What are the most haunting 78s you own (or have heard)?

[emgcr]

Decca K1466. Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck) "What is Life?" sung by Kathleen Ferrier (1912-1953).
You would need a heart of stone not to be moved and haunted by this. Kathleen Ferrier became world famous for her portrayal of Orfeo, and continued to perform the role even when in pain from the terminal cancer to which she succumbed at the early age of 41.

I am with you there Roger. That was one of the most famous all-time recordings which must have brought joy to millions by now. Her courage and bravery on stage at the end of her life when she refused to stop singing as her bones literally crumbled is nothing short of heroic. How lucky are we to have such heritage with so many superb recordings. What is life---indeed ! Magnificent !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vc7d7gUQmk (1945).

[edisonplayer]

Song Of The Condemned,also The Hell Bound Train.edisonplayer.

[Curt A]

Nature Boy - Nat King Cole

[Curt A]

Summertime - George Gershwin

[Roaring20s]

Nature Boy - Nat King Cole

Yes, that's another favorite!

Two more and I'll call it quits ...
Yves Tinayre - Agniaus Douz
https://archive.org/details/78_agniaus- ... ia0289066a

Gregorian Chant from the Monks of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes Abbey

James.

[JerryVan]

Here's a few...

"Falling Leaves" Grandpa Jones
"Faded Coat of Blue" The Carter Family
"A Perfect Life" Jim & Jesse
"Looking Back" Nat King Cole, (or Brooke Benton)
"The Funeral" Hank Williams
"Beyond the Sunset" Hank Williams
"Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine" Hank Williams
"Men With Broken Hearts" Hank Williams

[Inigo]

Toccata (Boellmann) Sittard, organ
Pastorale (Franck) Commette, organ

to write just two... There are trillions more...
Willow Tree, Mildred Bailey
L'ame des poètes, Trenet
Menudo Menú, Los Xey
Titirimundi, Gracia de Triana
Skylark, Bing Crosby
La Maja y el Ruiseñor, Rubinstein, piano
Hebrew melody (Achron) Heifetz
Estrellita, Heifetz
Schon Rosmarin, Kreisler
Il mio tesoro intanto, Gigli, Fleta...
....

[ChesterCheetah18]

Fun fact about "Celery Stalks At Midnight". Will Bradley originally considered naming the flip side (Down The Road Apiece) "And So Does Corn". Always makes me chuckle.

Steve

[Dischoard]

Perhaps only because it was used in the movie "The Lady In White" which I watched over and over as a kid; Bing Crosby "Have You Ever Seen A Dream Walking"

Also a +1 to Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit". I've never had an experience like when I first put that record on. Chills...

[Menophanes]

My suggestion, like Inigo's, involves the organist Edouard Commette; it is the Columbia set (LX773–777, British numbering) of Fauré's Requiem, with Suzanne Dupont (soprano), Maurice Didier (bass), Ernest Bourmauck (conductor) and an ensemble of thirty players, recorded in Lyons Cathedral in 1938. I suppose most modern critics would regard this as an intolerably untidy performance, with all the blurring of ensemble and rhythm which one must expect in an unedited recording made in an ultra-resonant ambience; but to me its depth of feeling is beyond compare. Dupont is particularly moving in the 'Pie Jesu'; I never like to hear this sung by a boy as is usual, since I feel that a child cannot sing about death with any degree of insight and that the result, however beautiful in the abstract, can only be a vocal exercise devoid of meaning.

In this recording the orchestration seems to follow the composer's first complete version (1893), notable for omitting the violins (except in the 'Sanctus'), all the woodwind and most of the brass. This is a mystery, since this edition is usually said to have been lost after its first performance and not rediscovered until 1968.

If anyone is interested, there is a complete digitisation on my web-page http://horologia.me.uk/discs_02.html; it is the last item on the page.

Inigo's choice, Commette's version of Franck's Pastorale, is a favourite of mine too.

Oliver Mundy.