The Curious Case of Malko's "Sleeping Beauty"

Is it you, Nicolai? Or you, Constant?

My post directly below combines two Tchaikovsky readings by the illustrious conductors Constant Lambert and Nicolai Malko. The 1955 RCA Bluebird LP includes Lambert's 1941 Romeo and Juliet with the City of Birmingham Orchestra, and Malko's 1952 excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Or does it? No sooner did I cross-post my item to a Google classical music group than one of the knowledgeable members there dropped a line to say that there has been some dispute as to whether this was really the Malko recording. Apparently RCA had issued the LP with Lambert's 1939 Sleeping Beauty selections in place of the Malko items, while attributing them to the Russian conductor.

I thought this was curious. I am familiar with Lambert's Sleeping Beauty recordings - and am planning to post them - and the 1939 records do not match up with what is contained on the RCA LP. For example, "Red Riding Hood and the Wolf" appears on the RCA album but does not appear to be among the excerpts that Lambert set down in 1939. (He did record it in 1946.) Conversely, Lambert had a go at the famous Waltz in 1939, but it does not appear on the Bluebird LP.

I also checked the items that this LP and the 1939 recordings hold in common, and they do not seem to be the same, to my ears. Admittedly, comparisons are difficult because the excerpts are not uniformly labelled and the scores can be edited differently for the various recordings.

Later, another member posted a transfer from one of the Malko 78, and it does match the same selections on the Bluebird LP. And checking the Tchaikovsky Research site, what appears to be contained on the original 78s seems to match what's on the LP, although the site seems to be unaware of the two sides that aurally match the Bluebird album.

First and second LP covers

I wonder if RCA, after flubbing the first edition of the LP, did in fact correct the later editions. The record exists in two different versions - one with the stock ribbon cover that Bluebird was using at the time, the second my later issue with Romeo and Juliet on the cover. The group member who raised the issue is acquiring an original English EP of the music to make sure.

In the meantime, one thing that did come to light is that my transfer of the Sleeping Beauty excerpts is still a half-step flat - even though I had raised the pitch a half-step already, knowing that it was not correct. So I have adjusted the pitch again (hopefully accurately this time), and have posted a link to a new file both in the comments here and the original post.

Update: another member sent along a transfer of all the Malko Sleeping Beauty 78s, and they do correspond to additional items on the LP.