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.

New Francescatti Transfer, Plus a Seasonal Bonus

Here is a new transfer of a recording presented on this blog several years ago. I did the recording on request - forgetting about my earlier effort.

Well, this transfer is better, so it's worth a listen for those interested.

The three principal artists on the record all have been featured here several times before - violinist Zino Francescatti and conductors Dimitri Mitropoulos and Eugene Ormandy. The program includes the music of Édouard Lalo and Henri Vieuxtemps.

Zino Francescatti

These are among the finest Francescatti recordings I know. He is entirely in his element in the music of the Frenchman Lalo and the Belgian Vieuxtemps. His gorgeous tone is projected confidently and his control is absolute. Columbia's vivid recordings place him upfront, providing an exceptional sense of his sweet tone and forthright approach - although the sound in the Vieuxtemps is a shade too bright for my taste.

Francescatti performs Vieuxtemps's Concerto No. 4 with the support of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy. As far as I can tell, the recording, which dates from April 1957, was mono only, and has not been reissued. This concerto is not often played nowadays, which is a shame. It's a fine work.

Francescatti and Eugene Ormandy

The violinist is supported by the New York Philharmonic under Mitropoulos in Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, also recorded in April 1957. As was common 60 years ago, Francescatti omits the central Intermezzo movement of the five-part suite. This is the mono incarnation of a performance that later was issued in stereo in tandem with the Walton concerto.

The download includes a review of the Vieuxtemps from High Fidelity and a round-up review of Lalo recordings from Stereo Review.

Bonus - A Miracle on Cricket Avenue

David Federman has provided another welcome compilation, the third in his "Cozy Covid Christmas" series. This one, called "Miracle on Cricket Avenue," is a typically wide-ranging exploration of 20th century seasonal music. The 27-selection playlist contains everything from Fats Waller to the Miracles to a Rimsky-Korsakov overture. David's notes are in the download. See the comments for a link.

Mitropoulos Conducts Prokofiev and Swanson

This is a continuation of two ongoing series - one devoted to the music of Howard Swanson, the other to the recordings of conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos. The record also contains music by Sergei Prokofiev, which the blog has presented a number of times as well.

This 1950 LP is unusual in that represents the only appearance of Mitropoulos on US Decca records. At the time, he was recording for Columbia with his band, the New York Philharmonic.

Dimitri Mitropoulos

The Philharmonic does not appear here, but the featured ensemble is related to the Philharmonic even so. Its unwieldly name, "The New York Ensemble of the Philharmonic Scholarship Winners," signifies that the musicians all had received scholarships from the Philharmonic in younger years. In gratitude, they banded together to provide their own scholarships to other worthy young musicians. Mitropoulos was the honorary chair of the effort.

While the term "Scholarship Winners" might lead you to think participants were neophytes, that was not the case. All were well-regarded professionals generally in their 30s. The members included clarinetist David Weber, pianist William Masselos, cellist Avron Twerdowsky of the Kroll Quartet, violinist Jacques Margolies and bassist Fred Zimmerman, who were in the Philharmonic at the time, bassoonist Harold Goltzer and his oboist brother Albert, who also were in the Philharmonic for many years, and the well-known horn player David Rattner.

As far as I can tell, this is the only record that the Ensemble made. It is entirely a chamber program, so Mitropoulos' presence may only have been to lend prestige to the affair.

Sergei Prokofiev and Howard Swanson

The bulk of their program is devoted to two Prokofiev works, his Quintet, Op. 39 and his wonderful Overture on Hebrew Themes. Howard Swanson's then-new "Night Music" completes the enjoyable program, which is well played by the talented ensemble. That said, the Swanson perhaps could have sounded more nocturnal and less careful. Also, the witty Prokofiev overture may have benefitted from a more relaxed approach.

Decca's engineers produced sound that was close and a little harsh. It benefited from my adding a small amount of convolution reverberation to the mix. The download includes a review from The Gramophone.

The LP's cover art is by Erik Nitsche, who handled many assignments for Decca during the period. His cabalistic symbols look like they ought to represent something, but I have no idea what. Interpretations are welcome.

Levant Plays Rubinstein and Liszt

There has been a revival of interest in Oscar Levant's recordings on the music blogs and sharing sites lately, and I've done my part with a number of posts already. Today that continues with Levant's rendition of Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No. 4.

The Rubinstein work has the dubious distinction of being of being perhaps the best-known of the "forgotten" Romantic war-horse concertos. Seldom if ever performed live, it has nonetheless been the subject of at least 10 commercial recordings, beginning with this  March 1952 date with Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New Yorkers. It was followed in just a few months by a Friedrich Wührer session in Vienna for Vox.

Caricature by David Levine

In truth, the concerto does deserve its semi-renown. It boasts a number of memorable themes, which the composer give a vigorous if not rigorous workout. Levant is just the right keyboard athlete for the task, betraying not a hint of the irony that was integral to his public personality on the radio or in films.

As a bonus I've included two pieces from the pianist's 1955 Liszt collection - the Sonetto del Petrarca No. 104 and the Valse Oubliée No. 1 in F-sharp Minor. My transfer comes from the 1960s Odyssey reissue of the Rubinstein concerto, where they were included as filler. (The 1955 LP, which I do not own, also included a selection of Hungarian Rhapsodies.)

For the Rubinstein, I transferred the first two movements from the original pressing, and switched to the reissue for the third movement because of groove damage on the earlier disc. The first issue is marginally more present in sound, but there isn't much difference, and overall the sonics are excellent, as is often the case with recordings from Columbia's 30th Street Studios in New York.

Francescatti in Lalo and Vieuxtemps

Here is the second installment in my series devoted to the French violinist Zino Francescatti. Reader Alan Cooper suggested this particular recording, noting that Columbia and its successor companies have never offered a CD reissue of the violinist's traversal of the Vieuxtemps Concerto No. 4.

I am happy to oblige Alan, because the Vieuxtemps performance is superb. It displays Francescatti's spectacular technique, which is all the more remarkable for seeming so nonchalant. The fine support here is by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy. The sessions were in the Broadwood Hotel in April 1957.

Zino Francescatti and Eugene Ormandy

That's not to say that the coupling, Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, is any less impressive in this performance with the New York Philharmonic and Dimitri Mitropoulos, dating from April 1957 and Columbia's 30th Street Studio. Here, Francescatti chooses the truncated version of the work that was then the norm, omitting the central Intermezzo. This was his second recording of the Lalo work; the first was in 1946 with André Cluytens and a Parisian orchestra.

My transfer is from the original mono pressing, which has excellent sound. The Lalo was later issued in stereo, as a coupling for the Walton concerto, but I don't have that LP. To my perhaps deficient knowledge, the Vieuxtemps has never seen a stereo release.

Francescatti in Bach and Prokofiev, Plus Reups

One of the great 20th century violinists who tends to be overlooked these days is the subject of today's post - the elegant Frenchman Zino Francescatti (1902-81).

It's not clear why Francescatti has been forgotten by some - his skill and artistry were and are unquestioned. I have always suspected it might have something to do with the diminutive he used as a first name: "Zino" in place of his given name, René-Charles. How can you be taken seriously with such a silly name, eh?

Whatever the reason for his eclipse, the present coupling should convince you that he was a transcendent artist. It is a coupling of the second Prokofiev concerto, taped in October 1952 with the New Yorkers under Dimitri Mitropoulos, and Bach's E major concerto, recorded the following January with the Clevelanders and George Szell. (The cover says the latter group is the "Columbia Symphony," but the recording was in Severance Hall with its resident band.)

Francescatti and Mitropoulos listen to a playback

I admit some bias about Francescatti - his recordings introduced me to several of the standard-repertoire concertos when I was young. I plan to transfer some of his other early LPs as time goes by.

Reups

Jane Froman - With a Song in My Heart. Issued in conjunction with the 1952 biopic of the radio singer, with fine singing by Froman herself. This is the only LP among the reups; the items below are from my companion singles blog.

Lauritz Melchior. Two sentimental songs ("Ave Maria" and "The Rosary") by the heldentenor, whom M-G-M was trying to turn into both a movie star and a pop singer. Neither effort took hold.

Patty Andrews. A good 1952 single ("I'll Walk Alone" and "That's the Chance You Take") by the solo voice of the Andrews Sisters.

Ralph Flanagan - Top Pops. The Flanagan big band takes on some hits of the day, circa 1953-54, in this EP.

The Barkleys of Broadway. Transfers and scans from the original 1948 78 set derived from the soundtrack of the last Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film.

Waltzes by Richard Strauss and Tchaikovsky - Philadelphia/Ormandy. A circa 1954 EP coupling the Rosenkavalier Waltzes with the waltz from the Serenade for Strings. The orchestral playing here is near miraculous. Cover by the quirky Jim Flora.

The links above lead to the original posts. Download links to all items are in the comments. The Froman LP and Ormandy EP have been remastered.

Mozart Concertos from Rosina Lhévinne

I thought I might follow up the Ania Dorfmann and Maryla Jonas posts with a selection of the recordings of another lesser-known woman pianist, Rosina Lhévinne.

Lhévinne made very few appearances in the recording studio and was principally known in her lifetime for being a noted piano teacher, with pupils including Van Cliburn and John Browning, as well as for being the wife of pianist Josef Lhévinne. The few items that were captured, however, show her to be a first-rate artist.

Rosina Bessie was a promising piano student in Moscow when she met Josef Lhévinne, marrying him soon after her 1898 graduation from the Conservatory, and quickly abandoning any career as a solo performer, although she did engage in duo-piano works with Josef. The pair came to the US following the World War, and they joined the Juilliard faculty several years later. Josef died in 1944.

The Lhévinnes only made two recordings together, to my knowledge – Debussy’s “Fêtes” and a Mozart sonata, both in the 1930s.

Today’s LPs include the first record that Rosina made following Josef’s death, a November 1947 rendition of Mozart’s Concerto for Three Pianos K.242, where she is joined by the duo-pianists Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin, and accompanied by the Little Orchestra Society and conductor Thomas Scherman, in a recording from Liederkranz Hall. The transfer is from an early Columbia LP that also includes Vronsky and Babin in a showy version of Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos K.365 with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra and Dimitri Mitropoulos. The latter dates from September 1945. The sound on both is good. Strangely, Columbia bills Rosina Lhévinne only as “Lhévinne” on the LP cover.

Jean Morel

Rosina is heard to best advantage, however, in today’s second album, recorded in May 1960 to mark her 80th birthday. This is a superior account of Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 in which she sounds just as youthful as the students in the accompanying Juilliard Orchestra (I suspect the ensemble also included faculty), led by Jean Morel, another famed teacher. (Vronsky and Babin also were instructors, and were on the Cleveland Institute of Music faculty for many years – Babin was the director of the school.) The sound from Columbia’s 30th Street Studio is as vibrant as the artistry. That is Josef Lhévinne’s portrait over Rosina’s shoulder on the LP cover up top.

I also have the Lhévinnes’ version of “Fêtes” and Rosina’s 1961 Chopin Concerto No. 1 if there is interest.

Mitropoulos Conducts Malipiero and Bach-Casella

Dimitri Mitropoulos made his first postwar tour of Italy in 1950. One stop was for a concert in Turin on June 2, where he also recorded two compositions for the Italian company Cetra.

With the RAI Orchestra in that city, the conductor set down scores by two contemporary Italian composers, Gian Francesco Malipiero and Alfredo Casella. According to his biographer, William Trotter, Mitropoulos programmed Malipiero's Seventh Symphony during the tour, presumably during the stop in Turin. Also taped during the June 2 session was Casella's transcription (actually more a reworking) of the Chaconne from Bach's violin Partita in D.

Malipiero (left) and Casella flank Manuel de Falla

Malipiero and Casella were almost exact contemporaries, although Casella had died at age 63 in 1947, and were leading figures in 20th century Italian musical life. The two were colleagues and both were instrumental in reviving the music of Vivaldi, but they were very different composers.

The RAI Turin orchestra was not a great ensemble - Trotter says that Mitropoulos found the orchestral playing in postwar Italy in considerable disrepair - but the Greek conductor was able to elicit committed playing, especially in the Malipiero.

The recording is lively, but the pressing has a few thumps. This is from the US Cetra-Soria issue of the set.

I could not resist including the Stokowski transcription of the Bach Chaconne in the download, for the sake of contrast. There is little of Stoky's ostentatiously reverential approach in Casella's transcription. The Stokowski is from the His Symphony Orchestra recording of 1950 - it's not my transfer.

Mitropoulos in Minnesota: Milhaud, Ravel and Rachmaninoff

More of Dimitri Mitropoulos' recordings with the Minneapolis Symphony today, all originally on 78, with these transfers coming from early LP incarnations.

First is their excellent rendition of Milhaud's Le Boeuf Sur La Toit, coupled with Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin on a 10-inch LP.

Mitropoulos in 1946

The Milhaud is particularly successful, with the ensemble capturing the absurdist goings-on with contagious enthusiasm, if rough tone. The Milhaud is from March 1945, with the Tombeau from December 1941.

We move to 12-inch LP for a January 1947 Rachmaninoff Second Symphony. Mitropoulos' biographer, William Trotter, says the conductor loved this work with a passion. If so, the emotion shows through in this convincing effort. By this time, Mitropoulos and the Minnesotans had moved to Victor, and this symphony is better recorded than most of Columbia's work in Minneapolis. As with all commercial issues of this symphony until the 1960s, this rendition is cut.

Mitropoulos Conducts Schönberg and Křenek

Continuing our exploration of Dimitri Mitropoulos' recordings, we encounter Arnold Schönberg's expressionist Erwartung from 1909 and Ernst Křenek's Symphonic Elegy (In Memory of Anton von Webern), which dates from 1946.

You might expect that these works would have appealed to the modernist Mitropoulos, but his biographer William Trotter claims that the Schoenberg was the source of a crisis of confidence for the composer.

"I am wondering sometimes if this kind of distorted and screwy beauty is of any transcendental value," Mitropoulos wrote to his great friend Katy Katsoyanis. She sensibly replied, "It's very natural, when you are battling desperately with one of these problematic creations, to question whether they are worth all that effort; your mission, however, is to play them, solving their problems, explaining them to the audience."

Dimitri Mitropoulos: a famed, if conflicted interpreter of the Second Viennese School

At this, the conductor was a master; he and the New Yorkers make Schönberg sound as effortless as Schubert. The concerts leading up to this recording were praised by the critics, and even the audience was pleased. You can hear why in this taping from November 19, 1951, from Columbia's 30th Street Studio. Dorothy Dow is fully in command of the ungrateful part of the protagonist in this overwrought monodrama from the pen of Marie Pappenheim.

Dorothy Dow

The critic C.J. Luten wrote, "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."

Actually, Pappenheim and Schönberg were of two minds about the composition. Schönberg did suggest it, but he claims he gave the outline to the author; she says he did not. In the event, the composer thought of the work as expressing a heightened emotional state consistent with the scenario. Pappenheim, perhaps with an assist from later scholars, seemed to believe it had to do with a woman whose mental state was already in turmoil from her place in Viennese society, and "whose tortured emotions are symptoms of an illness she could have avoided by taking possession of her emotional life." (See Bryan Simms' article "Whose Idea was Erwartung?" for more.)

The 1909 work is a prime example of Expressionism, and has been likened both to the Expressionist writers of the era, and to such painters as Kokoschka, Kandinsky and the Der blaue Reiter circle. The composer himself was a talented artist who exhibited his works at the time.

Chaim Soutine - Mad Woman (1920), Schoenberg - Blaues Selbstportrait (1910)

Musically, Erwartung looks both back and forward. Writing in The Saturday Review, composer Arthur Berger noted, "Erwartung stems from an intermediate period separating Schönberg'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, barely recognizable as such... 

Arnold Schoenberg

"Instrumental colors are conceived with utmost imagination and aural sensitivity, and do much to establish the eerie atmosphere. But they almost never overpower the singer. The vocal line constantly inflects the word, its sound and feeling, and the background is a judicious commentary of chamber music."

And of course, Schoenberg was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. C. J. Luten observed, "Those who admire Alban Berg's powerful Wozzeck, and who do not know Erwartung, will have quite a surprise when they hear this recording. They will find, I think, a remarkable similarity in style, expression, and especially in harmony and instrumentation." Berg was one of the three principal figures of the Second Viennese School, along with Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and his Wozzeck and Lulu are the most noted Expressionist operas.

Ernst Křenek

The companion work on this LP is impressive as well. Mitropoulos had become acquainted with Křenek when the conductor was in Minneapolis and the composer was on the faculty of Hamline University in adjacent St. Paul, and consistently championed Křenek's works. 

During his career, the composer wrote in many styles, but Alfred Frankenstein observed that the Elegy "is a legitimate son of Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht. It is a work for string orchestra of great character and expressive resonance." The recording dates from April 21, 1951, also from the 30th Street Studios.

The sound on both sides is excellent, and has now been remastered in ambient stereo (September 2023). The download newly includes many reviews, notes on Schönberg and his music by Robert Craft, and the text and an English translation of Erwartung.

Mitropoulos Conducts Vaughan Williams and Rachmaninoff

I transferred this LP because I have been reading William Trotter's vivid, if melodramatic biography of Dimitri Mitropoulos, Priest of Music.

The conductor was indeed an unworldly sort who was a mismatch with the all-too-worldly New York Philharmonic. But before his ill-fated Phil follies, he was the long-time maestro in Minneapolis, and a beloved figure there.

Mitropoulos' commitment to modern music extended from the more conservative works heard here (and previous uploads such as compositions from Gian Carlo Menotti and Elie Siegmeister), through the second symphony of Roger Sessions (also previously featured here), to Schoenberg's Erwartung (which I will transfer when I locate the record in my collection).

Mitropoulos was famous for his remarkable memory, control and intensity. These traits serve the Rachmaninoff very well. But his febrile approach may be less suited to the Tallis Fantasia, which needs more room to breathe.

Columbia recorded these works in March 1945 in Minneapolis' Northrup Auditorium. The sound is adequate. This transfer is from an early LP issue.

Mitropoulos in his Minneapolis days

Menotti's Sebastian Ballet Suite

Here's the second in a short series of early recordings of Gian Carlo Menotti's music, in this case the first recording of music from his 1944 ballet Sebastian.

These selections are just as attractive as the Menotti violin concerto presented on this blog not long ago. The performances led by Dimitri Mitropoulos are excellent. The "Robin Hood Dell Orchestra" was by and large (if not entirely) composed of Philadelphia Orchestra musicians.

Columbia issued this recording in 1947, a big year for Menotti, whose short operas The Medium and The Telephone had been presented on Broadway to some acclaim.

The cover is by Alex Steinweiss. Columbia's sound and surfaces were very good. My copy of the original 78 set has some dish warp, but it does not affect the sonics to any great degree.

Dimitiri Mitropoulos conducted the music of both Menotti and Samuel Barber. Here, at the 1958 European premiere of Vanessa: Front - Mitropoulos, Rosalind Elias, Eleanor Steber, Barber. Rear - Giorgio Tozzi, Ira Malaniuk, Menotti, unidentified, Alois Pernerstorfer, Nicolai Gedda, Rudolf Bing.

Schuman and Kirchner

Here by fervent request from David is Schuman's Credendum, together with Leon Kirchner's piano concerto - all courtesy of our friend Rich, a most knowledgeable collector. And because Rich is so informed, I think I'll let him provide the commentary, along with the transfer and scan:

"Here is the long awaited Credendum. I must say it's been a while since I got the record out and listened closely to it. While I admire the recent recording by the Albany Symphony under David Alan Miller, the Ormandy really does harken back to a time when music was played to the hilt, for all the intensity it was worth, and with all due regard to the current generation of highly accomplished musicians, this is the Philadelphia Orchestra, with very special characteristics and qualities.

"I've also included the Kirchner Piano Concerto on the other side. Not because people have been clamoring for it, but because it was part of the release, and if it weren't included, some people might be disappointed. To be perfectly, honest, I never much cared for it, sounds like Schoenberg wannabe to me. Actually, the concise and succinct Music for Cello, recorded by Yo-Yo Ma, strikes me as a much better piece. It is after all, a lifetime away in maturity.

"Here are the details. Separate folders in MediaFire for the Schuman and the Kirchner. The Schuman contains three mp3 files for each of the movements, and a jpeg for the album cover. The Kirchner contains three mp3 files for each of the movements.

William Schuman: Credendum
I. Declaration
II. Chorale
III. Finale
Eugene Ormandy, The Philadelphia Orchestra

Leon Kirchner: Piano Concerto
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Rondo
Leon Kirchner, Piano
Dimitri Mitropoulos,
Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York

Source: Columbia ML 5185 mono

Thanks Rich! The only thing I have to add is that the Kirchner was recorded in February 1956 in Columbia's 30th Street studio, and the Schuman was taped the next month in the Academy of Music.

NEW LINK

The Jazz and Classical Music Society

The recent post of Rolf Liebermann's Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra was amazingly popular, so I've come up with a few more items that mix the two genres in some way - or more accurately, mix musicians from the two genres. 

Here is the first such item, a Columbia LP from 1956 from the Jazz and Classical Music Society, which was formed the previous year by Gunther Schuller and John Lewis - the former from the classical realm, the latter from jazz. The idea was (as the name suggests) to bring together composers and instrumentalists from both sides to form something new. This effort would later adopt the name "third-stream" music. 

In this, the earliest example of such music, we have several pieces for a large brass ensemble. Side one is a Schuller symphony that was not written for this ensemble. Here it is conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos, who apparently also programmed it with the New York Philharmonic. 

The second side has compositions by three famous jazz artists - Lewis, J.J. Johnson and Jimmy Giuffre. None of these compositions are in any recognizable form jazz, nor are they what we would usually consider classical music. They are a form of concert music that many musicians were interested in pursuing at the time, perhaps concerned that jazz was not "serious" enough. 

This music does indeed sound very serious - it is at times attractive and at times impressive, and often both. What it is missing, however, is what made the Reiner-CSO performance of Liebermann's piece stand out - wit and swing. Even so, there is much here to enjoy - particularly the superior instrumentalism of the band and soloists Miles Davis, J.J. Johnson and Joe Wilder. 

This was one of those transfers from hell - two turntables, three cartridges and four styli later I have an acceptable product, although some restle remains in the Schuller. The next post in this line will be pianist Friedrich Gulda, who managed to straddle both the jazz and classical worlds successfully.

Elie Siegmeister

What you are seeing above is actually not the cover of the 10-inch LP that contained Elie Siegmeister's Ozark Set. It is the cover of the original 78 rpm album that came out in 1945, and is a much better example of cover artist Alex Steinweiss' work than the LP. It also is more evocative of the somewhat idealized version of rural America celebrated by this music – and other conservative music of the time.

Like Aaron Copland, who was eight years older, Siegmeister was born in Brooklyn and studied in Paris under Nadia Boulanger. It's too bad that Siegmeister's music is largely forgotten today. This is quite well done, and the quieter moments are very beautiful and evocative. There is much to enjoy here for enthusiasts of Copland's Americana pieces, even though the performances by Dimitri Mitropoulos and his Minneapolis troupe are neither subtle not especially well played. With this ensemble providing the music, "Saturday Night" in the Ozarks seems quite a hectic experience. One wonders if the barn survived the barn dance. A harsh recording and typically rough pressing are not helpful, either.

Also included on the 10-inch LP is the overture to Lalo’s opera Le Roi d'Ys, which sounds less like Ys and more like Liszt in this performance.

The cover of the LP that yoked the yokels with the Ysians is below. As you can see, the Ozark mountain on the 78 set has been reduced to a Ozark pimple down in the right-hand corner of the LP. Another interesting difference is that the liner notes for the 78 set quote an enthusiastic Russian review of the music, but by the time the LP came out in 1950, the Cold War had begun and the Russian commentary is nowhere to be found. Possibly a coincidence – who knows.

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Morton Gould by Mitropoulos; Stoki Does Billy

The connecting tissue on this issue is the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York (as the NY Phil was then titled) performing American music. Morton Gould, who made an appearance earlier on the blog as a conductor, shows up again, this time as both composer and conductor.

Gould's terrific Philharmonic Waltzes were written for the NY bunch, and this is a remarkable performance under Dimitri Mitropoulos, either right before or early in his tenure as the Philharmonic music director, which began in 1949. For the first two years, he co-led the operation with Leopold Stokowski. (Now there was a contrast.)

Stoki also appears on this record. The old cowpoke takes two of Copland's Billy the Kid pieces for a ride, then changes gears and genres for the impressionist Griffes item.

It's amazing to hear the mid-century Phil handle the Gould Quickstep march, then the languid White Peacock, both perfectly in style. These recordings are now largely forgotten - they shouldn't be.

One final note - this item has another cover by Alex Steinweiss.

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