Symphony no.5 in E minor, op.64
I: Andante - Allegro con anima ~ II: Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza
III: Valse (Allegro moderato) ~ IV: Finale (Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace) FLAC Mega Download
Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Milano conducted by Guido Cantelli
HMV ALP 1001 New 1955 LP/circa 1955 matrices: 2XEA 119 -20N / 2XEA 120 -18N Rec: 23/26 Sept.1950 - EMI Studio no.1, Abbey Road.
Very slightly re-edited August 2012 - and now as a single file. Fabulous! Sleeve-note >>>
I know this recording from an horrible over-filtered Iron Needle pirate remastering. I'm very curious to listen to this one from a seemingly first-edition vinyl.
ReplyDeleteIf you have other Cantelli discs they will be welcome, too bad that only a small part of GC's recorded output has been reissued by labels who provide sonically decent remasterings.
Hello.
ReplyDeleteThere's a thread on RMCR about this (issued last Friday by 'The Other Pristine' in a MO-T transfer..so you can compare this with a download sample provided there (I think mine's rather better).
Also, there's a comment or two (link now provided above) that the EMI Cantelli's are coming-out in a box-set.
I really can't be enthusiastic about the Philharmonia's (have most) - although the Brahms 3 (have as original BLP/single sided mono/later stereo + a 2-sided French Trianon stereo: the first/last sounding best - is OK as a performance....the others mostly don't hold my attention much.
Not listened to the ALP/Franck too much - but, presumably, the stereo tape will be used for that - as with the other stereos?
NB: I'm pretty sure this is a 1955 re-cut - possibly the reason it sounds so good as an LP: the MO-T is from an unidentified source...
I think too that Cantelli's NBC recordings and broadcast are very often finer than the Philharmonia's. But the Brahms 3 is a wonderful performance with a great inner balance between movements. I love it!
ReplyDeleteThe M&A boxset of Cantelli's NBC broadcasts is highly recommendable. It contains a fine NBC Tchaikovsky 5th as well as one of my all-time favorite Pathetiques.
This Scala performance is IMHO great and I love the old cover art.
Lovely performance by La Scala Orchestra and the great Cantelli! Superb transfer indeed. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome..
ReplyDeleteMaybe before I 'dump' the internet (or it becomes 'unusable/illegal' for uploading anything other than Truly Ancient recordings) I'll do some more transfers from those 1950's EMI pressings - though, as I've mentioned previously (somewhere), am not at all keen to 'wet-clean' them for the dubious delights of making them 'suitable' for manual 'click-removal': which means that this one (like most) has an original, 56 year old 'factory finish' to it: luckily it's pretty free from 'contamination' - so it was viable to transfer in that 'Virgin' state!
An excellent, 'committed', performance: and disappointing that EMI didn't make some more Orchestrals @ the time with them!
I do my own transfers for posting on the MIMIC blog, generally from more recent LPs, only when the pressing is good and the performance worthwhile and possibly never released on CD at all. Manual de-clicking, if viable, is my best option, but I must say I also get very good results from using the Sony Sound Forge Professional software to do the job - if not pushed beyond a sensible limit, it's IMO an excellent solution. The Scala orchestra in this recording really surprised me, as you said, the ensemble has very little symphonic repertoire from the 50s, I must say, having lived here in Milan for nearly 30 years, this was way better a perfomance than the typical Scala or Filarmonica I'm used to over these years. The Solo horn is so lyrical and touching, and the strings are fabulous, and of course I loved the great and unfortunate Maestro from Novara. Let's not forget that he had been appointed Musical Director of the Scala Orchestra just a week before the fatal crash at Orly airport...
ReplyDeleteI've never heard the later Matacic/Columbia's of La Scala also in Russian repertoire.
DeleteFinding 'worthwhile' Orchestral performances still not on CD (at least not via the original recording company) is a problem - and doubt there are too many 'non-copyright' UK issues left (although EMI presents a difficulty due to there being no Discography - unlike the CHARM/Decca).
Incidentally, on the main blog, some 3 years back, I uploaded the truncated (4 sided) Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 from 1914 (Milan SO / Romani): those Columbia's being the first Tchaikovsky symphony on disc - though the sound was distinctly less than 'HiFi' (also uploaded the Wagner Tristan/Valkyries).
I wonder if there's any chance of you re-uploading those Romani files? (I see from the reactions first time round that opinion was divided, but some of the '1st' (shortened) recordings are quite fascinating! I for one find them rewarding - and I even enjoy the inevitable background noise :-)
DeleteI can't say I noticed any 'hiccups' in the GC - certainly nothing as distracting as the audience coughing its way through some superb Schubert from Richter I was (trying to) listen to this morning!
David
Thank you for this lovely transfer - it really brings out the orchestral colour which GC was obviously working hard to achieve. It's a lovely recording - very theatrical too, which is I suppose no surprise with this orchestra!
ReplyDeleteIt appears fortunate this was a later re-cut, as the 1952 EMG Monthly Letter review stated: The recording is even worse than the very poor 78s...
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned before this was an unwashed LP - so a few little Nits can be heard? (due, perhaps, to some minor contamination)- but I've a disinclination to wet-clean LP's (and particularly of this vintage) unless absolutely essential, as the record then becomes static-prone - attracting dust/adding noise...
The first (in fact only) Tchaikovsky 5 I bought as a new LP was the Stokowski/NPO, in 1969; returned that due to surface-noise and traded it for Barbirolli/VPO Brahms 3...
An Italian account, interesting. Must be a change from Pletnev/Karajan/Svetlanov...!
ReplyDelete