Prokofiev suites for children? I know what you're thinking -
Peter and the Wolf. But Sergei Prokofiev also wrote other music for the young ones, including the two relatively unfamiliar suites contained on this LP. It dates from 1966, and features two fine Czech ensembles. The recording originated with Supraphon; my transfer is from the US label Crossroads.
The
Summer Day Suite is Prokofiev's orchestration of several pieces in his
Music from Children, dating from 1935. The orchestral suite debuted 10 years later. This delightful work receives a smooth performance from the Prague Chamber Orchestra, working without conductor.
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| Alois Klíma |
A Winter Camp Fire comes from 1950. Here it is heard without the narration contained in the score, but with the children's chorus in the "Choir of Pioneers" section. The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra plays well under its longtime conductor, Alois Klíma.
The sound is good, although the original lacked bass and was below pitch. I have addressed both those issues. Not sure what Michael Mendel's cover on the Crossroads LP is supposed to represent, but it is striking.
The transfer results from a request on another site; I thought readers here would enjoy it, too.
21 comments:
Looking forward to hearing these. Peter and The Wolf appeals to me as much today as it did when I was little. I imagine these will too. Thanks again Buster!
Thanks a lot Buster for this rare recording featuring...rare works by Prokofiev.
Quite interesting.
Thanking you for sharing your love of music.
As ever another interesting upload.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
Hi folks and happy weekend - thanks as always for your comments!
Many thanks.
Cover: on the right, a basket, perfect for gathering flowers on a summer day. On the left, a camp fire, as seen from above, with rocks around it like in the comic strips. Yes? - Jeff
Jeff - Yes! Better than my interpretation - two manhole covers.
As soon as I saw the cover, I thought this was something obscure from Command. I guess not, but I got nothing better as far as interpretation. Thanks for the music!
One of my desert island disks; thanks so much!
However--I take it that your pressing is actually MONO on both sides, rather than being (as the jacket states) in stereo. I'm sure the original WAS done in stereo as I had not only the American reissue, but also the Supraphon 2-channel Lp.
At any rate, it was wonderful to hear these sui generis performances, which absolutely *cannot* be surpassed--or perhaps even equalled!
Yours,
8H Haggis
8H Haggis - You are right - the input driver reset to mono for some reason. (Not the first time this has happened.) I almost never transfer stereo recordings, so I didn't notice. Will re-transfer the record. Thanks for your note!
New link (stereo version):
https://mega.nz/#!KEsQBaia!63ODtFJOfimzhGSYks05QLzTfOUzdPORA3KsZy2YZKs
Oh, joy! This is fabulous, and the stereo spaciousness is just as I remember. I sold all of my 13,000 LPs in 1992 when I retired from broadcasting. I had used these performances in the 'automation tapes' that I made for a consortium of classical stations which I programmed for many years: over 5,000 hours of treasures from my own collection. I haven't heard this in two decades!
Best,
8h haggis
8h haggis - Happy you like them. Is your name a play on Studio 8H and B.H. Haggin?
Yes, Buster: it is!
You might be amused to read a reminiscence that I composed and posted on my website this very day, inspired by your fine transfer work on the Winter Campfire Suite: exactly how I produced 5,000+ hours of classical music automation tapes at the syndicator once claimed were in use, by the 1990s, by 25% of all United States' classical FM stations!
https://filedn.com/lgyQ0Uu5laX4REarxi2Tv9B/astro-app/essays/authors3.htm
The server is a bit iffy today but I was able to get it online to do some final proofreading.
8H Haggis
8H Haggis - I much enjoyed reading your reminiscences! I think I have one of those SAE units you mention in the basement. Along with many of the LPs.
Ah--*one* person has read it! My website is addressed to amateur astronomers, and as a group, I've found that their predicted musical taste is for Nine Inch Nails...
Now, A PLAINTIVE REQUEST to Buster, and all of his generous blog readers:
Below is my zipped upload of an old Supraphon record (unfortunately from an even worse sounding Artia stereo cassette) of music inspired by Shakespeare, wonderfully played by the Prague Symphony as absolutely *electrified* by Vaclav Smetacek. I got this recording in the early sixties and was so bowled over by the FABULOUS transcription for orchestra by Otakar Jermias of Smetana's piano fantasy "Macbeth and the Witches" that I eventually found the original Czech Supraphon import LP, which had IMMEASURABLY superior sound. But, in 1992 I had to sell my *entire* vinyl library -- 13,000 albums -- after I retired from broadcasting; and of course, this treasure went along with the rest.
The Artia cassette is shrill, hissy, and very compressed; the Supraphon stereo LP was richer and more natural (as a matter of fact, I also had the Parliament stereo LP of same--and it was pretty much 'halfway between' the quality of the other two.)
DOES ANYBODY HAVE A NICE CLEAN COPY OF THE SUPRAPHON STEREO RECORD?
My Artia cassette, flawed as it may be (Discogs info included, with scan of Artia LP cover; 82 MB):
https://www106.zippyshare.com/v/3xfOmSES/file.html
Sadly, only a thirty-day window of availability; will be deleted after 8/24/18.
8H Haggis
I'd like to have a nice copy of that one myself. Never seen it.
Buster, to complement the inimitable Klima recording of Prokofiev, here is my compilation of two wonderful, "rustic", entirely characteristic performances of Brahms and Dvorak by Czech musicians:
Brahms' Second Serenade, cond. by Vaclav Smetacek; and Dvorak's Serenade in D Minor, with the Prague Chamber Harmony under Martin Turnovsky
Compared to these most northern European, British, and American performances sound po-faced, over-sanitized, and glib! These are SO incredibly funky and fun that I'm spoiled, forever!
Covers embedded in two mp3 files; 103 MB.
To be deleted by Zippyshare in only thirty days after the time of this post!
https://www106.zippyshare.com/v/QRUXH7AB/file.html
8H Haggis
Well, I *found* and then obtained a copy of the orchestration of "Macbeth and the Witches" and the other items in the Artia cassette I provided a link to, above. The sound as provided by Supraphon, in their own commercial mp3 transfer, is vastly better than the cassette, and jibes well with my recollection of my own pristine Sup. stereo Lp. Cost a small amount, but worth it!
8H Haggis
Here is an old, c.1966 Crossroads LP that spent many an hour rotating on my own turntable over the years before I retired from broadcasting and disposed of 13,000 vinyls! It is a pairing of two post-classical-post-Haydn symphonies of Beethoven's time that look a bit BACK to an earlier style, by the Czech composers Reicha and Vorisek, with the conductorless Prague Chamber Orchesta. I particulary appreciate the droll Crossroads covers--this one is a veritable orchestra riot.
The original upload was a free offering to contributors of the newsgroup R.M.C.R. by Pierre Paquin, who is the purveyor of hundreds of very competent Lp transfers; I have a few (and even contributed one or two rare items to his discography.) Pierre's upload was done probably a dozen years back and I burned a CDR; but today when I got it onto 320 kbs mp3s, it turned out the files were not in track agreement with the proper information on the Discogs website; using another modern CD of the Vorisek as a reference, I've corrected them. Cover scan and track info included; LIMITED TIME availability of this 106 MB zip file, as we cannot be sure that Zippyshare will retain the file after their nominal cutoff date of 12/8/18.
https://www75.zippyshare.com/d/Stb0MXm8/30734/Reicha%20%26%20Vorisek%20Symphonies-Crossroads-Lp.zip
-or-
https://www75.zippyshare.com/v/Stb0MXm8/file.html
8H Haggis
Many thanks 8H Haggis for sharing and to you Buster for being the "conduit".
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
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