Claude Debussy plays Debussy

Today, 100 years ago Claude Debussy was still alive....  Tomorrow marks the 100th anniversary of his death. I'll be hearing La Mer with François-Xavier Roth and the LSO at the Barbican, (Please read my review HERE) exploring Debussy's legacy.  Boulez ! Stravinsky ! Ravel ! Messiaen ! and more....   Please see my other posts so far on Roth's Debussy series Young Debussy,  Essential Debussy  and Eclectic Gamelan Debussy. . Beware music histories which think modern music started only with Schoenberg and his devilish ways. All music is modern in its own time, and Debussy perhaps even more revolutionary in his way than most.  Even after all this time, some still can't get Pelléas et Mélisande. But that's OK. That made it easier to grab good seats at Glyndebourne this season. It will be intriguing to see what master symbolist Stefan Herheim does with it.  Below, Claude Debussy plays Clair de Lune, recorded very early on.  

Shostakovich plays Shostakovich

Russia Day, but this year marked by a crackdown on protest and opposition.  So back to the dark days of 1941, with Shostakovich alone, without orchestra, playing an extract from his Symphony no 7.

Elgar Remastered unissued rarities released on SOMM

New from SOMM Records, specialists in British music, Elgar Remastered, valuable pressings from Sir Edward Elgar's personal library.It contains hitherto unheard discs, virtually the complete 1928 studio sessions of the Cello Concerto with Beatrice Harrison as well as many unused takes of major orchestral works and famous miniatures. Above the famous photograph of Elgar and Harrison in the studio in 1919.  Now you can hear them in a new, clean  remastering by Lani Spahr, using originals from the collection of  Arthur Reynolds, Chairman of the North American Branch of the Elgar Society, which has been described as an "Aladdin's Cave" of rare and unpublished material.

Indeed, there are no less than eight versions of the Cello  Concerto in this set, from previously unissued takes and private recordings. Elgar was fascinated by recording technology and very much "hands on" in the studio, so this is an opportunity for Elgar devotees to study the process.  There are   detailed notes and musical examples by cellist Terry King, who compares the Cello Concerto's earlier 1919 recording with Beatrice Harrison to her later 1928 recording with some fascinating insights into each, regarding cuts by the composer, choice of tempi and differences in performance.

Most of Elgar's early recordings are included, acoustically optimized   Some are well known, such as The Prelude to the Kingdom, but acoustically optimized, and some never before available, like the alternative takes of Symphony no 1 (never previously available)  and 2. Caractacus and the entire Violin Concerto. Many obscure rarities and miniatures are included, too, making this SOMM set a collector's treasure trove.  Elgar Remastered is now available for preorder direct from SOMM or on amazon.

SOMM Records gives more detail of the remastering : "Reynolds' collection. This valuable collection included copies of all Elgar's recordings which he had conducted for HMV from 1914 to 1933. It all began when Lani persuaded the late Fred Maroth, owner of Music & Arts to allow him to prepare new transfers of Elgar's acoustic recordings riginally issued by Pearl on seven LPs, c. 1975 and later on CD. In Lani's view, while a valuable document, they left much to be desired considering the large advances in audio processing which had taken place in the intervening years. In 2011 Music & Arts issued Elgar conducts Elgar. The complete acoustic recordings 1914-1925 with Lani's transfers from Arthur's (and Elgar's) discs. In addition to the published HMV discs in Arthur's possession, there were also six sides of unpublished takes from the Wand of Youth Suites and these existed as test pressings that Elgar had kept"

"After finishing the acoustic recordings (Spahr) asked Arthur if he could be allowed to digitise the electric recordings for archival purposes. Among the first group Lani brought to his studio was the 1928 recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto with Beatrice Harrison as soloist. Arthur had a set of published HMV discs with her signature plus several boxes of test pressings. From this he discovered that there was nearly a complete set of takes from the two sessions in which the Concerto was set down. Whilst excited at the prospect of issuing several different versions, all taken from alternative takes, Lani became confused with the matrix numbering. He discovered that for the same material indicated by a suffix number, (e.g. CRI 1754-2) there was another matrix number, CRI 1754-2A. After a cursory listen he found that both these seemed identical! It wasn't until he listened to the Naxos recording of Elgar's Enigma Variations, Cockaigne Overture etc. engineered by Mark Obert-Thorn that he came across a Bonus Track of the Cockaigne Overture in "Accidental Stereo". The explanatory note referred to the frequent habit of engineers having two turntables running during the cutting of wax recording master discs, presumably for back-up purposes and in several instances even two different microphones, one to feed each turntable. Without going into further detail here, (Spahr's booklet notes give full explanations), Lani discovered that various HMV sessions were possibly recorded with a completely separate microphone/cutter arrangement. "

"We now not only have an insight into the sessions themselves but are also provided with astonishing sound, revealing a new depth not only to the existing issued recordings, but to new performances of various miniatures and, more importantly, the Cello Concerto and Symphony No. 1 assembled from previously unheard test pressings. We can only be thankful to Lani for his remarkable talent, tenacity and restless, searching spirit which allows us to appreciate anew these unique performances in sound unimaginable to Elgar and those who made the recordings more than 80 years ago."

Stravinsky conducts Oedipus Rex live

"This is the BBC Third Programme. Tonight, in the Royal Festival Hall, Igor Stravinsky is to conduct  a performance of his oratorio Oedipus Rex. The narrator is Jean Cocteau, who wrote the text. This is the first time that Stravinsky and Cocteau have appeared together at a public concert in London. Here is the cast: Helmut Mecchert (Oedipus), Irma Colassi (Jocasta), Thomas Helmsley (Creon) Roger Stalman (Messenger), Duncan Robertson (Shepherd), Michael Langdon (Tiresias). with the BBC Mens Chors trained by Alan Melville, and the BBC Orchestra, leader Pail Beard.  Tonight the part of the Narrator is spoken by Jean Cocteau, in French"

Imagine that spoken with clipped uptight formality !  the concert took place on 8th November 1965. Thankfully, the broadcast tape was preserved and  can still be heard if you hunt around.  The male singers grew up in a time when Latin was an essential part of the school curriculum. so perhaps we're getting "public school accent" Latin, but it's consistent. Nothing "distanced" in this powerful performance, perhaps because it's so tight and disciplined.  Stravinsky conducted Oedipus Rex many times, including London in the 1920's and later in the 1960's,  but this is legendary.  The narration is pungent and punchy. No RADA gentility  here. The photo above was taken in rehearsal before the RFH concert. This is the tradition the BBC stands for. Long may it be preserved. If Murdoch and his "market forces" can't compete, it's too d--- bad.

Oldest Recording in the world?

Is this the oldest recording in the world? The original was made by inventor Emile Berliner,m who patented the first gramophone technology in 1887. The recording itself was lost, but a photograph was printed in a German magazine of 1890. With modern technogy, which I can't comprehend,  it's now possible to hear the recording again., Please read this article about the discovery. There's a soundclip, too. It's Emile Berliner himself reading a verse from Schiller.

Lots more on this site about very early recordings, like Theo Wangemann's first ever Schubert recording 1890!   Wangemann worked for Thomas Ediuson who really got recording off the ground. He'sthe one who from m189 was in Europe rrecording Bismark, bvon Moltke and Jiohannes Brahms himself, the first  recording savvy composer. Follow the link above for sound clip. Elsewhere on this site, the first ever Carmen recording (1905) and clips of composers  recording their own muisc. Even Brahms, playing Brahms ! Mahler playing Mahler, Grieg playing Grieg and Jascha Heifetz before his voice broke.  

photo: Ludmila Pilecka

Heifetz, aged 11, speaks and plays

Jascha Heifetz, aged 11, playing Mozart for Julius Block, a pioneer of early recording techniques at Block's home in Berlin in November 1912. Hundred year old recording! Hear the audience cry Bravo. And then the real rarity : a high pitched voice tells the audience his name and what he's just played. It's Jascha Heifetz himself speaking, before his voice has broken.

Paderewski speaks! Plays! Acts! 1937 movie

Ignacz Paderewski appears as himself in this 1937 movie, Moonlight Sonata (full download below).  Listen to him speak, talk, act and play. The movie is pretty basic romance with the pianist/politician/media celebrity incorporated to give the film a unique angle. Paderewski was 77 years old when this film was made and seems perfectly at ease. Watch his hands and face as he hammers the beaten up old upright in the childrens' hospital., while two girls dance. "That's the first time I've ever played dance music", he chortles.

At the end, Paderewski uses Beethoven to break up a young girl's romantic dreams. Is the irony lost on anyone?

This movie is also interesting because yet again it shows that until only very recently, musicians didn't have any hang-ups about being populist or doing crossover. "High" art wasn't separate from low: people could take or leave as they wished. Nowadays people like Katherine Jenkins, Alfie Boe, Lesley Garrett etc get viciously bullied because they don't conform to expectations. But bullying always says more about bullies than it says about the bullied. Snobbery is for fools. When Paderewski made this film, he didn't have to worry about his image. He knew that he had different kinds of fans, and that no-one needed to prove anything by watching or not watching, as they wished.  (see also the Richard Tauber/Jimmy Durante movie HERE).

Benjamin Britten's Balinese Soul

Benjamin Britten's The Prince of the Pagodas at the Royal Opera House (Royal Ballet) demonstrates how different ballet audiences are from music audiences. All the attention on the dancing, almost nothing analytical  about the music. So no wonder The Prince of the Pagodas has a reputation for being awkward. John Cranko's scenarios aren't much odder than many other ballet or opera plots, and Britten writes sequences  that Kenneth MacMillan could choreograph in  a fairly straightforward way. Therein, I think, lies the problem. What Britten was trying to write in The Prince of the Pagodas is his own version of Balinese music theatre, but what everyone else expected was convention.  Although by its nature ballet is episodic, appreciating this music means understanding how it works as a whole and how it connects to the rest of Britten's music.

Perhaps mainstream audiences weren't ready for this in 1957, but non-western music had been known in the west for decades. In 1870, Japanese and Indonesian music caused a sensation in Paris. Just as Debussy and Picasso were inspired by non-western cultures, so, too, Benjamin Britten. Most famous of those working on non-western music was Colin McPhee, who lived in Bali and studied its culture from the perspective of a musicologist and practising composer. Britten met McPhee when he sojourned in New York. Below is a clip from a recording made in 1941, where Britten and McPhee play a transcription of Balinese music, prepared by McPhee from music he'd collected in Indonesia. Later Britten and Pears toured Indonesia and Japan, just as Messiaen was to do a few years later. From The Prince of the Pagodas, to Curlew River and Death in Venice.  Britten internalizes non-western music into his own work.  Hence the significance of The Prince of Pagodas, and why it needs to be heard as well as seen.

Fritz Kreisler plays Kreisler Tambourin chinois 1910

Fritz Kreisler, composer as well as virtuoso. This is Kreisler's op 3 Tambourin chinois, from 1910. In fact the recording was made in 1910 too, so what we have is avant garde new music, new technology and a composer experimenting with an alien musical form. Sounds familiar? Sounds nothing like Chinese music to me, but that doesn't matter at all. Kreisler is enjoying himself writing perfumed exotica. Evidently the piece meant a lot to him. Twenty five years later, he records it again with a different pianist, much sharper. Please see my numerous other posts on composers playing their own music, eg Mahler plays Mahler, Grieg plays Grieg and even Brahms !

First Schubert recording - 1890 out now!

First ever Schubert recording? It's 1890 but out now. In the photo is Thomas Edison, with an early phonograph machine - revolutionary technology! It was an experiemntal technique, so Edison marketed it by recording famous people and sounds. The Schubert recording (Wohin) was made on 23rd January 1890 in Cologne. Franz Lachner, who knew Schubert personally had died just three days before in Munich, so it's feasible that there might have been others around who remembered Schubert himself. Performers are Karl Mayer (1852-1933)  baritone, and Franz Wüllner (1832-1902)  piano. The Wagnerian friend who sent me details adds "Wüllner was the conductor of the first ever Rheingold and Walkuere and teacher of Mengelberg, von Schuch, Andreae, Oestvig and many others. A unique document if only it could be heard.!" because the sound quality is hardly bearable. You can hear voices in the background, and the singer seems to wait til it's OK to start.

The audio engineer was Theo Wangemann who worked for Edison in Europe. He also recorded Otto von Bismarck singing the Marsellaise, and Helmut von Moltke reciting Goethe and Shakespeare at Kreisau. A lost world! The cylinders were discovered in 1957 but some were only made available this week.   Here is the link, scroll down and enjoy. SACD it ain't but who cares? Just imagine  those people huddled over state of the art technology, not knowing we'd heard them 122 years later.

Wangemann also recorded Johannes Brahms, playing Brahms, Hungarian Dance no 1, recorded 2nd December 1889. Listen HERE, scroll down.   There are lots of archaic recordings around, which I've written about here many times, including Mahler plays Mahler, Grieg plays Grieg , Grainger playing Grieg, Schoenberg conducting Mahler in 1934, Anton Webern conducting Schubert and the first recording of the Habanera from Carmen. Lots of archive early film including Edison in China 1898. I really should organize all the pieces I've done on this site so they're easier to find.

Percy Grainger plays Grieg Morgenstimmung

Percy Grainger plays Edvard Grieg Morgenstimmung. Lots more composer plays composer gems on this site !

Schoenberg conducts Mahler - rarity

This popped up in my youtube subscriptions last week but I've been much too busy, so AT LAST! Schoenberg conducts Mahler 2/2 with the Cadillac Symphony in Los Angeles in 1934. The occasion isn't mentioned in Stuckenschmidt's extensive biography though there's a brief mention of Schoenberg doing a number of one-off radio broadcasts at the time. Whether he did the full symphony or just one movement (not unknown practice then) I don't know, but fortunately this fragment was recorded.
Please also see the many other composer conducting composer clips I have on this site - Mahler playing Mahler on piano rolls, for example, Grieg playing Grieg, Debussy playing Debussy, even Webern conducts Schubert. (use search box at right)