Even More Dinah Shore on Columbia

I have much enjoyed presenting two previous compilations of Dinah Shore's 1946-50 recordings for Columbia (here and here) - hope you have, too. So here is another, comprising two additional Harmony LPs from the 1950s - Love Songs and Lavender Blue.

The selection of 20 songs gives a good sense of both the repertoire for a pop singer in the post war years and the lavish arrangements that were afforded them, as led by such conductors as Nathan Van Cleave, Harry Zimmerman, Sonny Burke Morris Stoloff and Larry Russell - movie and show tunes and other items from the best composers.

Shore was among the most popular singers during this era, so she did get to record many good songs as they came out. The title song of Lavender Blue, from Disney's So Dear to My Heart, was a particularly big hit. Apparently no one minded the repeated "dilly, dilly" refrain, which not even Dinah can make charming.

This 1945 ad suggests that the secret to
Dinah's abundant charm was her hosiery

Among the songs here are "I'll Always Love You" and "You'll Always Be the One I Love." Given that she also did a tune called "I'll Always Be in Love with You" for Columbia, Dinah thoroughly covered the topic of eternal love during this period.

I should note that the selections here contain a few repeated items from a previous post. The sound is good throughout.

Piatigorsky in Shostakovich and Russian Melodies, Plus a Barber-Hindemith Reup

This upload is in response to a request on another site. It consists of a Columbia Entré LP from the early 1950s that comprises two Columbia 78 sets from the previous decade, both featuring the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, one of the finest instrumentalists of the 20th century.

Side 1 includes Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40, from 1934, when the composer was still in his 20s and before the first Soviet denunciation, centered on Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Piatigorsky’s reading, which dates from January 1942, may have been his third attempt at a recording. Per Michael Gray’s discography, there are unissued efforts from 1940 (with Ivor Newton) and 1941 (with Valentin Pavlovsky, who also is the accompanist on the issued masters). However, some questions have been raised about this dating, so it is not entirely clear when the issued recordings were made.

As noted by the person who requested the LP, this is a particularly fine rendition of the sonata, and may well have been the first recording - Gray does not list an earlier one.

The second side consists of lighter fare, arrangements for cello and piano of familiar Russian melodies. Some of these had achieved pop success, including Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Song of India,” via a 1937 Tommy Dorsey single, and Tchaikovsky’s “None But the Lonely Heart,” which had been used on the soundtrack of a 1944 film of the same name. The arrangements are uncredited, save for Rubinstein’s Melody in F, which is attributed to Popper, presumably cellist/composer David Popper.

Piatigorsky’s recordings come from October 1945, except for the Rachmaninoff Vocalise, which dates from a session one year later, per Gray. The accompanist is Ralph Berkowitz, who would continue to work with the cellist until Piatigosky’s death in 1976. Through the years, the pianist also served in leadership roles at Tanglewood, first as Koussevitzky’s assistant and then as head of the Berkshire Music Center.

Piatigorsky moved to the U.S. in the late 1930s, fleeing the Nazis as did so many musicians and others. He began recording for Columbia in 1940.

The recordings themselves are perfectly fine, except for the Rachmaninoff, which had a peculiar resonance that I have done my best to tame.

Reupload: Barber and Hindemith Sonatas

Several years ago, I transferred another Piatigorsky LP, a 1956 RCA Victor coupling of the Barber Cello Sonata, Op. 6, and the Hindemith Sonata, written for the cellist in 1948. I’ve now reuploaded this for anyone interested. Here's a link to the original post.

1944 Columbia Ad (click to enlarge)

Flutist Maurice Sharp with the Clevelanders and Louis Lane, Plus a Julius Baker Reup

This is another in a series of recordings by spin-offs of the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by longtime assistant/associate/resident conductor Louis Lane. Today the spotlight is on the orchestra's principal flute, Maurice Sharp, who performs with a chamber ensemble of principals and others from the band, here called the Cleveland Sinfonietta.

The repertoire encompasses four 20th century works, three by Americans (Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Arthur Foote and Howard Hanson) and one by the French/Swiss composer Arthur Honegger.

Harvey McGuire joins Sharp for Honegger's Concerto da Camera for Flute, English Horn and Strings. Alice Chalifoux is the harpist in Hanson's Serenade.

Sharp joined the orchestra right out of the Curtis Institute, where he studied with William Kincaid, and remained principal flute for 50 years. He joined the ensemble when founding music director Nikolai Sokoloff was still in charge, with his tenure lasting to the brink of the Christoph von Dohnányi era.

Julius Baker (left) and Maurice Sharp, circa 1975

It is instructive to contrast Sharp's approach to another Kincaid pupil who became a famed orchestra principal - Julius Baker, who was solo flute both in Chicago and then for many years in New York (and who earlier spent several years in the Cleveland flute section). A while back I posted a Decca release in which Baker assays two of the works on this Cleveland issue - Griffes's Poem and Foote's A Night Piece. (Baker presents the Foote with string quartet accompaniment; Sharp uses the score for a larger ensemble.)

To my ears, Baker is the warmer of the two, although both are immaculate in their presentation. Sharp's cooler approach is in keeping with the proclivities of the Cleveland forces in the records they made with Lane - and with Szell, for that matter.

I've refurbished the sound of Baker's recording and added a link to it in the comments, along with the link to the Cleveland Sinfonietta LP. The sound on both is very good - Baker in mono, Sharp in stereo. Michael Gray's discography tells us that the Cleveland recordings were taped in Severance Hall in July 1960. The Baker sessions date from June 1952.