The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just for the fun of it, here are a few pages from a Fritz Kreisler programme given at Massey Hall. It's is still standing and still the finest hall , acoustically speaking, in the City. You can see that His Master's Voice wasn't going to let the opportunity pass to make a plug.
Neither was Columbia, even though they pushed Wagner
I don't think Kreisler ( unlike Jacques Thibaud) recorded the Franck Sonata. I would have loved to hear him play it.
Jim

Very interesting. The accompanist must have been quite busy on the Mendelssohn!

Ah, back in the days when a violinist could unabashedly program a piano reduction of a violin concerto! I was just watching "The Art of Violin" on DVD yesterday, and then put on some Ysaÿe records on my Victor V...including the finale of the Mendelssohn concerto!

Speaking of Kreisler, have you ever heard this record?

Nope, but I have Kreisler himself on Victor 74180 (Dvorak's "Humoresque") and M-36 (Brahms' Concerto). Great stuff!

One of his records was the earliest I had for quite some time when I started collecting. I just pulled it out and played it again, a truly great artist.

Here's he with Variations, recorded in New York on May 18, 1910:

http://www.box.net/shared/hxp1eqm4ojs6rnliexx3

The Corelli Variations is one of Kreisler's finest. The first time I ever heard this was on a Victor V with an oak horn and a well tuned sound box. It was stunning.

Since no one has apparently heard the Francescatti LP of Kreisler (recorded in the mid-50s), I thought I'd give a sampling of a rare piece that's on it, one of my favorites, the Recitative and Scherzo-Caprice, Op.6 for solo violin.

Corelli Variations is one of the best Kreisler. The first time I went on a Victor V with a horn of oak and a good sound. It was splendid.