Curious Beethoven Album - Columbia Masterworks Set 2

[Lah Ca]

I recently acquired two large boxes of 12" classical disks, dates ranging from the 1920s to the 1940s. Among them is a Colombia Records Masterworks album, Set 2, Beethoven's 8th Symphony, with The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Felix Weingartner. A Discogs entry has an 1927 date for the album. It is interesting that the album stresses that it is "four double disk records," as opposed to single-sided records, I guess. It is cut at 80 RPM, and there are no run-out grooves.

The album sounds like an acoustic recording. The interpretation/performance of the symphony is quite different from modern recordings. Some passages sound almost like Sousa marches. All in all, it is very interesting. The most curious thing, however, is that there are two different sets of labels in the album for the same recording. The disks are all UK-made, I think, but perhaps the second set of labels were affixed in the US, as they give a list price per disk of $1.75, a lot of money in 1927. I know the provenance of these records. They were purchased new by a then young woman who was a piano teacher. The records were loved and played and cared for accordingly. They are all in perfect looking condition, although they have a lot of play wear. It is possible that the records with the second set of labels are replacement disks for damaged ones, but I do no think this is likely.

Thoughts? Opinions? Knowledge?

Screenshot from 2023-02-21 12-44-05.png (668.11 KiB) Viewed 799 times

[Orchorsol]

Interesting! My reference has L 1538 as being issued in 1924.

[Lah Ca]

Interesting! My reference has L 1538 as being issued in 1924.

Well ... I think I will trust you more than Discogs.

If 1927 is a valid date, it is, perhaps, the date of US/Canada issue.

It is also interesting that the L 1536 identification is crossed out by hand on the blue label disks and there is the 6700x number scrawled on the label by hand. The 6700x numbers match the sequence of the gold label disks.

[Wolfe]

Flag label pressings would immediately eliminate it as from 1927. This set was from 1924.

Beethoven 8th was re-recorded electrically in 1927, with Weingartner conducting the Royal Philharmonic. That's the one in the Discogs listing. Appropriately, those also have "Viva-Tonal" labels, which denote electrical recordings.

[Lah Ca]

The weight of evidence stacks up against Disog's date of 1927.

https://archive.org/details/cm-2-beethoven-8-iv

"Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F, Op. 93
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Felix Weingartner

Recorded on November 27, 1923, in Columbia's Petty France Studios, London. Issued in Great Britain as L 1538 through L 1541 in April, 1924, and in the USA as 67005-D through 67008-D (Masterworks Set No. 2) in November, 1924. ....
....
In common with many Columbia sets of this era, two adjoining sides share a good bit of the same music. The minuet is spread over sides 4 and 5; side 4 contains the minuet and all of the trio, and side 5 contains the closing measures of the minuet, the entire trio again, and the minuet da capo."

[Wolfe]

The Discogs listing is correct for 1927, but for it's an entirely different recording, from 1927.

[Lah Ca]

The Discogs listing is correct for 1927, but for it's an entirely different recording, from 1927.

Thanks.

There is still the interesting question, however, of how a young female piano teacher in western Canada ended up with the album containing what would seem to be a mix of UK and American release disks. Strange.

[Dischoard]

https://www.discogs.com/release/1579058 ... In-F-Op-93

This one appears correct...

[drh]

Columbia actually issued three recordings of Weingartner leading this work: with the London Symphony Orchestra in set 2 (acoustic, the one you have); with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in set 64, one of the Beethoven centennial sets; and then with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in set 292. In my copy of set 2, all the records have the ribbon style gold labels.

[Lah Ca]

Some documentation

Blue Labels
Labelled Made in England, Speed 80

Disk 1, Side 1

Label Numbers: L 1538 AX243, L 1538 crossed out and 6705-D written on label

Matrix Numbers: AX243 4584

Disk 1, Side 2

Label Numbers: L 1538 AX244, L 1538 crossed out and 6705-D written on label

Matrix Numbers: AX244 4585

Disk 2, Side 1

Label Numbers: L 1539 AX245, L 1539 crossed out and 6706-D written on label

Matrix Numbers: AX245 – no second number

Disk 2, Side 2

Label Numbers: L 1539 AX246, L 1539 crossed out and 6706-D written on label

Matrix Numbers: AX246 – no second number

Gold/Flag Labels
No location of manufacture given, labelled Imported Recording, no speed given, US and Canadian patent information printed

Disk 3, Side 1

Label Numbers: 6707-D AX247

Matrix Numbers: AX247 2-A-

Disk 3, Side 2

Label Numbers: 6707-D AX248

Matrix Numbers: AX248 1-A-

Disk 4 Side 1

Label Numbers: 6708-D AX249

Matrix Numbers: AX249 1-A-

Disk 4 Side 2

Prelude in C# Minor, Rachmaninoff/Wood, erroneously listed as In Seven Parts by the carrying over of the labelling for Beethoven Symphony #8.

Label Numbers: 6708-D 6585

Matrix Numbers: 6585 6-A-