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