Beethoven from Vienna and Böhm

Come Wednesday, this blog will have been around for two years. I thought it might be time to feature some artists who are favorites of mine, but have not made an appearance yet.

So here we have conductor Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic, who both are on my most admired list. In fact, in my classical records room, Böhm is the only conductor with his own section.

Am I passionate about Böhm the way some are passionate about Furtwängler or Toscanini? Not really. Do I think this is the greatest performance of Beethoven's eighth symphony I have heard? No, I don't (although I am not one for anointing things as the best or greatest). So why do I want to play the record again as soon as it is done? Not completely sure, but in my experience Böhm's recordings always feature excellent balances, a rich but not overly plush sound (of course, recording with the VPO helps!) and an understated approach that always seems just right to me.

Böhm had a reputation for being a little cranky and pedantic, and some find him dull. (I looked up the Gramophone review of this LP, and sure enough, the reviewer thought it was uninspired.) I read his autobiography years ago, and it betrayed a man with no interest in self-analysis, reading like a very extended press release.

So if you listen, you may wonder why I am so enthusiastic. If so, you'll just have to indulge me - hey, it's my second anniversary here!

This very well recorded 10-inch LP was taped in the Musikvereinsaal in May of 1953.

REMASTERED VERSION - OCTOBER 2014

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.

More Virgil Thomson in Philadelphia

I feel fortunate to follow up last week's post of rare Virgil Thomson with more Thomson from Philadelphia, again courtesy of Joe Serraglio.

This is if anything even more worthwhile, with some of Thomson's most successful scores. The Three Pictures are simply superb - I suggest you read the composer's note for a lucid discussion of both his intent and his technique. On the latter topic, Thomson writes, "The value of the procedure lies, of course, not in its ingenuity but in whatever suggestive power it may be found to have." In the case of these works, that power is considerable.

The William Blake songs are just as successful, if in one case controversial. One of the songs here is a setting of Blake's The Little Black Boy, intended as a plea for racial equality, but at times interpreted as itself racist. With hindsight, it is easy to understand why - Blake's poetry contrasts the boy's black face and white soul, for example. These recordings have been reissued twice - in both cases without this song. Accounts differ about whether this was with the consent or against the wishes of Thomson. I certainly hope I don't offend anyone by posting the full set. I am sure, though, that everyone will agree that the music is exceptional - both simple and sophisticated, in Thomson's usual manner - while Mack Harrell's singing is faultless. The songs were written for him and it shows.

The Pictures were recorded in February 1954 with the composer conducting, and the songs in November 1952 with Eugene Ormandy on the podium - both in the Academy of Music.

Again, the transfer and scans are by Joe - I was on the clean-up detail. Thanks again, Joe!

Johnny Costa

Johnny Costa isn't especially well known, but you won't find many pianists with more technique or imagination.

This LP is from what amounted to his breakout year, 1955, when he made records for both Savoy and Coral. He went on to make a number of other LPs solo and with the First Modern Piano Quartet later in the 50s. From there until a series of albums for Chiaroscuro in the 90s, his only recording was a rare LP of music from a children's television program.

US residents will be familiar with the TV program if not the record - it was Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which Costa served as music director from the program's debut in 1968 until the pianist's death in 1996.

This post is dedicated to my friend Jazzman. By the way, he is looking for Costa's LP from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood - please let me know in the comments if you have it.

The sound on this record is good, but the pressing has its unfortunate moments, as do many Decca products of this vintage. Below is Coral's ad introducing the record in Billboard - they gave pride of place to Larry Welk and his stable of vocalists.

Virgil Thomson in Philadelphia

I am bringing this file LP to you courtesy of my friend Joe Serraglio. I asked Joe if I could present it here because it is an important and somewhat rare record, and because I wanted to feature Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The first side of this record contains music from Virgil Thomson's score for Louisiana Story, a 1948 film by Robert Flaherty. The filmmaker was famous for documentaries, but this was a fictional treatment of a story involving an oil crew and a young Cajun boy. The film, funded by Standard Oil, was so successful in using the documentary style that it is still mistakenly called a documentary today.

Thomson himself had experience with Pare Lorentz's documentaries in the 1930s, and this music is in a somewhat similar style. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Thomson in 1949. The Philadelphians recorded both the soundtrack to the film and this suite, which uses an augmented instrumentation. The sessions for this recording were in May 1949 in the Academy of Music. In addition to the music captured here, Thomson also prepared a set of Acadian Songs and Dances from the film. I will be presenting these pieces at a later date in the the 1952 Little Orchestra Society/Thomas Scherman recording.

On the other side of the LP at hand, Thomson conducts the orchestra in five of the many "portraits" he composed of friends and associates for diverse instrumental forces. This set was recorded in May 1945 and originally issued on 78.

Joe has shared this recording elsewhere, so for those of you who have seen it before, the only difference here is that I have re-equalized Joe's excellent transfer a bit, and cleaned up the covers.

Thanks again to Joe!

LINK to February 2026 remastering

Alfvén's Swedish Rhapsodies

Awhile back I presented a set of easy-listening tunes from Paul Weston's catalogue, one of which was titled "Swedish Rhapsody." There ensued a discussion about just what Swedish Rhapsody this was - there were two that were popular at about the same time, one by Charles Wildman and one by Hugo Alfvén.

Well, that one was the Wildman composition. And now we will give equal time to the Alfvén. But first a little explanation - Alfvén actually wrote three Swedish rhapsodies. The best known and best loved is the first, also called "Midsommarvaka," or "Midsummer's Vigil."

This LP combines the aged composer's own final recording of "Midsommarvaka," from 1954, with a 1957 version of the third rhapsody - the "Dalarapsodi" or "Dalecarlian Rhapsody" - with Stig Westerberg and the Stockholm Philharmonic. The LP begins with a brief and very noisy "Festspel," also from Stockholm.

This recording of "Midsommarvaka" has long been a favorite of mine. The performance by the Royal Swedish Orchestra and recording (the first stereo classical record ever made in Sweden) are extremely vivid, if at times a little crude. The "Dalarapsodi" is nearly as memorable.

Westminster issued this "Midsommarvaka" recording in the US a few times in the 1950s. Both times it included music from the ballet "The Prodigal Son." The stereo issue included Sibelius' "The Tempest" and the mono a few pieces by Ture Rangström. Here I've transferred the Swedish issue because it is the best pressing and includes the third rhapsody.

Gene Autry - Easter Favorites

I posted the EP version of this material last year before remembering that I also have this 10" LP. Not that it makes a heck of a lot of difference - six songs versus four. Columbia wasn't terribly generous with its House Party series of LPs from the mid-50s. This is one of the first in the children's edition, called the Playhouse Party Series.

The LP is from 1956, but Autry began making Easter records as early as 1950, with the big seasonal hit, Peter Cottontail. It was almost as big as his Christmas records, which started with Here Comes Santa Claus in 1948 and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1949.

Like many of us in a certain elevated age range, I had these records as a young sprout. I remember being confused by both Here Comes Santa Claus and Peter Cottontail. (I realize this does not speak well for my intelligence.) Gene tells us that Santa is coming "right down Santa Claus Lane." I did not get that. Santa is flying around in a sleigh. What's with this Santa Claus Lane? And Peter Cottontail, he's "hopping down the bunny trail." To me, this was even more mysterious than Santa Claus Lane. The "bunny trail"? I still don't get that one.

If you listen to these records now, what stands out is the use of flute and clarinet to connote the bunny's sprightly activities, and the incessant sound of wood blocks to signify its hopping. Frankly, because similar sounds are often used to depict horses' clip-clopping, I can't shake this mental picture of Gene on a mincing Champion the Wonder Horse, hopping down the bunny trail, hippity-hoppity.

This comes into focus on the final song, The Horse with the Easter Bonnet, where the sound of temple blocks stand in for the horses' gait. The effect is not much different.

As you can perhaps tell, I was quite the critic even newly out of the womb. As soon as I got a record player and a few kiddie records, I was ready with opinions.

I probably would have been disillusioned then to learn that many of these beloved songs were spawned through a marketing tie-in with Macy's, including Funny Little Bunny in 1951 and the horse with the hat in 1954. Today it just strikes me as a clever idea. Ah, my lost innocence!

LINK (2026 remaster)