Vittorio Gui - Mozart and Haydn

There was a recent commercial issue of other recordings by the fine conductor Vittorio Gui that inspired me to pull out this LP of Mozart's Prague Symphony and Haydn's Il Distratto. Gui was mainly known as an opera conductor, and these days if you see his name at all it will likely be on opera recordings he made during the decade he was the chief conductor at the Glyndebourne Festival.

This record is billed as being by the Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra, but that was just another name for Thomas Beecham's Royal Philharmonic. A contemporary review in the March 1954 Gramophone unfavorably contrasts Gui's version of the Mozart to Beecham's with the same orchestra. Today I doubt that either one would be considered especially stylish; tastes do change. However, the review is quite complementary of the Haydn performance and recording, and it is well worth hearing.

Graphics - 78 Albums vs. 10-Inch LP

When Columbia began issuing LPs in 1948, it repurposed existing material to fill out its catalog. We have already seen how this led to albums that had been rather elaborate presentations as 78s becoming much less imposing as LPs (see below under the Alice in Wonderland and Richard Rodgers posts). Recently I presented two Buddy Clark LPs that Columbia issued as LPs in its generic music-stand cover. Also in my collection are the same albums issued as 78 sets, both of which have much more colorful covers. Above is the 78 album that Clark made with Dinah Shore, below the For You Alone album. The download includes both these covers and the inside front covers of the 78 albums. Both of those include pictures of the artists, unlike the backs of the LPs. All this is reminiscent of what happened when CDs replaced LPs. The rich graphics of the LPs were replaced by the inferior presentation of the so-called jewel box. As for sound quality, I have friends who swear that 78s sound better than LPs, much the same as the vocal minority who prefer vinyl to CD sound. Things change; they do not necessarily progress. 

Blossom Dearie

One day at least 35 years ago I went to a local charity sale on my lunch hour and picked up a handful of vocal albums, which were decidedly not one of my interests at the time (jazz and classical music were). But these were records from the 50s, and I was intrigued. My haul included Frank Sinatra's Songs for Swinging Lovers, one of Ella Fitzgerald's Gershwin records, an autographed copy of Carmen McRae's Blue Moon, and Blossom Dearie's first Verve album. And that started a love affair with all four voices and a rather extensive collection of vocal records.

On Saturday, the last surviving member of the quartet, Blossom Dearie, passed away at 82.

My friend Bill Reed of the People vs. Dr. Chilledair blog knew Dearie and can speak first hand of her artistry and eccentricities. I have no such knowledge, but can instead speak of her wee but at times forceful voice, her great taste (although I can do without such efforts as her John Lennon song and "Sweet Georgie Fame"), and her fine pianism. But most of all her elegance, which comes through so well on that first LP.

All of her Verve records and some of her later records can easily be found. Instead I'll offer these non-LP singles from the vocal group she formed in Paris in the 1950s, the Blue Stars. Their claim to fame back then was a vocal rendition of "Lullaby of Birdland." Here we have a French version of "Hernando's Hideway," a vocal edition of the Basie instrumental "Jumpin' at the Woodside," and "Broadway at Basin Street." But seek out those Verve recordings, won't you?

The Brave One

Here is a terrific Victor Young score ripped from a pristine pressing. No idea who conducts this one - there is no conductor listed, although the orchestra is the Munich Symphony, which I think is a pseudonym.

Posting this as a result of a request from Princes Valiant over at Franklynot.

NEW LINK

Mel Blanc

The voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Woody Woodpecker and so many other characters is almost inescapable. But Mel Blanc's records are much more unusual, and this is one that compiles a selection of his songs, originally issued - or so I think - on Capitol singles.

A panic? I think not, although his Al Jolson impression is very amusing, complete with a wacky whistling chorus, "mwahh" interjections, and cut-ins by Woody and Porky. On the other hand, Mel doing Porky doing K-k-k-Katy is not something I'd like to hear more than once, if that.

Still, this is a fine remembrance of a genuine comic genius.

Mewton-Wood, Part 6

I recently came across another recording by Noel Mewton-Wood to add to our collection here. This is a 12-inch LP on Concert Hall Society of two of Tchaikovsky's lesser works, the third piano concerto and the Concert Fantasia.

As always, Mewton-Wood displays sensitivity allied to intensity, with never a hint of theatrics. The Winterthur band sounds scrappy and scrawny, but it also is fully engaged and under Walter Goehr is at one with the soloist.

The recordings are from 1952.

LINK

Lukas Foss and Franz Waxman

The talented and energetic American composer-conductor-pianist Lukas Foss died Sunday at age 86. Coincidentally I had one of his LPs in the queue to be featured here - but this is not it. That album was of Foss as performer only. I decided instead to present this LP of Foss performing his own music, in this case his imaginative second piano concerto in an excellent performance by the composer as soloist with Franz Waxman and his Los Angeles Festival Orchestra, from about 1957.

Waxman, best known as a film composer, also presents some of his concert music here, a Sinfonietta for Strings and Timpani.

Foss wrote in many styles. Some thought this made him a dedicated follower of fashion; I wonder if instead he was always open to new sounds and new ways, and unafraid to be influenced by others. Whatever the source of his inspiration, inspired he was, and so is this concerto.

I do plan to share the other Foss LP soon - in that recording he is heard as pianist with the Zimbler Sinfonietta in Hindemith's The Four Temperaments.