Flutist Maurice Sharp with the Clevelanders and Louis Lane, Plus a Julius Baker Reup

This is another in a series of recordings by spin-offs of the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by longtime assistant/associate/resident conductor Louis Lane. Today the spotlight is on the orchestra's principal flute, Maurice Sharp, who performs with a chamber ensemble of principals and others from the band, here called the Cleveland Sinfonietta.

The repertoire encompasses four 20th century works, three by Americans (Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Arthur Foote and Howard Hanson) and one by the French/Swiss composer Arthur Honegger.

Harvey McGuire joins Sharp for Honegger's Concerto da Camera for Flute, English Horn and Strings. Alice Chalifoux is the harpist in Hanson's Serenade.

Sharp joined the orchestra right out of the Curtis Institute, where he studied with William Kincaid, and remained principal flute for 50 years. He joined the ensemble when founding music director Nikolai Sokoloff was still in charge, with his tenure lasting to the brink of the Christoph von Dohnányi era.

Julius Baker (left) and Maurice Sharp, circa 1975

It is instructive to contrast Sharp's approach to another Kincaid pupil who became a famed orchestra principal - Julius Baker, who was solo flute both in Chicago and then for many years in New York (and who earlier spent several years in the Cleveland flute section). A while back I posted a Decca release in which Baker assays two of the works on this Cleveland issue - Griffes's Poem and Foote's A Night Piece. (Baker presents the Foote with string quartet accompaniment; Sharp uses the score for a larger ensemble.)

To my ears, Baker is the warmer of the two, although both are immaculate in their presentation. Sharp's cooler approach is in keeping with the proclivities of the Cleveland forces in the records they made with Lane - and with Szell, for that matter.

I've refurbished the sound of Baker's recording and added a link to it in the comments, along with the link to the Cleveland Sinfonietta LP. The sound on both is very good - Baker in mono, Sharp in stereo. Michael Gray's discography tells us that the Cleveland recordings were taped in Severance Hall in July 1960. The Baker sessions date from June 1952.

Julius Baker in Works by Foote and Griffes

Flutist Julius Baker made any number of records in the 1950s. During much of the period he was a New York freelance musician, but when these recordings were made, in June 1952, he was the principal flute of the Chicago Symphony. He later was the principal of the New York Philharmonic for many years.

Julius Baker

The repertoire could not be more welcome, consisting of the Poem for flute and orchestra by the American Impressionist Charles Tomlinson Griffes and "A Night Piece" by the American Romantic Arthur Foote.

Assisting in the Griffes is a chamber orchestra led by Daniel Saidenberg, also a busy performer during the period. In "A Night Piece" Baker is joined by the then violins of the Stuyvesant Quartet (Sylvan Shulman and Bernard Roberts), violist Harold Coletta of the NBC Symphony, and cellist Bernard Greenhouse, later of the Beaux Arts Trio.

These are excellent performances that I recommend. The sound is good. They come from American Decca's spartan (no notes) 4000 series of 10-inch LPs, dating from the early 1950s. I have a few more from this series coming up.

By the way, if you are interested in the Stuyvesant Quartet, fellow blogger Bryan over at The Shellackophile offers three different recordings by the group, including one he just posted.

American Music for Strings

This is one of the many LPs of American music produced by Howard Hanson and Mercury when Dr. Hanson was the head of the Eastman School.

This program from circa 1955 presents three exceedingly beautiful pieces for string orchestra. The Thomas Canning work is an attempt to replicate Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis using a hymn tune by the American Justin Morgan. Louis Mennini's Arioso is recommended to anyone who enjoys Barber's Adagio for Strings. And Arthur Foote's Suite is a romantic work reminiscent of Tchaikovsky.

The Canning and Foote works have had more modern recordings, but not the Mennini, to my knowledge. Canning and Mennini were colleagues of Hanson at Eastman. Mennini's brother, Peter Mennin, was also a well-known composer.

I dubbed this record using two different cartridge-stylus combinations. I prefer the string sound on the version here, although it retains more surface noise. I've done my best to lessen the heavy tape hiss that is still somewhat evident.

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