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Re: HMV album value.

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:16 pm
by Lenoirstreetguy
I have always wanted to hear the Edison Bell set, staunch Elgarian that I am. I've managed to amass quite a number of Elgar's HMV recordings, both acoustic and electric. But never the Velvet Face sides, which are incredibly scarce, as epigramophone and Menophanes pointed out. My consolation prize in this regard is the fact that I've got the promotional brochure for the issue and here it is " for your divertissement", as they use to say on the Edison Diamond Disc sleeves.
Jim Tennyson.

Re: HMV album value.

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 6:05 pm
by marcapra
I've found that the Gershwin records that he recorded on 12" Viva Tonal Columbia have a following as I just bought some. But he would not sell me the Whiteman recording of Gershwin's Piano Concerto on three 12" Potato Heads, no album, thinking they were very valuable. I think he thought that Gershwin was on piano, but it was Roy Bargy. Top price on Popsike was $68 but that was in a mint album. I have a 1936 recording of the Seasons ballet conducted by Glazunov, but don't know if they are valuable. I also have records by Rachmaninoff which are pretty common on Victor.

Re: HMV album value.

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:12 pm
by estott
marcapra wrote:I've found that the Gershwin records that he recorded on 12" Viva Tonal Columbia have a following as I just bought some. But he would not sell me the Whiteman recording of Gershwin's Piano Concerto on three 12" Potato Heads, no album, thinking they were very valuable. I think he thought that Gershwin was on piano, but it was Roy Bargy. Top price on Popsike was $68 but that was in a mint album. I have a 1936 recording of the Seasons ballet conducted by Glazunov, but don't know if they are valuable. I also have records by Rachmaninoff which are pretty common on Victor.
That Whiteman recording of the Concerto is a curiosity since he did a lot of tampering with the orchestration. It is a desirable performance primarily for Bix's fine solo in the slow movement.

Nothing wrong with Bargy at the piano- he was a better player than Gershwin, at least when it came to technique.

Re: HMV album value.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 1:11 am
by marcapra
That's good. I just checked the 12" album that I bought, and he did include the three Potato Head set of the Gershwin Piano Concerto! I also got the Whiteman recording on two 12" Victor scrolls (1928) of Metropolis, a Blue Fantasie by Grofe.

Re: HMV album value.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:09 am
by VanEpsFan1914
I only wish classical albums from the 1920s and 30s showed up around here! It's tough enough finding single sided Red Seals. Apparently people were more interested in pop music.

The old classical records are my favorite way to hear the great composers. Even the 1940s Columbia Masterworks are good--and sound nice! Actually that is why I am having the reproducer redone on my 2-65 Vic portable.

Wish people would quit advertising these for umpteen dollars a box and then throwing them away when they don't sell at the high price. But ACTUALLY...if I knew which dumpsters to haunt...Mmmhm!

Re: HMV album value.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 2:23 pm
by Wolfe
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Re: HMV album value.

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 9:29 am
by Menophanes
estott wrote:That Whiteman recording of the [Gershwin] Concerto is a curiosity since he did a lot of tampering with the orchestration . . .
Speaking of 'tampering with the orchestration' on record: – There is a 1938 set of Fauré's Requiem in Columbia's LX series, made in Lyons (France) and conducted by Ernest Bourmauck. The curious thing about this is that the scoring seems to be essentially Fauré's version of 1893, with no woodwind except bassoons and no violins except in the Sanctus. This arrangement is usually said to have been lost after the original performance and never used again until John Rutter reconstructed it from the manuscript in 1989. Presumably Bourmauck was working from an otherwise unknown manuscript copy. Intriguingly, a very short article on Bourmauck in Wikipedia suggests that he was closely associated with the composer and even that he conducted the première of the work, although this last statement seems unfounded; however, it does appear that any score used by Bourmauck may have had considerable authority.

I have no reason for supposing that this set is of any commercial worth, but to me at least it is valuable in another sense. The Pie Jesu is sung by a soprano (Suzanne Dupont), and for me this version makes all the customary renderings by boy trebles sound shallow and insincere by comparison.

Oliver Mundy.

Re: HMV album value.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 12:33 am
by drh
Menophanes wrote:
estott wrote:That Whiteman recording of the [Gershwin] Concerto is a curiosity since he did a lot of tampering with the orchestration . . .
Speaking of 'tampering with the orchestration' on record: – There is a 1938 set of Fauré's Requiem in Columbia's LX series, made in Lyons (France) and conducted by Ernest Bourmauck. ...
Here in the States, that was US Columbia set 354.