Navidad with the Coro Misioneros del Espíritu Santo

The Missionaries of the Holy Spirit (Misioneros del Espíritu Santo) were founded on Christmas Day 102 years ago in Mexico City. This holiday offering from its choir is undated, but appears to be from about 1960.

It presents a delightful conclusion to the blog's seasonal fare for the year, with its simple but well performed program from what I believe to be students at the seminary school, accompanied by electric organ and accordion. The proceedings were directed by Reverendo Padre Anselmo Murillo.

The recording was by Columbia of Mexico, but this 10-inch LP appears to have been issued by the choir. The download includes the usual scans, this time including the labels and a four-page insert with texts in Spanish. I've also included my cleaned-up machine translation of the back cover notes. (I studied three languages in school - none of them Spanish - and wasn't very good at any of them, so that may set your expectations of the translation at an appropriate level.) The sound is good.

Once again, happy holidays to all visitors!

The Misioneros del Espíritu Santo, at a somewhat earlier time than the recording

Christmas Reups: the Bach Choir and the Mennonite Hour Choral Groups

Two reups for you today, both 10-inchers of the seasonal variety.

The first, in response to a request, is an early LP by the Bach Choir, a large amateur ensemble that has been performing in London since 1875. Reginald Jacques, at the helm here, was its conductor for 32 years. This present disk, from 1950, is one of its first recordings

When I posted this initially a number of years ago, I complained that the sound was frustratingly opaque. I have now revisited the files and managed to open up the sonic vistas. I think you will find the results pleasing.

The second reup is an entirely new transfer of a Christmas LP from the Mennonite Hour,  which I first shared a number of years ago here. Joy to the World dates from the late 1950s, I believe.

As with all Mennonite music of the time, the singing is acapella. These are amateur choirs, but they acquit themselves well, although the Male Quartet is overtaxed by the difficult harmonization of "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." They apparently believed, as Browning did, that "a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Or what's a heaven for?"

Marian Anderson's First Christmas LP

Today's holiday offering is in response to a plea from reader Musmad. He wrote, "I'd like to put in a request for Marian Anderson's first Christmas album, made in 1952, with Franz Rupp at the piano - a 10-inch RCA LP that has always eluded me. It was made a decade before her still-available seasonal disc with chamber-orchestra accompaniments by Robert Russell Bennett. If you have it I would be grateful for an upload - as I have been on so many previous occasions."

As sometimes happens with requests, I already had the record in the queue for transferring, so here it is for Musmad and for all interested.

The second Anderson holiday LP that Musmad mentions was first issued only a few years before the eminent contralto's 1964 retirement. This earlier album, made when she was about 54, finds her in perhaps fresher voice. The singing is strong and intonation secure, underpinned by her characteristic dignity and depth of feeling.

As Musmad noted, Miss Anderson is accompanied by Franz Rupp, who was her regular pianist from 1940 until her retirement. As might be expected, he is deferential to his distinguished partner, and the piano parts for most numbers can best be described as minimal. Things pick up for the instrumentalist on the second side with Alphonse Adam's "Cantique de Noël" and for the two succeeding songs, which are the only items on the program that could be considered unusual.

The two pieces, "Angel's Song" and "Hallelujah," come from a newly published song cycle "The Blessing," by Frida Sarsen Bucky. They are attractive numbers, and Miss Anderson apparently liked the work of the composer, a refugee from Hitler's Germany. She had recorded one of Bucky's songs for RCA in 1945, and they would collaborate on a children's record for Folkways in 1963.

Details about the Bucky works and the recording itself are scarce. RCA's liner notes are devoted to a reprint of a Time magazine article from December 30, 1946. (The cover to that issue is above.) I've only been able to locate recording data for four of the titles, which come from April 1951 sessions in RCA's New York Studio No. 2.

The label's sound is well balanced but boxy. I have applied an ambient stereo effect to add a bit of air to the proceedings.

I have at least one other early LP by this distinguished singer, if there is interest.

Marian Anderson and Franz Rupp

Birthday in Bethlehem, a Christmas Cantata

Each holiday season I share several LPs with you, and invariably one stands out as my favorite. (Last year it was Henri Tomasi's Noël en Provence.) This Christmas my choice is a brief Christmas cantata called Birthday in Bethlehem, a lovely 10-inch LP that surprised me with the quality of its music and performances.

Birthday in Bethlehem takes the form of a father telling his young son the story of Jesus's birth, with celebratory songs interspersed. Decca/London issued the work late in 1950, in the same set of releases as the Westminster Abbey carol collection that formed my last post.

The vintage cover is unhelpful about the provenance of the recording, its participants and its composers, so I delved into their backgrounds for my own edification.

Frank Kingdon

The song lyrics and connecting narrative are the work of Dr. Frank Kingdon, an American author, columnist, political figure and college president. The fine music for the songs is by the team of Gene Bone and Howard Fenton, Americans whose compositions ranged from art songs to pop music. 

Bone and Fenton apparently did not handle the underscoring for the narrative passages. That music appears to be the handiwork of the very young English composer Charles Dakin. His scoring, which is beautifully done, features the saxophone; Dakin later composed a number of works for that instrument.

Musical America Ad, circa 1950

None of these people are well known today. Perhaps the most recognizable name on the cover is the tenor Eugene Conley, who appeared at the Metropolitan Opera for several years in the 1950s. He is coupled with his then-wife, the mezzo Winifred Heidt, who was herself an artist of considerable stature. Their performances here are all that could be wished, combining elegant vocalism, excellent diction and complete sincerity.

Although Conley, Heidt, Kingdon, Bone and Fenton were Americans, the recording was made in London, very likely during the summer of 1950, when the principals were in Europe for appearances. The date is unclear - Birthday in Bethlehem does not appear in the English Decca discography. That document, however, does list Conley and Heidt as recording a set of operatic arias in September 1950, which came out in November as Decca/London LPS 280. That is the next recording in numerical sequence to the Christmas program, so it seems likely that the holiday album was taped at about the same time.

As for the production's provenance, my guess is that the singers brought the project to the record company. It may have called for spoken narration interspersed with the Bone-Fenton songs. The record company, thinking that the narrative required an underscore, then may have contracted with young Dakin to handle that task. But again, that is pure supposition.

However the project came together, the results are impressive. The fine orchestral playing was under the direction of the 31-year-old Norman Del Mar, an English music specialist who was the principal conductor of the Britten-centered English Opera Group. For this LP, he led the "New Symphony Orchestra," a name that Decca/London was applying to freelance ensembles it assembled for recording purposes.

Lionel Murton

I should also cite the highly effective narrator, the English-Canadian actor Lionel Murton, who radiates the appropriate warmth for this seasonal material. There is more information about the participants in the download, along with the usual scans and photos.

While this is not a major work, and despite appearances, is not really aimed at children, it is an affecting piece. It's a shame it has sunk into obscurity.

Christmas in Westminster Abbey, 1950

London's Westminster Abbey has existed for nearly a millennium, and its choir school for about half that period. This present record has only been around for 66 years, but is historic in its own right.

Information on these matters is hard to find - for me at least - but this is probably the first LP recorded by the choir, although it had made occasional records going back to the 1920s.

William McKie

The selection of carols, mainly familiar, was led by Dr. (later Sir) William McKie, Organist and Master of the Choristers at the Abbey from 1941 to his 1963 retirement. McKie and his choristers had gained notice for the music he programmed for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth in 1947. The accompanist here is Dr. Osborne Peasgood, the abbey's Sub-Organist beginning in 1924. The soloists are not identified, although the bass may be Hervey Alan, who was one of the Lay Vicars there at one time.

The performances on this 10-inch LP are excellent. The vintage recordings, made in the Abbey, are good, although they do not fully convey the structure's vast acoustic, nor the power of its Harrison & Harrison organ.

Choristers assembling before the 1947 royal wedding

Rosalind Elias and Giorgio Tozzi - A Yuletide Song Fest

Rosalind Elias and Giorgio Tozzi were two stalwarts of the Metropolitan Opera in the 1950s and 1960s, taking featured roles in a spectrum of works. Both were in the cast of the premiere performances of Barber's Vanessa in 1958, the year before RCA Victor issued this seasonal album.

Giorgio Tozzi

Tozzi, a bass, has a voice that will be familiar to many music lovers who have never listened to opera. He dubbed the vocals for Rossano Brazzi in the 1958 film version of South Pacific - and very effectively.

Elias achieved no such crossover fame, but, like Tozzi, she had a strong, vibrant, well produced voice that is striking in its power. It is, indeed, a bit too striking in the opening "Deck the Halls," where she pops out of the texture obtrusively. Fortunately, this effect subsides in the balance of the program.

Rosalind Elias

RCA backs Tozzi and Elias with a chorus and orchestra led by Lehman Engel, who was active on Broadway and television, and who also conducted any number of studio recordings for Columbia and RCA during the period. His small pop-oriented chorus here is not well matched to the powerful Tozzi and Elias, sounding enervated in comparison.

The program is largely conventional, but does include the less-often-heard "Patapan," the "Cherry Tree Carol" and "Down in Yon Forest."

The sound is good but washy, as it often was when in the hands of producer Richard Mohr and engineer Lewis Layton.

Christmas with Damone, Laine and Howard

Let's kick off the holiday season with a 10-incher featuring blog favorites Frankie Laine and Vic Damone and new friend Eddy Howard.

The recordings are all from 1947 and 1948, then compiled into this LP in 1951, I believe.

Damone's version of "Silent Night" first came out on a 12-inch 78 in 1947, later cut down to 10-inch format for jukeboxes. His excellent version of "White Christmas" and the obscure "Christmas Morn" are from 1948. The latter has a difficult melody line, which gives Vic some trouble.

Laine's coupling of "You're All I Want for Christmas" and "Tara Talara Tala" are also from 1948. Frankie is sincere, but in truth these readings do drag a bit.

Eddy Howard may not be familiar to many of you; he is not nearly as well remembered as Laine or Damone. Howard started out as a band vocalist, then moved on to fronting his own band in the 1940s. The three items here were recorded for the small Majestic label in 1947, then swept up by Mercury when Majestic fell to pieces. Mercury reissued the sides in 1948.

Howard was a sensitive singer, but he tends to croon in a head voice, a mannerism I find annoying. Nonetheless his versions of the songs "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "The Christmas Song," then new, now standards, are well done, and nicely played by his band. "Dearest Santa" is a sentimental item in the vein of "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot," only this time around the unfortunate orphan is a girl.

The sound on the items recorded by Majestic is very good, those originating with Mercury less so. Mercury's processing and pressings leave something to be desired, as usual, but the results still are reasonably good.

Have a fun holiday season, everyone!

1948 trade ad featuring all these sides

Early Capitol Recordings by Kay Starr

I've had very little time to transfer records lately, but I did want to pay homage to the terrific vocalist Kay Starr, who died earlier this month.

Starr was one of the last remaining singers who came out of a big band background. She had come up while still in her teens with Joe Venuti, then went with Glenn Miller (briefly) and Charlie Barnet (see my other blog for her Barnet 78).

Kay did do a handful of records with Miller and Barnet, then recorded quite a few under her own name for small labels, which were reissued incessantly on budget labels after Starr began churning our hits for Capitol.

It was on that label that she achieved her greatest fame. Her first Capitol recording was as a guest at a March 1945 date with the Capitol International Jazzmen, a proto-supergroup centered on Nat King Cole. At that session, she did the vocals on "Stormy Weather," which had achieved renewed popularity in the wake of the film of the same name with its Lena Horne feature.

I have added the "Stormy Weather" side as a bonus to this post, which is mainly devoted to Kay's first Capitol LP, a 10-incher from 1950 collecting some of the singles she produced for the label in 1947-49. Even early in her career, she was a fully-formed artist, confident and in command in a variety of styles.

From 1949

The estimable Will Friedwald describes her as a great jazz artist with a country timbre. While she was certainly from the country (Oklahoma), her singing is also saturated with the blues. Capitol sensed this, and for these early recordings matched her with R&B songs such as "Steady Daddy" and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy." They also gave her songs from the "red hot mama" tradition, like 1923's "You've Got to See Mama Ev'ry Night," identified with the likes of Sophie Tucker, and tunes in a similar vein such as "You've Got to Buy, Buy, Buy for Baby" and "Poor Papa (He's Got Nothin' at All)." Her intense delivery, rapid vibrato and powerful rhythmic sense are perfectly suited to this material.

It did take a venture into the country realm to produce her first hit, a vocal version of the country riff "Bonaparte's Retreat" in 1950, and she did record duets with pop country singer Tennessee Ernie Ford. Later she handled gospel material very convincingly. And although she was very versatile, she was always unmistakably Kay Starr.

In general, Dave Cavanaugh leads the band on the earlier LP sides, with Frank De Vol taking over later on. The sound from the album is excellent. "Stormy Weather" comes from a 78 pressed on noisy wartime shellac.

I have quite a few of her early Capitol 78s in addition to the material here and will try to transfer some of them at a later date.

Ania Dorfmann with Familiar Beethoven

My series of recordings by pianist Ania Dorfmann continues with perhaps the two most often heard Beethoven sonatas - the"Moonlight" (No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2) and the "Pathétique" (No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13).

Dorfmann recorded these pieces in New York's Town Hall in June and July 1952 for RCA Victor's revived Bluebird label, which had become a budget imprint. Reader Jon Butler, in requesting this transfer, noted that "So many people learned about both Beethoven and the piano through Dorfmann's low-priced Bluebird recording."

My own introduction was via Rudolf Serkin, and of course I remain
attached to his readings. But these interpretations by Dorfmann have their own stature, with both poetry and power as required.

The sound is generally good, although the first movement of the Moonlight was problematic - my pressing had severe distortion in several places on one or the other channel. Luckily this was only on one channel at a time, and I was able to negotiate my way through to a largely unblemished final product. In other places, you may notice some discoloration in the fortes, which may have been on the master tape; I hope this isn't too distracting.

The Goldwaters Sing Folk Songs to Bug the Liberals

The Presidential election season is just about finished in the U.S., but we do have time for one more musical artifact from a campaign long ago. This one comes to us courtesy of my friend Ernie Haynes, Christmas music maven and perhaps the first friend of this blog.

Ernie has come up with this 1964 LP from a group called The Goldwaters, perhaps the only conservative folk singers in the country at that time, whose avowed purpose was to perform just to "bug the liberals." ("Bug" was the contemporary slang for "annoy.")

The ensemble takes its name from the Republican candidate for  President in that year, Barry Goldwater, a fine man and impeccable conservative who also was deeply unpopular with the electorate and lost resoundingly to Lyndon B. Johnson, who had assumed the Presidency upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963.

Next President? Not hardly

Even before that transpired, the Goldwaters had been assembled from nearby college musicians by some Nashville-based promoters who were convinced that Goldwater would be the Republican nominee in 1964. They had the idea of making this LP and had actually put together some songs aimed at JFK, which had to be rewritten after the assassination. The performers themselves, unlike many folk groups, had no input into the material, which was first in the hands of famed country songwriter John D. Loudermilk and then producer Mark Bates.

After the record's release, the Goldwaters were engaged to perform at Republican gatherings throughout the campaign season, including some with the candidate himself. But after Goldwater was buried in the November landslide of votes for Johnson, the group's time in the spotlight was over.

Ernie has come up with an lengthy interview with lead singer Ken Crook, which you can find here. It should answer any questions you may have about the group. I will say that Ken was not a bad vocalist and his compatriots were not terrible instrumentalists. Their material was dreadful, however, and compounding the cheesy effect was a clumsy laugh track that even Crook hates. Perhaps the high point of the proceedings is the song "Barry's Moving In," which, unfortunately for Ken and his friends, did not prove prophetic.

Our previous political-themed posts, both also from 1964, include the soundtrack to the cheapo film "The Candidate," starring Ted Knight, and, on my other blog, Lyndon Johnson's theme song, "Hello, Lyndon!" in a somnolent performance by Ed Ames.

Thanks again to Ernie for his latest contribution!

Elliot Lawrence's Woodwind Band

In 1957, bandleader and arranger Elliot Lawrence was recording with studio bands for both Fantasy and RCA's Vik imprint. (Examples of his work for both labels can be found on this blog here.)

Lawrence had retired his road band a few years before, and soon thereafter was taking lessons from the famed conductor Pierre Monteux, who had premiered works by Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, Prokofiev and others. That tutelage inspired Lawrence to try arranging for a different ensemble than the dance and jazz bands that had made his reputation. The result is this album, clumsily titled Hi Fi-ing Winds, scored entirely for woodwinds and rhythm section - no brass, or saxophones for that matter.

Elliot Lawrence

Unlike many of his records, the arrangements here are all Lawrence's own, and they are a delight. He chose from among his own compositions, added some standards, plus a few items particularly suited to the woodwind sections. Among the latter, Lawrence transformed the "Dance of the Reed Flutes" from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet score into "Flight of the Flutes," and unearthed the catchy novelty tune "Piccolo Pete" from 1929. The album begins in ironic fashion with a string-free version of "Holiday for Strings."

I should mention that this is not a jazz LP. I only noticed three solos - Barry Galbraith's obbligato guitar on "Holiday for Strings" (mixed so low as to be almost inaudible), the leader's piano on his own "Windfall" and a clarinet solo on "Fascinating Rhythm," probably by Sam Marowitz.

I can't tell you what is transpiring on the cover. The clarinet and oboe players have shoved their instruments into the sand (which couldn't have been good for the reeds), inspiring a young woman to pose in the surf in her evening frock. If any of you can decode any significance from this odd tableau, please enlighten me in the comments.

More Beethoven from Walter, Plus Reups

The title of this blog says something about 10-inch records, so I guess it is about time I got around to posting an example of that species. This one is not just any 10-incher, but the first classical LP of that size, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, as performed by Bruno Walter and the Philharmonic-Symphony of New York.

From a 1943 ad

Walter also had the honor of conducting the first classical LP of any type, the Mendelssohn violin concerto with Nathan Milstein, a 12-incher issued as ML 4001. The Beethoven symphony had the lowest number assigned to 10-inch classics, ML 2001.

While those two LPs were new in 1948, the recordings were not. The Mendelssohn was a transfer of a 1945 78 set, the second of Milstein’s five recordings of the concerto. (The first, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Rodzinski, remains unissued.) Walter’s Beethoven symphony dated from as far back as April 1942. It was the third in his ongoing mono cycle that commenced with No. 5 and the Eroica in 1941. I’ve been presenting the symphonies here from time to time.

In the early 40s, Columbia was doing its New York orchestral recordings in Liederkranz Hall. The results here are resonant to the brink of boominess, but as always with Walter’s readings, the performances are well worth hearing.

Now for some reups, all the result of requests. All these have been remastered and are generally in much better sound that my original efforts.

Copland - Piano Concerto, Barber - Violin Concerto. These were both first recordings – excellent ones, too - the Barber from 1950 with Louis Kaufman and Walter Goehr and the Copland from 1951 with Leo Smit and the composer.

Warner's Color TV Fashion Show. Perhaps the most obscure record I’ve ever offered, this is a promo sent to stores in advance of a 1956 television show touting women’s undergarments. Songs by Michael Brown, whose greatest hit was “Lizzie Borden”.

Humoresque (soundtrack). Franz Waxman chopped and channeled various classics for this 1946 Joan Crawford potboiler, with the high (or low) point being his transformation of the Tristan and Isolde prelude into a semi-concerto for Isaac Stern and Oscar Levant.

Boult Conducts and Rehearses Britten. This is actually two records from the same 1956 sessions with Sir Adrian Boult and the LPO. The first contains stereo recordings of the Peter Grimes Sea Interludes and Passacaglia and the Young Person’s Guide, sans narration. The second contains a narrated Young Person’s Guide and a rehearsal recording with Boult, both in mono.

The links above lead to the original posts. Links to the recordings themselves can be found both in the comments there and in the comments to this post.

Early and Rare Capitol Singles from Margaret Whiting

When the great vocalist Margaret Whiting died five years ago, I devoted two posts to Capitol singles that had not heretofore been re-released in any form. Those records were drawn from old store stock 45s dating from 1949-56, and I promised a follow-up post devoted to my collection of her earlier Capitol 78s.

But soon thereafter that stack of shellac suffered water damage, and I never got around to cleaning up the remnants and seeing if they were still viable as subjects for transfer.

There things stood until recently, when reader punkinblue9 wrote to ask if I had four Capitol singles featuring the young Whiting that have never been reissued – “When You Make Love to Me,” “What Am I Gonna Do About You?”, “What Did I Do?” and “Dreamer with a Penny.” It so happens that they all could be found in my pile of soggy 78s, so I took it upon myself to see if the subjects could be scrubbed clean enough to derive acceptable transfers.

I was surprised to find that the results are more than listenable, thus this post containing the four songs requested, along with 10 more early and less-often-heard sides from Maggie’s Capitol oeuvre.

Whiting was among the first artists signed to that label, beginning her tenure in 1942. She was not even 18 years old when she first went before the Capitol mics, but she sounds remarkably assured from the beginning.

The first several songs in this set show her in the subsidiary role of band singer, with the records attributed to bandleaders Billy Butterfield and Freddie Slack, and Whiting credited in small type. As with many such big band records, the songs are in a danceable tempo and, at least with the earlier Butterfield sides, Maggie only comes in after one or more band choruses.

The first item is from a 1942 session in which Butterfield reaches back to 1930 for the DeSylva, Brown and Henderson song “Without Love.” You can detect the influence of Mildred Bailey in the 17-year-old Whiting’s singing here, but from then on, she was her own person.

The next song is “Silver Wings in the Moonlight,” a 1943 effort made popular by the wonderful Anne Shelton, whom I must feature here some day. Whiting sings the contrived lyrics backed by an out-of-tune Freddie Slack band. Sorry about the peak distortion, which was present on both of my copies of the 78.

Slack was better with rhythm songs, and moves on to a sort-of boogie woogie with the Don Raye-Gene de Paul product, “Ain't That Just Like a Man.” Whiting is fine, but Slack did this kind of thing better with Ella Mae Morse.

We return to Butterfield for the Cahn-Styne “There Goes That Song Again,” in a lumpy two-beat rendition dating from 1944. Maggie’s solo has to fight for attention with Johnny Guarnieri’s busy piano figuration.

A good version of “Someone to Watch Over Me” comes from Butterfield's Gershwin album, which otherwise did not make use of Whiting’s talents.

The singer moves up to equal billing with arranger Paul Weston for his 1945 version of Berlin's “How Deep Is the Ocean,” rendered in the hybrid big-band-with-strings style that was becoming popular, particularly behind singers. Maggie is supremely confident singing over Weston's gorgeous arrangement.

“Along With Me” (a beautiful post-wartime song from Harold Rome's Call Me Mister, which you can find on this blog here) has an uncharacteristically lush backing by former Miller arranger Jerry Gray. “When You Make Love to Me” is also in the hyper-romantic vein of the day, with Maggie backed by swirling strings, woodwinds and muted brass.

The balance of the sides were arranged by Capitol staffer Frank De Vol, a former big band hand comfortable in many styles.

“Beware My Heart” is a good but formulaic song from Sam Coslow. “What Am I Gonna Do About You?” is a lesser-known Cahn-Styne movie song from 1947’s Ladies Man.

“What Did I Do?” is a minor-key semi-blues from Josef Myrow, of all people, which Whiting does well. It came from film When My Baby Smiles at Me, and the small span of the melody may have been suited to stars Betty Grable and Dan Dailey, neither of whom had much range. The flip is the standard “Heat Wave.” On this one, the Capitol censors changed the words in Irving Berlin's couplet "She started a heat wave / By letting her seat wave" to "letting her feet wave," which doesn't quite work with the subsequent exclamation that “She certainly can can-can!”

“Dreamer with a Penny” posits the questionable premise that it’s better to be a dreamer than be rich with a worried mind, a common Depression-era conceit that was presumably comforting to the destitute. Nonetheless, it's a fine song by Lester Lee and Allan Roberts introduced in the 1949 revue All for Love, and especially well handled by Whiting. On the flip, De Vol could have breathed more life into “Forever and Ever,” a lugubrious hymn-like waltz.

The sound on these 78 is very good, with minimal surface noise.

For a bonus Whiting selection, you are invited to visit my singles blog for the story behind her 1951 tribute to longtime cowboy star Hopalong Cassidy, including a cameo by Hoppy himself, together with the theme music from the silver-haired cowpoke’s television show.

Tchaikovsky and Schumann from Ania Dorfmann

Here is the latest in a series of posts devoted to the Russian-American pianist Ania Dorfmann (1899-1984). 

This 1955 RCA Victor LP contains music by Tchaikovsky and Schumann, with the major work a complete traversal of Tchaikovsky's Op. 39, the Album for the Young (Children's Album), a set of 24 pieces written for student musicians.

Dorfmann also includes seven excerpts from Schumann's Op. 68, the Album for the Young (Album für die Jugend), which inspired the Tchaikovsky collection.

1954 ad in Musical America

Completing the LP are five excerpts from Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons," including Troika (November) and Barcarolle (June), the most often heard.

Dorfmann performs with her usual effortless elegance, which is well suited to this repertoire. She recorded Tchaikovsky's Op. 39 on April 12, 1954 in New York's Town Hall, per Michael Gray's discography. Gray does not offer information on the other works, but presumably they were taped at about the same time. The sound is excellent. RCA originally issued the disc with the somewhat creepy cover at left. I believe the cover at top is a replacement.

Gordon MacRae - Capitol and M-G-M Singles

Gordon MacRae has appeared on this blog as often as almost anyone, but I've never focused on his singles output for Capitol, his longtime label. So today I have 12 single sides he produced for that imprint from 1949-1953, with a bonus of the only MacRae single issued on M-G-M.

MacRae joined the Capitol rolls in 1947, after leaving the foundering Musicraft label and following a brief stop-over on Apollo. (The majority of his Musicraft sides are available via this 2013 post.) The 26-year-old singer was still a year away from his first film role and his eventual popularity as a romantic foil for Doris Day and later as the leads in the movie adaptations of the Rodgers and Hammerstein mega-musicals Oklahoma! and Carousel.

The early efforts in this collection continue to betray MacRae's influences - Buddy Clark on "Down the Old Ox Road" and Tony Martin on "Stranger in Paradise." One of the first recordings here - "Twenty-Four Hours of Sunshine" - has what sounds like a half-hearted Jolson imitation. (Or is it supposed to be someone else?) That tune was covered by any number of artists in 1949, as was its flip side, "The Wedding of Lili Marlene" (which is dreary in every version I've encountered).

1953 ad

Among the other selections are contemporary Cole Porter efforts, a good country song (Pee Wee King's "Homin' Time"), a tune from the Day-MacRae musical On Moonlight Bay ("Cuddle Up a Little Closer"). The semi-standard "Never in a Million Years" was a hit for MacRae influence Bing Crosby in 1937. It's one of the better items here, featuring a uncredited obbligato by a trumpeter who is almost certainly Capitol artist Bobby Hackett. Also good is the coupling of "Congratulations to Someone" and "How Do You Speak to an Angel," the latter of which comes from the 1953 Jule Styne-Bob Hilliard show Hazel Flagg. Dean Martin reprised it the following year in the Martin-Lewis vehicle Living It Up, inscribing it for his own Capitol single.

As for the M-G-M single, I have a confession. It is actually an old Musicraft master that M-G-M licensed and later included in a 10-inch MacRae LP that I have never encountered.

The bandleaders here include Frank DeVol, Van Alexander, Carmen Dragon, Carlyle Hall, Paul Weston, Axel Stordahl and Walter Gross.

All transfers are from original 78s. The Capitols originated in a radio station collection. The sound is good.

Capitol royalty: (standing) Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye, Gordon MacRae, Nat Cole; (seated) label co-founder Glenn Wallichs, Dean Martin, Stan Freberg

Bach Cantatas from Mack Harrell, Robert Shaw, Marc Lifschey and the Clevelanders

This post continues my survey of recordings by the Szell-era Cleveland Orchestra under other conductors and different names. Previously we have heard from long-time Szell associate Louis Lane. Today the maestro is the famed choral conductor Robert Shaw in performances taped early in his spell as associate conductor and chorus director in Cleveland (1956-1967).

Shaw, shortly before
his Cleveland appointment

Although Cleveland is not mentioned anywhere on the packaging, it is likely that this record of two Bach cantatas involves both members of the orchestra and its chorus. When it was recorded (May 1958), Shaw was an RCA Victor artist. The orchestra, however, was under contract to Epic Records and could not be identified as such for this RCA disc. In any case, Shaw uses a relatively small complement of instrumentalists, so the issue is not a major one, save for the presence of Cleveland Orchestra oboist Marc Lifschey, who is credited with the important obbligato solo in BWV 56 ("Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen"), and is certainly also the uncredited soloist in the opening aria of BWV 82 ("Ich habe genug").

Marc Lifschey

I make a point of this because as far as I can tell, this is the only credited solo on record by Lifschey, principal oboe from 1950-65 save for one year, and a musician who was revered by other orchestra members. [Correction: Lifschey is also credited on the Mozart Divertimento K131 recording of 1963 - thanks to Derek Katz for sending a note about this!]

The oboist is repeatedly cited in the recent book of anecdotes about the orchestra under Szell, Tales from the Locker Room, assembled by longtime principal bass Lawrence Angell, who himself remarked, "The sound that came from [Lifschey's] oboe was often a miracle; so miraculous it astounded his colleagues." Said violinist Michael Goldman, "He was the soul of the orchestra. I got chills up and down my spine when he played." And fellow oboist Eldon Gatwood said, "I have never heard such a musical line," a particularly appropriate observation considering Lifschey's playing here.

But I am neglecting the principals in this recording, Shaw and baritone Mack Harrell, who is front and center in these cantatas: BWV 56 has but one chorale, and BWV 82 is entirely solo. Harrell's singing is flawless. He is a baritone tackling these cantatas for bass voice, but there is no sense of strain, with the voice always beautifully produced.

Mack Harrell

This production came late in Harrell's career - he died at age 50 in 1960, shortly before this LP was issued. It marked his second recording of BWV 56; he had done it as early as 1939 under Edward van Beinum in Amsterdam. Harrell's son Lynn, the famed cellist, was principal in the Cleveland Orchestra for several years in the 60s and 70s.

Robert Shaw had joined the Cleveland conducting staff in 1956, and was already a star in the choral universe. He had founded the Robert Shaw Chorale in 1948 and had produced many LPs of both pop and classical music for RCA, while preparing choirs for Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony. Following his Cleveland tenure, Shaw would go on to become the music director of the Atlanta Symphony for more than two decades.

Cover of original issue

Virtually all Shaw's Victor recordings are credited to the Shaw Chorale - but not this one. My supposition is that he used singers from the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus for this coupling of two mainly solo cantatas.

Michael Gray's discography has the recording taking place in St. Paul's Church, Cleveland; presumably this is St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, site of many concerts by orchestra-related groups. The sound is quite good. My transfer is from the Victrola reissue.