FOR SALE: Goldberg-Kraus and Busch-Serkin chamber music $60

[drh]

I have the following records for sale as a lot:

Szymon Goldberg, violin, and Lili Kraus, piano--Beethoven, Violin Sonatas nos. 2, 5 ("Spring"), 6, 9 ("Kreutzer). Red label US Decca sets 2 and 3 (12 records, manual sequence, no album)

Szymon Goldberg, violin; Lili Kraus, piano; and Anthony Pini, 'cello--Haydn, Three Trios. Parlophone set AP 35 (6 records, Haydn picture labels, automatic sequence, in original album)

Adolf Busch, violin, and Rudolf Serkin, piano--Beethoven, Violin Sonata no. 9 ("Kreutzer). Columbia set MM 496 (4 records, automatic sequence, in original album)

All are in clean, shiny condition except for side 1 of the Goldberg-Kraus "Kreutzer," which has a couple of patches of scrabble. Note, however, that the US Decca pressings, as usual, are somewhat brittle, gritty things and always were. A couple of exemplar photos appear below; you can see photos of all the records, with close-ups of that one side with scrabble, here:

https://ibb.co/album/fCqiMF

Lili Kraus recorded a complete set of the Beethoven violin sonatas with Willi Boskovsky for LP, but with Goldberg she recorded only nos. 2, 5, 6, 9, and 10 in 1936 and 1937. According to WERM, 2 was released only on US Decca, 10 only on Parlophone. 5 and 6 were on Odeon and US Decca. 9 was on Odeon, Parlophone, and US Decca. What I have here, then, are all the Goldberg-Kraus Beethoven recordings released on US Decca; to complete their output, you'll need a copy of no. 10 on Parlophone.

The Haydn set, dating to 1939, was released only on Parlophone and apparently had little or no US distribution. The album labels it as Volume I, but, alas, instead of Volume II we got World War II. The Japanese captured Mme. Kraus as an enemy alien in Indonesia, where she was on tour, and threw her into a labor internment camp for the duration of the war. Only after a couple of years did a Japanese officer who had admired her prewar performances learn of her plight and arrange for her to have access to a piano. If you have heard only her postwar recordings, please note that to my ear she was a very different artist in the 1930s, when this set and the Beethoven sonatas were recorded. How could it be otherwise?

Because of the less-than-pristine condition of the Goldberg-Kraus "Kreutzer" set's first record, I'm adding a copy of my favorite account of that work from the 78 era, the Busch-Serkin, with its ferocious take on the first movement, recorded mere days after Pearl Harbor. Of accounts I've heard from any era, only Max Rostal surpasses this one for fire and passion, at least to my ear.

I'm asking $60 plus actual postage for all 22 records. You are free to pick them up at my home in the Washington, DC suburbs if you wish. I accept checks, money orders, or PayPal Friends and Family. At this point, I don't want to split the sets up. Thanks for looking over my listing.

[drh]

I'll be happy to combine postage if someone wants these and the Caruso lot I've just put up for sale in a separate posting.

[drh]

I'll be happy to combine postage if someone wants these and the Caruso lot I've just put up for sale in a separate posting.

Carusos have spun off to a new home, but these are still available...

[drh]

These are still available. I can combine them with my Pathé lot to save on shipping if you are interested in both.

[drh]

You know, English is a funny language. For example, take the letters "bu_p." If you put an "r" in the blank, you get a social indiscretion. Put an "m" in there, however, and you get...

...bump!

(Goldberg/Kraus and Busch/Serkin still available. Pathés are long gone.)