Ambroise Thomas: "Mignon" - Overture
Amilcare Ponchielli: "La Gioconda" - Dance of the Hours
3 files zip FLAC Mega Download
L'Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris conducted by Anatole Fistoulari
Decca ACL 112 First issued as Decca LK 4018. Matrices: ARL 358 -1NR / ARL 357 -1NR
Recorded: (a) 17 February (b/c) 14 February 1950 - La Maison de la Mutualite, Paris.
Re-edited March 2013 Not on CD
As you say superb sound for 1950!but you do leave a sting in the tail.
ReplyDeletePleased to see you are about to feature the Brandenburg's of Thurston Dart.Never bettered in my opinion, especially the 6th.
May I hold my hand up for Boyd Neel as to be featured at some time.
Keep up the good work.
I suspect the Sting (other than the FFRR Sting..I always retain 10Hz to <21kHz, unlike elsewhere....) is because Im aware too many posts are of the Popular - rather than Profound - variety. Unfortunately these (for UK releases) are invariably those left unreissued on CD. The Dart/Brandenburgs are proving difficult as I wish to use the original 1958 pressings instead of the 1977 reissue. Of course, the Philomusica was the named adopted after 1957 for the Boyd Neel Orchestra - and have previously posted the Handel op.3 from 1955, also have quite a few mono Oiseau-Lyre - and could transfer Darts stereo Water Music.. Have absolutely masses of Boyd Neel on 78 - but would start with the Dvorak String Serenade (not yet on CHARMs site..) - although Deccas shellac was usually pretty horrid..
ReplyDeleteAny Rene Leibowitz in your stacks?
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly little. No Rarities (but numerous RCA/R-D titles)..Will tackle the Webern/Craft box fairly soon, however..
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for these Fisty recordings. This sort of repertoire is much neglected by record companies these days - as for reissuing these, no chance, I guess. They wouldn't, I'm sure, sound better than the quality you've achieved!
ReplyDeleteVery nice, thank you !
ReplyDeleteDave
Glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteThe sound seems even better than the Fistoulari/Paris Conservatoire programme with Aida excerpts and Saint-Saëns Bacchanale. And what a refreshing approach to the music! Thank you
ReplyDeleteThat's one I don't have (SB2094, etc) - but the early mono's (and Decca mono LP's generally) are invariably 'better' than the stereo masterings (transient 'speed'/clarity) - and these 1950 titles were also recorded @ 30ips tape-speed.
ReplyDeleteThanks to you, I can finally put to rest my old Richmond LP. These performances have been rarely surpassed.
ReplyDeleteWill later do the Fistoulari 'Nutcracker', from 1950, as have a Decca LXT reissue + early ACL pressing -though should really 'edit in' 'atmosphere' as each (short) track is separated by Silence...rather a disruptive 'effect'..
ReplyDeleteHi Tin Ear,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this re-upload.
Magnificently tuneful/melodious music - I cut my teeth on such material and still thoroughly enjoy it. I'm pleased to say that I have never gravitated to JS Bach and Britten!
I'll have to look back into some of your earlier postings to download, if they are still available to do so.
In the not too distant future I will be giving a talk about the early days of vinyl, concentrating on the budget and independent labels, and I was searching for a cleaned-up/digital version of any performance containing the pianist Leonard Cassini on the Delta/Saga/Summit/Revolution, etc labels. In one of your blogs you referred to the Elgar/Bax Piano Quintets in which Cassini is playing with the Aeolian Quartet - did you ever digitise it? Or do you (or one of your readers) know of any recordings by Cassini that are available for download. I have fairly widely searched for such material - perhaps I will have to purchase a second-hand LP and attempt to digitise it myself. Leonard Cassini allegedly was the founder of the Saga recording venture.
Thanking you.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
I think this is a fantastic LP - wonderfully clear sound (especially the Ponchielli).
DeleteHad thought of uploading the Paris Conservatoire/Leibowitz Readers Digest material from the original 'Light Classical' box-sets.
I retain all the files/postings (in duplicate blog/s + downloaded data).
The Cassini/Elgar+Bax I never copied - but with a slight degree of 'de-click' it should be acceptable (also the RVW 1/Elgar Qt's on Summit stereo) both 'almost' out of phonographic copyright - so might well do that (and re-upload the Saga Bach 'Musical Offering'!!!!).
That's the only Cassini I have though (unless he's moonlighting as Mr Procopoulos, somewhere..)
Hello again,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the speedy response.
So pleased you referred to the much under appreciated work of Rene Leibowitz on Reader's Digest - just because the recordings were of mainly "light" music the so-called cognoscenti have dismissed these recordings. Reader's Digest (especially the "Festival of Light Classical Music" which my parents purchased in the mid 1960s) were instrumental for my lifetime's enjoyment of music. In fact I must have nearly all the classical albums, either vinyl or silver disc that R/D issued.
I would be so pleased if you could digitise any of the Cassini recordings you refer to, and of course any of the Leibowitz and Reader's Digest recordings which have not been already digitised by David Gideon on the Re-Discovery label).
Thanking you for your response.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
Sorry again,
ReplyDeleteNot forgetting the already available R/D material on the Chesky label.
Ah - Paul Procopoulos - now there's a name to conjure with.
My very first records purchases were from "Headquarters and General Supplies", by mail order, in the mid 60's - they were in plain sleeves - 10 shillings each - and guess what - they were Summit and Fidelio labels. Soon got shut of them to an even more impoverished fellow student. Then my next purchase was on Saga! The Paul Serebriakov recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto, thence moving on quickly to the "proper" record labels of Phillips Classical Favourites and Heliodor.
The Cassini/Summit stereo recording of RVW/Elgar sounds very appealing - do hope that you can make this available soon.
Thanking you for your forbearance.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
The RD Leibowitz material does duplicate quite a few items here - and am aware of the CD issue/s
DeleteI link a blog re: 'Saga' on the Fiorentino/Tchaikovsky post.
The Summit RVW/Elgar only had one side on a Revolution reissue: in fact it's better-pressed than some pre-Decca 'Lyrita'!!
As a teenager + I rarely bought from shops (usually 'Harlequin' in Victoria Street - mostly VICS Victrola/CBS Classics) - so got mail-order from such as Henry Stave, Francis Cave (in Richmond: still have my April 1970 Mahler 1/Walter) and various others (Opus..).
Here's the Aeolian SQ sleevenote - scanned 2011...(it would appear on the main MP blog)
Hi again Tin Ear,
ReplyDeleteJust been listening to the Fitoulari/Ballet Music Ace of Clubs that you uploaded earlier - brilliant transfer. On my pseudo-surround setting on my small TEAC receiver it sounded almost as if it been recorded in stereo.
If I was able to play my collection of about 5,000 LPs in as such good sound as your transfers, then I would start playing them again. I definitely do not wish to spend the time in sending them via some software such as "Audacity" and saving them to disc or hard drive - if I did then I would never have enough time to listen to them. Hence a request, from anyone as to how to listen to them in improved sound in "real time".
Just listened to your transfer of the Tagliavini recital - what a superb tenor. Thankfully my late father had good taste - it was his favourite tenor. How he came across him I do not know. I have many of the Cetra complete operas in my collection.
Maybe I am thick - in your earlier communication with me, were you saying that you have already made a transfer of Summit/RVW/Elgar/Revolution recording? I've searched your blogspot but cannot find it anywhere. I notice on the image of the uploaded sleeve of the Summit RVW/Elgar that there are a couple of recordings mentioned that have Leonardo Cassini as a performer. I have tracked down copies of the Greig Violin Sonatas and the Elgar/Bax - just awaiting to see if they are still available.
Thanks for the link to the history of Saga - I had already seen it on your blogspot.
Thanking you.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
No - not made a transfer of either the Summit (Elgar/RVW) or the reissue of the Cassini,etc Bax/Elgar on Revolution - due to the sheer impossibility of 'manually editing' the LP's (both 'new/mint')...so would need to rely on some 'software' (Audacity is no good for such processing) that I now have.
DeleteI haven't even finished the 2 Tagliavini items from last year...and yes - excellent tenor: hence the Tosca - though only have a few other tracks on LP's )only have the Traviata/Callas complete on Cetra UK pressings)
Even if people see such 'requests' as your 'real-time de-click processing' of LP's I doubt, even if they knew the answer, 'I'd' hear a peep from them: my expectations are 'near minimal' when it comes to the internet!! (hence my long-standing, considerable, doubts about the 'point' of my blogs/continuing)....but will see if there's an 'answer' I can find somewhere..
Thanking you for your answers.
ReplyDeleteEverything is clear now (except for my vinyl collection!).
All the best.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)
Here we go, down Memory Lane again. I remember borrowing the "Festival of Light Classical Music" box back in the 60s, and then acquiring my own. I now have two copies. Reacquainting myself with them on Chesky CDs I realise that there was nothing cut-price about the performances or the recordings. I still question how Liszt's "Les Preludes" could count as 'light', or Ravel's " La Valse", and I often wonder how conductors of the stature of Boult or Leibowitz got involved - were their careers at a low ebb (it happened)? Whatever the reason producer Charles Gerhardt certainly knew how to pick'em. Very few duds - I even have a soft spot for "Kammenoi-Ostrow".
ReplyDeleteregards
Andrew Smith
Me got 2 sets too (though 1LP is a mono pressing in the stereo inner-sleeve..).
DeleteNot given most 'a spin'- but the 'interesting' set is the previous big 12LP box 'Greatest Composers' - with Boult (Franck: Symphony), et al - but only mono-issued (1959) in the UK- though I suspect the Italian performances might be a bit, er, 'provincial'
(Have an intention to upload Gavazzeni/Maggio Musicale Fiorentino - "Orchestral Highlights from the Operas" - Decca LXT 5288 - only UK mono - but also have the US STS stereo reissue - original 1959 masters (less good than the mono, in fact) with some fine playing ('Il Sogno' is a knockout) - never on CD..
I never did acquire "Greatest Composers" but most of it appeared in various manifestations over the years - RCA Gold Seal for the Franck, for example. I don't think you have to fear anything about the Italian performances - Freccia was one of those conductors better known for the list of his pupils but knew exactly what he was doing. My one regret is that I never found a copy of Fjeldstad conducting the Schubert Unfinished.
ReplyDeleteregards
AS
Me again,
ReplyDeleteAndrew Smith - Kammenoi-Ostrow - what a superb piece of music - so seldom recorded. So pleased that you also have fond memories of R/D. Here's to the fantastic Charles Gerhardt (and Ken Wilkinson)- much lamented.
Reader's Digest albums should receive the equivalent of a UNESCO World Heritage status or such like to acknowledge the extent that they have been influential in the development of musical appreciation.
The "free" extra discs that used to accompany many of the R/D albums are oft overlooked. An exciting Rienzi Overture (Leibowitz), haunting Merry Wives Ov (Leo Gruber) and an absolutely stunning West Side Story Symphonic Dances (Lad Busby).
I will look forward to your transcriptions of the Gavazzeni orchestral highlights disc.
Cheers,
Douglas (UK)