Mitch Miller Plays Mozart and Bach

Yes, it's the same Mitch Miller, he of the sing-alongs, children's records, Botch-A-Me and Mama Will Bark. The man who never met a novelty tune he didn't like. The sworn enemy of rock and roll. That very same fellow was a fine oboist who made classical records such as this one.

Our friend Joe Serraglio, who has contributed two superb Virgil Thomson recordings to this blog, now wants to draw attention to Mitch's other life as a classical musician - less well known than his work as A&R king of Mercury then Columbia records, and sing-a-long honcho on television and on records that are widely available at your local thrift store.

Here Miller assays works by Mozart, J.C. Bach and J.S. Bach, with the backing of the Saidenberg Little Symphony. Just a few words about Daniel Saidenberg, a most interesting figure in his own right. A cellist, he won the Naumburg Competition and then joined the Chicago Symphony. Upon moving to New York, he formed his chamber orchestra, which was in residence at the 92nd Street Y for several years. At the time of this recording, he and his wife also operated the Saidenberg Gallery, which purveyed masterpieces of 20th century art.

These works were recorded in March 1952 and October 1953 in Columbia's 30th Street studio.

Thanks so much again to Joe for making them available!

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Schuman and Kirchner

Here by fervent request from David is Schuman's Credendum, together with Leon Kirchner's piano concerto - all courtesy of our friend Rich, a most knowledgeable collector. And because Rich is so informed, I think I'll let him provide the commentary, along with the transfer and scan:

"Here is the long awaited Credendum. I must say it's been a while since I got the record out and listened closely to it. While I admire the recent recording by the Albany Symphony under David Alan Miller, the Ormandy really does harken back to a time when music was played to the hilt, for all the intensity it was worth, and with all due regard to the current generation of highly accomplished musicians, this is the Philadelphia Orchestra, with very special characteristics and qualities.

"I've also included the Kirchner Piano Concerto on the other side. Not because people have been clamoring for it, but because it was part of the release, and if it weren't included, some people might be disappointed. To be perfectly, honest, I never much cared for it, sounds like Schoenberg wannabe to me. Actually, the concise and succinct Music for Cello, recorded by Yo-Yo Ma, strikes me as a much better piece. It is after all, a lifetime away in maturity.

"Here are the details. Separate folders in MediaFire for the Schuman and the Kirchner. The Schuman contains three mp3 files for each of the movements, and a jpeg for the album cover. The Kirchner contains three mp3 files for each of the movements.

William Schuman: Credendum
I. Declaration
II. Chorale
III. Finale
Eugene Ormandy, The Philadelphia Orchestra

Leon Kirchner: Piano Concerto
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Rondo
Leon Kirchner, Piano
Dimitri Mitropoulos,
Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York

Source: Columbia ML 5185 mono

Thanks Rich! The only thing I have to add is that the Kirchner was recorded in February 1956 in Columbia's 30th Street studio, and the Schuman was taped the next month in the Academy of Music.

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Stars and Stripes Forever

Like most people, I get the urge to listen to marches every 40 years or so, and recently the urge struck. So here is the result! (Don't wait around for the urge to strike again - I will be over 100, and even more disagreeable. Besides I've exhausted my supply of Sousa records.)

Before the military music lobby comes down on me, let me explain that I am joking. I am sure I listened to Sousa compositions on at least one other occasion since 1970, and probably enjoyed the experience, as I did this time around.

What we have here is the soundtrack of a film biography of march king John Philip Sousa, as produced by 20th Century-Fox in 1952. Very few biographies of military bandmasters are being issued from Hollywood these days, and it may seem unlikely that they hit upon the idea even in the early 1950s. Sousa had been dead for 20 years, and his heyday was years before that. But for whatever reason they went ahead, and cast Clifton Webb in the lead. That's not the first name that leaps to mind when you think "military bandmaster," but the reviews on the Internet would have us believe that he did quite well in the role, and moreover, that the film is a good one.

Not having seen the movie, I can't comment on its quality, but I can tell you the soundtrack is a convincing recreation of the sound of Sousa's band. The liner notes make a big deal out of conductor Alfred Newman sending to the University of Illinois for the parts and all that, but presumably he had to send somewhere for the parts, no? To get the sound and tempos right, I suspect Newman listened to Sousa's own recordings, and for comparison purposes I've also uploaded an RCA Victor EP of 1925-28 Sousa recordings that was reissued at the time of the film (see below). This demonstrates that the brisk pace of the title march on the soundtrack is very much in line with Sousa's own rendition. I also hunted up an earlier acoustic recording of the same march and included it. The only real differences that I can discern are that the Newman version features the alternate triple-piccolo obbligato in the trio, and the acoustic recording includes a repeat.

The sound on all these records is pretty good, even though M-G-M didn't do its best work in transferring the recording from its rival studio. (This was the first time M-G-M had issued someone else's soundtrack.) Even the acoustic recording sounds good if you don't mind that the frequency response falls off a cliff at 4.5kHz.

The soundtrack includes several non-Sousa items, to vary the pace I'm sure. These include Hail to the Chief, the Light Cavalry Overture, and Turkey in the Straw, which I am sure you are looking forward to. The version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic features a choir, which is nameless on the record but identified on IMDB as the Stone Mountain Church Choir.

The soundtrack was transferred from the double-EP version of the 10-inch LP.

More Jeri Southern Singles

At long last here is my second set of unre-released Jeri Southern singles. These 11 songs (except for the promo above) are from old store stock, so the sound is just about as clean as it can be. Of course, we are talking Decca products here, so don't expect sonic miracles.

The songs begin with Baby Did You Hear?, which is listed as being written by Katie Lee, although I think it's a traditional song. This is from 1952, and is the flip side of Southern's breakout song, You Better Go Now. Baby Did You Hear? is perhaps better known in the Dinah Washington rendition.

Next is Give Me Time, one of Alec Wilder's lesser works, backed with What Good Am I Without You. The final 78 is Jeri's take on The Man That Got Away, with Joey on the other side. This record sold fairly well - look below and you'll see the record store's inventory on the sleeve.

We move on to a number of 45s - starting with Stop Me and Would I, from 1956. Next is 1957's I'm Gonna Try Me Some Love, a Jon Hendricks song, with There Is Something In My Eye, an attractive melody with a trite lyric.

Finally, also from 1957, there are two songs from Bells Are Ringing, the expected Just in Time and an excellent version of the title tune.

There's much here to enjoy and admire, I think. Hope you like the selection.

Beethoven from Vienna and Böhm

Come Wednesday, this blog will have been around for two years. I thought it might be time to feature some artists who are favorites of mine, but have not made an appearance yet.

So here we have conductor Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic, who both are on my most admired list. In fact, in my classical records room, Böhm is the only conductor with his own section.

Am I passionate about Böhm the way some are passionate about Furtwängler or Toscanini? Not really. Do I think this is the greatest performance of Beethoven's eighth symphony I have heard? No, I don't (although I am not one for anointing things as the best or greatest). So why do I want to play the record again as soon as it is done? Not completely sure, but in my experience Böhm's recordings always feature excellent balances, a rich but not overly plush sound (of course, recording with the VPO helps!) and an understated approach that always seems just right to me.

Böhm had a reputation for being a little cranky and pedantic, and some find him dull. (I looked up the Gramophone review of this LP, and sure enough, the reviewer thought it was uninspired.) I read his autobiography years ago, and it betrayed a man with no interest in self-analysis, reading like a very extended press release.

So if you listen, you may wonder why I am so enthusiastic. If so, you'll just have to indulge me - hey, it's my second anniversary here!

This very well recorded 10-inch LP was taped in the Musikvereinsaal in May of 1953.

REMASTERED VERSION - OCTOBER 2014

The Jazz and Classical Music Society

The recent post of Rolf Liebermann's Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra was amazingly popular, so I've come up with a few more items that mix the two genres in some way - or more accurately, mix musicians from the two genres. 

Here is the first such item, a Columbia LP from 1956 from the Jazz and Classical Music Society, which was formed the previous year by Gunther Schuller and John Lewis - the former from the classical realm, the latter from jazz. The idea was (as the name suggests) to bring together composers and instrumentalists from both sides to form something new. This effort would later adopt the name "third-stream" music. 

In this, the earliest example of such music, we have several pieces for a large brass ensemble. Side one is a Schuller symphony that was not written for this ensemble. Here it is conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos, who apparently also programmed it with the New York Philharmonic. 

The second side has compositions by three famous jazz artists - Lewis, J.J. Johnson and Jimmy Giuffre. None of these compositions are in any recognizable form jazz, nor are they what we would usually consider classical music. They are a form of concert music that many musicians were interested in pursuing at the time, perhaps concerned that jazz was not "serious" enough. 

This music does indeed sound very serious - it is at times attractive and at times impressive, and often both. What it is missing, however, is what made the Reiner-CSO performance of Liebermann's piece stand out - wit and swing. Even so, there is much here to enjoy - particularly the superior instrumentalism of the band and soloists Miles Davis, J.J. Johnson and Joe Wilder. 

This was one of those transfers from hell - two turntables, three cartridges and four styli later I have an acceptable product, although some restle remains in the Schuller. The next post in this line will be pianist Friedrich Gulda, who managed to straddle both the jazz and classical worlds successfully.

More Virgil Thomson in Philadelphia

I feel fortunate to follow up last week's post of rare Virgil Thomson with more Thomson from Philadelphia, again courtesy of Joe Serraglio.

This is if anything even more worthwhile, with some of Thomson's most successful scores. The Three Pictures are simply superb - I suggest you read the composer's note for a lucid discussion of both his intent and his technique. On the latter topic, Thomson writes, "The value of the procedure lies, of course, not in its ingenuity but in whatever suggestive power it may be found to have." In the case of these works, that power is considerable.

The William Blake songs are just as successful, if in one case controversial. One of the songs here is a setting of Blake's The Little Black Boy, intended as a plea for racial equality, but at times interpreted as itself racist. With hindsight, it is easy to understand why - Blake's poetry contrasts the boy's black face and white soul, for example. These recordings have been reissued twice - in both cases without this song. Accounts differ about whether this was with the consent or against the wishes of Thomson. I certainly hope I don't offend anyone by posting the full set. I am sure, though, that everyone will agree that the music is exceptional - both simple and sophisticated, in Thomson's usual manner - while Mack Harrell's singing is faultless. The songs were written for him and it shows.

The Pictures were recorded in February 1954 with the composer conducting, and the songs in November 1952 with Eugene Ormandy on the podium - both in the Academy of Music.

Again, the transfer and scans are by Joe - I was on the clean-up detail. Thanks again, Joe!

Johnny Costa

Johnny Costa isn't especially well known, but you won't find many pianists with more technique or imagination.

This LP is from what amounted to his breakout year, 1955, when he made records for both Savoy and Coral. He went on to make a number of other LPs solo and with the First Modern Piano Quartet later in the 50s. From there until a series of albums for Chiaroscuro in the 90s, his only recording was a rare LP of music from a children's television program.

US residents will be familiar with the TV program if not the record - it was Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which Costa served as music director from the program's debut in 1968 until the pianist's death in 1996.

This post is dedicated to my friend Jazzman. By the way, he is looking for Costa's LP from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood - please let me know in the comments if you have it.

The sound on this record is good, but the pressing has its unfortunate moments, as do many Decca products of this vintage. Below is Coral's ad introducing the record in Billboard - they gave pride of place to Larry Welk and his stable of vocalists.

Virgil Thomson in Philadelphia

I am bringing this file LP to you courtesy of my friend Joe Serraglio. I asked Joe if I could present it here because it is an important and somewhat rare record, and because I wanted to feature Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The first side of this record contains music from Virgil Thomson's score for Louisiana Story, a 1948 film by Robert Flaherty. The filmmaker was famous for documentaries, but this was a fictional treatment of a story involving an oil crew and a young Cajun boy. The film, funded by Standard Oil, was so successful in aping the documentary style that it is still mistakenly called a documentary today.

Thomson himself had experience with Pare Lorentz's documentaries in the 1930s, and this music is in a somewhat similar style. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Thomson in 1949. The Philadelphians recorded both the soundtrack to the film and this suite, which uses a somewhat augmented instrumentation. The sessions for this recording were in May 1949 in the Academy of Music. In addition to the music captured here, Thomson also prepared a set of Acadian Songs and Dances from the film. I will be presenting these pieces at a later date in the the 1952 Little Orchestra Society/Thomas Scherman recording.

On the other side of the LP at hand, Thomson conducts the orchestra in five of the many "portraits" he composed of friends and associates for diverse instrumental forces. This set was recorded in May 1945 and originally issued on 78.

Joe has shared this recording elsewhere, so for those of you who have seen it before, the only difference here is that I have re-equalized Joe's excellent transfer a bit, and cleaned up the covers.

Thanks again to Joe!

Alfvén's Swedish Rhapsodies

Awhile back I presented a set of easy-listening tunes from Paul Weston's catalogue, one of which was titled "Swedish Rhapsody." There ensued a discussion about just what Swedish Rhapsody this was - there were two that were popular at about the same time, one by Charles Wildman and one by Hugo Alfvén.

Well, that one was the Wildman composition. And now we will give equal time to the Alfvén. But first a little explanation - Alfvén actually wrote three Swedish rhapsodies. The best known and best loved is the first, also called "Midsommarvaka," or "Midsummer's Vigil."

This LP combines the aged composer's own final recording of "Midsommarvaka," from 1954, with a 1957 version of the third rhapsody - the "Dalarapsodi" or "Dalecarlian Rhapsody" - with Stig Westerberg and the Stockholm Philharmonic. The LP begins with a brief and very noisy "Festspel," also from Stockholm.

This recording of "Midsommarvaka" has long been a favorite of mine. The performance by the Royal Swedish Orchestra and recording (the first stereo classical record ever made in Sweden) are extremely vivid, if at times a little crude. The "Dalarapsodi" is nearly as memorable.

Westminster issued this "Midsommarvaka" recording in the US a few times in the 1950s. Both times it included music from the ballet "The Prodigal Son." The stereo issue included Sibelius' "The Tempest" and the mono a few pieces by Ture Rangström. Here I've transferred the Swedish issue because it is the best pressing and includes the third rhapsody.

Gene Autry - Easter Favorites

I posted the EP version of this material last year before remembering that I also have this 10" LP. Not that it makes a heck of a lot of difference - six songs versus four. Columbia wasn't terribly generous with its House Party series of LPs from the mid-50s. This is one of the first in the children's edition, called the Playhouse Party Series.

The LP is from 1956, but Autry began making Easter records as early as 1950, with the big seasonal hit, Peter Cottontail. It was almost as big as his Christmas records, which started with Here Comes Santa Claus in 1948 and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1949.

Like many of us in a certain elevated age range, I had these records as a young sprout. I remember being confused by both Here Comes Santa Claus and Peter Cottontail. (I realize this does not speak well for my intelligence.) Gene tells us that Santa is coming "right down Santa Claus Lane." I did not get that. Santa is flying around in a sleigh. What's with this Santa Claus Lane? And Peter Cottontail, he's "hopping down the bunny trail." To me, this was even more mysterious than Santa Claus Lane. The "bunny trail"? I still don't get that one.

If you listen to these records now, what stands out is the use of flute and clarinet to connote the bunny's sprightly activities, and the incessant sound of wood blocks to signify its hopping. Frankly, because similar sounds are often used to depict horses' clip-clopping, I can't shake this mental picture of Gene on a mincing Champion the Wonder Horse, hopping down the bunny trail, hippity-hoppity.

This comes into focus on the final song, The Horse with the Easter Bonnet, where the sound of temple blocks stand in for the horses' gait. The effect is not much different.

As you can perhaps tell, I was quite the critic even newly out of the womb. As soon as I got a record player and a few kiddie records, I was ready with opinions.

I probably would have been disillusioned then to learn that many of these beloved songs were spawned through a marketing tie-in with Macy's, including Funny Little Bunny in 1951 and the horse with the hat in 1954. Today it just strikes me as a clever idea. Ah, my lost innocence!

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