mono era, and this is one of them.

I'll be back with more on Manhattan Tower - an addendum to my post of the first version containing the cover of the original 78 album and the insert booklet that came with that issue.

LINK to ambient stereo version, April 2025

Ronnie Deauville, Part 4

Returning at long last to our series of recordings by the superb but neglected vocalist Ronnie Deauville, here we have two singles, both probably issued in 1950. These were among the sides Deauville made with Ray Anthony's orchestra - all of them that I have heard are excellent.

For more on Deauville and his interesting background, please see the previous posts in this series - and be sure to stop by Bill Reed's blog, The People vs. Dr. Chilledair. Bill has been assembling Deauville recordings from various sources, and there is much more background information about the singer on that site.

LINK

Eastern Fun with Gene Autry

Gene Autry's big Easter hit was 1950's Peter Cottontail. This EP collects that tune with three other rabbit tales to produce this Easter Fun EP from the mid-50s.

It wasn't until after I prepared this post that I remembered having Autry's 10-inch Easter LP. That one will have to wait until next year.

LINK

Easter Songs by Vic Damone

There sure are a lot of Christmas records, but not so many for Easter, although they do exist. Here is one from my collection, a 78 single with an attractive picture sleeve, likely issued for Easter 1948.

The artist is a very young Vic Damone, who performs two religious works: Crown Without a Thorn, based on an Anton Rubinstein piano piece, and César Franck's setting of Panis Angelicus.

Crown is quite well done, but Vic and the others don't seem to be on the same page pitch-wise for Panis, at least to this tin-eared blogger.

The grandly-titled Mercury Chorale is led by Mercury A&R chief Mitchell Miller (better known as Mitch when not in the classical or semi-classical realm).

George Duning's Me and the Colonel

The latest in our series of 1950s soundtracks on 12-inch LPs is another contribution from George Duning (pictured on the back cover below). He's one of those names that you don't hear much about today, but he produced much fine work.

This score was written for the Danny Kaye vehicle, Me and the Colonel, and features some beautiful sounds, here reproduced from an excellent pressing.

The cover drawing sure seems to be by Al Hirschfeld, but it lacks his characteristic signature.

REMASTERED VERSION

A Little More Bizet from Rodzinski

Not long ago I shared a 10-inch LP of Bizet's early symphony by Artur Rodzinski leading the New York Philharmonic. The progenitor of that recording was this 78-rpm set from circa 1945. The earlier album also included the prelude to Act III of Bizet's Carmen in a particularly lovely performance not on the LP.

The earlier set also had a different - and to my eyes far more attractive - Alex Steinweiss cover than did the 10-inch LP. The back of the cover (below) had a photo of Rodzinski not to be found on the LP. Finally the sound is better on the 78s, which are, of course, much less convenient than the LP. All this is strangely reminiscent of the trade-offs in the transition from LP to CD, as you may have noticed.

The download contains the Carmen Act III prelude and the two covers from the 78 set.

REMASTERED VERSION - JANUARY 2015

Barber and Copland in Improved Sound

Continuing our series of favorite recordings from the first year of this blog in enhanced sound, we have here two first recordings of important American works - Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto and Aaron Copland's Piano Concerto, 1926.

The audible improvements this time out are not dramatic, but worthwhile nonetheless - reduced rumble and a lossless transfer. [Note (September 2023): this has been greatly improved and is now in ambient stereo.]

Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber

Here is what I wrote about this recording when it was first posted:

Here we have two superb works in what I think are their first recordings, and distinctive ones at that.

Louis Kaufman

Louis Kaufman was a stalwart of the film music orchestras and made quite a few records for budget labels. He takes a very personal and romantic view of the gorgeous Barber concerto - much different from the poker-faced approach that's normal in most music these days. He, the indefatigable conductor Walter Goehr, and their pseudonymous orchestra also do a great job with the finale, which usually sounds like an afterthought. The recording is from 1950.

Leo Smit

Aaron Copland makes an appearance to conduct his early Piano Concerto, which is from the Jazz Age and sounds it. It's great fun and very enjoyable in this performance by the talented Leo Smit, a friend of Copland and a superb interpreter of his piano music. The 1951 sound from Rome can be a trifle raucous in the tuttis, but the piano comes across well.

The Musical Masterpiece Society and its sibling labels made many interesting records. We've seen several already on this blog, and more are to come.

In Memory

My dear mom, who started me on the lifelong hobby of record collecting, passed away last week. I can think of no better tribute than to present several rare items involving her favorite singer, Frank Sinatra.

Frank, unsurprisingly, is also my favorite singer by far, and it's amazing to me that I have managed to operate this blog for nearly a year without presenting anything by him. I suppose the reason is that virtually everything Sinatra ever recorded is in print and easily available, and this blog is mainly devoted to more elusive materials. So forgive me if what I present here is a bit esoteric.

First up is a 78 that was issued in this form only in the UK. It is Frank's 1950 recording of two lovely songs by English composers - Ivor Novello's If Only She'd Look My Way and Carroll Coates' London By Night - in beautiful Axel Stordahl arrangements. The rarity here is the spoken introduction by the Duke of Edinburgh thanking the purchaser for supporting the National Playing Fields Association (see label above). To be clear, only the intro is unusual. The songs themselves are otherwise available.

The second rarity isn't even a Sinatra record - it is a rare Sinatra 78 picture sleeve (below) showing the cast of From Here to Eternity, his comeback film. Ray Bloch's orchestra presents the title song with accordion solo by Mat Mathews (recently featured here). On Re-enlistment Blues, Bloch accompanies an excellent anonymous vocal reminiscent of Sy Oliver.

The main part of this post really is important Sinatra, and if not impossible-to-find is still unusual. It consists of 17 songs from his 1953-55 radio program, To Be Perfectly Frank, in which Sinatra presented standards with backing by a small combo. These songs are sourced from two old and rough-sounding bootlegs. I have expended a fair amount of effort to remove clicks and noise, re-equalize each item, and fix speed problems (which is of course involves some guesswork). I am happy with the results and you may be, too, if you don't expect sonic miracles. The singing is miraculous enough.

Another 17 songs from this set will appear as soon as I finish work on them.

Thanks, Mom, for the gift of life and of music. I miss you very much.

78S | PERFECTLY FRANK