Chausson from Francescatti, Casadesus, Guilet Quartet

The Chausson Concert for Piano, Violin and String Quartet is one of the great masterpieces of French Romanticism. Today we have a sterling rendition from some of the finest French instrumentalists of a later generation.

In this latest addition to my series of recordings by Zino Francescatti, the violinist is joined by pianist Robert Casadesus and the Guilet Quartet (at the time, Daniel Guilet and Bernard Robbins, violins, Emanuel Vardi, viola, Benar Heifetz, cello).

Francescatti and Casadesus

The cover announces that the record was released to mark the 100th anniversary of Chausson's 1855 birth. The sessions actually occurred in December 1954 in Columbia's 30th Street Studio, New York.

Francescatti and Casadesus often performed together and are at one in this well-recorded performance.

Gershwin from Kostelanetz, Plus More from Weston

My last post presented two of the recordings that Columbia made to mark the release of the 1945 George Gershwin biopic, Rhapsody in Blue - the Rhapsody with Levant and Ormandy, and An American in Paris with the New York Philharmonic and Rodziński.

Cover of 78 set

The label's third contribution to the Gershwin fest was an album of song arrangements led by its pops maestro, Andre Kostelanetz. Like the concert pieces, Kosty's efforts enjoyed a long life in the catalogue - first the 78 set (left), then a 10-inch LP (cover above), and finally a 12-inch LP (cover at bottom of post). The first part of today's post consists of a transfer of the 10-inch LP, with the addition of the extra items from the 12-inch album.

Now why (you might ask) didn't I just record the 12-inch LP? Well, the name of this blog was a consideration, but the main reason was simply that the older LP had better sound. By the time the 12-incher came out in 1955, it was a ironclad item of faith among transfer engineers that everything sounded better with reverb. The mid-50s version of "More cowbell!!" was "More echo!!" So my download presents the unclouded sound of the 10-inch LP, then adds "I Got Rhythm," "Mine," "Bess, Oh Where's My Bess," and "Strike Up the Band," all taken from the 12-inch disc.

As always with Kostelanetz, the arrangements are busy but full of interest, if lacking in the emotional depth that is an integral element of many of Gershwin's songs.

I decided to add a bonus to the Kostelanetz post in the form of a 1953 10-inch LP from fellow mood music maven Paul Weston. As in my previous Kosty/Weston dual post, the records have one song in common (Gershwin's "Soon"), so you can compare and contrast the differing approaches of these fine arrangers.

Weston's LP is titled Whispers in the Dark after the 1937 Leo Robin-Frederick Hollander song from the film Artists and Models. It's one of the many wonderful songs from that era that are almost unknown today. As with the previous Weston album, the program is enjoyable and satisfying, and the sound is excellent - as it is on the Kostelanetz program.

Cover of 1955 LP

Gershwin from Levant, Kostelanetz and Rodziński

Times Square, 1945

By the time the Warner Bros. had released their romantic biopic of George Gershwin in 1945, the late composer had ascended to a crescendo of fame that endures to this day. His most notorious musical advocate, Oscar Levant, wasn't far behind.

Initially, Levant's popular renown came not from musical performance but from radio appearances. As Life magazine put it in a 1940 profile, "Until about a year and a half ago, Oscar Levant enjoyed a limited fame as a composer of one smash-hit tune, Lady Play Your Mandolin, and as an interpreter of George Gershwin's serious piano music." That was before his triumphant tenure as enfant terrible on radio's Information Please, and the publishing of his amusing first memoir, A Smattering of Ignorance.

So when it came time for Warners to cast their Gershwin movie, Levant was a natural choice not only to play himself, but to dub Robert Alda's Gershwin character at the piano.

1943 ad

Columbia Records had begun pairing Levant with Gershwin's music as early as 1941 with the Three Piano Preludes, and then in 1942 with the Concerto in F, backed by Andre Kostelanetz and the New York Philharmonic. The production of the film Rhapsody in Blue was the impetus for Levant to take on the composition of the same name, with backing by the Philadelphians and Ormandy in June 1945 sessions.

Earlier LP cover

Levant's efforts were only part of Columbia's tie-ins to the film, however, They engaged the New Yorkers and music director Artur Rodziński for An American in Paris, and brought in Kostelanetz for an album of Gershwin show tunes. These were released at the same time as the movie.

All are superb recordings that are more than worthy of their long life in the catalogue. I recently transferred them for my own amusement, and thought some of you might like to hear them as well. Today we have an excellent 1957 LP version of the concerto, Rhapsody and An American in Paris. Later on I'll present the Kostelanetz collection.

FYI - in 1949 Columbia had Levant in the studio to set down the Second Rhapsody and the Variations on "I Got Rhythm" with Morton Gould and a New York orchestra, issuing them on a 10-inch LP with Levant's classic set of the Preludes. I recently reuploaded my transfer of this superb album.

1957 cover

Gauk Conducts Miaskovsky

About a month ago I uploaded a recording of Symphony No. 21 by the 20th century Russian composer Nikolai Miaskovsky (latterly Myaskovsky), in a vivid performance by the Philadelphians under Eugene Ormandy.

I enjoyed that experience so much, I went off in search of more Miaskovsky in my library, and came up with this item - a version of his beautiful Symphony No. 17 as led by Alexander Gauk, the score's dedicatee, who conducted its first performance in 1937.

Nikolai Miaskovsky

This performance is with the USSR Radio Symphony, which I believe is the same ensemble which was variously known as the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, the USSR Large Radio and Television Orchestra, and perhaps other names. It is now the State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov" - also, so as to continue its legacy of confusion, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra. Gauk was its music director for several years.

Alexander Gauk

The recording here comes from relatively late in Gauk's career (he lived from 1893 to 1963). Sources disagree on the exact date, but it appears to be from the late 1950s. This pressing is on the MK (Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga, or "International Book") label, which the state agency was using for its export issues at the time. You can see the very Soviet-style logo on the cover, with a book slicing through the globe. I believe the rest of the hideous cover may have been the responsibility of the US importer Abbey.

Anyone who had ever heard a recording of this group during this period will know what to expect. Horns that sound like saxophones, blatant brass, etc. (along with much lovely playing, of course), all set in a distant, reverberant acoustic. I imagine this is what Miaskovsky expected, and it has its own distinct charm, at least to me. The mono sound is actually quite good, in its own way.

Gauk was not considered the best Soviet conductor of his time, and apparently even the composer could be indifferent to his skills (even considering the dedication). But this delightful performance of Miaskovsky's work is committed and convincing, providing a good case for the composer's music to be heard far more often than it is today.