14 January 2020

Rignold Conducts Delibes Ballet Suites

Longtime reader centuri praised this record back in June when I posted Prokofiev's Cinderella ballet score conducted by Hugo Rignold. Centuri is a knowledgeable fellow, so I quickly put this LP on the schedule for transfer. It contains suites from Léo Delibes' ballets Sylvia and Coppélia conducted by Hugo Rignold, who also led the Prokofiev recording.

Hugo Rignold
Rignold was the conductor of the Royal Ballet when these recording sessions took place in May 1959. He conducted Coppélia there in 1958 and both ballets in 1959. But rather than utilizing the Covent Garden band, as it did in the Prokofiev record, RCA Victor went with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, a not-unreasonable choice considering the repertoire.

The English maestro and the French ensemble turned out to be a good match. Rignold and the orchestra seem to have had a good time together, at least from the audible evidence. The famous Mazurka from Coppélia is tremendous fun, for example. The Parisians, not noted for virtuosity, play well for Rignold, and the sound is good. As with the Prokofiev LP, RCA utilized the English Decca production team. The result was the usual FFSS sonics, with elevated high- and low-frequency responses. I don't know how accurate it is, but it is glamorous! A few notes: my pressing had a bit of mild periodic noise on the right channel, which will only be noticeable over headphones. Also, RCA (or Decca) mastered the LP quite sharp, which I've adjusted. This was possibly because of a long side one.

I don't believe these recordings have been reissued, except in RCA's mid-60s Victrola line (see below), but I have been wrong before on such matters. The download includes a 1961 review from High Fidelity magazine.

Ad for Victrola reissue in High Fidelity, 1965
(click to enlarge)

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11 comments:

  1. Buster14 January, 2020 18:02

    Link (Apple lossless):

    https://mega.nz/#!qRlnkSrQ!JlhUXX6IgYnwjMJb0SLM8IAypL46mQBdlpDx_p5T-2o

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  2. rev.b14 January, 2020 20:00

    Thank you!

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  3. centuri15 January, 2020 07:15

    Thanks Buster for this rare and special recording.
    Fantastic and so appropriate timbers of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire Orchestra (the former basis of Orchestre de Paris), magnifying this famous ballet suites under the excellent Rignold.

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  4. Larry15 January, 2020 15:50

    Thanks, Buster! Have you ever run across the Kapp recording of the complete Nutcracker ballet conducted by Robert Irving with the New York City Ballet orchestra?

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    Replies
    1. Boursin19 January, 2020 13:56

      The Irving Nutcracker is available for download here (together with a lot of other interesting material):

      http://rediscovery.us/conductors.html#140

      Delete
  5. Buster15 January, 2020 16:02

    Thanks for the comments, everyone.

    Larry - I have quite a few Irving recordings, but not that one, sorry.

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  6. Rootie17 January, 2020 12:02

    thanks for this Buster, Now I can retire the Victrola LP copy I have.

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  7. Brent17 January, 2020 20:38

    I enjoyed the "French" sound, particularly the horns. They most have been doing double duty at hunt festival competitions.

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  8. A N Other19 January, 2020 12:28

    Wonderful! Many thanks indeed.

    P

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  9. Buster19 January, 2020 14:01

    Hello everyone - thanks again for your comments.

    Boursin - Thanks so much for the link!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Phillip20 January, 2020 01:33

    Many thanks Buster. I love Delibes' music for these ballets and have never heard this recording.

    ReplyDelete

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