An acoustic "Pathetique" Symphony!

[beaumonde]

Another transfer from a friend's Victor album (this an acoustic "blue label" album), is Sir Landon Ronald/Royal Albert Hall Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor. This was recorded acoustically by HMV in 1923 and issued on Victor 55240 through 55244 in a Music Arts Library of Victor Records album. Surfaces were somewhat problematic, and I had to alternate between 2.8 mil and 4.0 mil styli. This is given relatively complete (with a regrettable cut of 14 bars in the finale & lacking 2 repeats in the second movement).

Discographical info: (originally HMV D.713-717) (Jan. 30, 1923 Cc2463-4 Side 1 May 1, 1923 Cc2916-2/7-2/8-2/20-1/21-1 Sides 2-4, 6, 7 May 15, 1923 Cc2984-2 Side 8 May 29, 1923 Cc2919-4, 2985-4 Sides 5, 9 June 23, 1923 Cc2986-7 Side 10)

Again, I have provided a link to the mediafire folder, with individually downloadable mp3 files, fully encoded for iTunes.

[Nat]

I've been slowly collecting the largely Albert Coates "Ring" cycle - some remarkably good recording on those discs!

Pristine has fine re-masterings of the Nickisch Beethoven 5, and most recently Elgar's own acoustic Second Symphony and Enigma Variations.

[Wolfe]

Thanks for this.

I'm one of the (probably small minority) that finds these pre-electric recorded classical works quite interesting.

[syncopeter]

I had quite a few symphonies and piano concertos on 78, including some premieres, but I simpy couldn't be bothered to play them, because you had to get up every 3,5 to 4 minutes. With popular music that was no problem, because you were looking for another record to play.
I do have historical recordings on CD though.

[transformingArt]

Many thanks for sharing this with us, Adam.

These early Acoustical recordings of Orchestral piece always interests me a lot. Not only the overall sound sounds so radically different to modern ears, but they also demonstrate how people tried to emphasize on "Orchestral Sound". Some of them tried to emphasize the Bass part, while some others concentrated on strings or more treble sound.

I tried to get these early Orchestral recordings as much as possible, but they are relatively difficult to find, while you can see the 1939 Toscanini Beethoven 5th with NBC Symphony Orchestra all the time on eBay (Surprisingly enough, I never had a complete set of it so far!! ) Well, at least I have a copy of Beecham Symphony Orchestra on Odeon which is considered pretty scarce (as far as I know), although the surface is in a terrible shape.

Come to think of it, I wonder if you have some early record sets of Piano or Violin Concertos? It would be very nice to hear them in a decent sound like this, although I am sure they require a tremendous amount of work...

[beaumonde]

I do have blue-label Victor sets of an (abridged) Grieg Piano Concerto and Liszt Hungarian Fantasia (both with Landon Ronald conducting and Arthur de Greef, piano). I don't have any other acoustical orchestral sets. Fewer of these were released in the States, and were probably released in relatively small quantities in Europe, in any case. They are much less common than the electrical albums.

I just listened to a Marston transfer of Albert Coates's ca. 1930 electric "Pathetique" -- a galvanizing performance in great sound. I don't think this was commercially issued (I got a private CD copy from my friend, a good friend of Ward's). I thought I had this on 78 but I just checked and -- alas -- do not.

[Wolfe]

I had quite a few symphonies and piano concertos on 78, including some premieres, but I simpy couldn't be bothered to play them, because you had to get up every 3,5 to 4 minutes. With popular music that was no problem, because you were looking for another record to play.
I do have historical recordings on CD though.

That's why making one's own digital (or tape) transfer is good. Especially with sets that have covers falling apart, fragile inner sleeves and such. Make a transfer and file them away.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

I love this set.I have it on the HMV pressings which are not as smooth as the Victor Blues. I have always been very fond of Landon Ronald. He was an early proponent of the gramophone and did much to persuade the great singers to record in the earliest days.His work as accompanist and coach made him an ideal person for this and he proved very useful in the role of The Gramophone Co's musical ambassador. He was the only accompanist that Melba would work with in the UK and they were very close friends. He was a fine conductor too. His best work is in the concerto recordings, in my opinion, but his versions of the standard orchestral repertoire are a delight. Soloists adored him and it's easy to hear why. He was exceptionally charming and good natured..important virtues for an accompanist.... and consequently his two volumes of autobiography make very entertaining reading. His career was restricted to Britain because of his health which was iffy after about 1920. He tells of the agonies of conducting while feeling utterly wretched on the podium , and of restricting his engagements because of this. By that time he was Principal of the Guildhall School of Music in London, so that London really became his focal point.
I'll post a pic of " Lan" as he was called by his friends( who were a who's who of British music before 1939...Elgar in fact dedicated his Symphonic Study Falstaff to Landon Ronald) I have some pics of him on the podium with Kreisler as soloist in some volume. I'll search.
Thanks again for posting this.

Jim

[Nat]

I had quite a few symphonies and piano concertos on 78, including some premieres, but I simpy couldn't be bothered to play them, because you had to get up every 3,5 to 4 minutes. With popular music that was no problem, because you were looking for another record to play.
I do have historical recordings on CD though.

Several of us get together every two weeks for a music evening. Last week I played the Busch Quartet and Reginald Kell doing the Brahms clarinet quintet - on HMV 78's and on my Credenza. While I wouldn't want to be popping up to change sides (an needles!) like that all the time, the consensus was that a) it was pretty darned good, and b) you actually listen differently.

I've got a lot of the Beethoven quartets, the Fischer Well-Tempered Clavier, the Casals Unaccompanied Suites and others. And again, while I wouldn't want to listen that way all the time (Long Live Pristine Audio, and ditto Ward Marston!) - it's a good experience.

[syncopeter]

I love historical recordings of classical music. But even though I've tried many a time, I've never been able to record them satisfactory onto tape. Dolby and old records don't like each other. It could be that the high surface noise upsets it, but my transfers always had a fizzy sound. When recording without Dolby, the high cut set in too soon. With popular music that was no problem, but with classical music it was.
Nowadays with the possibility to record directly on to hard disk that should not be a problem anymore.