First Recordings: the Berg and Schönberg Violin Concertos, and More

Two of the most notable 20th century violin concertos were commissioned by the same instrumentalist, Louis Krasner, within a year or two of one another, during his relatively brief period as a soloist before he went into orchestra work and then teaching.

The composers were two of the three leading lights of the Second Viennese School. One, Alban Berg, produced a work that is noted for its intense beauty and emotion. Arnold Schönberg's concerto is mainly famed for its difficulty - although it too is intensely emotional.

Louis Krasner

Krasner (1903-95) was born in Russia but moved to the US as a child. A New England Conservatory graduate and veteran of engagements in Europe, he commissioned Berg's concerto when he was just 32. Berg had some difficulty writing it, but soon, grieving over the loss of a family friend, young Manon Gropius, the daughter of Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler, he wrote his famous concerto, which he dedicated to "Dem Andenken eines Engels" ("The Memory of an Angel"). It was to be the last work Berg completed before his own death.

Manon Gropius

Krasner premiered the work in Barcelona in 1936, following Berg's death. The concert was to have been conducted by the third member of the Schonberg circle, Anton Webern, but in the event Hermann Scherchen led the orchestra. Krasner then took the work to London for a private concert with the BBC Symphony and Webern. That performance was recorded for the violinist and has appeared on record, albeit in fairly poor sound. In fact, I had refurbished a dub of that version, and old friend David Federman asked me if I would present it here. I'm waiting for a better copy of the release to arrive and then should be able to do so.

Alban Berg

In the meantime, this post contains the first recording of the work, also performed by Krasner, with the Cleveland Orchestra and its then music director, Artur Rodziński, in 1940. It's quite a good performance, acclaimed upon its initial release on 78s and then on LP in 1954, when it was coupled with the Schönberg concerto, which Krasner had premiered in 1940 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski. The Schönberg recording was in 1952 with the New York Philharmonic and Dimitri Mitropoulos.

C.J. Luten wrote in the American Record Guide: "The Berg concerto is a master's masterpiece: Krasner (for whom the work was written) and Rodziński give a devoted performance... It is intensely serious, deeply felt, and beautiful of sound. It also has an expressive coherence uncommon among the works of the Viennese dodecaphonists. 

Artur Rodziński

"How different is the force of Berg's concerto compared with Schönberg’s (written in 1935 a year before the former). The Schönberg concerto (superbly performed and recorded) is deadly serious, darkly emotional, intensely intricate, and fiendish to play. Its expression is, however, ever so ambiguous; and its tortured invention ever so difficult to follow."

Not every critic was as baffled by the Schönberg. Arthur Berger, himself a leading composer, took to the Saturday Review and blithely opined: "I wonder if the unwarranted intellectual processes so often attributed now to the contemporary composer are not really, in many cases, in the mind of the listener - the calculated effort, namely, that we must exert in any new and challenging situation, whether it is the apartment we have just rented, the new route we take to drive to the country, or the strange language in which we order dinner abroad." Oh, OK.

Arnold Schönberg

Berger goes on to dismiss the Berg concerto as an comfortable piece: "[I]f its emotional appeal now seems thoroughly patent it is because, to start with, its moods were not particularly elusive - pervasive languor and desolateness gently fluctuating - and it is also because we no longer need exert ourselves much to grasp the idiom in which they are embodied."

Meanwhile, he faults the Schönberg because he "failed to use reason as a check upon feelings so abundant and intense that they overflowed the bounds of judicious form. Thus, instead of the impact of a well-unified structure, we carry away the memory of some lucid and imaginative scoring and of the tenuous quality of such passages as the approach to the first cadenza and the Mahleresque opening of the andante. Few details of the Berg are of such rarefied beauty."

The last words go to Alfred Frankenstein of High Fidelity: "[The Schönberg concerto] is colossally difficult for the soloist and almost equally difficult for the supporting ensemble and for the hearer, but what comes out of this collaboration is one of the most devastatingly dramatic symphonic compositions of the twentieth century. The Berg concerto, on the other hand, is a lyric work. As everyone knows, it was composed as a requiem for a young girl, and its mood is one of exaltation and ethereal expressiveness. No better contrast between Schönberg and Berg could be provided, especially since the performances are uniquely authoritative and masterly. Fine recording, too."

Dimitri Mitropoulos and Louis Krasner following a 1954 performance of the Schönberg concerto in Munich, courtesy of Alexandros Rigas

Louis Krasner was to go on to become the concertmaster of the Minneapolis Symphony from 1944 to 1949, during Mitropoulos' tenure there, and then a teacher at Syracuse University and the New England Conservatory. His lasting legacy is commissioning these two masterworks and several other notable compositions, including concertos by Alfredo Casella and Roger Sessions, and shorter works by Henry Cowell and Roy Harris.

A word about the LP cover: The 1930 drawing by Paul Klee is titled, "Ausgang der Narren," that is, procession of fools or jesters. It is may be an ironic depiction of carnival time, or it may be an oblique commentary on politics, but it is not related to the music. It is, however, preferable to the cover below.

Schönberg's Erwartung

In 2014 I posted another Schönberg work, his 1909 Expressionist monodrama Erwartung (Expectation), with soprano Dorothy Dow and again the New York Philharmonic and Dimitri Mitropoulos. I've now reworked the sound on that recording, which is backed by Ernst Křenek's Symphonic Elegy (In Memory of Anton von Webern), while greatly expanding the commentary.

Dimitri Mitropoulos

There, too, I quote Arthur Berger: "Erwartung stems from an intermediate period separating Schoenberg’s frankly post-Wagnerian stage from his ultimate crystallization of twelve-tone technique. The Tristanesque contours evocative of love-death and frustration had not yet been subjected to the compression and abstraction that makes them, in his later music [e.g., the Violin Concerto], barely recognizable as such."

The work is not easy listening. C.J. Luten: "Erwartung is shocking, violent, and more than a little morbid. It concerns a mature woman, who, upon taking a midnight stroll through the forest, runs into the dead body of her lover. The words of the play are the thoughts which occur to the protagonist throughout the 25-minute course of action."

If this intrigues you, please do visit the original post for more information. The download link is both there and in the comments to this post.

Berlioz and Weinberger from Cleveland and Rodziński

Artur Rodziński

Today we have more of the recordings Artur Rodziński made with the Cleveland Orchestra during his decade as its music director (1933-43). They include one of their first recordings, of Jaromir Weinberger's Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree, and a later session devoted to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique

The Berlioz piece is the more substantial, so let's examine that recording first. It derives from an April 14, 1941 session in Severance Hall solely devoted to the work.

As far as I can tell, this is the only time the conductor turned his attention to Berlioz in the recording studio. Rodziński's emphasis on clarity and discipline are always admirable, but perhaps not the first qualities that come to mind when thinking about the music of Berlioz. I generally admire the conductor's approach, but this is a work that perhaps requires more fantasy than Rodziński could evoke. My favorite recording is led by Leonard Bernstein with the Orchestre National de France in the 1970s. He emphasizes the hallucinatory qualities of the work, which supposedly were influenced by Berlioz's experience with opium. 

The composer had developed a program for the work which involves a despairing young artist, an obsessive love, an opium-induced dream of his own execution and finally a witches' sabbath. But he later downplayed the program, writing in the preface to its second edition, "The author hopes that the symphony provides on its own sufficient musical interest independently of any dramatic intention." This is certainly the spirit in which Rodziński takes up the work, but one can't help but feel that something is missing. (The New York Times' Howard Taubman would disagree; he praised the recording's "driving, biting impact" in his 1942 review, and the reviewer in The New Records was similarly enthusiastic. These notices and two concert reviews are in the download.)

The transfer came from a early-1950s Columbia Entré LP with reasonably good sound.

Weinberger - Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree

Jaromir Weinberger

The Symphonie Fantastique was well over a century old when Rodziński recorded it, but Jaromir Weinberger's Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree had premiered in October 1939, only a few months before the date with the Columbia engineers.

The Bohemian Weinberger (1896-1967) was newly arrived in the U.S., one of the many refugees from Hitler's Germany. His reputation as a composer had been made 13 years before with the success of his Schwanda the Bagpiper. The Polka and Fugue from this opera are heard even today on orchestral programs.

Weinberger was a facile composer with a gift for melody; both characteristics are apparent in the work under discussion, which has the formal name "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree," Variations and Fugue on an Old English Tune. The old tune in question was likely originally a dance; it had been set by Giles Farnaby and William Byrd 300 years earlier.

John Barbirolli premiered Weinberger's work with the New York Philharmonic in October 1939, but did not record it. Rodziński raced Constant Lambert into the studio to deliver the premiere recording. Lambert's session with the London Philharmonic was on December 21, 1939. Sources differ on the Cleveland date: Michael Gray says it was December 13, 1939; Donald Rosenberg in The Cleveland Orchestra Story specifies January 9-10, 1940.

The Weinberger is an enjoyable piece neatly done by the Clevelanders. My transfer is taken from a 1970s Cleveland Orchestra promotional LP. The album is marked stereo, but as far as I can tell, the only stereo signal consists of surface noise and a very loud rumble, which I have eliminated. Note (February 2024): in preparing the Lambert recording for a post, I noticed that the Rodziński was considerably off-pitch, which I have now rectified.

The download includes reviews of the recording from the New York Times and The New Records, an article by Weinberger published a few days before the concert premiere, and a review of the premiere itself.

One final note: the pianist in the work is Boris Goldovsky, then the Cleveland chorus master, later an opera conductor and impresario and radio personality on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.

LINK

Rodziński admires his likeness, produced by sculptor William McVay

Ravel and Debussy from Cleveland, Rodziński and Leinsdorf (Plus a Bonus)

The Cleveland Orchestra did not spring into being upon the accession of George Szell to the music directorship in 1946. Three chief conductors had preceded him: Nikolai Sokoloff, Artur Rodziński and Erich Leinsdorf.

This blog has concerned itself with Rodziński's recorded output since its founding, including several Cleveland efforts: Jerome Kern's Showboat Scenario for Orchestra, Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream, and Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet and 1812 Overture, in addition to many recordings from New York, one from Vienna and one from Chicago.

Last year I posted several of Leinsdorf's Cleveland outings: the Schumann Symphony No. 1, Rimsky-Korsakov's Antar, plus pieces by Schubert and Mozart.

Today we return to Cleveland for music of the Impressionists: Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 and Rapsodie Espagnole and Debussy's La Mer from Rodziński, and instrumental music from Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, as arranged and conducted by Leinsdorf.

A single link to all these items is at the end of the post. 

Today's bonus is in the form of another welcome compilation from David Federman: "From Dearth to Mirth," a concept we can all support, I am sure. Details and a link below.

Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 and Rapsodie Espagnole

Artur Rodziński

After the Cleveland Orchestra and Rodziński began recording for the reorganized Columbia Records company in 1939, it wasn't long until the conductor turned his attentions to the music of Ravel, first the Rapsodie Espagnole in 1940, then the Suite No. 2 from the Daphnis et Chloé ballet music the next year.

Critics differ about the merits of his readings. In the reviews included in the download, some contemporary writers longed for the more lush sounds of Stokowski or Koussevitzky. However, I am inclined to agree with critic Donald Rosenberg, who wrote, "Rodziński's limber approach and his attention to balance and tuning are ideal for the two French scores" and Howard Taubman of the New York Times, who praised the Rapsodie's "precision, rhythmic vitality and rich orchestral color."

My transfer comes from a circa 1949 first-generation LP transfer with good sound and surfaces. The download also includes the second generation cover in addition to the 1949 "tombstone" above.

Debussy's La Mer

Rodziński added a recording of Debussy's La Mer to his Cleveland discography during late 1941 sessions that also included the Daphnis et Chloé music, and the Kern and Mendelssohn works mentioned above.

Here again, some critics longed for the coloristic effects of a Koussevitzky, but I find Rodziński's control and clarity to be well suited to a score that is as fascinating and impassive as the sea it depicts.

La Mer was originally issued in a 78 set with the cover above. My transfer comes from a first-generation 10-inch LP with very good sound.

Artur Rodziński ... 'as featured in Collier's'

Debussy (arr. Leinsdorf) - Pelléas et Mélisande Suite

Erich Leinsdorf

Erich Leinsdorf made all his recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra in late February 1946, after George Szell had been appointed to succeed him as music director. Included were the recordings mentioned above, along with Dvořák, Brahms and Leinsdorf's own arrangement of instrumental interludes from Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande.

Critic Edward Tatnall Canby was taken with Leinsdorf's work, not the least because it was, in his view, "a fine way to sample a rare opera." But the music is not particularly characteristic of the complete score, where the vocal lines are primary. The composer wrote the interludes to cover scene changes, and his debt to Wagner is more apparent in this music than elsewhere.

Leinsdorf was a volatile conductor at this early stage in his development, but that tendency is not in evidence here. The performance is enjoyable, but it does not (and perhaps could not) capture the unique sound world of the opera.

This transfer has been cleaned up from needle drops of the original 78 set, as found on Internet Archive. The sound is very good, but there is some surface rustle that will be apparent on headphones.

Although the recording was made in early 1946, the album did not come out until 1949, by which time Leinsdorf was the music director in Rochester. It was issued simultaneously via the 78 set and the new LP format.

Bonus: 'From Dearth to Mirth'

In his collection "From Dearth to Mirth," David has assembled a 27-song set from days gone by (the only days we recognize on this blog). He notes, "I seek out music that consoled my parents in times equivalent to ours when tyrants trod the earth. I call it 'Three-Cheers-For-Good-Times' music and I’m presenting a generous sampling of it in this mix."

He adds that "your job as listener is to try to take this music as sincerely as it was intended and be cheered by it. As you will see, George and Ira Gershwin invested heavily in the effort to cheer up America--contributing two largely forgotten Jazz Age gems, 'Clap Yo' Hands' and 'Oh Gee Oh Joy,' songs to this giddy mix. So there's no need for smirks, just smiles. They will come fairly easy to regular patrons of Buster’s blog. Or at least I am counting on it."

LINK to Ravel and Debussy

LINK to 'From Death to Mirth'

Classical Kern: the 'Show Boat' Scenario for Orchestra

The story goes that songwriter Jerome Kern (1885-1945) composed with a bust of Wagner overseeing his labors - smiling when Kern did well, frowning otherwise.

Judging by the 1941 caricature above by Jim Herron for the Cleveland Press, Kern had hit on a particularly lovely melody.

Jerome Kern

Using the wizard of Bayreuth as a measure of his musical achievements is surprising for Kern. While he did have a classical grounding, he also never considered himself anything other than what he called a "musical tailor" - writing tunes to fit the plot, character and situation of the musical on his workbench.

But what tunes he wrote! Their quality - and the brilliant success of Show Boat, the musical he composed with Oscar Hammerstein II in 1927 - gained him high regard among musicians of all varieties.

One such admirer was Artur Rodziński, conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, who suggested that Kern prepare a symphonic version of themes from Show Boat. Kern had never attempted to write anything other than songs, unlike his contemporary George Gershwin, but he was pleased by Rodziński's suggestion. He replied, however, "I find myself unequipped with sufficient skill, technique or experience to create a symphonic arrangement of the melodies of ‘Show Boat’ worthy of your baton." So Kern proposed providing a "skeleton sketch" for Robert Russell Bennett (the orchestrator of Show Boat) to elaborate. It was on that basis that Rodziński prepared for a premiere in Cleveland in September 1941 and a second performance with the New York Philharmonic the next month.

Artur Rodziński and Charles Miller at the premiere

For some reason, Bennett did not end up preparing what turned out to be a "Scenario for Orchestra" on themes from Show Boat. Veteran Broadway orchestrator Charles Miller did that work. (One source says another experienced hand, Emil Gerstenberger, helped out.) Kern did not attend the premiere; accounts differ as to why - either he was sick or a friend had died. He did make it to the first New York performance.

Flyer for a 1941 children's concert with the Kern work

After the first performances, the critics were pleased if not ecstatic. Both the Cleveland and New York writers stressed the work's popular appeal while noting that it amounted to a string of tunes with no particular shape or climax; the result didn't have the emotional punch or poignancy of the widely admired theatrical work. (The New York Times' Olin Downes had stressed Show Boat's superiority even to Porgy & Bess in his advance article.)

Cover of the 78 album

The critical assessment holds up 80 years later, as you will hear in the recording that Rodziński and his Cleveland troops made for Columbia in late December 1941. That said, it is quite a good performance of Kern's music - a reward in itself. Rodzinski was a masterful conductor and the orchestra was in excellent shape just before the wartime draft decimated its ranks, although the strings were not numerous even then. The recording is good, although it doesn't have much dynamic range, which blunts the climaxes.

Program book

The download includes many advance articles and reviews from the Cleveland Press, News and Plain Dealer, the New York Times, the Associated Press and the Akron Journal. The Plain Dealer's critic at the time was Herbert Elwell, a composer whose music has appeared here. The Press critic was Arthur Loesser, an excellent pianist who taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music for several decades.

The Show Boat Scenario was not the final orchestral work that Kern produced. In 1942, Andre Kostelanetz commissioned him to produce Mark Twain - Portrait for Orchestra, subsequently recorded for Columbia and previously featured here.

This particular recording was refurbished from a lossless transfer on Internet Archive. Many of the news clippings and images above were cleaned up from the original Cleveland Orchestra scrapbooks held by the Cleveland Public Library.

Next, I'll continue this theme of classical artists exploring Kern's music with a selection of his songs  performed by opera and operetta artists.

Rodziński Conducts Mendelssohn

Artur Rodziński (1892-1958) has appeared on this blog as many times as anyone, for the simple reason that he is one of my favorites. A great conductor, he is seldom recognized as such, and his records are not often reissued - particularly the early ones with the Cleveland Orchestra, which he led from 1933-43.

Artur Rodziński by Lino Lepinsky

Here is an excellent example of those Severance Hall recordings - his 1941-42 version of the Overture and Incidental Music for A Midsummer Night's Dream by Felix Mendelssohn, during his one of his last recording sessions with the orchestra.

This performance is everything that one might wish, both enchanted and virtuosic - quite a feat with a orchestra barely 20 years old. The sound is clear and well balanced, if not terribly plush. Until fairly recently, Severance was a dry hall, so much so that Decca-London decamped for the Masonic Auditorium to record the Maazel-era Clevelanders. Another issue was the size of the string section at the time: much smaller than the orchestra's East Coast rivals.

This transfer comes from a mint first-generation LP copy, which came shrouded in the usual Columbia tombstone cover of the time. I've chosen to head this post with the far more colorful and apt cover that Alex Steinweiss designed for the 78 set - one of his best.

This transfer comes as the result of a request at another forum. I am told the performance has not been available for a long time, so please enjoy what is apparently a rare item.

Detail from a 1943 Columbia ad

Kurtz, Sevitzky, Golovanov and Rodziński Conduct Music from Khachaturian's Gayane

I am of two minds about the music of Aram Khachaturian (1903-78), the composer of Armenian descent. I enjoy some of his music (the Violin Concerto in particular), but can't stand much of it (the symphonies, the piano concerto). His ballet suites are uneven - individual dances can be enchanting or ear-splitting.

Today I want to examine his best-known ballet, Gayane (also transliterated as Gayaneh and Gayne), presenting it in four versions.

• The first was the initial recording of music from the ballet, with Nikolai Golovanov conducting a radio orchestra. 
• The second (Efrem Kurtz and the New York Philharmonic) was the first Western recording, which helped to start the mania that formed around Gayane's most notorious and noisiest piece - the Sabre Dance - in the postwar era. 
• Another, recorded by Artur Rodziński during his short tenure as Chicago Symphony music director, was issued to capitalize on the Sabre Dance vogue. 
• The final recording, from Fabien Sevitzky and the Indianapolis Symphony, didn't come out until several years later.

Kurtz, Rodziński and Sevitzky were all talented conductors who have appeared on this blog a number of times. This is the first time I have featured Golovanov, who was the leading Russian conductor of the day.

Background of the Ballet

The young Khachaturian

Khachaturian initially wrote the Gayane music for a ballet called Happiness in 1939. That ballet soon morphed into a drama taking place on a collective farm, where the protagonist Gayane must chose between what is right and her feelings for her husband, who turns out to be a traitor. That original scenario has apparently changed a number of times since its first production, in 1942.

The composer extracted three suites from the ballet as early as 1943, although I believe their contents may have changed over time. This makes little difference for our discussion. As often happens with ballet music, conductors like to construct their own sets of excerpts - as is the case with the four represented here.

Recording History
 

Label from one of the Golovanov 78s

As far as I have been able to trace, the first recording of music from Gayane was in 1945, led by Golovanov, who conducted the All-Union Radio Orchestra in five selections from the ballet. I've been able to locate three of those selections for the download.

Efrem Kurtz took the Sabre Dance into the studio that same year, but Columbia chose not to issue it. Undaunted, Kurtz returned to the microphones in April 1946 to record what he called the Suite No. 1, although it differed from the composer's own conception. It started off with the Sabre Dance, which Khachaturian had slotted into the third suite. Columbia issued the Kurtz-led excerpts as 78 set M-664, right after Morton Gould's String Time, featured here recently.

First issue of the Kurtz recording

Columbia finally got around to issuing the Kurtz set in March 1947. The following month, the album showed up on Billboard's best-selling classical list for the first time. It kept appearing there periodically for many months. Columbia promoted the album with a giant photo of Kurtz in Life's October 13, 1947 issue.

Life magazine ad (click to enlarge)

Other record companies took note. In 1947, EMI paired Nikolai Malko with the Philharmonia, M-G-M brought in Macklin Marrow to record with a studio band, and, in November and December, RCA Victor had Artur Rodziński record four excerpts with the Chicago Symphony.

Cover of Rodzińsk's set

By March 1948, the Sabre Dance was becoming increasingly popular. On Billboard's March 12 classical singles chart, it held down the first four spots, in versions by Oscar Levant, Kurtz, Rodziński and Arthur Fiedler. Kurtz's set was the top-selling album.

Popularity of the Sabre Dance and More Recordings

Much of this popularity was fueled by the pop versions of the Sabre Dance that began appearing as 1947 turned into 1948. There were big band arrangements from Freddie Martin and Woody Herman, and Levant recorded his piano and orchestra transcription for Columbia. I cover all these records in a Sabre Dance round-up on my singles site, along with a vocal adaptation from the Andrews Sisters and a Yiddish version from Mickey Katz ("You're gonna plotz!").

UK cover for Kurtz's LP of his two suites

Over time, the Rodzinki faded into obscurity, but the Kurtz recording just kept on being reissued. In preparation for the imminent launch of LP, Columbia had him return to the studio in December 1947 to record a second suite. It then coupled the two suites on ML-4030 in its first flight of LP recordings in 1948. Eventually it was issued in many countries - the download shows the artwork used in France, South Africa and Argentina, along with the UK and various US covers. Amusingly, the Argentines took Columbia's cover for Mitropoulos' record of the Ippolitov-Ivanov Caucasian Sketches, threw out the typography and substituted Kurtz, Khachaturian and Gayane. Also amusingly, in 1955 US Columbia reissued the Kurtz LP with a cover that labeled it "Sabre Dance" in big type and "Gayne Suites" in small type, with no mention of the composer, conductor or orchestra, at least on the front.

The recordings have continued through the years. Khachaturian himself first set down a piano version in 1950, followed by orchestral suites with the Philharmonia in 1954. I have the latter LP, but chose instead the Sevitzky-Indianapolis version from 1953, which couples Gayane excerpts with a suite from the ballet Masquerade, which also has attained much popularity via its memorable Waltz.

Sevitzky LP cover

Comparing Kurtz, Rodziński, Golovanov and Sevitzky

Three of the four conductors here were Russians by birth - Golovanov, Kurtz and Sevitzky, but I am not sure that gives them more of a feel for the music than the Polish Rodziński. The composer drew upon Ukrainian, Georgian, and Russian music along with Armenian for Gayane - and even incorporated a Polish mazurka into Masquerade. The Sabre Dance may be the best-known piece, but there are several dances that are reminiscent of Tchaikovsky and especially Rimsky, and memorable in their own right.

The only selection chosen by all conductors was the Sabre Dance, as you might expect. Here are a few thoughts about how the four sets compare in the excerpts they share.

Dance of Ayshe

First a slight clarification: what Rodziński presents as the "Awakening and Dance of Ayshe" is actually just the Dance. Sevizky does include the Awakening. Kurtz does not.

Rodzinski and Kurtz are both very well played. Rodziński is the most strongly characterized, although the orchestral balances can be strange. Sevitzky's ensemble is not as polished as the mighty Chicago and New York orchestras, the finest of the day along with Boston. Apparently trying to provide a stronger profile for the music, Sevitzky takes a more symphonic approach than the others. But simpler is better - the music is repetitious, but very beautiful.

Dance of the Rose Maidens

This is another luscious piece that Rodziński does well; his reading is controlled and strongly profiled, but still lovely.

Kurtz takes a much faster tempo than Rodziński, which the New Yorkers sustain beautifully.

Unlike the others, Sevitzky includes the Introduction, which opens the first suite and is followed by the Dance. Here, some of the solo playing is not up to the standards of the other orchestras. While his basic tempo seems fine, but he can't resist a distracting tendency to change speeds and dynamic levels.

Lullaby

An extraordinarily lovely piece, the Lullaby was strongly influenced by Scheherazade, and is related to the Dance of Ayshe. It is beautifully done by Rodziński. Here Kurtz begins by underplaying the gorgeous melody, perhaps emphasizing the nocturnal quality of the lullaby.

Russian Dance

Only Golovanov and Kurtz include the Russian Dance in their selections. Kurtz's orchestra is much more refined than the Russian radio band.

Sabre Dance

In the Sabre Dance, Rodziński adopts a fast tempo, which extremely well executed by his musicians. It's not really a dance tempo, though. The Chicago horns are fantastic.

Rodziński, February 1947

My guess is that Rodziński wanted to outdo the Kurtz reading that was already in the market. Kurtz's tempo is not as fast as Rodziński's. He underplays the contrasting trio, but does comes roaring out of that section.

Sevitzky sets a good tempo, also underplays the trio, but his reading is generally nicely done.

Seated are Shostakovich, Khachaturian and Golovanov, 1945

Golovanov's recording is notable in that he has what sounds like a saxophone lead the trio section theme, while the others give the theme to the strings. The trio usually sounds too muted in comparison with the raucous main section; the pungent saxophone sound helps avoid this.

Conclusion

Overall, I prefer the virtuosic Rodziński recording, even though it includes only four of the dances. His conducting is always apt, and the orchestral playing is remarkable.

Among the pop recordings of the Sabre Dance discussed on my other blog, Mickey Katz is far and away my favorite, even though I don't understand Yiddish. His manic presentation is perfect for the music.

Note about sources: I transferred the Kurtz from the UK Columbia pressing (cover shown above). The Sevitzky transfer is from the original Capitol release. The Rodziński and the Golovanov selections are courtesy of needle drops found on Internet Archive. The sound ranges from boxy (Golovanov) to excellent (Rodziński).

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More Robison and Gershwin, Plus Rodziński and Harry James

Our friends David Federman and 8H Haggis have been busy again, with more treasures coming our way.

David has added three volumes to his Willard Robison retrospective, covering recordings from the 1930s through the 1950s devoted to this poetic songwriter. The artists involved include Mildred Bailey, Bea Wain, Fats Waller, Bing Crosby, Dick Todd, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller and Tex Beneke, Tommy Dorsey and Jack Leonard, Stan Kenton and Gene Howard, Randy Brooks, Charlie Barnet and Kay Starr, Ella Logan, Artie Shaw and Martha Tilton, Tony Pastor, Gene Autry, Dolph Hewitt, Phil Harris, Rosemary Clooney, Jimmy Dean, Louis Armstrong, Woody Herman and Peggy Lee. You can find all three collections plus David's notes in the comments to the post immediately below. Please note that his links will only be good for a few days, so hurry. I will collect all these recordings into one download at a later date.

Awhile back David prepared an anthology of Rhapsody in Blue recordings, all but one released within a decade of the work's 1924 premiere. To me, the highlights are Oscar Levant's first attempt at the piece, dating from 1927 and helmed by NBC orchestra leader Frank Black, and two deconstructions of the piece from the jaunty Leroy Smith and (once again) Willard Robison bands. David mentioned that a few of the sides were in less-than-pristine condition, so I have taken the perhaps unforgivable liberty of remastering them. A link is in the comments to this post.

Also in a Gershwin mood was 8H Haggis. He has contributed a set from the Symphony of the Air conducted by the now-obscure Alfonso D'Artega including An American in Paris, a somewhat altered version of the Porgy & Bess suite, plus a peculiar Rhapsody in Blue that opens with a piano solo from "Suzanne Auber" (probably Sondra Bianca), joined halfway by the orchestra. He also uploaded a French Columbia LP of the Rhapsody and the Three Preludes from Jose Iturbi and the Concerts Colonne Orchestra. You can find those in the comments to this post.

8H also took his tools to my transfer of Artur Rodziński's New York recording of An American in Paris, with the aim of counteracting the compression and peak discoloration on the recording. This effort can be found in the comments to my original post.

Two additional 8H contributions: Rodziński's long-unavailable version of Wolf-Ferrari's Secret of Susanna Overture (in the comments to this post) and Howard Hanson's Samuel Barber LP, containing the Symphony No. 1, Adagio for Strings, Essay No. 1, and School for Scandal Overture. Go to the comments of this post for the Barber.

As always, the 8H Haggis uploads are only available for a limited time.

I have one reupload of my one - my friend Mel contributed Harry James' Soft Lights and Sweet Trumpet LP many years ago, and I have now remastered it and reupped it here.

I might add that I do occasionally transfer records myself, and you can look forward to a superb Marian Anderson LP of Brahms and Mahler in the days ahead.

Gershwin from Levant, Kostelanetz and Rodziński

Times Square, 1945

By the time the Warner Bros. had released their romantic biopic of George Gershwin in 1945, the late composer had ascended to a crescendo of fame that endures to this day. His most notorious musical advocate, Oscar Levant, wasn't far behind.

Initially, Levant's popular renown came not from musical performance but from radio appearances. As Life magazine put it in a 1940 profile, "Until about a year and a half ago, Oscar Levant enjoyed a limited fame as a composer of one smash-hit tune, Lady Play Your Mandolin, and as an interpreter of George Gershwin's serious piano music." That was before his triumphant tenure as enfant terrible on radio's Information Please, and the publishing of his amusing first memoir, A Smattering of Ignorance.

So when it came time for Warners to cast their Gershwin movie, Levant was a natural choice not only to play himself, but to dub Robert Alda's Gershwin character at the piano.

1943 ad

Columbia Records had begun pairing Levant with Gershwin's music as early as 1941 with the Three Piano Preludes, and then in 1942 with the Concerto in F, backed by Andre Kostelanetz and the New York Philharmonic. The production of the film Rhapsody in Blue was the impetus for Levant to take on the composition of the same name, with backing by the Philadelphians and Ormandy in June 1945 sessions.

Earlier LP cover

Levant's efforts were only part of Columbia's tie-ins to the film, however, They engaged the New Yorkers and music director Artur Rodziński for An American in Paris, and brought in Kostelanetz for an album of Gershwin show tunes. These were released at the same time as the movie.

All are superb recordings that are more than worthy of their long life in the catalogue. I recently transferred them for my own amusement, and thought some of you might like to hear them as well. Today we have an excellent 1957 LP version of the concerto, Rhapsody and An American in Paris. Later on I'll present the Kostelanetz collection.

FYI - in 1949 Columbia had Levant in the studio to set down the Second Rhapsody and the Variations on "I Got Rhythm" with Morton Gould and a New York orchestra, issuing them on a 10-inch LP with Levant's classic set of the Preludes. I recently reuploaded my transfer of this superb album.

1957 cover

Early Copland and Gould Recordings, Plus Reups

My recent post of a Copland for children record on my other blog reminded me I wanted to offer this 10-inch album that couples early recordings of music by Aaron Copland and Morton Gould.

For the LP issue, Columbia top-billed the first recording of Gould's Spirituals for Orchestra, even though its companion item, Copland's Lincoln Portrait, has turned out to be a far more popular composition than the Gould, worthy though that may be.

Cover of 78 set

Both recordings date from 1946, the Copland from February and March sessions, and the Gould from May, with the New York Philharmonic under the characteristically taut direction of its then-music director, Artur Rodziński. The sound from Carnegie Hall is excellent.

The sonorous narrator in the Lincoln Portrait is actor-singer Kenneth Spencer, who at the time was on Broadway in an acclaimed revival of Show Boat. In the previous few years, Spencer had been in several films, including A Walk in the Sun, whose soundtrack turned up on this blog last year. Spencer moved to Germany in 1950.

1947 ad

A few words about the performance history of A Lincoln Portrait. This was its second recording; the first was by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony, only a few weeks before Rodziński and the New Yorkers. The work had been written in 1942, through a commission by Andre Kostelanetz, and premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony. Kostelanetz himself did not record it until 1958.

I mentioned that this was the first recording of Gould's Spirituals. The second recording appeared on this blog some years ago, emanating from the unlikely source of the Hague Philharmonic and Willem van Otterloo. Gould himself did not get to tape it until 1965, when he led the Chicago Symphony for RCA Victor. Then in 1978 he conducted the London Philharmonic in a direct-to-disc effort for Crystal Clear.

Now on to a few reups.

Raymond Scott - Raymond Scott's Drawing Room (remastered). An early LP compiling some of Scott's best known compositions in their 1930s recordings, including those cartoon staples "Powerhouse" and "The Toy Trumpet." (Also see my other blog for a recent post of a Scott-scored trip to the moon.)

So This is Paris (OST). Tony Curtis warbles on this obscure soundtrack from a 1954 musical. Also features Gloria De Haven and Gene Nelson, who actually could sing.

Danny Thomas and Peggy Lee - Songs from The Jazz Singer (remastered). In 1952, the Warner Bros. figured they would remake The Jazz Singer and cast a non-singer in the lead role. What could go wrong? You can find out here, in this, another obscure soundtrack (actually "songs from the film"), with Danny Thomas, who was long on charm but short on chops. I've added the three songs from the film recorded for another label by co-star Peggy Lee, who, again, actually could sing.

The links above lead to the original posts. Download links are in the comments there; also in the comments to this post.

Columbia goes overboard for Rodziński in 1945 ad

György Sándor in Rachmaninoff

I discovered this superb performance of the Rachmaninoff second concerto through a posting on another forum by my friend Joe Serraglio of a transfer by the great Argentine music lover, Maria Elena Hartung.

As Maria acknowledged, her work came from a poor pressing, so I offered to dub a cleaner example of the LP, which I am bringing to you today.

It is an early recording by the Hungarian-American pianist György Sándor. Today, Sándor is closely associated with the music of Béla Bartók, but his first recordings for Columbia were actually of Liszt, Chopin and Schumann in March 1945, followed by this traversal of the Rachmaninoff concerto in January 1946. The following month Sándor premiered Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy. Those forces took the piece into Columbia's studios in April 1946 for a recording I'll be presenting at a later date.

This particular concerto was accompanied not by the Philadelphians but by the New Yorkers under their then-music director Artur Rodziński. The recording session was in Carnegie Hall, but for such a famous venue, the Columbia engineers achieved frustratingly opaque and tubby sound. I have attempted to address the balances, perhaps at the cost of inducing some clattery piano tone above forte.

I hope the sound is good enough to convey the pianist's sterling qualities. Known as a virtuoso, Sándor nonetheless conveys grace and elegance while never indulging in the swooping and swooning that this concerto seeks to provoke in today's instrumentalists. Rodziński and his orchestra at at one with this approach.

Cover of 78 set

The first issue of the concerto was in 78 set M-605. In the LP era, the recording became a fixture in Columbia's low-priced lines, first on Entré and then in at least two iterations on Harmony. My transfer is from a circa 1957 pressing. Thanks to Maria and Joe for introducing me to this fine performance, and to Joe for sourcing the vintage image at right and several contained in the download.