Robison Sings and Plays Robison

Composer-singer-pianist Willard Robison (1894-1968) has been a longtime interest of this blog, first appearing here a decade ago via his 1950s Capitol LP Deep River Music. Robison is remembered most of all for his compositions - "Old Folks," "A Cottage for Sale," "'Taint So, Honey, 'Taint So," among others. But he also was active in the recording studio as a bandleader, singer and pianist, particularly in the 1920s. Today's post brings those strains together via 29 recordings from 1926-30 that feature Robison in some combination of singer, pianist or bandleader performing his own compositions.

The Perfect-Pathé Recordings

The first record in this compilation, dating from July 1926, is characteristic of Robison, starting with its title, "Lonely Acres in the West." Loneliness and longing for home (his was in Missouri), are often themes in his songs. 

The other side of the Banner release contains one of his most famous songs, "The Devil Is Afraid of Music," which explicitly links his interest in music with revivalism - "The devil is afraid of music - sing, brother, sing!" the preacher intones.

The first two songs involve only the composer's voice and piano. Robison's singing was far afield from the usual stentorian approach of the day - he was conversational, wistful and calm. (He was advertised as the "whispering baritone.") It's said that Bing Crosby changed pop singing to a more informal manner, but the early Bing sounds almost operatic compared to Robison. With his quiet manner, Robison must have been more effective on records than in person - although he did lead a band for many years.

Indeed, the next song in this chronological survey is with his Deep River Orchestra. It is one of the numbers in the composer's eight-song Deep River Suite, of which four are in this collection. It is a catchy instrumental called "After Hours," recorded in early October. (This pressing had almost no bass as transferred; I rebalanced the sound at the cost of increasing the rumble.)

The second item in the suite, "Tampico," also with the Deep River Orchestra, comes from later in the month. The singer here is not Robison; he has been tentatively identified as Murray John. Whatever his name, his approach could not be more different from Robison's mellow reediness. Perhaps the bandleader did not think his voice could project over a band - he did record with a band later on, however.

The third item in the suite, also from October, is "Darby Hicks," another lively instrumental characteristic of the period, with good playing from the ensemble.

Information on the instrumentalists in Robison's orchestra is sketchy, although the Bix Beiderbecke discography claims that he and Frankie Trumbauer play on one session, not included here. And actually, that could be Trumbauer on the left in the band photo below. (Robison has his arms folded in front of the piano.)

Willard Robison and His Orchestra/The Deep River Orchestra

In November, Robison was back in the studio; this time without orchestra or vocalist (other than himself). He set down his first recording of another of his better-known songs, "Truthful Parson Brown." Here again we are back in a rural church, with Parson Brown exhorting his congregation, "Stop squirmin' / And pay more attention to my syncopated sermon!"

In December, Robison recorded one of his more conventional songs, "G String Melody," in that it deals with romantic love rather than rural preachers. This too involved the composer singing with his piano accompaniment.

The final recording from 1926 is also from a December session. "Music of a Mountain Stream" is characteristic both musically and lyrically. "In the golden West," Robison sings, "I have found a place where there's peace and rest. Far away from cares, all my troubles seem to vanish there." The label attributes the song to the Deep River Orchestra, but it is Robison and his piano.

In "New Hampshire Highway," Robison finds love but then has to leave, which breaks his heart - "I'll come again some day," he vows. This is another vocal and piano recording, dating from 1927; he would redo it with orchestra soon thereafter.

The final song from the American Suite contained in this collection is "Harlem Blues," from April 1927. It's an instrumental in the vein of Handy's "St. Louis Blues" - and even though it is credited to Robison on the label, Handy himself actually wrote it, in 1922. Robison was to re-record the song later for Columbia, where he attributed it to Handy.

Also from the April date comes "Blue River," one of Robison's best compositions. It's ascribed to "Willard Robison and His Orchestra" even though it was recorded at the same time as "Harlem Blues," which was attributed to the Deep River Orchestra. The vocals are by a studio group typical of the time, called the "Deep River Quintette" on the label. The contrived vocal arrangement could not be more different from the composer's own informal manner of singing. One wonders if Robison was the vocal arranger.

Next, the Deep River Orchestra appears in a remake of "New Hampshire Highway," with the vocal quintet. It's not one of the composer's best songs, but is far more effective in the solo version.

An August 1927 session brings another attribution anomaly. The song "In the Morning" is very much in the vein of other Robison creations - a preacher complains to the congregation that their contributions to the building fund have been very slow, so he exhorts them to "bring along your hammers and bring along your nails - we'll have a new home in the mornin'!" Later, virtually the same song would appear with a longer title and two co-writers (see below).

As you might have inferred from the comments on "Harlem Blues," Robison was an admirer of W.C. Handy. So much so that he wrote "Page Mr. Handy," a plea for him to write more music of the kind that Robison liked.

"My Kind of Blues" is the only solo piano piece in this collection. Although it has "blues" in its title, the work has a strong ragtime flavor. Some of Robison's earliest recordings (probably from 1925) were instrumentals - piano rolls for the Aeolian Company, including a version of the next song.

Robison's "Deep Elm" wasn't the only song of that title. There is a different and much better known blues song with a title referring to "Deep Elm" or "Deep Ellum." All of these are named in honor of a district in Dallas that takes its name from Elm St. (or "Ellum" St., pronounced with a Texas drawl). 

Robison's next number, "I'll Have the Blues Until I Get to California," is the first title recorded in 1928, probably in January. It is a remake of one of his earliest recordings, done for the Autograph label in 1924. The song is another lament for lost love, with Robison's woman taking off for California, and he making plans to follow her. "And if she turns me down," he sings, "I'll go to Chinatown. I'll smoke some hop, I'll never stop, because I've got a mess of weary blues to drown." (Mixed metaphor there, but we get the idea.)

The final recording in this group from Perfect-Pathé is "June of Long Ago," released in early 1928, about the time that Robison moved on to Victor. It was again done with the orchestra and vocal quintet. For whatever reason, Robison starts the arrangement with the opening of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, quickly launching into a tune akin to "Hands Across the Table" (which it predates). The song is a lament for lost love; the vocal quintet, or perhaps the arrangement, is more flexible this time.

The Victor Recordings

The Victor company matched Robison with its studio mainstay Nat Shilkret and his band in several 1928 sessions that produced three masters of Robison singing his own compositions. 

In this collection we have two remakes of favorite songs - "The Devil Is Afraid of Music" and "Truthful Parson Brown." Despite Robison's lack of voice, these recordings do work well, mainly because he was a far better advocate for his songs that the stilted studio vocalists of the time. Also, the orchestral arrangements add color to the music. "Truthful Parson Brown" even has a solo spot for what sounds like a contra-bassoon.

The third Victor recording is attributed to "Willard Robison, Baritone with Orchestra," although Shilkret again was in charge of the band. It is one of his best songs, if not the best, "'Taint So, Honey, 'Taint So." Let me quote some of its lyrics, which are characteristic:

Hey, people, you should come to Arkansas, 

Meet a friend of mine, old Aunt Phoebe Law, 

She's known to everyone for miles around, 

She will help you when friends forsake you and troubles bear you down! 

For those who come her way 

Are blessed when they hear her say:

'Tain't so, honey, 'tain't so, 

Spoke to the Lord and the Lord said no, 

'Tain't so, 

Honey, 'tain't so.

I learned the song from Bing's classic 1928 recording with Paul Whiteman, but even Bing is far more extroverted and dramatic than Robison. Hearing the composer's version, you can understand how he may have influenced the writing and singing of the slightly younger Hoagy Carmichael, and to a lesser extent Johnny Mercer, a great admirer of Robison.

In early 1929, Robison began recording for the Columbia family of labels, but before we get to those items, let's cover a few more Victor masters that date from late 1929.

"Don't Ever Be 'Fraid to Wade Those Troubled Waters" is another song with homespun advice. By this time, Robison had begun featuring what was then generally known as "Hawaiian guitar." Its distinctive sound could be also be heard on the Columbia recordings below. On those dates, the instrument is identified as an "octo-chorda," or eight-string guitar. Although no instrumentalist is named, the leading exponents of the octo-chorda were Roy Smeck and Sam Moore.

Robison returned to equating song with salvation in "There's Religion in Rhythm," the final Victor side. "Rhythm brings joy, and joy will break ol' Satan's hold," he assures us.

The Columbia/Velvet Tone Recordings

Robison moved on to the Columbia-Harmony-Velvet Tone-Diva set of labels in 1929. The next three songs are taken from Velvet Tone pressings.

While all the previous songs were written by Robison alone, he also collaborated with others. The first song in this group is "We'll Have a New Home in the Mornin'," essentially the same song as "In the Morning," also discussed above. Here, the song is attributed to Gene Buck and J. Russel Robinson along with Robison. The label says the song comes from the 1927-28 Broadway show Take the Air, which may have something to do with the co-credited writers. Russel Robinson, a former member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, wrote such Jazz Age hits as "Margie" and "Singing the Blues."

"Ploddin' Along" is a collaboration among composers Robison and Peter De Rose, and lyricist Jo Trent. Although both this song and "We'll Have a New Home" had words by others, they both seem like they could have come from Robison's pen.

"Wake Up! Chillun! Wake Up!" is a fine song co-written with Trent. In it, Robison exhorts his chillun, "Each golden hour, treat it like a treasure rare." Here he was backed by the Ipana Troubadors, a band that appeared on radio shows sponsored by a then-popular toothpaste. The Troubadors were led by Sam Lanin.

In "(Still Runnin' Round) In the Wilderness," Robison is back in didactic mode: "If you think that folks should help you, when you don't help yourself, then the book you should be readin' is laying on the shelf. You're still runnin' round in the wilderness."

Robison longs for the country life in "(Way Out There in) Tall Timber," where he vows to ride the rails until he recaptures the good ol' days in tall timber. With their octo-chorda accompaniment, this song and the previous number have a strong country vibe.

One of Robison's most famous songs, "A Cottage for Sale," completes this set. Here the lyrics are by Larry Conley, a one-time trombonist with Gene Rodemich's Orchestra, but they convey Robison's themes of loss and regret:

The key's in the mailbox, the same as before 

But no one is waiting for me any more. 

The end of our story is told on the door - 

A cottage for sale.

This 1930 record is attributed on the Velvet Tone label to "Willard Robison Accomp. by His Little Symphony." Robison would make no more records in the Depression-plagued industry until a 1937 session for Master. Later, he would produce 10-inch LPs for Capitol and Coral (links below).

More Robison

The best place to hear Robison's songs as interpreted by other artists is via a five-part compilation by the indefatigable David Federman. The download link is here.

I posted Robison's own Capitol LP on this blog in 2013. You can read about it (and download) here. It includes his recording of another famous song of his, "Old Folks" (written in 1938 with Dedette Lee Hill) in an exceptional performance. Also on the LP are Johnny Mercer, Paul Weston and an enchanting vocal on "Deep Summer Music" by an uncredited Loulie Jean Norman.

The Coral LP has Robison singing eight of his compositions, including another famous number, "Guess I'll Go Back Home (This Summer)," written with Ray Mayer. Here is a direct link to the Coral LP (not my transfer).

Finally, on YouTube you can see Robison with the Hall Johnson Choir in a 1930 short called "A Syncopated Sermon." It begins with a performance of "The Devil Is Afraid of Music" with Robison at the piano and the choir appearing in miniature on his piano lid being menaced by (and eventually vanquishing) the Devil. The film then leaves Robison behind and segues to a country church, where Johnson leads the choir in spirituals.

Alec Wilder wrote of Robison, "He had a special flair for gentleness and childhood, the lost and the religious," and that he demonstrated "there was more to write lyrics about than city life, that the world of memory, of remembered sayings and scenes, was as evocative as the whispered words of lovers."

Technical Note

I've adopted a new way (for me) of producing a so-called "ambient stereo" effect, which I've used in this collection. This is not the same as the old "electronic stereo" records of the 1960s and 70s, nor the ambient stereo I've used on a few previous occasions. This technique adds a modest amount of air around the mono signal, which helps to bring the performances to life.

The transfers were remastered from Internet Archive originals with many additions from my collection.

A Garland for the Queen

To celebrate a coronation 70 years ago, the Arts Council of Great Britain commissioned 10 leading composers to provide choral works in honor of the new Queen, Elizabeth II. In doing so, it was in effect recreating the famous choral compilation, The Triumphs of Oriana, that had attended the accession of Elizabeth I nearly 400 years earlier.

Sheet music

The resulting Garland for the Queen is unlikely to leave such a lasting impression, and was not particularly well received following its premiere by the Cambridge University Madrigal Society in the Royal Festival Hall. As critic John France noted, "it is conventionally regarded as being a generically substandard work from its ‘composer collective’."

That said, it is hard not to enjoy the works as prepared by the "collective" - Arthur Bliss, Arnold Bax, Michael Tippett, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Lennox Berkeley, John Ireland, Herbert Howells, Gerald Finzi, Alan Rawsthorne and Edmund Rubbra. The first performance was led by Boris Ord, who recently appeared here leading music for an Easter service. He and his choir then recorded the program for a 1953 UK Columbia LP.

Today's post is devoted to what I believe to be the second recording of the "garland," as done by the Exultate Singers, conducted by Garrett O'Brien. That ensemble was previously heard here in a program of choral music composed for the 1953 coronation. (Both records were issued to commemorate the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977.) The Singers also have appeared on the blog in a Vaughan Williams choral program.

Ad in The Gramophone, June 1977

In his Gramophone review, Roger Fiske wrote that the Singers "have a clean fresh youthful quality, especially the two soprano soloists. They have all been meticulously trained and agreeably recorded." He did complain about the sameness of the settings and the inability to understand the texts.

The latter complaint is a valid one, especially so in that RCA did not include texts with the LP. It's a shame because the words are by notable poets of the time - Henry Reed, Clifford Bax, Christopher Fry, Ursula Wood, Paul Dehn, James Kirkup, Walter de la Mare, Edmund Blunden, Louis MacNeice and Christopher Hassall. I have partially remedied the text void by hunting down the words for six of the 10 compositions.

Southwark Cathedral

I believe this program was recorded in London's Southwark Cathedral, where O'Brien was on the music staff.

In the process of posting three of the Exultate Singers' LPs, I have yet to find a photo of the group or its conductor. There is an ensemble with the same name today, but it doesn't seem to be related. RCA managed to misspell O'Brien's first name on the cover of this LP. Sic transit gloria mundi musicale.

ADDENDUM - A friend of the blog found a photo of Garrett O'Brien and the Exultate Singers, dating from a program in Grimsby, England in 1972 and taken from the local Evening Telegraph. He admits it is "laughably poor," but we can see O'Brien at the left and note that he wore sideburns in the fashion of the time, also glasses. See below.

David Munrow Conducts Purcell

My recent post of Henry Purcell's Funeral Music for Queen Mary led me to vow that I would post other music by that great Baroque composer. I can think of no better candidate than this recording from the Early Music Consort of London under its remarkable director, David Munrow.

The sessions took place in June 1975, less than a year before Munrow's early death at age 33.

David Munrow

Like the works on the previous recording, this music was composed to honor Queen Mary II of England. The earlier LP contained her funeral music; this one presents two brilliant birthday odes in her honor - selected from the six that Purcell composed, one for each year of her short reign (1689-94).

The earlier of the two on this record is Love's Goddess Sure, from 1692 and written in the French style. The latter, and perhaps better known, is Come ye Sons of Art, from 1694 and in the Italian style. Both enjoy brilliant performances by Munrow and ensemble.

Queen Mary and Henry Purcell

It is hard to overstate Munrow's importance in popularizing early music performance. This is particularly true of his advocacy of medieval and Renaissance compositions, although he also performed Baroque works. His forays into the later period were entirely successful, with this LP an eloquent example.

David Munrow and Christopher Hogwood

Munrow founded the Early Music Consort of London in the 1960s with keyboard player Christopher Hogwood. They gathered some of the best known names in early music performance, including violinist Simon Standage and viola da gambist Oliver Brookes. The vocal soloists for this record include soprano Norma Burrowes, countertenors James Bowman and Charles Brett, and bass Robert Lloyd. Bowman, who died earlier this year, was a particularly important figure and probably the most influential countertenor after Alfred Deller. His duets with Brett are a highlight of this record, but all the singers are splendid.

As Stoddard Lincoln wrote in Stereo Review, "In the performances ease prevails, nothing is forced, each phrase is lovingly turned, and gentle elegance wins the day."

Charles Brett and James Bowman

This recording, which comes from EMI's Abbey Road studios, does not have the sumptuous quality of the previous Purcell LP, which emanated from the very resonant King's College Chapel. It is very good in its own right, however, and well suited to the Early Music Consort's relatively small forces. My transfer comes from an excellent original HMV pressing.

Perhaps recognizing that Alfred Deller had produced a notable recording of Come ye Sons of Art years earlier, EMI commissioned its informative liner notes from Maurice Bevan, for many years the baritone soloist in the Deller Consort.

The download includes complete scans including the text booklet, photos, reviews, and a long Records and Recording article on Munrow based on an interview that took place during the recording of this LP.

To demonstrate some of the changes in performance practice over the years, on my other blog I've uploaded a 1931 recording of a Purcell suite from the London Chamber Orchestra and Anthony Bernard.

'I Married an Angel' - The Early Recordings

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart formed a wildly productive partnership - from 1925 to 1940, they opened a show on Broadway in every year except 1934, and usually more than one. One fertile period was 1936-38, when their productions were On Your Toes, Babes in Arms, I'd Rather Be Right, The Boys from Syracuse and I Married an Angel.

Not long ago, I explored the early recordings from Babes in Arms. The subject of today's post is a lesser hit, but still a popular show: I Married an Angel, which ran from May 11, 1938 to February 25, 1939. Its score is not as bountiful as Babes in Arms, but it has its moments, and there were interesting recordings from the time, which I've gathered for this post.

Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers

The contrived but amusing plot is from a play by the Hungarian writer János Vaszary. It involves the complications that ensue when banker Count Willy Palaffi (Dennis King) marries an angel (Vera Zorina), whose unvarnished honesty becomes a business and social problem for him.

The production involved some of the finest talents of the 20th century theatre - director Joshua Logan, choreographer George Balanchine (Zorina's husband at the time) and scenic designer Jo Mielziner, with Rodgers and Hart writing the book as well as the music.

One reason why the score is less impressive than Babes in Arms among other Rodgers and Hart shows is that the pivotal character, played by Zorina, was a dancer, not a singer. Even so, most of the 10 original songs in the score merited a recording, and a few can still be heard today.

Vera Zorina and ensemble

Let's examine the score, in running order.

Wynn Murray

The first song is Count Palaffi's "Did You Ever Get Stung?" which is nor heard today outside of a few cabarets. No member of the cast recorded it, but Rodgers and Hart veteran Wynn Murray did do so. (She had appeared in both Babes in Arms and The Boys from Syracuse.) Her accompaniment is by the Walter-Bowers Orchestra - cabaret legend Cy Walter and duo-piano partner Gil Bowers. Murray and the band are lyrical at first, then "get hot," in the musical fashion of the time.

Palaffi's "I Married an Angel" was not recorded by a Broadway cast member either, but it did merit a disc from Nelson Eddy, who played the Count in the 1942 film version. That production kept the main songs from the stage score, but added much more music, primarily by operetta veteran Herbert Stothart. He was well suited to providing songs for Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, in their last film together.

Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald

For this number, Eddy's singing was tuneful, but not especially colorful or flexible. For contrast, I've added a contemporary recording by the more relaxed Buddy Clark. Unlike the latter, Eddy includes the verse - a plus for his version. I believe this song still gets an occasional performance today - I was familiar with it, anyway.

Eddy returns for "I'll Tell the Man in the Street," a beautiful song with a tricky melody that he tosses off effortlessly. He again scores points by performing the verse, which adds greatly to the song. 

I could not resist adding a much different interpretation to the end of the playlist, even though it is from 25 years after the musical's run on Broadway. This is the remarkable version of "I'll Tell the Man in the Street" from Barbra Streisand's debut LP. (No verse, though!)

Audrey Christie and Charles Walters

We now come to the only member of the original cast to merit a recording (actually, two). The fortunate artist is Audrey Christie, then a singer and dancer, later a film actor. Her first number is "How to Win Friends and Influence People," a title pinched from the 1936 best seller by Dale Carnegie. 

Christie isn't a great singer, but she does exude energy, essential for this lively number. In the show, he sang the piece with Charles Walters. On record, she is backed by Walter, Bowers and ensemble, again for the Liberty Music Shop label. 

The enduring hit from the show is the eloquent "Spring Is Here." Despite its quality and staying power, no one from the cast recorded it, to my knowledge. So I have again turned to Buddy Clark for a contemporary recording. To it, I've added an unexpectedly terrific version from cabaret singer Eve Symington, issued by the invaluable Liberty Music Shop. Cy Walter leads the band without Gil Bowers, who must have missed his train. Symington includes the verse; Clark does not.

Eve Symington

A parenthetical note about the unfamiliar (to me) Symington: born Eve Wadsworth, she married businessman Stuart Symington in the 1920s, and embarked on a career as a singer. On this evidence, she was quite a good one, but her career was short. It was at about this time that she and her husband moved to St. Louis, where he became the head of Emerson Electric. He later became a well-known US Senator - as Eve Symington's father had been. I've posted three of her other recordings on my singles blog.  

Wynn Murray returns for the clumsily risqué "A Twinkle in Your Eye," not one of the best songs from Rodgers and especially Hart. Murray, Walter and Bowers do their best.

The Roxy

Audrey Christie then performs her second song from the score, "At the Roxy Music Hall." The Roxy was a 6,000-seat behemoth of a movie theater on W. 50th Street. I had no recollection of the place until reader hkitt42 reminded me that it's referenced in the title song of Guys and Dolls. Oh, yeah - "What's playing at the Roxy?"! In this earlier number, Christie assures us, "Oh come with me, you won't believe a thing you see!" and "Don't be shy if a naked statue meets your eye!" among other marvels. It's a fun piece and Christie is the right person to sing it, but the song is now recherché considering that the Roxy has been dust since 1960.

Cy Walter and Gil Bowers

The playlist is completed - save for the Streisand reprise of "I'll Tell the Man in the Street" - by a two-sided medley from Walter and Bowers and their pianos. It includes "Spring Is Here," "I'll Tell the Man in the Street," "I Married an Angel" and "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

The download includes a restored version of the souvenir program along with production stills, a few Jo Mielziner scenery sketches, and two reviews from Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times. The program and stills are cleaned up from originals on the New York Public Library site, and the resolution is not as fine as one might desire. Most of the recordings were cleaned up from Internet Archive transfers. The Liberty Music Shop items were not well recorded; I've done my best to help them out.

Małcużyński and Susskind in Liszt and Borodin

Małcużyński and Susskind smoke and stare

My friend Jean ("Centuri") asked if I could post the other side of a US Columbia LP I recently offered that contained Cyril Smith's 1944 recording of Dohnányi's Variations on a Nursery Theme. Jean was seeking a 1947 performance of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2, with pianist Witold Małcużyński and the Philharmonia Orchestra under conductor Walter Susskind.

I am happy to post that recording - and am adding to it the same team's 1953 remake of the concerto, along with Małcużyński's recording of Liszt's Sonata in B minor.

Jean, a conductor himself, is particularly interested in Walter Susskind's work. So I am also adding an LP of Borodin's music that Susskind and the Philharmonia set down in 1952.

Details on these recordings are below.

Liszt - Piano Concerto No. 2 (1947 recording), Chopin - Étude, Op. 25, No. 7

Witold Małcużyński (1914-77) was a Polish pianist who escaped to Portugal from France when that country capitulated to the Germans. He then moved to Argentina, the US, and, after the war, Switzerland.

The pianist specialized in the Romantic repertoire, particularly Chopin. Here we have his first recorded venture into the music of Franz Liszt.

Not surprisingly, views of Małcużyński's pianism diverged. Some critics, such as a writer in the American Record Guide, were impressed:

"With the sympathetic assistance of Susskind, who is developing rapidly as a conductor, he delivers a stunning performance that makes the most of the many opportunities for dramatic effectiveness and virtuosic brilliance, yet thankfully does not indulge in the 'interpretative' orgies that have often been the feature of this work's appearance in local concert halls."

The other reviews were equally kind both to pianist and conductor.

This transfer is from LP; the original 78 album included the Chopin Étude in C sharp minor, Op. 25, No. 7, so I've appended that recording to the download as well.

The Gramophone, May 1948

Liszt - Piano Concerto No. 2 (1953 recording), Sonata in B minor

As it did with Cyril Smith's 1940's recording of the Dohnányi, UK Columbia waited only a few years before getting the pianist and conductor back for a remake of the Liszt concerto - presumably warranted by the success of the earlier recording.

As before, the orchestra was the Philharmonia, and again the site was Abbey Road for these March 1953 recordings. This time, the fill-up was more substantial - Liszt's Sonata in B minor.

This time, not all the critics were impressed, at least by the pianist. Andrew Porter wrote in The Gramophone, "Małcużyński seems to me to be an odd pianist - sometimes very poetical in his treatment of a singing phrase; then suddenly brash and harsh." The New York Times' Harold C. Schonberg concurred: "He sentimentalizes, he breaks rhythm; his playing tends to be disconnected...And yet, every once in a while a potentially great pianist is at work."

Borodin - Orchestral Music from Prince Igor

Walter Susskind (1913-80) made quite a number of recordings for EMI in the postwar years, almost all of them as accompanist. Much later he had a chance to record a wider repertoire with his St. Louis Symphony, and via other discs for various labels. Today we have one of his few orchestral outings for EMI, a 10-inch disc done for EMI's Parlophone marque in 1952.

Susskind was a Czech-born British conductor who left his native land in 1939 upon the Nazi invasion. In 1942 he joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and his first recording was soon thereafter in support of that company's Joan Hammond. This set him on the path of being one of UK Columbia's most prolific orchestral accompanists.

Walter Susskind

When the Borodin recording was made, he was the music director of the Scottish National Orchestra; soon he would move to Australia to lead the Melbourne Symphony, followed by seven years in Toronto, and a productive spell in St. Louis. He concluded his career with a few years as artistic advisor to the Cincinnati Symphony.

Parlophone advertises the music as an "Orchestral Suite" from Prince Igor, but it is that true only in retrospect. This is actually the orchestral excerpts from the opera - the Overture, "Polovtsian March" and the famous "Polovtsian Dances." Borodin himself never finished the opera. After his death, Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov arranged and orchestrated a performing edition of the work. The Polovtsian music was orchestrated by Rimsky. Glazunov is credited with arranging the Overture, but he did more, drafting it himself using Borodin's opera themes "roughly according to Borodin's plan," as he explained.

Regardless of the patchwork nature of the performing edition, the orchestral works are highly enjoyable. The Philharmonia played well for Susskind, and the critics were generally kind.

The Borodin comes from my collection; the other works were remastered from needle drops found on Internet Archive. The sound is very good in all cases. In addition to the usual reviews and scans, the Borodin download includes a 1972 Gramophone article on Susskind.

Matt Dennis and Virginia Maxey

Singer-pianist-composer Matt Dennis is a firm favorite on this blog, via his MacGregor transcriptions and his complete Capitol output. Here's another unusual item - actually four of them, taken from The Navy Swings series of 15-minute shows sent for promotional purposes to radio stations.

In these, Matt is joined by his wife, the well-known former band singer Virginia Maxey. The programs are from about 1963 or 1964, which is when the couple began performing in nightclubs as Matt and Ginny Dennis.

The four shows are on two LPs, and contain 16 songs in total. These probably reflect their act, being split among solo features and duets. The performances are extroverted, which also likely reflects their nightclub performances. The loud number "Oom-Pah-Pah," from Lionel Bart's Oliver!, is made for live performance and doesn't work very well on a record. (Oliver! opened on Broadway in 1963, one of the reasons why I've dated the records for that year or soon after.)

George Fenneman

The Navy programs intersperse musical numbers with the usual scripted banter, here slightly better than usual because of the announcer, George Fenneman, who had become famous as Groucho Marx's unflappable straight man on the TV show You Bet Your Life. Each program also contains two recruiting spots, which on these shows promote the Airborne Officer Candidate program.

Matt's songs include:

"Show Me the Way to Get Out of This World ('Cause That's Where Everything Is)," which he wrote with Les Clark and recorded for RCA Victor in 1955.

"By the Bend of the River," a 1927 song that Matt may have picked up from the recent LP versions from Betty Carter and Etta Jones. He doesn't seem to have recorded it otherwise.

"Everything Happens to Me," one of his most famous songs, written with Tom Adair in 1940 and introduced by Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey. It's also on Dennis' 1954 Trend LP, and on a MacGregor transcription that can be found here.

"The Lorelei," an instrumental written by Barclay Allen, former Freddy Martin pianist who was paralyzed in a 1949 car crash.

"Why Try to Change Me Now" by Cy Coleman and Joseph McCarthy, which was introduced in 1952 by Sinatra. An interesting choice by Dennis - this song strikes me as being strongly influenced both musically and lyrically by "Everything Happens to Me."

"Have You Met Miss Jones?" from 1937's I'd Rather Be Right. This is also on Dennis' 1954 RCA Victor LP She Dances Overhead, his Rodgers and Hart LP.

"Love Is Wonderful Everywhere," a Dennis song that was not otherwise recorded, as far as I can tell.

Ginny's selections are:

"Time After Time" by Cahn and Styne, written for Sinatra's 1947 MGM film It Happened in Brooklyn.

"Come Fly with Me," a Sammy Cahn-Jimmy Van Heusen song from one of Sinatra's most popular albums.

"The More I See You" by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon for the 1945 film Diamond Horseshoe, where Dick Haymes introduced it.

"Just in Time," a Jule Styne song from Bells Are Ringing, written in 1958 with Comden and Green, and sung by Judy Holliday and Sydney Chaplin in the show.

"On the Street Where You Live," Lerner and Loewe's great number from My Fair Lady.

Young Ginny and Matt

The Ginny-Matt duets are:

"We Belong Together," a 1954 song by Dennis and Don Lodice, which also can be found on Matt's 1954 Trend LP.

"Oom-Pa-Pa," the Lionel Bart song from Oliver! introduced by Georgia Brown in the 1960 West End production.

"The Night We Called It a Day," another classic Dennis-Adair song that was Sinatra's first solo single. It's on Matt's 1954 album on Trend; also on a MacGregor transcription that can be found here.

Matt is in excellent form throughout; Ginny too except for a tendency to get shouty on the high notes. As a band singer, I imagine she was used to projecting her voice. The backing combo is proficient, although I could do without the trumpet obbligatos. 

As always, I've tracked the LPs so that you can listen once (if that) to the banter and Navy spots, then jettison them in favor of the songs. The sound is very good, although the dynamics are compressed for AM radio use. The download includes a New York Times review of Matt and Ginny's act from early 1964.

An Easter Service from King's College

Looking through some of my choral LPs yesterday, I came across this recording of the Easter morning service made in 1957 by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. I decided to make a quick transfer for this post.

Similar to the Christmas recordings from King's, this includes both the spoken lessons and prayers and the appropriate music from the service.

The musical selections are largely from 16th and 17th century composers (Thomas Tomkins, Robert Stone and William Byrd) and from the 20th century composer Herbert Howells. The latter are from his Collegium Regale service, written for King's.

Boris Ord

Leading the choir was Dr. Boris Ord, who was the King's College Chapel organist from 1929 to 1957. This must have been one of his last recordings with the choir. Their 1956 disc of the Christmas Eve service and 1954 disc of Evensong can be found here. Ord died in 1961.

The "chapel" of course is a vast edifice, and a difficult place for recording. The music on this current disc was well handled by the Argo engineers, and even the spoken passages sound atmospheric yet also clear. This recording is in mono; I don't believe it ever was issued in stereo.

A.R. Vidler

Among those reading the lessons and prayers is the Rev. Dr. A.R. Vidler, Dean of King's College. He was a notable personality who was editor of the journal Theology and author of several books. As you will note above, he also advocated wearing a black shirt and white tie in preference to a clerical collar, which may bring to mind the men's garb in Guys and Dolls.

The download includes Jeremy Noble's review from The Gramophone. Very informative, but I must disagree with his characterization of Herbert Howells' music as "a little insipid." The Collegium Regale is a favorite of mine; you can hear another recording of the Te Deum in this post from Westminster Abbey.

If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope spring has arrived in your vicinity. Please have a happy holiday!

The King's College Chapel in a later photograph. Stephen Cleobury (left center) leads the choir.