Robert Shaw's 'Treasury of Easter Songs'

Toward the end of last year I posted Robert Shaw's early LPs of both Thanksgiving and Christmas music. Today I am adding to the collection with his Treasury of Easter Songs, which came out in 1952.

Similar to his other sets, the famed choral conductor assembled a variety of seasonal material, ranging from Schütz to spirituals and across several centuries. There are 20 selections presented in a relatively brief period. Nothing wears out its welcome, but the stylistic diversity elicited equally diverse critical opinions.

Enthusiastic: "Mr. Shaw has chosen these selections with extreme care. He seemingly had in mind pieces of musical merit with a very wide variety of appeal ... all sung artistically with the highest regard for good taste." [The New Records]

Skeptical: "[T]he twenty brief selections sometimes follow one another in incongruous juxtaposition ... the attempt to include all classes of Easter music has made for unevenness." [The New York Times]

Robert Shaw

By this time, the Chorale's excellence was seemingly taken for granted. The American Record Guide commented, "The performances are in the well-known clean-cut Shaw style, the recording generally good but occasionally overloaded." If by "clean-cut," the critic means the unanimity of ensemble without ever seeming detached, I guess this is accurate. Seventy years on, the program strikes this listener as being supremely well performed.

It's not clear when most of the program was recorded, but we do know that the Bach and Poulenc pieces were taped in the Manhattan Center in 1950.

Bonus: 'Easter Parade'

Ralph Hunter

In keeping with the eclectic theme, I have added one bonus to the program: the Chorale's 1953 recording of Irving Berlin's "Easter Parade," here in a recording led by Ralph Hunter, a distinguished choral trainer in his own right who was at the time the conductor of the Collegiate Chorale, which Shaw had founded.

The LP is from my collection; the single comes from an Internet Archive needle drop. The download includes scans of both the first and second LP covers, along with the reviews excerpted above.

LINK

Beethoven with Pollini and Böhm

A quick tribute to the remarkable pianist Maurizio Pollini, who has died at age 82, in the form of one of my favorite recordings.

It is Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, here in a magnificent 1976 performance by Pollini and the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Karl Böhm.

The quality of this recording is evident from the opening bars. The pianist's astonishing perfection is beautifully set off by the warmth of the Vienna Philharmonic under the masterful Böhm.

In The Gramophone, Richard Osborne wrote: "Pollini’s performance is both brilliant and beautifully proportioned; driven but never over-driven, fierce but only to glowing point," adding that "Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic are ideal partners."

David Hall's verdict in Stereo Review: "The slow movement is, as it should be, the high point, altogether moving in its flawless blend of tonal beauty and gripping drama. The finale ripples along its joyous way in the most satisfying manner imaginable."

I have treasured this LP since it came out in 1977, when I had very little money and almost never bought full-price albums. This was an exception. I found the record awe-inspiring nearly 50 years ago, and still think so today.

LINK

Lee Wiley Sings Harold Arlen

Here is the third in our exploration of the composer songbooks recorded by the great Lee Wiley from 1939-43. The earlier posts were devoted to Gershwin and Rodgers and Hart. The R&H article provides background on the singer.

This time, Wiley does wonders for Harold Arlen, a distinctive composer whose songs are suited to her vocal manner.

Lee Wiley Sings Songs by Harold Arlen dates from 1943 and was issued by the Schirmer label, in succession to the Liberty Music Shop (Gershwin and Cole Porter) and Rabson's (R&H). 

Along with the Schirmer album, for this collection I've added five other Wiley recordings of Arlen, dating from both earlier and slightly later in her career.

Wiley's Cole Porter recordings will be next in this series.

Shirmer's Lee Wiley Sings Songs by Harold Arlen

As with the previous songbooks, for the Harold Arlen album the vocalist is accompanied by a group of like-minded musicians, led in this case by guitarist Eddie Condon.

Eddie Condon

The album starts off with a jaunty version of "Down with Love," with a intensely swinging Billy Butterfield trumpet obbligato that plays off Wiley's vocal perfectly. She is in excellent voice here, and the session is notably well recorded. A strong opener.

Billy Butterfield

"Down with Love" comes from the 1937 musical Hooray for What, where Arlen worked with his frequent partner, lyricist Yip Harburg. Introducing the song was Jack Whiting, June Clyde and Vivian Vance.

The contrasting next number is "Stormy Weather," which was premiered by Ethel Waters and Duke Ellington in the 1933 Cotton Club Parade revue, but could have been written for Wiley. Her combination of weariness and wistfulness is ideal for the song. Butterfield is again a standout. Ted Koehler wrote the famous lyrics for this one.

Ernie Caceres

Lee sings the verse for many songs, including "I've Got the World on a String." Her vocal quality and presentation do wonders for the song. The clarinet soloist here is the versatile Ernie Caceres, who was at the time the baritone saxophonist in the Glenn Miller band. The song, again with Koehler lyrics, dates from the 1932 Cotton Club Parade.

"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" is another celebrated number with a relatively unfamiliar verse, which sets off the chorus nicely. It comes from a 1931 Cotton Club show, again with words by Koehler. Ernie Caceres is featured.

Bobby Hackett

For the second set of four songs, the band is augmented by three trombones, with Billy Butterfield succeeded by Bobby Hackett, who also wrote the arrangements for the first two songs. The busy pianist you hear is Dave Bowman.

"Fun to Be Fooled" is a strikingly good song that is not heard often enough. It comes from the 1934 revue Life Begins at 8:40, where Frances Williams introduced the number. Yip Harburg and Ira Gershwin were the lyricists.

The earliest song in the set is "You Said It," from the 1931 college musical of the same name, with book and lyrics by Jack Yellen. It has an ecstatic element that is well suited to Lee's vocal quality.

"Let's Fall in Love" is another Ted Koehler collaboration from a 1933 film of the same name. Ann Sothern sang it on screen. This is another favorite song of mine, and Wiley does it well. She does not include the distinctive verse, though.

One of the least known songs in the Schirmer set is the final one, "Moanin' in the Mornin'," another number from Hooray for What, sung on Broadway by Vivian Vance. It's an extraordinary piece, one of the most attractive songs in Arlen's catalog. Wiley is superlative; Hackett too is memorable in this fine composition.

Harold Arlen

More Arlen Songs

We have five additional Arlen songs that Lee recorded both before and after the Schirmer album, starting relatively early in her career. The first song comes from a 1933 Dorsey Brothers date that remained unissued until decades later, when it turned up on a Epic LP set devoted to 1930s recordings.

The young Dorseys

The song is "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues," from a 1932 Earl Carroll Vanities. It is very much suited to Lee's talents and temperament. She is in splendid voice and already a full formed artist at age 24. The obbligato is by Bunny Berigan. I've also included an alternate take that has appeared on bootlegs over the years, but it doesn't differ markedly from the Epic release.

During the 1940s, Eddie Condon promoted a variety of jazz concerts, at times with Lee as vocalist. A second version of "Down with Love" is taken from a March 31, 1945 date at the Ritz Theater in New York. It uses the same arrangement as the Shirmer recording, and even the same trumpeter - Billy Butterfield. Unsurprisingly, it's just as good a performance.

Jess Stacy

A few months later, Lee was in the Victor studios with her erstwhile husband, pianist Jess Stacy, and a relatively large ensemble. The subject was one of Arlen's most familiar songs, "It's Only a Paper Moon." That number was written for the 1932 play The Great Magoo, where it was known as "If You Believed in Me." The next year, it was interpolated into the screen version of the musical Take a Chance. A number of artists recorded it at the time, including Paul Whiteman.

In 1944, Nat Cole revived it and had some success, which apparently stimulated other recordings, perhaps including the Stacy-Wiley session. The easygoing arrangement features Stacy's idiosyncratic pianism, followed by Wiley's equally idiosyncratic singing. In truth, Russ Case's chart is not all that suited to either pianist or vocalist, but it's well played even so.

Dick Jurgens

Finally, we have a second version of "Stormy Weather," taken from a 1948 aircheck of the Dick Jurgens band. This large ensemble is very good indeed - and Lee is too - but she is best in a small group setting.

These selections for this post are taken from Internet Archive needle drops and my own collection, cleaned up for listening. The sound is generally splendid.

LINK to Lee Wiley Sings Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen Sings Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen himself was a singer who began making records in the 1920s and was still at it in the 1960s. As a performer, he was sly, witty and attuned to conveying the meaning of the lyrics. He had everything but a great voice, but even so is fun to hear. I've gathered 13 of his 1930s recordings in a new post on my other blog.

Music for Democracy from Eastman

For the first entry in its "American Music Festival Series," the Mercury label turned to patriotic works by two of the leading composers of the time - Howard Hanson (1896-1981) and Randall Thompson (1899-1984), calling the 1952 LP Music for Democracy.

Both works were choral settings - Thompson adapted texts by Thomas Jefferson for his Testament of Freedom; Hanson drew upon Walt Whitman for Songs from "Drum Taps."

As always in this series, the orchestra was the Eastman-Rochester Symphony, led by Hanson, the director of the Eastman School of Music. The voices were from the Eastman School Chorus.

The background for this patriotic fervor was World War II, which had concluded just seven years before. But in the arts, "Americana" was not new, nor was it necessarily tied to the war. Realism of both the urban and rural varieties was a strong theme in the visual arts between the two world wars. And composers in the US (and elsewhere) assimilated elements of vernacular music into their works, seeking to bridge their world with that of the common folks.

In the realm of patriotic music, Abraham Lincoln was the key figure. Perhaps the best known work of this type is Copland's A Lincoln Portrait, but there also had been Roy Harris' setting of Vachel Lindsay, Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight. and Harl MacDonald's Builders of America, which depicted both Lincoln and George Washington.

These works are uneven. The text that MacDonald set is ludicrous, Lindsay's poem is contrived, and Copland's text has been widely derided (although I do like it). In all cases - particularly A Lincoln Portrait - the music is worthwhile, however.

Randall Thompson

The works by Hanson and Thompson are stirring and valuable in their own ways. But both attracted unusually harsh criticism along with some praise. The latter's Testament of Freedom dates from 1943, the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birth. In High Fidelity, Alfred Frankenstein commented, "Thompson’s work is noble and strong in its orchestral fabric, but its vocal fabric suffers from the fact that Jefferson’s copper-plate prose does not lend itself well to musical setting, and Thompson has not managed to animate it with any real musical urgency."

The New York Times piled on: "Opening with a fanfare and simulating the sounds of warfare in the third selection, The Testament pulls out al the stops. It is vigorous and, in its way, effective, but its way suggests a collaboration between the Department of the Army and Hollywood."

A dissenting view from The New Records, with which I happen to concur: "Mr. Thompson's work manages to be impressive without being melodramatically sensational and, from a technical standpoint, is quite well-wrought."

Thompson was a professor of music at Harvard. You'll find his enjoyable Symphony No. 2 here, in a performance led by Dean Dixon.

Howard Hanson

Hanson's work was met with even more obloquy, but again it had its admirers. The New Records almost literally snorted about it: "Howard Hanson's Songs from 'Drum Taps' almost defies musicological description. How would one, for example, describe the aesthetic appeal of a Concerto for Pneumatic Drill and Football Band? Though without the subtlety of the aforementioned hypothetical work, one must not deny it the attribute of being, of its type, quite pure."

High Fidelity was more measured: "Whitman's free verse is so musical in itself that musicians approach it at their peril. Nevertheless its very musicality constantly tempts composers, only one of whom - Frederick Delius in Sea Drift - has managed to do anything important with it. Hanson's drum taps behind Drum Taps are pretty obvious."

And the New York Times liked the work, contrasting it with Thompson's Jefferson settings: "Here, though, the music is less directly inspirational. Instead, it works to release the dramatic quality inherent in the poems. 'Beat! Beat! Drums!' is especially successful." I would add that "By the bivouac's fitful flame" is effective and beautifully done here by the chorus and baritone David Meyers.

Songs from "Drum Taps" dates from the mid-1930s.

Howard Hanson has appeared here many times as composer and conductor. In the American Music Festival Series we have him conducting the following:

• Edward MacDowell's Second Indian Suite
• Americana for Solo Winds and String Orchestra, including Hanson's Serenade for Flute, Strings and Harp
• His Symphony No. 4, along with an alternative recording led by Dean Dixon
• American Music for String Orchestra with works by Mennini, Foote and Canning

Also these discs:

• Hanson's Piano Concerto, with soloist Rudolf Firkušný
• Another version of his Serenade, from the Cleveland Sinfonietta and Louis Lane

The transfer of Music for Democracy was the result of a request. The sound is typical for Mercury classical recordings of the time, which many people love but I find it can be harsh and boomy. It is certainly vivid, which suits the music. The download includes reviews and scans of both the original issue and the so-called "Olympian" series reissue, which had the alternative cover below.

LINK

The Young Steve Lawrence - His First Recordings

Steve Lawrence made a whole lot of records and a whole lot more appearances on stage and television in a career that lasted nearly 70 years. The singer-actor-comedian died last week at age 88.

Something of a prodigy, Steve was signed by Dewey Bergman of Cincinnati's King Records while the young man was still in high school, this on the strength of Steve's winning on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts television program.

Bergman, who had made his first record with Ted Weems in 1924, was experienced and prescient. From the moment Steve started to sing in the New York studio on that April day in 1952, Bergman must have known he had a winner. Lawrence was that good - at 16.

"Steve Lawrence" was born Sidney Liebowitz in Brooklyn in 1935, adopting his stage name from the given names of two nephews. Bergman not only contracted with Steve, he had him bring brother Bernie along to form a duo called the Leslie Brothers, who issued a few King records concurrently with those released under Steve's name. Three of the four Leslie Brothers sides are in this set, along with all the numbers released by Steve - 21 songs in all.

For this post, we'll first review the songs that King later compiled for its only Lawrence LP, then go back over the non-LP tracks. These are remastered from my collection and Internet Archive holdings.

The King LP

King did not get around to issuing its album until 1958 - about five years after Lawrence had left the label for Coral, and possibly to capitalize on Steve's hit cover of Buddy Knox's "Party Doll."

The Cincinnati label led off its LP with Lawrence's only semi-hit for that outfit - the first song he ever recorded, "Poinciana." It was an odd choice for a debut number - a bolero from Cuba that had been adapted into an instrumental by Manuel Lliso in 1936, then readapted by Nat Simon with English lyrics by Buddy Bernier. Eventually bandleader Jerry Wald and others took it up, with the first vocal version by Bing Crosby in 1943. Thereafter, it seemed to pop up again every few years, including versions by Frank Sinatra and Alan Dale in 1947.

Steve has often been linked with Sinatra, but vocally his version is much closer to that of Alan Dale, a somewhat more declamatory singer than the Voice, who was then in his hyper-romantic stage. (Let me add that I think Sinatra's record is brilliant.) What is most surprising is that the 16-year-old from Brooklyn can be credibly compared to Frank. His control and technique are well advanced, even if he did not have a unique profile as yet.

The second song on the album was issued on a single by the Leslie Brothers, but the LP does not bother to differentiate between the numbers recorded by Steve and the Steve/Bernie duo. The tune is "Say It Isn't True," an easy-going semi-R&B number that the brothers handle smoothly. The pair could have been successful had they continued.

Dewey Bergman

"Never Leave Me" is a solo effort on an overwrought "who can I turn to without you" song. (This is not the Gordon Jenkins song from Manhattan Tower.) It's good of its type, with a lovely, swooning chart by Bergman. Steve is entirely convincing - an amazing performance by a teenager with a beautiful voice.

Romantic is also the key word for "Tomorrow" - where young Steve faces an existential crisis: "Days one by one pass in loneliness / What have you done with my happiness?" he pleas. I would call him an angst-stricken adolescent, but he doesn't sound like a teen.

The Leslie Brothers return with "My Shawl," the theme song of bandleader Xavier Cugat, which again must have been a Bergman choice. The boys give it a calypso treatment, which works well. This is another song recorded by Sinatra, in a much more dreamy vein.

"King for a Day" is a galloping, heroic number that presumably was designed to show off Lawrence's range. It's the sort of thing best left to Mario Lanza, but Steve pulls it off.

Steve was to become the biggest star - but not on King's horizon

The second side starts with a generic ballad - "Fill me with sweet desire / Hold me 'til I'm afire," Steve declaims in "Mine and Mine Alone," accompanied by an impassioned chorus. He does it nicely, but again, it's not strong material.

The more restrained "With Every Breath I Take" is better, but then it's a more substantial composition. The song, by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, is from 1934. This is one of the best, if not the best readings on the LP.

"I Need" is a pleasant waltz that Steve dispatches efficiently. It's another yearning song; he had the ability to project such emotions without seeming artificial - quite a feat for a singer in high school.

King promoted both Steve
and the Leslies

There was some discrepancy about the title of the next song - the single release had it as "Magdalena (Last Night)" while the LP says it is "This Night (Madalena)." The latter is probably the closest to being correct. It's a 1950 Brazilian song by Ary Macedo and Ayrton Amorim released as both "Magdalena" and "Madalena," and given English lyrics ("This Night") by singer-songwriter Sunny Skylar. It's another vehicle for the Leslie Brothers in R&B mode, and one of the best things on the LP.

Steve is solo for the smooth number, "How Many Stars Have to Shine," by Jack Edwards, Leo Corday and Bert Mann, later recorded by Carmen McRae. This was another number that helped make a name for Lawrence, deservedly so. In this period he is sometimes compared to such big voice emoters like Frankie Laine and Eddie Fisher, but his vocal approach is more like that of Don Cornell with overtones of Billy Eckstine. Steve had a more personal quality than Cornell, though.

"Tango of Roses (Love Me)" is another one of those foreign-language songs that had the American songwriters competing to produce an English version. "Tango delle rose" was written by the Italians Aldo Bottero and Filippo Schreier. One English version was "More Than Love," recorded by Ralph Flanagan and Guy Lombardo. Another was the one that Steve did for his King record. The effect is a little overbearing - but he is certainly to be preferred to the anemic Kenny Martin with Lombardo.

Adequate production is by no means a given with King LPs, particularly reissues, but the sound from this album is surprisingly good, similar to that of the 78s reviewed below, with a tad more reverb. 

The Uncollected King 78s

We'll discuss the rest of Steve's King recordings in the order of their release.

Bergman went back a few years in King's catalogue for our first number, "All My Love Belongs to You," a 1948 hit for Bull Moose Jackson and His Buffalo Bearcats, written by King producer Henry Glover with Sally Nix. Glover was an important figure in the 40s and 50s music scene. Steve does the Moose proud with this excellent reading that overcomes the prefab lyrics. He's in gorgeous voice here. I also enjoyed the chart, presumably by Bergman.

Next, Lawrence had the task of recording a theme song - "Sudden Fear" from a Joan Crawford film noir with Jack Palance as the heavy. Irving Taylor ("Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb") and Arthur Altman ("Play, Fiddle, Play") were the authors. The film only used an instrumental of the tune, but Steve's vocal version is worth a spin.

"Always Love Me" is another of the moonstruck numbers that dominated the market, just the sort of material that demonstrated Lawrence's considerable gifts.

King often put bio details on its promotional labels (click to enlarge)

"If Not for You" is more of the same, with a lush backing and an obbligato that was possibly by Henry Glover, a trumpeter as well as songwriter and executive.

Steve switches genres easily with "To the Birds," an R&B number with a hybrid background, part big beat, part big band. "You took my heart and fed it to the birds," the singer complains. His vocal production here is at times reminiscent of Sammy Davis, Jr., who had started recording for Capitol just a few years earlier.

With "You Can't Hold a Memory in Your Arms," Lawrence is squarely in the swinger arena, pulling it off superbly.

A slightly later arcade card

"Too Little Time" is easily one of the best items in this set. It was the theme song for The Glenn Miller Story, written by Henry Mancini and Don Raye. Suitably, it receives one of Steve's most passionate performances. The first-rate backing is by Glenn Osser, who did much work for Vic Damone and other top vocalists. Osser also arranged "With Every Breath I Take" and the final two songs below.

"Remember Me (You Taught Me to Love)" is a Latin-tinged piece by Billy Reid, presumably the British bandleader-songwriter. It's a good song, skillfully performed. 

The final song is "Liebchen," also recorded by Bing Crosby, a towering figure who nonetheless had little apparent influence on Lawrence's singing. The song is by Sid Wayne, later a writer for Elvis, and Joe Sherman. As usual, Steve's vocals are right on point.

That was all from Steve at King. He was off to his next label - a step up to Coral, a subsidiary of Decca, which issued its first Lawrence single in fall 1954. By then, comedian and television personality Steve Allen had added Lawrence to his New York TV program, which later was to become a network effort called The Tonight Show. There, Steve met the brilliantly talented Eydie Gormé, one of the other Allen vocalists. They would marry a few years later and go on to achieve remarkable success individually and as a team.

LINK

Steve and Eydie with Steve Allen

Music from Ireland

For this post I am combining a few records to provide a by-no-means comprehensive overview of 20th century music in Ireland. First we have two transcription discs published by the Marshall Plan administration at about mid-century. Then a Decca LP of "New Music from Old Erin" from about 1958, augmented by a recent concert recording of an Ina Boyle overture.

Orchestras of the World - Ireland

Orchestras of the World label and Marshall Plan poster

The French conductor Jean Martinon (1910-76) was known for his performances of French, Russian and German composers, but in this unusual set we have him in circa 1950 recordings of music from Ireland.

The performances, with the then-new Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, were issued on transcription discs by the Economic Cooperation Administration. The ECA was a US government agency that administered the Marshall Plan, which provided postwar aid to Western Europe. The agency produced an "Orchestras of the World" series that encompassed radio recordings from Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Jean Martinon

On the Radio Éireann set, the composers represented are Hamilton Harty, Charles Stanford, E.J. Moeran, Redmond Friel and J.F. Larchet. A conservative selection to be sure, and one that includes an Englishman (Moeran, who was of part-Irish descent and did live and work at times in Ireland). As far as I can tell, only the Harty work had been recorded before this set was issued.

Charles Stanford

The program begins with the Overture to Shamus O'Brien, an 1895 composition by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), a prolific composer and important teacher in England. It's a tuneful piece that gets the program off to a good start.

Redmond Friel

Next is Two Linked Melodies from Donegal by Redmond Friel (1907-79), a prolific arranger of traditional melodies. It's also enjoyable, but the Radio Éireann orchestra does seem a bit unsure of itself here. In 1950, it had only been in existence for a few years and did not have a music director, although Martinon and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt worked with it regularly.

J.F. Larchet

John Francis Larchet (1884-1967) was the music director of the Abbey Theater from 1908-35, where he was responsible for the stage music for important plays by Yeats and others. He also taught such composers as Elizabeth Maconchy, Brian Boydell, Havelock Nelson, Seóirse Bodley and Frederick May. (See below for music by Boydell, Bodley and May.) Larchet primarily composed short works and arranged traditional tunes. His composition The Tinker's Wedding is a colorful piece sketching a social event among the itinerant people of Ireland.

E.J. Moeran

The two most substantial works on the program are next. First is the 1948 Serenade in G major by E.J. Moeran (1894-1950). This is one of Moeran's best works, a gorgeous reworking of circa 17th century dance forms. Martinon programmed the six-movement version of the work; it is what was to be published in 1952, after the composer's death. Moeran's original has eight movements. That version was recorded much later.

Sir Hamilton Harty

The symphonic poem With the Wild Geese by Sir Hamilton Harty (1879-1941) dates from 1910. The "Wild Geese" were Irishmen who were recruited to serve in continental armies in the 16th-18th centuries. Harty's lively programmatic composition includes such movements as "Soldiers' Life Abroad," "Night Before the Battle," "Battle" and "Return Home." The composer also achieved fame as a conductor, principally of the Hallé Orchestra.

The transcription discs also include a five-minute talk on "Life in Ireland Today" by former foreign correspondent Frank Gervasi, who was then working for the Marshall Plan.

I transferred this program from a set of the 16-inch transcription discs. The original sound is adequate broadcast quality for the time. There is some occasional mild rustle caused by a bit of warping, to which the large vinyl pressings were prone.

New Music from Old Erin, Vol. 1

I first shared this circa 1958 disc about a decade ago, but wanted to add a new version to this post because it complements the previous set by presenting compositions by three younger composers. It also features the Radio Éireann Symphony.

Milan Horvat

In this program the orchestra is led by Milan Horvat (1919-2014), its music director from 1953-58. He was later the chief conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic in his native Croatia.

Brian Boydell

The Megalithic Ritual Dances by Brian Boydell (1917-2000) were inspired by pre-Christian rituals, although they follow no specific program. The work was written for the Radio Éireann Symphony. The composer was a professor at Trinity College in Dublin for many years.

Seóirse Bodley

The next composition, Music for Strings by Seóirse Bodley (1933-2023) was given its first performance by the Dublin Orchestral Players under Brian Boydell in 1952, when the composer was just 19. Bodley was to become one of the most significant Irish composers, and was also active as a teacher and conductor. This early work was influenced by Hindemith. Bodley later adopted different compositional methods.

Possibly E.J. Moeran, Frederick May, possibly pianist Tilly Fleischmann, Ina Boyle (1938)

Frederick May (1911-85) was hindered by health issues throughout his life, including increasing deafness. Almost all of his works were composed by 1942, including the Suite of Irish Airs, from 1937. Like his teacher J.F. Larchet, he spent a period as music director of the Abbey Theater.

I have remastered the recording in ambient stereo for this post. The sound is very good. These are all first recordings, as far as I know.

The Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra later became the RTÉ (Raidió Teilifís Éireann) Symphony Orchestra and then the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. It is now the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.

Ina Boyle

Finally, as a bonus to New Music from Old Erin, I have added the 1934 Overture by Ina Boyle (1889-1967), a fine if conservative composer whose music has achieved some currency in recent years. This concert performance from 2018 is by the Ulster Orchestra under Maxim Emelyanychev. Thanks to the original poster for the source file.

LINK to Orchestras of the World - Ireland

LINK to New Music from Old Erin