The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi, everyone.
I'm making an audiovisual discography about early singer Ferruccio Giannini (Berliner Gramophone releases); I've combed the entirety of the Internet as far as I know it, but there are a lot of releases for which I still have no label or audio recording.
I'd appreciate any type of media that anyone could share.
Thanks in advance

I think the only two I have are as follows:

Verdi: Il Trovatore, Act IV -- Miserere. Sr. Giannini/band. Monarch 2431, 10" (rough copy)

Costa: A Frangesa March. Royal Marine Band/F. Giannini. Victor Grand Prize 4057, 10" (blk lbl)

Not Berliners, but if either would be of use to you, I'd be happy to copy them and send photos of the labels. Best of luck with your project.

Hi, drh.
If you don't mind I have interest in both of them, as neither have clean transfers or labels on the Internet.
Many thanks.

jonasGo wrote: Sat Aug 03, 2024 3:18 pm Hi, drh.
If you don't mind I have interest in both of them, as neither have clean transfers or labels on the Internet.
Many thanks.

OK, I'll try to get them to you in the next few days. I don't know how good a copy I can make of the Miserere; according to the note in my catalogue, it's in poor condition. Won't know until I pull it from the shelves and play it, but I'll give it the old college try.

Here are the promised label copies. I'll turn to dubbing the records next.

I've transferred the Costa march. Here's a link, good for the next three days, that should enable to download my transfer as a .wav file: https://we.tl/t-HmBAhP02hS

I figured it to play at around 76.5 RPM, which puts it in E-Flat, a likely key for a band recording and a match for a recording of the piece (of a concertina) on the Library of Congress website. Playback was through a Graham Slee Accession phono preamp set for "flat," which compensates for characteristics of magnetic cartridges without applying equalization calculated for electronic recordings. At least my copy of the record benefits from a large stylus; I got best results with a 3.8 mil truncated elliptical stylus and nearly as good with a 4.0 mil, but 3.5 mil was distinctly inferior at the outset (therefore I didn't go beyond the first 30 seconds or so), and with 3.0 mil non-truncated elliptical the sound deteriorated badly toward the center of the record.

My copy of the Trovatore is beyond transferring; the first half inch or so of the record has so much groove damage it's unplayable, at least on a modern turntable. As best I could tell, it, too, seems to be recorded at around 76.5 RPM. It's an oddity in that it has Giannini singing the tenor's lines, which are not numerous and in the opera house would be sung offstage, while substituting a cornet or trumpet for the soprano, who, as the focus of the scene, has the bulk of the vocal text. Carlo Albani did the same peculiar thing in a Pathé recording.

Note that DAHR offers transfers of both these Giannini recordings. They sound as if done the "traditional" way, played with neither equalization nor cartridge compensation. The result is extremely bright, emphasizing surface noise. I'm a firm believer in what Graham Slee has done, but not everyone agrees. You can draw your own conclusions with your own ears.

I also have the Miserere in very rough shape. I will see what I can do about a transfer if it would be helpful. I can try a few different styli to see if one provides a cleaner transfer.

Bill

BillH_NJ wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2024 9:12 pm I also have the Miserere in very rough shape. I will see what I can do about a transfer if it would be helpful. I can try a few different styli to see if one provides a cleaner transfer.

Bill

I'd recommend holding off until we hear back from the original poster. So far, he has neither opened my "heads up" private message nor downloaded the file I made for him.

Hi, brh
Sorry, I've been busy these days and forgot about the forum.

About the Miserere record, I'd consider the DAHR transfer to be good enough, and about the Costa march, I'd be grateful if you sent the link again (sorry), as I'll be a lot more active this week.
Nevertheless, your photos and annotations are very appreciated, thank you very much!
Greetings

OK, here it is again:

https://we.tl/t-szdC6sVoi4

You'll need to download the file within the next 3 days.