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.