Ronnie Deauville, Part 4

Returning at long last to our series of recordings by the superb but neglected vocalist Ronnie Deauville, here we have two singles, both probably issued in 1950. These were among the sides Deauville made with Ray Anthony's orchestra - all of them that I have heard are excellent.

For more on Deauville and his interesting background, please see the previous posts in this series - and be sure to stop by Bill Reed's blog, The People vs. Dr. Chilledair. Bill has been assembling Deauville recordings from various sources, and there is much more background information about the singer on that site.

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Eastern Fun with Gene Autry

Gene Autry's big Easter hit was 1950's Peter Cottontail. This EP collects that tune with three other rabbit tales to produce this Easter Fun EP from the mid-50s.

It wasn't until after I prepared this post that I remembered having Autry's 10-inch Easter LP. That one will have to wait until next year.

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Easter Songs by Vic Damone

There sure are a lot of Christmas records, but not so many for Easter, although they do exist. Here is one from my collection, a 78 single with an attractive picture sleeve, likely issued for Easter 1948.

The artist is a very young Vic Damone, who performs two religious works: Crown Without a Thorn, based on an Anton Rubinstein piano piece, and César Franck's setting of Panis Angelicus.

Crown is quite well done, but Vic and the others don't seem to be on the same page pitch-wise for Panis, at least to this tin-eared blogger.

The grandly-titled Mercury Chorale is led by Mercury A&R chief Mitchell Miller (better known as Mitch when not in the classical or semi-classical realm).

George Duning's Me and the Colonel

The latest in our series of 1950s soundtracks on 12-inch LPs is another contribution from George Duning (pictured on the back cover below). He's one of those names that you don't hear much about today, but he produced much fine work.

This score was written for the Danny Kaye vehicle, Me and the Colonel, and features some beautiful sounds, here reproduced from an excellent pressing.

The cover drawing sure seems to be by Al Hirschfeld, but it lacks his characteristic signature.

REMASTERED VERSION

A Little More Bizet from Rodzinski

Not long ago I shared a 10-inch LP of Bizet's early symphony by Artur Rodzinski leading the New York Philharmonic. The progenitor of that recording was this 78-rpm set from circa 1945. The earlier album also included the prelude to Act III of Bizet's Carmen in a particularly lovely performance not on the LP.

The earlier set also had a different - and to my eyes far more attractive - Alex Steinweiss cover than did the 10-inch LP. The back of the cover (below) had a photo of Rodzinski not to be found on the LP. Finally the sound is better on the 78s, which are, of course, much less convenient than the LP. All this is strangely reminiscent of the trade-offs in the transition from LP to CD, as you may have noticed.

The download contains the Carmen Act III prelude and the two covers from the 78 set.

REMASTERED VERSION - JANUARY 2015

Barber and Copland in Improved Sound

Continuing our series of favorite recordings from the first year of this blog in enhanced sound, we have here two first recordings of important American works - Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto and Aaron Copland's Piano Concerto, 1926.

The audible improvements this time out are not dramatic, but worthwhile nonetheless - reduced rumble and a lossless transfer. [Note (September 2023): this has been greatly improved and is now in ambient stereo.]

Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber

Here is what I wrote about this recording when it was first posted:

Here we have two superb works in what I think are their first recordings, and distinctive ones at that.

Louis Kaufman

Louis Kaufman was a stalwart of the film music orchestras and made quite a few records for budget labels. He takes a very personal and romantic view of the gorgeous Barber concerto - much different from the poker-faced approach that's normal in most music these days. He, the indefatigable conductor Walter Goehr, and their pseudonymous orchestra also do a great job with the finale, which usually sounds like an afterthought. The recording is from 1950.

Leo Smit

Aaron Copland makes an appearance to conduct his early Piano Concerto, which is from the Jazz Age and sounds it. It's great fun and very enjoyable in this performance by the talented Leo Smit, a friend of Copland and a superb interpreter of his piano music. The 1951 sound from Rome can be a trifle raucous in the tuttis, but the piano comes across well.

The Musical Masterpiece Society and its sibling labels made many interesting records. We've seen several already on this blog, and more are to come.

In Memory

My dear mom, who started me on the lifelong hobby of record collecting, passed away last week. I can think of no better tribute than to present several rare items involving her favorite singer, Frank Sinatra.

Frank, unsurprisingly, is also my favorite singer by far, and it's amazing to me that I have managed to operate this blog for nearly a year without presenting anything by him. I suppose the reason is that virtually everything Sinatra ever recorded is in print and easily available, and this blog is mainly devoted to more elusive materials. So forgive me if what I present here is a bit esoteric.

First up is a 78 that was issued in this form only in the UK. It is Frank's 1950 recording of two lovely songs by English composers - Ivor Novello's If Only She'd Look My Way and Carroll Coates' London By Night - in beautiful Axel Stordahl arrangements. The rarity here is the spoken introduction by the Duke of Edinburgh thanking the purchaser for supporting the National Playing Fields Association (see label above). To be clear, only the intro is unusual. The songs themselves are otherwise available.

The second rarity isn't even a Sinatra record - it is a rare Sinatra 78 picture sleeve (below) showing the cast of From Here to Eternity, his comeback film. Ray Bloch's orchestra presents the title song with accordion solo by Mat Mathews (recently featured here). On Re-enlistment Blues, Bloch accompanies an excellent anonymous vocal reminiscent of Sy Oliver.

The main part of this post really is important Sinatra, and if not impossible-to-find is still unusual. It consists of 17 songs from his 1953-55 radio program, To Be Perfectly Frank, in which Sinatra presented standards with backing by a small combo. These songs are sourced from two old and rough-sounding bootlegs. I have expended a fair amount of effort to remove clicks and noise, re-equalize each item, and fix speed problems (which is of course involves some guesswork). I am happy with the results and you may be, too, if you don't expect sonic miracles. The singing is miraculous enough.

Another 17 songs from this set will appear as soon as I finish work on them.

Thanks, Mom, for the gift of life and of music. I miss you very much.

78S | PERFECTLY FRANK