Lauritz Melchior - 1942-43 Performances

The lighter side of the great tenor Lauritz Melchior (1890-1973) has been featured here on several occasions (see below). Today we hear from him in the métier that made him famous - opera - along with a selection of songs, primarily from his homeland, Denmark.

These materials come from a pristine 1972 LP reissue kindly supplied to the blog by my friend Matthew Tepper and transferred by me.

The material primarily derives from 1942 studio sessions for Columbia, with the addition of a few live recordings from Buenos Aires in 1943. Much of this material has not been otherwise reissued, including most or all of the non-Wagnerian items.

Wagner Arias

Melchior was famed as the greatest Wagnerian tenor of the 20th century. The two selections on this album make it clear why that was so. His entrance in the Prayer from Rienzi is startlingly powerful; not so much for its volume but for the clarity and impact of Melchior's voice. The second piece is just as strong - "Lohengrin's Arrival."

Astrid Varnay and Herbert Janssen

Reviewing this reissue in Stereo Review, George Jellinek wrote, "The Lohengrin scene (released here for the first time) omits the chorus and presents Astrid Varnay below her best form and Herbert Janssen in the uncomfortable low tessitura of the King, but Melchior’s contribution is strong and finely sustained."

1943 ad

Varnay (1918-2006) was a Swedish-born American soprano. Janssen (1895-1962) was a German baritone. Both were distinguished figures, as was the conductor, the young Erich Leinsdorf (1912-93), then at the Metropolitan Opera and soon to become the music director of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Verdi's Otello

Melchior was primarily known for his Wagner performances, but he also was a notable proponent of Verdi's Otello.

The four performances on this disk are from two sources: the 1942 Leinsdorf sessions in New York with a recording orchestra, and live 1943 performances with the Orchestra of the Teatro Colón led by Juan Emilio Martini. Although the cover notes are at pains to manage expectations about the sound from Argentina, it isn't bad at all. (The studio recordings, from New York's Liederkranz Hall, are all excellent.)

Erich Leinsdorf

Jellinek's comments: "The four Otello excerpts document the firm command Melchior had of a role he was prevented from performing by backstage maneuverings at the Met, and Janssen gives a better account of himself as Iago."

Schubert Songs

The LP's second side is devoted to songs recorded in 1942 with accompanist Ignace Strasfogel, a Polish émigré who also was a conductor and composer. 

Ignace Strasfogel

Melchior's selections were Schubert's Dem Unendlichen and Ständchen, K889. Jellinek: "The Melchior sound is ideal for the majestic Schubert hymn Dem Unendlichen; the tempo he chose for Ständchen is curiously fast yet not ineffective."

Danish Songs

The critics dismissed the songs from Melchior's homeland as "not particularly memorable," although "pleasant" and "amiable". (I can't imagine what they thought of Two Sisters from Boston.) The LP's notes apologetically mentioned that the tenor had insisted on recording these numbers. Columbia does not even give the composer's full names.

The first two songs are by Peter Heise (1830-79) - Lille Karen and Vildt Flyver Hog (Hawks Fly over Land and Sea). Columbia identifies the first as a folk song, but I believe this is the Heise setting.

The following two are by composer-critic Sophus Andersen (1859-1923): Der flyver så mange fugle (So many birds are flying) and Nu brister i alle de kløfter (Spring is coming).

Peter Heise, Peter Lange-Müller, Sophus Andersen

Finally, three songs by composer-pianist Peter Lange-Müller (1850-1926): Kornmodsglansen ved Midnatstid (generally translated as Summer Lightning, although the literal translation is "The grain countershines at midnight"); Skin ud, du klare Solskin (Bright Sunshine, literally "Shine on, you good Sunshine"); and the serenade Renaissance.

Columbia provided no texts nor translations, so I have cobbled together the same for the songs that I could find, even resorting to Google Translate for a few. Otherwise, the download includes the usual scans, reviews and photos, plus a 1972 interview with Melchior.

LINK

The Lighter Side of Melchior

The "lighter side of Melchior" recordings I mentioned above have just been remastered, and a new album added.

The new item is an album of songs from Melchior's first film, Thrill of a Romance from 1945, in which the Heldentenor is transformed into a gigantic Danish Cupid bringing together famed aquatic thespian Esther Williams with war-hero Van Johnson. The tenor takes on everything from Schubert to Victor Herbert to a pop song. Thrill of a Romance also starred the Tommy Dorsey band, so as bonus items I've added three commercial recordings of their songs from the film.

Melchior's follow-up was the 1946 film Two Sisters from Boston. I transferred the Victor album of songs from that movie more than a decade ago, and have now improved the sound and processed it in ambient stereo. As I wrote then, the film "plunders Liszt and Mendelssohn to concoct noisy cod arias that Melchior attacks with some enthusiasm." This time, the bonus is Jimmy Durante's songs from the film - no Liszt of Mendelssohn and quite a contrast to Melchior. (Jimmy's arias are offered separately in a recent post on my singles blog.)

Also newly redone is Melchior's recording of Romberg's famous operetta The Student Prince with Jane Wilson and Lee Sweetland. This 10-inch album comes from 1951. The orchestrations are by Victor Young, who also conducted the ensemble.

Leinsdorf Special - Mozart, Schubert, Rachmaninoff and the Strausses

Erich Leinsdorf's early career is less remembered than his Boston Symphony tenure and his later spell as guest conductor at major orchestras. On this blog, I've looked at several of his neglected first recordings, all dating from 1946, near the end of his abbreviated Cleveland Orchestra residency. I also presented a Philadelphia disc where he accompanies pianist Ania Dorfmann.

In this post, I'll add a bit to the list of his Cleveland recordings available on this blog, while moving on to explore his 1952-54 discs with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

The appropriate links are at the end of each section. Note (July 2024): these have now been remastered in ambient stereo.

Music of the Strauss Family

Leinsdorf 's Cleveland recordings all were made from February 22-25, 1946, when his successor (George Szell) had already been appointed. Even so, those discs are full of interest, ranging from his own suite from Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande to Schumann's First Symphony and Rimsky-Korsakov's Antar.

Today we take up some of the shorter works explored in that series of sessions. These include a selection of music from the Strauss family: Johann Strauss, Sr.'s "Radetzky March," Strauss, Jr.'s "Thunder and Lightning Polka" and "Perpetuum Mobile," Joseph Strauss' "Music of the Spheres" waltz and Eduard's "Bahn Frei!" The latter is here titled the "Race Track Polka," and is presented in an arrangement by Peter Bodge that I believe was written for the Boston Pops.

This music is well suited to Leinsdorf's skills and personality. While his readings will not remind you of the approach of the Austrian Willy Boskovsky, their spirit and precision are delightful.

The "Music of the Spheres" waltz has appeared on the blog before, but I also included it here to keep the set together. These transfers all come from a Cleveland Orchestra promotional LP issued in the 1970s.

LINK to music of the Strauss family

Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances

Leinsdorf was the principal conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic from 1947 to 1955. His first recording with that ensemble was an excerpt from Wagner's Siegfried with Eileen Farrell and Set Svanholm. That came in 1949, but per A Classical Discography it wasn't until 1952 that there was a follow-up.

The second disc was one of unusual interest - the first recording of Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances. This late composition was written for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and premiered by that ensemble under Eugene Ormandy in 1941. Ormandy, however, reputedly did not care for the piece and didn't record it until 1960.

Responding to Leinsdorf's LP, critics were sharply divided about the work but not the performance. The New York Times found the composition to be "tired sounding, without any highlights to capture the mind" while The New Records said it "immediately gains the attention of the listener and holds it until the last measure." Today, many consider it one of Rachmaninoff's best works.

The reviews agreed that the Rochester performance was a fine one: well-played and tautly conducted, as was Leinsdorf's norm at this point in his career. It is an impressive achievement - Rochester had a very accomplished orchestra - and it still sounds well.

The LP came out on Columbia's full-price label, but all of Leinsdorf's subsequent Rochester recordings for the company were issued in budget lines.

LINK to Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances

Schubert - Symphony No. 8; Mozart - Symphony No. 40

Leinsdorf's next session in Rochester was in April 1953, where he taped three of the great works of the symphonic canon: Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony, Mozart Symphony No. 40 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (the latter not included here).

The first two works were coupled on Columbia's relatively new Entré budget series. As with the Rachmaninoff recording above, Leinsdorf's reading was "alert, rhythmically alive, musically faithful [and] tonally satisfactory," per the American Record Guide, which added that "the Rochester Orchestra is just below the first rank and really far better than the most of the European orchestras we regularly encounter on LP recordings these days." It's hard to disagree. C.G. Burke in High Fidelity, while noting that Leinsdorf had been demoted to the low-price Entré label, added, "Nothing so exalted can be bought for so little as Columbia RL 3070."

This transfer comes from a circa 1957 budget reissue on Columbia's Harmony label. The label identifies the ensemble as the "Rochester Orchestra," but as far as I know it has always been called the Rochester Philharmonic.

LINK to Schubert Symphony No. 8 and Mozart Symphony No. 40

Mozart - Symphonies No. 41 and 35

Perhaps heartened by the response to the Schubert-Mozart pairing above, Leinsdorf programmed two additional Mozart symphonies for his March 1954 recording session in Rochester. Although the performances, to my ears, have the identical approach to the record above - forthright, emphatic and detailed - the critics were not as impressed.

Burke, while noting the conductor's "clear-eyed directness," insisted that, "Most of us prefer more perfume, and more deviations in this breeze" (whatever that may mean). To me, it is hard to not be impressed by Leinsdorf and the orchestra's passion and precision.

This is another recording issued initially on Entré, but transferred from a subsequent release on the Harmony label.

The Rochester recordings all were remastered from lossless needle-drops found on Internet Archive. The sound both from Rochester and Cleveland is quite good. The downloads include scans, photos and reviews.

LINK to Mozart Symphonies No. 41 and 35

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'

Leinsdorf in Cleveland, 1946

Erich Leinsdorf

Erich Leinsdorf was only 31 when named the music director of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1943, in succession to Artur Rodziński. But he had already achieved success as an assistant to Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini, and at the Met after coming to America.

Leinsdorf's Cleveland reign was to be short and uneasy. He was drafted soon after his appointment, and by the time he returned, the board and the public had shifted their affections to George Szell, who had excelled as a guest conductor.

There are, however, a number of remembrances of Leinsdorf's tenure in the form of a series of recordings he and the orchestra set down in February 1946 - after Szell's appointment as his successor.

Today we look at two of the longer works they took before the microphone - Schumann's Symphony No. 1 and Rimsky-Korsakov's Antar - together with a three shorter works only issued on 78.

Schumann - Symphony No. 1 (Spring)

Veterans like me who recall Leinsdorf's later, impassive podium manner may be surprised to discover that the young conductor was notably volatile on some of these discs. His reading of the Schumann Spring symphony is nothing if not urgent. I coincidentally listened to some of Herbert von Karajan's Schumann the other day, and that dignitary's grandiloquent air could hardly be different from Leinsdorf's straightforward approach.

Leinsdorf's Schumann has never been considered a competitive reading, but I enjoy a conductor who presses ahead in this symphony, as he does. The orchestra was then in a state of flux due to the war, with turnover of about 50 percent in a few years. Nonetheless, the ensemble does sound in good form. That said, the orchestra had but 84 members at the time, and its strings were considered a relatively weak point.

Rimsky-Korsakov - Antar, Suite for Orchestra

Leinsdorf was known for his interesting programs; here, he somehow talked Columbia into setting down Rimsky-Korsakov's wonderful but even today neglected Antar, a suite for orchestra that Rimsky initially called a symphony. (The conductor had tried to interest the Columbia folks in a George Antheil work, but they demurred.)

The Cleveland performance was to be the second complete recording; Piero Coppola had done one with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra in 1933. Victor had Pierre Monteux set down a competing version in San Francisco only a few weeks after the Cleveland sessions.

As with the Schumann, Leinsdorf's manner is insistent from the first bar. Where some conductors lean into the exotic qualities of the score and its underlying tale, Leinsdorf's approach is to begin developing tension immediately.

The Clevelanders again play well.

Mozart, Schubert, Josef Strauss

To fill out the program, I've added three works issued as singles. One 78 coupled Mozart's Minuet (K. 409) with some of the ballet music from Schubert's Rosamunde. The second encompassed a performance of Josef Strauss' lovely Music of the Spheres waltz.

The Schumann and Rimsky works first came out in 78 albums. I transferred those works from LPs in my collection. In the process, I discovered that my Schumann 10-inch LP sleeve actually contained a Bruno Walter Beethoven performance, so I resorted to a good-sounding 12-inch reissue from the mid-50s. The Antar comes from the 10-inch LP edition. I remastered the singles from lossless needle-drops found on Internet Archive. The sound is very good on all of these records.

The download includes a variety of cover images, including scans of both 10-inch LPs and the front of the 12-inch album.

Note (July 2024): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK

Grieg and Mendelssohn from Ania Dorfmann

Here is the second installment in a series of recordings from the underappreciated pianist Ania Dorfmann, following on the Chopin waltzes and Beethoven concerto featured here a while back.

Concert flyer

Both this disc of Grieg and Mendelssohn concertos and the Chopin disc were issued on RCA Victor's Bluebird label. Dorfmann was one of the first artists presented on Bluebird when RCA revived the mark as a budget line in 1952. The big record company was responding to inroads by independents who were issuing all types of European sourced classical recordings and undercutting the price of the majors' high-end lines.

Billboard magazine, in covering the phenomenon, observed delicately that the products of those companies - and the artists themselves - were "of rather uncertain quality." RCA aimed to provide a higher standard of excellence by concentrating on "concert artists who have achieved wide and enthusiastic critical acclaim" but are not yet "by popular standards, the top names in their field." So Bluebird would concentrate on instrumentalists Ania Dorfmann, Ida Haendel and Byron Janis and conductors Erich Leinsdorf, Karl Böhm and John Barbirolli - most of whom have been featured on this blog.

On this concerto disc, Dorfmann is in her usual glistening form, with sturdy backing by Leinsdorf and the "Robin Hood Dell Orchestra" - that is, the Philadelphia Orchestra in its summer configuration. The session in the Academy of Music was in July 1953, with what I assume to be a patching session in RCA's New York studio a month later. The sound is quite good (much better than the current standard), well capturing the glint of Dorfmann's tone. If the Grieg is more enjoyable than the Mendelssohn, it is probably because the former is a more inspired piece. The pianist does well by both works.

Dorfmann did appear on RCA's full-price line at other times - and this present disc was elevated to Red Seal status later on.