Lambert and Malko Conduct Tchaikovsky

Today we return to the recordings of composer-conductor-arranger-author Constant Lambert in a work by Tchaikovsky, a composer he favored. We also hear another Tchaikovsky composition led by a much different maestro, the expatriate Ukrainian-Russian Nicolai Malko (1883-1961).

The Lambert recording is Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky's dramatic and descriptive so-called "Fantasy-Overture," here in a 1941 performance with the City of Birmingham Symphony. For some reason, neither on the original 78s nor here, in its only LP issue, were the Birmingham forces identified, being tagged only as a "Symphony Orchestra."

Constant Lambert by Madame Yevonde, 1933

The Birmingham musicians were not known to be a virtuoso ensemble - during the war the orchestra was composed of part-time players. Lambert draws good results from the group, however - certainly better than a few of the orchestras that have appeared on this blog. It's possible the orchestra was augmented for this recording.

Lambert takes the introduction slowly (too slowly for me), contrasting this music with the turbulent second section, depicting the Montagues and Capulets. The love music is nicely handled by the orchestra. Throughout, as often happens with 80-year-old recordings, the impact of the music suffers from a compressed dynamic range.

I don't think the Lambert recording has had an official reissue since this 1955 LP version, nor has Malko's rendition of excerpts from Tchaikovsky's score for the ballet Sleeping Beauty. Both were issued originally on 78 by HMV - even the 1952 Malko recording, which also appeared on EP - and have not been revisited by that company or its successors, to my knowledge. If anything, the Malko has been even more neglected than the Lambert. This 1955 RCA Victor issue is the only LP version of both scores that I can find.

Malko was a fine conductor who made many excellent records for EMI in the 1950s, first with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and then the Philharmonia, who appear here in the Sleeping Beauty excerpts. Even so, he never had a prestigious orchestral position in the West, being best known for working regularly with the Danish orchestra.

Nicolai Malko

Malko takes a dry-eyed approach to Sleeping Beauty. It's all very impressive, but there is little emotion here in what is, after all, a fairy tale. The orchestra - probably the best in England at the time - plays beautifully throughout. The sound from Abbey Road is, as it often was, clear but not overly warm.

Label of the Waltz 78

The complete Sleeping Beauty is a long (nearly three-hour) score, and RCA is of little help in identifying the handful of excerpts that Malko chose. The disc is not banded and George Jellinek's notes are vague. I spent some time with the more-or-less complete Previn recording, and have identified the selections in the download by number. Malko programs many of the familiar items in the score - the Introduction, the "Rose Adagio," "Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat" - but curiously leaves out the big waltz that is the ballet's most famous dance. It turns out that he had recorded it a few years earlier with the Danish Radio Symphony for another HMV 78. I've appended that title as a bonus.

HMV EP cover

The Malko recordings do not appear to relate to any production of the ballet, even though the HMV EP cover depicts Margot Fonteyn in the Royal Ballet's production. As far as I can tell, Malko never conducted one of the Sadler's Wells/Royal Ballet performances. They were primarily led by Lambert during the 1940s (with a few Beecham incursions), and by Robert Irving and John Hollingsworth in succeeding years. Irving himself recorded a two-disc Sleeping Beauty set with the Covent Garden orchestra in 1955. It appeared on the blog a few years ago and is still available here.

Lambert also recorded excerpts from the score, on two occasions: in conjunction with the 1939 Sadler's Wells production, called The Sleeping Princess, and in 1946 when The Sleeping Beauty was mounted by the ballet company in its new home, Covent Garden. One of my next posts will collect those recordings, along with the ballet music from Gounod's Faust as conducted by George Weldon - who himself taped a more-or-less complete version of Sleeping Beauty with the Philharmonia in 1956.

Returning to the Malko recording, I should note that the RCA transfer was about a half-step flat, which I've corrected. The LP was issued on the budget Bluebird label, so perhaps the company didn't expend as much care on the low-priced product as on its prestigious Red Seal mark. By the way, can anyone explain those black blobs enshrouding the lovers on the cover?

Update: Please see the post above this one, which delves into the question of whether the Sleeping Beauty excerpts contained on this record were really conducted by Malko - or by Lambert. (I think the likeliest answer is still Malko.) In the process, a kind reader has pointed out that the Sleeping Beauty transfer is still below score pitch - even though I adjusted it once - so I have readjusted it, and I think it is correct now - but please let me know if not!

The Curious Case of Malko's "Sleeping Beauty"

Is it you, Nicolai? Or you, Constant?

My post directly below combines two Tchaikovsky readings by the illustrious conductors Constant Lambert and Nicolai Malko. The 1955 RCA Bluebird LP includes Lambert's 1941 Romeo and Juliet with the City of Birmingham Orchestra, and Malko's 1952 excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Or does it? No sooner did I cross-post my item to a Google classical music group than one of the knowledgeable members there dropped a line to say that there has been some dispute as to whether this was really the Malko recording. Apparently RCA had issued the LP with Lambert's 1939 Sleeping Beauty selections in place of the Malko items, while attributing them to the Russian conductor.

I thought this was curious. I am familiar with Lambert's Sleeping Beauty recordings - and am planning to post them - and the 1939 records do not match up with what is contained on the RCA LP. For example, "Red Riding Hood and the Wolf" appears on the RCA album but does not appear to be among the excerpts that Lambert set down in 1939. (He did record it in 1946.) Conversely, Lambert had a go at the famous Waltz in 1939, but it does not appear on the Bluebird LP.

I also checked the items that this LP and the 1939 recordings hold in common, and they do not seem to be the same, to my ears. Admittedly, comparisons are difficult because the excerpts are not uniformly labelled and the scores can be edited differently for the various recordings.

Later, another member posted a transfer from one of the Malko 78, and it does match the same selections on the Bluebird LP. And checking the Tchaikovsky Research site, what appears to be contained on the original 78s seems to match what's on the LP, although the site seems to be unaware of the two sides that aurally match the Bluebird album.

First and second LP covers

I wonder if RCA, after flubbing the first edition of the LP, did in fact correct the later editions. The record exists in two different versions - one with the stock ribbon cover that Bluebird was using at the time, the second my later issue with Romeo and Juliet on the cover. The group member who raised the issue is acquiring an original English EP of the music to make sure.

In the meantime, one thing that did come to light is that my transfer of the Sleeping Beauty excerpts is still a half-step flat - even though I had raised the pitch a half-step already, knowing that it was not correct. So I have adjusted the pitch again (hopefully accurately this time), and have posted a link to a new file both in the comments here and the original post.

Update: another member sent along a transfer of all the Malko Sleeping Beauty 78s, and they do correspond to additional items on the LP.

Lambert's 'Sleeping Beauty' Recordings, Plus Weldon's 'Faust' Ballet Music

1946 Covent Garden Sleeping Beauty production - the Prologue

My recent post of an LP containing Nicolai Malko's recording of excerpts from Tchaikovsky's score for the Sleeping Beauty ballet set off a lengthy discussion: was it really Malko or did the record company mistakenly include Constant Lambert's 1939 Sadler's Wells recordings?

It turns out it really was Malko. I had always doubted the doubters, mainly because I was familiar with Lambert's Sleeping Beauty recordings, and they were not the same as what RCA had presented as Malko's rendition. So today I come full circle by presenting the Lambert recordings.

The remarkable Lambert, the long-time music director for the Sadler's Wells Ballet, actually made two sets of excerpts from the ballet, one in conjunction with a 1938 staging, and one in 1946. The latter was recorded in association with a new production by Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton in the troupe's new Covent Garden home, with costumes by Oliver Messel. As she did in 1938, Margot Fonteyn danced Princess Aurora, with Robert Helpmann as both Prince Florimund and Carabosse.

Margot Fonteyn as Princess Aurora in the Rose Adagio

Margot Fonteyn and Robert Helpmann in the Awakening Scene

Robert Helpmann as Carabosse

Fortunately - and unusually - there is a good visual record of the 1946 staging in the form of color photographs taken by Frank Sharman during performances. The images seen here are from his collection, as made available on the Covent Garden website. Several others are in the download, along with a few black-and-white images taken by Merlyn Severn and published in his book Sadler's Wells Ballet at Covent Garden, a record of the 1946 season.

In the February 1939 session for HMV, Lambert assayed some of the most familiar excerpts from the score - the Introduction, the Waltz, the Rose Adagio, Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat, and the Finale. In 1946, he avoided these items, taking up the Dance of the Maids of Honor and Pages, the Aurora Variation, Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, and a few other dances.

Robert Helpmann and Constant Lambert

Lambert's work is, as usual, beautifully done. Both orchestras are up to the task, although neither has much weight of tone, as far as one can tell from the 70- and 80-year-old recordings, which nonetheless are relatively good for the period. As you might expect, the sound from 1946 is better than from 1939.

The 1939 recordings are taken from lossless needle-drops found on Internet Archive, as refurbished by me. The 1946 excerpts come from an early 50's U.S. Columbia LP in my collection that also included ballet music from Gounod's opera Faust, discussed below.

Weldon Conducts Ballet Music from Gounod's Faust

George Weldon by
Walter Stoneman, 1949

George Weldon (1908-63) was a talented English conductor who was the director of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1946, when these recordings were taken down. He was to stay there only until 1950, when he was dismissed or resigned (accounts differ), supposedly because he was having an affair with choir director Ruth Gipps, a very good composer whose music has lately been revived. Orchestras could be strict about such things back then - blog favorite Efrem Kurtz was reportedly shown the stage door by the Houston Symphony because of a liaison with principal flute Elaine Shaffer, later a well-known soloist.

Weldon made quite a number of records for EMI during his brief life - including a semi-complete version of Sleeping Beauty in 1956. I believe he was associated with the Sadler's Wells Ballet at that time, although the recording was with the Philharmonia. Sadler's Wells music director Robert Irving had recorded a competing version of the ballet the year before, which has appeared on this blog. EMI seemed to make the score a specialty - and so does Big 10-Inch Record, it appears.

The premiere of Gounod's Faust had been in 1859; Gounod added the dance music to Act 5 a decade later at the request of the Paris Opera, where ballets were expected as part of the spectacle.

Weldon secures a lively performance from the underpowered Birmingham band, which had been been decimated during the war. The sound - as with the rest of these items - is well-balanced and pleasing without any high-fidelity pretensions.

'Lost Summer Love,' the Sleeping Beauty Mystery Put to Rest, Plus a Reup

Today we have a second autumn-themed mix from David Federman, an answer to the Great Sleeping Beauty Mystery, and a reup from ex-Cugat canary Abbe Lane.

'Lost Summer Love'

David has dubbed his latest compilation "Lost Summer Love." He writes, "This is an autumn-themed mix, meant to augment the almost sacred sense of loss that comes every September and October."

In five parts, it is typically eclectic, ranging from Chet Baker to Hal Kemp to the Glasgow Orpheus Choir. I am particularly fond of the two versions of the superb but forgotten melody, "It All Comes Back to Me Now," both by the superb but almost forgotten vocalist David Allyn - one at the beginning of his career and one from an later, unreleased Warner Bros. LP.

The download includes 33 songs in all, along with David's commentary.

The 'Sleeping Beauty' Mystery Solved

The subhead above may sound like the title of an Erle Stanley Gardner novel, but it actually relates to the who-directed-it mystery involving conductor Nicolai Malko's RCA Bluebird LP of excerpts from Tchaikovsky's ballet music for The Sleeping Beauty.

I posted the LP not long ago, only to have a knowledgeable fellow say that there was some dispute as to whether Malko did actually conduct the excerpts. Some people apparently claimed that they were a reprint of Constant Lambert's 1938 Sadler's Wells recordings instead.

I was familiar with the Lambert recordings - and plan to post them here soon - and that contrarian thesis did not seem right to me. For one thing, the excerpts on LP included a piece that Lambert didn't record in 1938. And the excerpts he did record then did not seem to be the same as the ones on the LP.

Since then, all the evidence that has been submitted (i.e., the original 78s and 45s containing the Malko recordings) have supported the conclusion that the LP is indeed the complete set of Malko excerpts. I believe it is the only place they can be found in toto.

Why the confusion? I suspect that RCA did initially issue the Bluebird LP with Lambert's recordings in place of Malko's. They apparently corrected the mistake in a subsequent pressing - the one I own and posted.

Abbe Lane Reup

One quick reup today - Abbe Lane's RCA LP Where There's a Man, from 1959. Abbe, at one time a Xavier Cugat singer and wife, wasn't a great vocalist, but she was a great deal of fun, as this album demonstrates. I think Miss Lane must has a steady following - this is the second time a reup has been requested. Follow this link to the original post.

More Tchaikovsky - Ballet Suites from Boult

Sir Adrian Boult

In posting these ballet suites from The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, it may seem like I am getting a head start on the holiday season. The timing is a coincidence, however; this particular transfer is in response to a request.

The conductor is Sir Adrian Boult, whose recordings are always welcome on this blog. We have heard him most recently in the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Indeed, I've only had Boult here in English music (Elgar, Britten, Arnold, in addition to RVW). 

That narrow focus does Sir Adrian a disservice; he was a distinguished conductor of all types of music, and often programmed the works of Tchaikovsky. Of course, he didn't know the Russian composer, as he did all the English composers mentioned above. Still, their lifetimes did slightly overlap, the conductor being born in 1889, and the composer dying in 1893.

Boult recorded music from The Nutcracker on three occasions; this was his only recording of music from Sleeping Beauty. The set was done with the Royal Philharmonic in 1967. This particular record, may have been, in fact, the first Nutcracker I owned. Many have come (and gone) since then. The Nutcracker music has appeared here as conducted by Arthur Fiedler, Frederick Stock, Sir Thomas Beecham, Paul van Kempen and Fritz Lehmann. You can hear music from Sleeping Beauty led by Nicolai Malko, Constant Lambert and Robert Irving.

The Studio 2 edition

The two suites from Boult and the RPO were first issued in UK Columbia's Studio Two series. That was EMI's answer to Decca's Phase 4. Both were designed to be "sonic spectaculars." At the time, that meant they employed multiple microphones for a close-up view of the proceedings, rather as if you were sitting on Sir Adrian's rostrum and getting in his way.

In practice, whether because of the close-in mikes or knob-twiddling by the engineers, the result was a much-elevated frequency response in the upper mid-range and high frequencies. I've not tinkered with the sonic balance; your tone controls, if you have them, should be at the ready.

The Seraphim edition

This transfer is from the US Seraphim edition of 1971. The record suffers from the usual poor surfaces of the time, which in this case started with drop-outs in the first few measures of The Nutcracker. These were present on two different pressings, so apparently were induced in mastering. I have replaced those opening few seconds with another performance sonically matched to the EMI edition. You may notice a shift in perspective when Boult takes over.

Even with some caveats about the sound, these are buoyant performances that will give much pleasure. Sir Adrian had experience as a ballet conductor early in his career, and his tempos are generally pleasing, although I doubt that any troupe of Russian dancers could keep pace with his accelerando during The Nutcracker's Trepak.

In The Nutcracker, in addition to the selections contained in Op. 71a, Sir Adrian inserts the Pas de deux (No. 14a) before the concluding Waltz of the Flowers.

I have to observe that of the two covers above, I much prefer the graceful ballet image chosen by EMI to the drab mash-up of Peter Max and Petipa offered by Seraphim.

Although this record was originally issued in EMI's Studio 2 series, it was actually taped in Studio 1 at Abbey Road. At the time of the sessions, Abbey Road Studio 2 was the lair of the Beatles. The Fab Ones and the great conductor apparently were not in the building simultaneously, however. Otherwise, Sir Adrian could have conducted "I Am the Walrus," which was on the group's docket at the time. He had the moustache for it.

Sir Adrian in the studio, 1969

Robert Irving Conducts 'The Sleeping Beauty'

I have had it in mind for some time to transfer this recording, and was reminded of it by the recent request for Robert Irving's LP of Lecocq and Glazunov ballet scores. This double-LP set finds that conductor leading the orchestra of the Royal Opera House in Tchaikovsky's score to "The Sleeping Beauty" ballet.

This was based on the Sadler's Wells Ballet's 1955 production. Irving was at that time the troupe's music director. The recordings were made in June, and originally issued on HMV. My transfer comes from the RCA Victor set produced under license in the US.

Irving provides a lithe reading, keeping things moving along, which is to my taste, and hopefully was to the liking of the dancers. The Covent Garden orchestra is responsive but sounds a trifle underpowered in the strings.

The sound is well-balanced mono. It's possible that this was recorded in stereo, but I have not seen evidence of such a release myself. The download includes scans of the four-page insert.

Rignold Conducts Prokofiev's Cinderella

About a month ago, I featured excerpts from Prokofiev's score for the ballet Cinderella, from the Royal Opera House Orchestra under Warwick Braithwaite. Now here, on request, are two of the three suites that the composer authorized from the score - also from the ROH Orchestra, this time under Hugo Rignold.

The Braithwaite recording was made in conjunction with the ballet first Western performance, which was by the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1948. Frederick Ashton's staging became a mainstay of the company, and in 1957 was the basis of an American television program, which was likely the impetus behind this second recording.

Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes

The televised production was in the prestigious NBC series Producers' Showcase, broadcast live and in color from 1954-57. It marked the second time that the ballet company had appeared in the series. First was Sleeping Beauty in late 1955, followed by the May 1957 Cinderella staging. Both featured Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes in the leading roles. A DVD of the televised Cinderella is available; you can see an excerpt on YouTube.

Hugo Rignold

Although the NBC telecast was on April 29 and the recording session for this LP was the following week, they employed two different conductors. Robert Irving led the orchestra for the TV show, as he had for the most recent performances at Covent Garden. But Hugo Rignold, then new to the company, was in charge for the recording session at Kingsway Hall. What is more peculiar, later in May Irving took the Royal Philharmonic into the studio to make a competing recording for EMI. While this was presumably done for contractual reasons, the Royal Ballet's administration could not have been happy to see its longtime (1949-58) music director become a competitor.

The online biographies of Irving and Rignold both state that they were music directors of the Royal Ballet in 1957 and 1958, so it is unclear who was in charge when this record was made. In any event, Irving was off to the US in the latter year to take up residence with the New York City Ballet.

Rignold stayed with the ballet until 1960, when he moved to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Previously he had been with the Liverpool Philharmonic. Rignold had a background in popular music, so he was not (and is not) taken very seriously as a classical conductor. Nonetheless, this present effort is well done, and moreover is nicely recorded. This was during a period when RCA Victor's sessions were handled by English Decca's production staffs.

First Red Seal cover

The record first came out in mono in 1957. I believe the initial stereo issue was this 1965 pressing in RCA's budget Victrola series. I own a mono Red Seal pressing (cover above), but have never seen an early stereo Red Seal and Philip Stuart does not list such an issue in his UK Decca discography. All stereo Red Seals that I have seen date from the 1990s or later (and use the mono back cover). The Irving recording for EMI also was first issued in mono, which is the format of my copy on American Angel.

The download includes several photos from the television production, a few brief reviews of the Rignold LP, and front and back scans of both the Red Seal and Victrola covers.

Lambert Conducts Bliss and Adam Ballets

From time to time, I have been exploring the recorded legacy of composer-conductor-orchestrator Constant Lambert. Today we return to his activities as the music director of the Sadler's Wells Ballet.

This present 10-inch LP derives from two productions in the 1946 season, the ballet's first in residence at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Arthur Bliss and Constant Lambert during a 1944 rehearsal

The first side has music from Miracle in the Gorbals, written by Lambert's friend Arthur Bliss and premiered by the company in 1944. This recording was made on the same day as the opening of the 1946 revival, June 14.

Shearer and Rassine as the lovers

"The Gorbals" was and is a sector in Glasgow that had become a notorious slum by the time of the the 1944 production, which had a scenario by Michael Benthall and choreography by Robert Helpmann. The heavily symbolic action elicited strikingly fine music from Bliss, well conveyed in Lambert's authoritative performance. Bliss himself, among other conductors, later recorded more extensive versions of the music.

The second side of the LP presents a suite from Adolphe Adam's music for Giselle, one of the most popular ballets of all time. In this recording, Lambert performs the dual role of conductor and orchestrator. Although the music was written in 1841, Adam's orchestration was not published until the 20th century. Rather than licensing that version, ballet companies such as Sadler's Wells found it less expensive to commission their own orchestrations - and of course that company had a highly skilled arranger on staff in the person of Lambert.

Margot Fonteyn as Giselle

The Giselle recording session came two days after the March 16, 1946 opening of the ballet, a revival of a 1934 staging.

The sound is good on these recordings. The download includes the contemporary Gramophone review, plus additional production ephemera.

In addition to Miracle in the Gorbals and Giselle, Lambert was also in the studios to record three other ballets from the 1946 season - The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia and Gavin Gordon's music for The Rake's Progress. I plan to transfer all at a later date.

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Christmas in July - Nutcracker Reups, Plus Many Limited-Time Uploads

I've been belatedly getting into the Christmas in July spirit, inspired by my friend Ernie's ongoing celebration. My contribution is to revisit two Nutcracker suites from long ago. Plus we have many new limited-time uploads through the generosity of reader 8H Haggis.

The Nutcracker Suite No. 1 (Op. 71a) is from a 1939 recording by the Chicago Symphony conducted by Frederick Stock, transferred from a 78 album. The Suite No. 2 (Op. 71b) comes from a 1946 recording by the Boston Pops and Arthur Fiedler, dubbed from a 45 set. Both are excellent, and in good sound for the time, now repitched and remastered from my 2010 transfers. Find them here.

Meanwhile, Santa 8H Haggis, confused about the holiday, has been busy planting Easter eggs in the comment sections of various old posts. I have not heard even half of these, but I can tell you that his work is sterling on those I have auditioned.

Once again, you must look in the comments section to each post, scroll down for his contribution and his amusing commentary. These are limited-time uploads - the links will expire in a month or less.

Chopin - Les Sylphides, Delibes - La Source, in excellent performances from the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra and Peter Maag - LINK

Tchaikovsky - Manfred Symphony, an outstanding record from the Philharmonia and Paul Kletzki - LINK

Two great serenades - Brahms' Second, led by Vaclav Smetacek, and Dvorak's Serenade in D Minor, under Martin Turnovsky - LINK

A real rarity, Bruno Walter conducting the NBC Symphony in Daniel Gregory Mason's Suite After English Folksongs, from a 1939 broadcast - LINK

Khachaturian's Symphonies No. 1 and 2 in historic Soviet performances led by Alexander Gauk - LINK

Three venerable recordings of the so-called "Corelli Suite for Strings" - the Pinelli arrangement as done by Ormandy and Koussevitzky, and the Arbos version from the most interesting Hans Kindler - LINK

Bizet's Symphony in C and the Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite, with the Bamberg Symphony led by the underrated Fritz Lehmann - LINK

Schubert symphonies - No. 2 and 6 led by Marcel Couraud, and the so-called Gastein (a Joachim arrangement of the Grand Duo sonata), conducted by Felix Prohaska - LINK

Russell Bennett's suite from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and a suite from Tchaikovsky's opera Queen of Spades as arranged and conducted by blog favorite Andre Kostelanetz - LINK

Nielsen and Sibelius pieces conducted by John Hollingsworth and Arthur Winograd - Sibelius' Rakastava, Canzonetta and Romance In C; Nielsen's Little Suite and Dance Of The Cockerels from the opera Maskarade - LINK

Music inspired by Shakespeare from the Prague Symphony and Vaclav Smetacek, including a transcription for orchestra by Otakar Jeremias of Smetana's Macbeth and the Witches - LINK

Soviet composers Meytuss (Dnieper Power Station) and Mossolov (Iron Foundry), in powerful vintage performances - LINK

Edward Van Beinum leading the Elgar Wand of Youth Suites, and Sir Adrian Boult conducting  Moeran's wonderful Symphony in G minor - LINK

The Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia and Anshel Brusilow return with Haydn's 60th and Cherubini's Symphony in D - LINK

Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and American in Paris from the Vienna Symphony and Dean Dixon, with pianist Vivian Rivkin - LINK

Bloch's Concerto Grosso No. 1, Mozart's 34th Symphony, Brahms' 1st, and Tchaikovsky's 4th and 6th in the legendary Chicago Symphony recordings under Rafael Kubelik - LINK

And a large number of Antal Dorati performances: the Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty Suite, Romeo and Juliet and Symphony No. 5, Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Overtures, Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony, Schubert's 8th, Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess Suite and An American in Paris - LINK

Thanks again to 8H Haggis!

Kostelanetz Conducts Grofé and Kern, Plus Many Bonus Items

The recent post of Paul Whiteman recordings led to a lively discussion on the comments page, including  uploads of the Whiteman recordings of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite and Mississippi Suite.

As that was transpiring, I ran across an Andre Kostelanetz LP in my collection with his take on the Mississippi Suite. This 10-inch album couples the 1946 recording of the Grofé work with Kosty's 1942 rendition of Jerome Kern's Mark Twain (Portrait for Orchestra). Both suites are notable contributions to the then-popular vein of musical Americana.

Ferde Grofé

The Mississippi Suite dates from 1925, and was the Grofé's first attempt at such an extended composition. Whiteman recorded his version in 1927, minus the first movement. Grofé later arranged the piece for a larger ensemble. This may be the first recording of that version, although I would not swear that Kostelanetz used the composer's own score. It is possible the conductor edited or even rearranged it.

The fourth section of the Mississippi Suite ("Mardi Gras") spawned a popular song in 1942 called "Daybreak," with lyrics by Harold Adamson. Tommy Dorsey had a hit with the tune, with a vocal by his boy singer of the period, Frank Sinatra. On my singles blog, I've uploaded another fine rendition, the 1955 version by Al Hibbler.

Cover of 78 set

Kostelanetz himself commissioned Kern's Mark Twain along with Aaron Copland's A Lincoln Portrait and Virgil Thomson's Mayor LaGuardia Waltzes, introducing them during a 1942 Cincinnati Symphony concert. The Copland piece can be found on this blog in the Rodziński/New York recording. I don't think Thomson's ode to Fiorello has been recorded, and I've never heard it.

Mark Twain is an enjoyably melodious work. It's not clear who handled the orchestration, although the published version available from the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization was orchestrated by Amadeo De Filippo, who was a staff arranger for CBS and other media organizations during the mid-century years.

Jerome Kern

The LP sound is reasonably good for the Kern; better for the Grofé. [Note (May 2023): I've now rebalanced the Kern and mastered the files in ambient stereo. The sound is much improved.] The performances are splendid.

1943 Life Magazine ad

Bonus uploads

Now for a bonanza of bonus items, courtesy of our friend 8H Haggis. As before, the links below take you to one of my posts. Once there, look in the comments for 8H's commentary and a download link or links. Also as before, these are limited-time uploads, available for a month or less.

First we have the aforementioned Grofé Mississippi Suite in the historic but truncated Whiteman recording. LINK

Tchaikovsky's Hamlet and Glazunov's Stenka Razin, in classic performances conducted by blog favorite Constant Lambert. Also, From Arthur Bliss, his 1955 recording of the Colour Symphony, and his 1935-36 and 1957 performances of the suite from Things to Come. LINK

The famous recording of Bloch's Concerto Grosso No. 1 with the Chicago Symphony under Rafael Kubelik. Plus a concert performance of Berwald's Sinfonie Singulière with Louis Lane and the Cleveland Orchestra. LINK

Stokowski's 1950 recording of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite with 8H's valiant attempt to fix its squashed dynamic range. LINK

Copland's El Salón México in both the live Toscanini-NBC broadcast of 1942 and Guido Cantelli's 1945 performance with the New York Philharmonic. Also, the underrated Walter Susskind conducting Morton Gould's Spirituals with the London Symphony. LINK

A Toscanini/NBC broadcast from 1945 with music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Vittorio Rieti, Paul Creston and Elie Siegmeister, plus interviews with Creston and Siegmeister. LINK

Early recordings from conductor Eugene Goossens: a suite from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, Balakirev's Islamey, Dvořák's Carnival Overture, Falla's Ritual Fire Dance, Massenet's Le Cid ballet music, Borodin's Polovtsian Dances and Rimsky-Korsakov's Le Coq d'Or suite. LINK

A notable 1962 broadcast recording of Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony from the Boston Symphony and Charles Munch. LINK

The classic mono recording of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra and a fantastic performance of the Kodály Concerto for Orchestra, both from Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphians. LINK

Don Gillis' tone poem, Tulsa, in the interesting Remington recording led by H. Arthur Brown. LINK

Finally, in honor of the centenarian, a live 1949 performance of Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety, with Lenny as pianist and the Boston Symphony under his mentor, Serge Koussevitzky. LINK

So much here - thanks 8H!

Jean Morel Conducts Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky's ballet scores for The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty have appeared here a number of times, but I have neglected his Swan Lake music. To make amends, here is a set of excerpts from the early days of stereo.

The conductor is Jean Morel (1903-75), born in France and primarily associated with the operas from that country. This post is one of the few commercial records he made that were not accompaniments.

Jean Morel

Morel left Europe in 1936, and after stops in Latin America, came to the US in 1940. He became associated with the New York City Opera a few years later, staying there until 1951. A 22-year association with the Juilliard School began in 1949. He soon became an influential teacher. Morel has appeared on this blog before, conducting the Juilliard Orchestra in a Mozart concerto with pianist Rosina Lhévinne, his colleague at the school. Much of the conductor's reputation rests on his 1956-71 tenure with the Metropolitan Opera, where he primarily was associated with French works.

In this Tchaikovsky recording, he leads the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden. As far as I can determine, Morel never was engaged by the Royal Ballet, and only conducted a single 1960 performance of Manon for Covent Garden Opera. Nor was he a specialist in ballet music, unlike most of the conductors who have appeared here in that repertoire.

That said, his reading of the Swan Lake music is very good. The opposite of an improvisatory conductor, Morel believed in having all aspects of the score worked out ahead of time. You can hear that this performance is well controlled, and his care over the score may seem a little too careful at times. But all in all, it's most enjoyable.

The recording was made for RCA Victor by UK Decca engineers working in Watford Town Hall in September 1957. As usual with Decca recordings, both the low and high frequencies are emphasized. While the results are vivid, the microphones perhaps were too close to the strings, which can sound wiry at times.

Cover of first US issue

RCA originally issued the LP in mono only in the US (above). The first US stereo edition, which is the source of my transfer, was in 1965 in the budget Victrola line (advertisement below). RCA's UK arm issued a mono version in late 1958 and stereo early the next year. The download includes a Gramophone review from October 1958.

Ad in May 1965 High Fidelity magazine (click to enlarge)

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Constant Lambert Conducts 'Coppélia'

Constant Lambert by Gordon Anthony

The 1946 productions of the Sadler's Wells Ballet, in its new home at Covent Garden, have been featured several times here, all in recordings led by Constant Lambert - Sleeping Beauty, The Rake's Progress, Miracle in the Gorbals and Giselle. Today we have recordings made in conjunction with a staging of the ballet Coppélia, with music by Léo Delibes.

The 1946 production was, I believe, a revival of the 1940 staging. It opened on October 25, 1946, and Lambert and the Royal Opera House Orchestra were in the studio the following February for these recordings. Actually two studios - the music from Act III was recorded in Kingsway Hall February 7, with the Act I and II sessions moving to Abbey Road Studio 1 on March 25. The resulting recording contains about a third of the complete score. One note: the composer Gordon Jacob is listed as orchestrating Act III; I haven't found a description of the work he did.

Publicity photo of Margot Fonteyn as Swanilda

Coppélia set design by William Chappell

Delibes' captivating music influenced Tchaikovsky. The performance does full justice to the score; Lambert's clarity and incisiveness are everywhere in evidence. The Royal Opera House Orchestra was not a virtuoso ensemble, but you will not notice much amiss, except for some insecure horn playing in the Prelude. That passage soon gives way to the wonderful Mazurka and the rest of the score is handled well. (The Mazurka's tempo is swift; I suspect that Lambert used a more moderate tempo for the stage production.)

Naturally, not all the critics agree with my assessment of the performance. The Gramophone's reviewer sneered that the playing was "of a good routine order," complained of a missing diacritic on the label, and was bored with the music: "It is all rather faded, for me, but these amiable things have a place in the corner of most hearts." But then the critic of The Spectator, reviewing the opening night performance, had this to say: "The music, delightful in its melodiousness and piquant rhythms, was particularly well played by the orchestra under Constant Lambert, and the audience was wildly and justly enthusiastic."

UK Columbia issued its 78 set in 1947, with US Columbia following the next year. This transfer is from my pressing of the 1949 US LP (cover below). The sound is good. The download includes many production stills and reviews.

Reups, Remasters, Limited-Time Uploads, and the Christmas Season Begins

At the Big 10-Inch Record, it's always Christmas - or so I like to think. Today we have a huge pile of presents for the music lover, courtesy of the ever-prolific 8H Haggis, along with a bunch of additional gifts from Santa Buster. (Santa Busta? Santer Buster?)

And to really get the Christmas season underway, old friend David Federman has prepared a new compilation of seasonal songs, promising that it is just the beginning of a series. Let's start with David's goodies.

A Homeland Security Christmas

David is calling his digital mix tape "A Homeland Security Christmas." I am going to let you read David's own thoughts for an explanation, but let me mention that his intention is to highlight great songs from previous generations. "Man, did our parents have standards!" he notes. "And not just as gauges of excellence and workmanship, but songs worthy of cherishing.

"This mix is meant to put you in a kind of ancestral state of mind as you imagine job- and war-worried people trying to spend time alone or together in hope and happiness."

Please go to the comments section of the All Saints' Day post to read David's comments and a link to his 31-song compilation. His own link only will be good for a few days, but I have added a more permanent link just below his comments.

Paul Whiteman, Parts 3 and 4

I know many of you were interested in the Paul Whiteman records posted here and on the blog of good friend Lee Hartsfeld. Just wanted to let you know that Lee has added two new groups of Whiteman songs - go here and here.

Reups and Remasters

As my own contribution to the festivities, I have prepared a pile of reuploads. Most of them are of recent vintage, so I have not revisited the sound. But a few date back many years, so I have remastered these, and they now have much better sound. A few words on these spiffed-up items, then a list of the other reups.

The superb, wildly imaginative pianist Johnny Costa was the subject of a relatively early post on this blog. I can recommend this LP to any of you who have enjoyed the André Previn or Cy Coleman albums I have posted. Costa was that good. LINK to original post.

Another early post was the original 10-inch version of the soundtrack to the famous Marlon Brando motorcycle opera The Wild One. Leith Stevens was credited with the score, but props to Shorty Rogers and his jazz troupe, who performed it. Superb stuff in excellent sound. LINK to original post.

The other reups:

Leo Sowerby - Prairie, From the Northland (ARS Orchestra/Dean Dixon) - LINK

Robert Ward - Symphony No. 3, Leon Stein - Three Hassidic Dances (Cincinnati SO/Thor Johnson) - LINK

Barber - Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Elenor Steber, Dumbarton Oaks CO/William Strickland); Four Excursions (Rudolf Firkušný, p.) - LINK

Django Reinhardt - Le Jazz Hot (contribution from my pal flyingfinger) - LINK

Roy Harris - Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra (Johana Harris, p., M-G-M SO/Izler Solomon); Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight (Nell Tangeman, ms.) - LINK

Americana for Solo Winds (works by Barlow, Rogers, Copland, Kennan, Keller, and Hanson, conducted by Hanson) - LINK

Arnold - English Dances (London PO/ Sir Adrian Boult) - LINK

Limited-Time Uploads from 8H Haggis

Now let me offer just a synopsis of what our man 8H has been up to in the comments section. As always, see the comments to the posts below for what 8H has for you. I suggest searching on the composer or artist to minimize scrolling.

In the Whiteman, Previn and a Profusion of Limited-Time Uploads comments

"The Virtuoso Harpsichord"/Anton Heiler
Barber - School for Scandal Overture/Werner Janssen
Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique/Arvid Jansons
Boccherini-Gruetzmacher - Cello Concerto/Danil Shafran, Arvid Jansons
Cherubini - Symphony in D/Carlo Zecchi
Debussy - Martyrdom of St. Sebastien/Victor Alessandro (don't miss this one)
Grieg - Piano Concerto/Richard Farrell, George Weldon (Farrell is terrific)
Liszt - Piano Concerto No. 1/Richard Farrell, George Weldon
Liszt - Tasso/Arvid Jansons
Mozart - Lucio Silla Overture/Antal Dorati
Mozart - Symphonies Nos. 39 and 41/Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Rimsky-Korsakov - Capriccio Espagnole, Le Coq d'Or suite/Ernest Ansermet
Schumann - Cello Concerto/Danil Shafran, Arvid Jansons
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker/Antal Dorati
Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty/Antal Dorati
Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto/Ruben Aragonyan, Arvid Jansons
Tchaikovsy - Suite No. 1/Arvid Jansons
Thomson - "The Mother of Us All" Suite/Werner Janssen
Thomson - Cello Concerto/Luigi Silva, Werner Janssen
Weber - Symphony No. 2/Willem van Otterloo
Plus a "mystery download" (my hint: very interesting operatic recordings)

Plus an extravaganza devoted to the obscure but Haggis-approved conductor C. A. Bünte:

Barber - Symphony No. 1
Beethoven, Schubert - German Dances
Beethoven - Consecration of the House Overture
Beethoven - Early Piano Concerto in E-flat (Galling, p.)
Beethoven - Symphony No. 3
Brahms - Serenade No. 1
Busoni - Konzertstueck (Glazer, p.); Rondo Arlecchinesco (Moser, t.)
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue (Bianca, p.)
Glinka - Ruslan und Ludmilla Overture
Harris - Symphony No. 3

In The First Recording of Vaughan Williams' Pastoral Symphony comments

Vaughan Williams - English Folksong Suite, Greensleeves Fantasia, Norfolk Rhapsody, Tallis Fantasia/Sir Adrian Boult

In the Hanson Conducts MacDowell comments

Dvorak - Symphony No. 7/Sir John Barbirolli
Dvorak - Symphony No. 8, Scherzo Capriccioso/Sir John Barbirolli
Elgar - Enigma Variations; Purcell-Barbirolli - Suite/Sir John Barbirolli
Grieg - Peer Gynt music, Symphonic Dances/Sir John Barbirolli
Haydn Oboe Concerto (Evelyn Barbirolli); Dvorak Serenade in d/Sir John Barbirolli
Hovhaness - Prelude and Quadruple Fugue; Lo Presti- The Masks; Sessions - The Black Maskers/Howard Hanson
Prokofiev - Symphony No. 4, L'Enfant Prodigue suite/Georges Sebastian
Schumann - Symphony No. 3/Paul Paray
Suppe - Overtures/Sir John Barbirolli
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 8, Bax, Butterworth/Sir John Barbirolli

In the Kostelanetz Conducts Grofé and Kern, Plus Many Bonus Items comments

Villa-Lobos - saxophone works/Vincent Abato, NY Woodwind Quintet
Saxophone concerti/Eugene Rousseau

In the More Limited-Time Uploads comments

Haydn - Organ Concerto in C and Sinfonia Concertante in Bb/soloists, Karl Ristenpart
Haydn - Symphonies Nos. 13, 19, 29, 31, 44, 45, 49, 64/Leslie Jones
Haydn - Symphonies Nos. 44 and 57/Szymon Goldberg
Haydn - Symphonies Nos. 55 and 85/Roberto Benzi
Haydn - Trumpet Concerto; Divertimento for Flute; Serenade; and "Das Echo"/soloists, Kurt Redel
Mendelssohn's Quartet No. 1/Fine Arts Quartet
Mozart - Quartets/Roth Quartet
Rosza - Overture to a Symphony Concert; Theme, Variations, and Finale/Miklos Rosza
Saint-Saens - Tone Poems/Louis Fourestier
Schubert - Quartets Nos. 13 & 14/Fine Arts Quartet
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 7/William Steinberg (a rare one with the Buffalo PO)
Strauss-Dorati - Graduation Ball/Antal Dorati

And finally...

Another plug for my new Twitter feed. Links to all the posts here and on the singles blog when those posts appear. Links to other items of interest (to me, anyway) on the web. And a new benefit - periodic uploads for Twitter followers only. (Like I said, it's the start of the holiday season!)

Just click the link below.

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