This is another request - Vaughan Williams' second symphony, called the London symphony. This is a 1941 recording from the Cincinnati Symphony conducted by Eugene Goossens, reissued on RCA's budget label Camden in the early 1950s.
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| Eugene Goossens |
OK, if it's the Cincy Symphony, why does it say the Cromwell Symphony on the cover? Well, RCA used pseudonyms with all or almost all its early LP reissues on Camden. It's not clear why - although they probably did not want to cannibalize sales from their higher priced line by parading low-cost reprints touting famous names like Stokowski and Koussevitzky. So the Philadelphia Orchestra became the Warwick Symphony, the Boston became the Centennial and so on - and the conductors became anonymous.
The requestor was interested in this recording because it is the only version to use Vaughan Williams' 1920 edition of the score, which contains more music than the final edition, which is the one usually recorded. (Notably, the epilogue is extended.) That's not to say that the timing of this particular recording is longer than others - Goossens does not take the repeat in the scherzo, and is generally quite swift in his tempos. Not that I'm complaining - I love this work, but an urgent approach does it no harm and there is no lack of warmth in the rendition. Goossens was a talented conductor who was music director in Cincinnati from 1931-46. The sound of this recording is good as well.
It remains to be said that this is not the most "complete" version of the symphony out there. The late Richard Hickox and the London Symphony recorded the original (1914) version a number of years ago, and it does include substantially more music. It's worth seeking out.
LINK (August 2025 remaster in ambient stereo)
15 comments:
Hi Buster,
This is a good one. Some time ago, one of the guys on google classical recordings blog transferred this and it is a well done performance. Your efforts and tranfer are certainly a nice comparison of efforts.
I'd love to hear any Cincinnati recordings made by Fabien Sevitzky if you have them. He made a memorable and ground breaking record of Tchaikovsky's Manfred.
These Camdens are wierd deals. Sometimes I've noticed the addition of fake reverb. One funy note: I recently picked up an excellent copy of Stokowski conducting Beethoven's Pastorale with the New York City Symphony. The cover identified NYCSO but the actual record label said Sutton SO, the pseudonym!
Hi Fred,
I do have that Sevitzky recording of Manfred, and I can transfer it. (It's with the Indianapolis orchestra.) Many of the Columbia transfers from 78s have reverb - such as the Koussevizky recordings.
Hi Buster,
You're right, Indianapolis...how dumb of me..I did mean Indianapolis when I wrote but it came out Cincinnati...anyhow, yes, please transfer it if you can. An important recording no less! You did a marvelous job with this Goossens recording. A reminder that he was a very fine musician who once had an outstanding reputation before his forays into "adult" oriented entertainment did him in.
Thanks Buster and keep up your great blog!
Hi Fred,
You're right - I do like what Goossens recordings I have heard.
His problems with adult entertainment certainly seem quaint, don't they? It reminds me that I was looking through my collection the other day and came across a Scriabin LP conducted by Golovanov with a cover that is entirely taken up by a naked woman's torso. Racy for the day - I may transfer it here just for the cover; I'm not much for Scriabin.
Thanks much for posting this, Buster. Yeah, if you have Scriabin's "Poeme of Ecstasy. or "Poem of Fire". Any piece you don't see too often is Charles Martin Loeffler's "A Pagan Poem". I only know of the recording made by Stokowski. I think it was coupled with Schoenberg's "Verklarte Nacht", if I'm not mistaken.
Gil
I see there is a CD of Loeffler's "A Pagan Poem", with Stokowski, coupled with Orff's "Carmina Burana". They want about $ 60.00 for it. Is it that good, or just rare? :-)
Gil
Gil,
As they say in Carmina Burana, "O fortuna!"
Link to remastered version (Apple lossless):
https://mega.co.nz/#!KMcQQRqC!GS4vkBRzstz90XZ1qNgxtlvI6kAIOPTcn8Tf871aCeA
Very good to have this. Thank you.
Two things though - the 1920 score was recorded twice, first by Dan Godfrey and the LSO in 1925 (acoustic) and Godfrey takes almost 45 minutes over it!
Second, the Goossens recording must have been made in some way 'unofficially since the 1933 revised version has a note that says the 1920 version should no longer be played. It was wartime in Britain in 1941 - perhaps Goossens couldn't get hold of a revised set. I'm glad he didn't anyway.
Phillip - Interesting, thanks. I wondered about why Goossens used the earlier version.
Buster, for decades I looked in vain for a copy of this Camden LP reissue; finally gave up when I was able to get a copy of the transfer (Biddulph, I believe) done by my friend Mark Obert-Thorn; so this is one instance where I did not get your work, as the MO-T production is really superb: hi fi, in fact! But this gives me the impetus to inject a little bit more life into some *very* worthwhile transfers of Goossens 78s that I once got on the Net, possibly as far back as a decade or more, from blogs that do not exist now. I had put these items into one folder and, I'm sorry to say, I've lost the provenance; but the included text file that I copied off-screen seems to recall to my mind that these were done by bloggers named "Neal" and "Satyr"--they did an excellent job with especially natural, realistic 78 sound.
The superb Goosens performances go back to the very first issues of classical records made by the electrical process, in 1925.
Included are some amazingly dramatic and solid performances by the Hollywood Bowl Symphony from the 1920s, including a short suite from PIT's Sleeping Beauty; plus Balakirev's "Islamey" (the 1925 sides); Dvorak's Carnival Overture; and Falla's Ritual Fire Dance; plus HMV 78s from 1937-8 of Massenet's Le Cid ballet tidbits; Borodin's Polovetsian Dances; and Rimsky's Le Coq d'Or suite (has this last performance EVER been surpassed? I doubt it!)
I am pretty sure that these files are no longer available in any live link currently online; apologies to the talented individuals who produced these outstanding efforts, if I've violated any personal intentions.
The one item that is missing--and that I regret that somehow I've lost, possibly because the file I obtained was damaged, is the Hollywood Bowl recording of Glazunov' Scenes de Ballet. I shall scour my hard drives (more than 50!) to see if a copy still exists somewhere in my collection.
In 1973, when Goossens' close friend, the famed musicologist and writer Nicolas Slonimsky, came to the SF peninsula, I did lengthy radio interviews with him, including about an hour of his reminiscences of the great conductor. He 'passed off' the troubles EG had with Australian customs in the late 50s, saying (as I recall) that what upset them, when they examined his effects, was 'merely a magazine with pictures that were no worse than you'd find in any Playboy today'--or words close to that. However, some years later I read a very thorough and scholarly biography of the Sitwells, which included rather embarrassing revelations of their dabblings with the Aleister Crowley cult (Goossens was involved) and I had a rather more sinister impression of his, um, private activities... I remember the times well, and the establishment was VERY threatened by the beliefs and activities of such fringe characters; so there is no question that, from THEIR social paradigm of the era, that Goossens would have been in serious trouble in such a puritan country. Those things were best left entirely "secret" and underground...
Would this be the first and most notorious musician or artist who was a bit...unusual? Scarcely! (ROTFLMAO.)
https://www118.zippyshare.com/v/H1l1orGK/file.html
208 MB zipped folder, mp3 and FLAC -- sorry; this is available ONLY for about 30 days, from uploading on 8/30/18.
8H Haggis
8H - Thanks, as always, for your contributions! FYI, "Neal" is Neal's Historical Recordings, which he has not updated for some time. Satyr had several blogs, which he recently took private. Both also post occasionally on the SymphonyShare Google group.
Many many thanks - much interesting info here.
The link to "vinyl?????" - no longer works. Will have to 'google' RCA Camden Warwick Sussex etc.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
A fascinating performance (from one composer to another, if you like) - many thanks for the upgrade, Buster
Thanks, Phllip - It's quite good, I think - the performance, that is!
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