Digression No. 25

I was very pleased that this blog was named one of the best sites for classical music downloads by Nick Morgan of the magazine Classical Recordings Quarterly (previously Classic Record Collector). In fact, Big 10-Inch was the only blog named that isn't exclusively devoted to classics. Most of the other sites named have been cited here before - including Vinyl Fatigue, Serenata in Vano, The Music Parlor, Neal's Historical Recordings, Quartier des Archives, Bill Anderson's posts at RMCR, Sacqueboutier's at symphonyshare, and Bryan Bishop's shares, now available at his new blog, The Shellackophile. If it had been me, I would have added Fred's Random Classics, Satyr's 78 Toeren en LP's, and Pablo's El baul del coleccionista. (Hope I am not forgetting anyone.)

Speaking of Satyr's and Pablo's blogs, I want to mention that they continue to post wonderful Cor de Groot recordings for everyone to enjoy. Pablo has offered a Chopin recital and Satyr has presented Beethoven's second and third piano concertos (with the VSO and Otterloo). Highly recommended.

1917 record cover

Switching subjects - longtime readers may remember a 2008 discussion of the supposed "first record cover design" - a 78 album of music by Richard Rodgers with a cover by Alex Steinweiss. At that time, both your host and a reader named Jeff expressed extreme skepticism about the claim that this was indeed the first such cover, citing items in our own collections that predate the Columbia cover. It turns out we were quite right. The 2010 Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) conference presented a long and profusely illustrated talk by Mike Biel that explodes the claim that Steinweiss was first. Designed covers go back to 1917 (above right), and there were literally hundreds of them issued before the first Steinweiss cover - several of them in my own basement. My friend Mel mentioned a Pinocchio album that he had as a child that included an integrated design not just of the cover but of the end papers, record pockets and labels. This is one of Biel's exhibits. You can find both the recording of his fascinating talk and a slide show with hundreds of images on the ARSC site. I urge anyone interested in the topic to seek it out.

The ARSC presentations for the past few years are on line, and many of them are fascinating. I listened to Peter Muir's discussion of the early blues industry, including a convincing demonstration of how a good bit of the musical content of W.C. Handy's St. Louis Blues of 1913 was borrowed from a 1908 ragtime song. There are many other worthwhile subjects - just the thing for a record nut!

Gould from De Groot and The Hague

This is an unusual record in that the concert music of Morton Gould was certainly not being recorded in Europe at that time (mid-50s). Whatever possessed Philips to program Gould's music with orchestral forces from The Hague, conductor Willem van Otterloo and pianist Cor de Groot, we can only be grateful, for these are remarkably idiomatic performances, beautifully played and nicely recorded. They make a fine addition to our ongoing series devoted to de Groot.

Interplay, the piano piece here, is also known as American Concertette. I believe it was introduced under the latter name, and acquired the former when it became a Jerome Robbins ballet. An early work (1943), it echoes Gershwin and Ravel to good effect, being quite memorable in its own right. De Groot sounds at home.

Spirituals for Orchestra was also an early work - it is from 1946 - and one that became very successful for Gould, who was all over American music during this period. He was on radio, making mood music records, conducting, composing concert music and writing a Broadway show. It was during this period that he was compared to another wunderkind, Leonard Bernstein, who was more outgoing, photogenic and aggressive than Gould, and ultimately became more famous. Was Bernstein more talented? Perhaps.

Billboard item

This Philips recording was issued in the US in 1953, occasioning the characteristic Billboard headline at right, "Morton Gould By Dutch Ork." Well, the Dutch ork, their Dutch baton waver and Dutch ivory tickler really wail on these American riffs!

The wildly inappropriate and completely unattractive cover on this American Epic pressing is by A.F. Arnold, a fairly well-known commercial artist of the time.

This post goes out to my friend Mel, one of the first supporters of this blog. Hope you like this one, Mel!

More Cor de Groot

After I posted Cor de Groot's recording of Beethoven's fourth concerto, my friend Fred of Random Classics told me he found de Groot's version of the fifth concerto on European Archive. So I thought I would go get that recording for you and post it here in a refurbished edition.

It's a beautiful rendition in vivid sound. De Groot benefits once again from the strong conducting of Willem van Otterloo, here leading the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague.

But that's not all (as they say in the ads). My newest blogger acquaintance, Satyr, has posted a couple of de Groot items on his excellent blog, 78 toeren en LP's - the Rachmaninoff second concerto, and Strauss' Burleske, transferred from 78s. Satyr has already posted many unusual and interesting items on his new site. He features Dutch musicians and composers, but not exclusively - the most recent post is of Sir Henry J. Wood. Please go visit him and leave a comment - the blog is in Dutch, but he speaks very good English.

The link to the Beethoven Emporer is below. My next de Groot post will be his recording of Morton Gould's Interplay, dedicated to my friend Mel, who requested it.

Cor de Groot

I'm starting on a new series of recordings by the outstanding Dutch pianist Cor de Groot. This 10-inch LP of Beethoven's fourth concerto was made at the height of de Groot's career, in 1955, four years before he lost the use of his right hand.

The pianist was 41 when this concerto was recorded; it was only 12 years after he had first come to prominence by substituting for Wilhelm Backhaus in Beethoven's third concerto.

This is a superb performance, displaying de Groot's gorgeous tone, flawless technique, sensitivity and elegance. The accompaniment by the Vienna Symphony and Willem van Otterloo also is quite good. And the disk is nicely recorded. One small issue is that the English Philips pressing has a persistent rustle in the first movement and some swish in the second. (De Groot seems to be pressing his own records in the photo at right, which I purloined from Rudolf Bruil's interesting site.) Enduring the slight noise is worth it to hear this fine interpretation.

I've been trying to recall what other de Groot recordings are in my collection and so far have located items by Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Morton Gould. I'll probably feature the Gould next because it is the least often heard.

Hope you enjoy this excellent artist.