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Pristine News: Friday 2nd April, 2010


Julius Katchen
Julius Katchen


In this week's newsletter:
  • New this week - The first solo piano LP and the first piano poncerto LP together for the first time
  • A Recording of the Month - The Busch Quartet's Schubert wins at MusicWeb International
  • Editorial - A mystery Mitropoulos masquerading as a Stokowski broadcast!
  • Special Offer - A free copy of International Record Review - just pay the postage
  • Feedback - Your thoughts on last week's editorial comment

Special Request - Can you help in this 78rpm search?

I've been contacted by BBC Radio Three producer Nick Holmes who is searching for two recordings from the acoustic 78rpm era. They're a little outside my own usual material, but I wondered if anyone reading this e-mail might be able to offer any help. The recordings in question are:

From 1917: Victor 18322 Matrix No B-19999 America by the Billy Sunday Chorus (C/w Sail on! Matrix No B-19997)

From 1919: Columbia A2844 (matrix 78706 and 78854) Barkin’ Dog by Ted Lewis Jazz Band (C/w Fox Trot)


If you have a copy of either, or know where one might be found, please contact Nick directly by e-mail: nick.holmes2@bbc.co.uk



Editorial - When things aren't quite what they appear to be...

A few weeks ago we issued a live recording of Stokowski conducting the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall (PASC215). Nothing too remarkable about that - he conducts music by Virgil Thomson and Brahms with typical vigour - but there's also a short piece by Chabrier, the Joyeuse Marche, of which this appeared to be the only known recording under Stokowski's baton.

Shortly after its release, I received an e-mail from the conductor and music writer John Canarina, asking about this piece. From his own research into the performances of the orchestra at that time, he could find no evidence that the performance had taken place as we suggested, and furthermore suggested that it must have been a recording of Mitropoulos, who had conducted it some two weeks later.

My initial response was rather forthright - the recording was clearly live from Carnegie Hall, and without the help of a time machine could not possibly have included a performance which had yet to take place! I brought Edward Johnson in on the discussions which passed between us at quite an early stage, as it was he (with his Stokowski Society hat on) who had provided the recording in the first place, and to whom I always defer in matters related to the conductor. He too believed this to be all Stokowski's work.

After some weeks of digging and some diligent detective work, Edward came back to me with the answer, which I've posted on the relevant page on our website, and the background of which I include here as it appears online. Mr Canarina was absolutely correct - the Chabrier is indeed a little-known live Mitropoulos recording from 16th April 1950, two weeks after the Stokowski. But the recording itself was not what we thought, nor what it appears. People sometimes say "the camera never lies" - well it seems that perhaps the "live broadcast recording" just might...

Nathan Brown told us:

This was evidently a 1 hour program issued by the Armed Forces Radio Service. They used the original announcers mainly, but when they had to fill out the 1 hour with a short work, they would often just borrow it from any other concert without bothering to say just who the conductor was, or in some cases citing the wrong conductor, as the AFRS announcers were not informed in classical artists. They just thought no one would care or know the difference. Now, with hindsight, and references, we can determine the actual conductor. This happened fairly often.


Frederick Fellers adds more background:

It was common for many of the radio broadcasts of all types from all the radio networks to be recorded, and later slightly edited versions were transferred to 16 inch discs that played at 33 1/3 rpm, and these were sent all over the world to be played by local AFRS stations for U.S. military personnel serving in those foreign parts.  In the editing process any commercial messages were removed and spoken commentary may have been edited.  It also happened from time to time that a musical selection from a different broadcast was sometimes added to a broadcast that happened at a different time.  This may have been done for timing reasons.

Here are some examples that I can speak with some authority because I have the recordings.  There was a concert for radio on NBC on 6 January 1945 of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra directed by Fabien Sevitzky. The AFRS version of the same radio concert has exactly the same music, but the spoken commentary has been edited and slightly abbreviated.  I have another "broadcast" I acquired from the Library of Congress that was broadcast by the Voice of America on 25 May 1943.  It purports to be a live concert from Indianapolis with the applause of the audience and it has a Spanish announcer speaking.  However, there was NO concert performance that day.  The source of the musical selections was from different ISO-Sevitzky CBS radio broadcasts from 19 November 1942, 11 and 19 February 1943 and 19 March 1943.  These were part of the regular weekly ISO-Sevitzky broadcasts on CBS and were done without audience solely for the radio audience.  So the 25 May 1943 "concert" was a complete fabrication with audience applause added.

 I also have the AFRS version of the NBC Symphony-Toscanini broadcast of 2 September 1945.  The AFRS version omits the National Anthem that began the programme and probably also omits some of the spoken announcements.  The music, except for National Anthem, is complete as broadcast, but before the final item on the programme, the Dance of Terror and the Ritual Fire Dance from El Amor Brujo are added.  These two works came from the broadcast of 3 September 1944, but at least the conductor was the same.

I speculate that your concert of 16 April 1950 may have come from something like the AFRS broadcast recordings mentioned above.  James Fassett was the regular announcer of the Philharmonic broadcasts on CBS.  At least he certainly was in the later 1950s when I began listening regularly... Sometimes, in the repackaging of the concerts for the AFRS a new announcer did the speaking. 

I wouldn't suspect that Mitropoulos would have a problem with this, because these broadcasts were all done for the morale of the military serving overseas, and I doubt any money was involved.  Most likely, since this was all done in foreign places, Mitropoulos probably never heard a word -- pro or con -- about it.



Andrew Rose, St. Méard de Gurçon, France





New release today:

JULIUS KATCHEN - LP Milestones
Pristine Audio PAKM 035

Julius Katchen, piano
The New Symphony Orchestra
conductor Anatole Fistoulari 
Recorded in 1949 and 1951

Transfers and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, March 2010 
Cover artwork based on a photograph of Julius Katchen

Total duration: 64:28 
©2010 Pristine Audio.


For more download and CD options, see our website

The FLAC downloads:

Ambient Stereo FLAC

 16-bit Mono FLAC
 24-bit FLAC



Groundbreaking LP releases from the great virtuoso Katchen

The world's first solo LP and concerto LP - now in exceptional XR remasters

 

"This is the pianist's recording ... he is exceptionally good all the way through"
- Gramophone, August 1951

 

  • BRAHMS Sonata for Piano No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5 [notes / score]
    Julius Katchen, piano
    Recorded 11 October 1949, West Hampstead Studios, London, produced by John Culshaw
    Issued on LP in the USA Dec. 1949 as London LLP112 and in the UK in June 1950 as Decca LX4012
    Also issued in the UK as Decca 78s AX423-27 in March 1951

  • RACHMANINOV Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 [notes / score]
    Julius Katchen, piano
    The New Symphony Orchestra
    conductor Anatole Fistoulari
    Recorded 11-12 April, 1951, Kingsway Hall, London, produced by John Culshaw, engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson
    Issued on LP in the UK in June 1951 as Decca LXT2595 and in the USA in July 1951 as London LLP384
    Also issued in the UK as Decca 78s AX535-39 in July 1951

 

KATCHEN: LP Milestones

Julius Katchen was one of the piano greats, a man whose untimely death at the age of just 42 robbed the world of one its greatest exponents in particular of the music of Brahms.

Remarkably, he performed on both the first all-solo-piano LP and the first piano concerto LP, and this release brings these two historic recordings together for the first time.

But this isn't just an exercise in historic milestones - both are exceptional performances, in superb Decca recordings, and both have been completely rejuvenated by Pristine XR remastering. It's a real treat for this Easter weekend!


Download long listening sample: Sample MP3 (Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto, 1st movement)


Technical notes:

Both of these recordings represent true milestones in the development of the long playing record. The Brahms was originally released in the USA by Decca's American subsidiary, London, some seven months prior to Decca's launch of the LP format in the UK in June 1950, when this LP was amongst the first batch of issues. Although the long player had been around in the States for some two years, Katchen's LP release of the Brahms 3rd Piano Sonata was in fact the first full LP of music for solo piano.

A year later, the pianist notched up a second historic first - astonishingly, the Rachmaninov 2nd Concerto recording he made with Fistoulari just two months prior to its June release was the first piano concerto release on LP. Both this and the Brahms are worthy holders of these titles - Katchen is still today remembered perhaps more than anything for his playing of Brahms, and although the 3rd Sonata was not his earliest recording of Brahms for Decca, it was the first to see commercial release:; in May 1947 Katchen had recorded the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel in a session which aslo saw the recording of his first actual Decca disc release (Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody was issued on 78rpm in February 1948). This first Brahms recording has remained unissued, along with two other recordings from this session, and it was remade in a recording done in April 1949 and issued first on 78rpm in September 1950 and eventually on vinyl in 1952.

This was clearly a confusing time for the record buyer. During the sessions that yielded the 3rd Sonata, Katchen had also recorded Brahms' Intermezzo in E flat Op.117/1, but this was only ever issued on 78s - in a set which paired it with theThird Sonata (AX423-27) when issued on shellac nine months after the sonata's vinyl release! The same sessions resulted in three Chopin recordings which again would have needed to be collected on both vinyl and shellac by the 1950's Katchen completist.

By April 1951 things seem a little more settled, format-wise. The Rachmaninov was still issued on both 33rpm and 78rpm, but this time the vinyl and shellac release dates were just a month apart (possibly less - we only have the month to go on and not the precise issue date), with UK vinyl getting the priority over both shellac and the US vinyl release.

Both of the sessions represented here were produced by the legendary John Culshaw, with the equally revered Kenneth Wilkinson manning the controls for the Concerto recording (we have no record of who engineered the Sonata), and both live up to the standards one comes to expect from Decca at this time. What is unusual about both, but was clearer to me when restoring the Sonata, is a rather unusual harmonic distortion that was evident during louder sections at the frequency range above about 8kHz. However, the trigger for this distortion is not the higher notes - these are generally clean and clear when heard in isolation - but rather the lower notes in the left hand. Booming bass notes seemed to trigger a high end distortion which subsequent research strongly suggests was a product of the tape recorders in use at the time, rather than the vinyl replay medium.

Consequently much of the time spend remastering these otherwise excellent recordings has revolved around taming this tendency where it occurs. Both recordings have emerged from the XR remastering process sounding truly rejuvenated, and although sharper listeners with highly analytical hi-fi systems, listening at higher volumes, may still be aware of some residual traces of this distortion in the Sonata, for the majority it will be merely a curiousity to be read about and not heard. Certainly my own hi-fi speakers don't reproduce it noticeably at normal listening levels.

From a performance point of view it is clear why Katchen was to be associated with Brahms so much - this early recording is really excellent. Writing in The Gramophone in July 1950, L.S. has the following to say:

Julius Katchen gives an impressive performance which has real coherence (he is, of course, helped by L.P. continuity): he seems equally successful with the massive highly-strung style of the opening (how alike in feeling this is to the 'D minor Concerto, written a year later!) and the sentimental ardours of the slow movement (which is prefixed by three lines from a love poem by Sternau). In the Scherzo, with its flying leaps, Katchen manages to keep the movement light and airy at the same time as giving it substance: in fact, the only criticism I have to offer of this very considerable pianist is that he is inclined to overdo the left-hand-before-right-hand trick to express deep feeling.

 

The Rachmaninov's reviewer H.F., in August 1951, managed to get himself somewhat amusingly tangled up in the new-fangled vinyl technology:

Long-playing records are almost as moody and unaccountable as composers. No amount of flattery, persuasion, and tactful handling will make this one play ball with me (perhaps out of an innate psychological sense of revenge that I am not a whole-hearted admirer of Rachmaninov as a composer ?). The tonal range is wide enough; but when I turned things down so as to reach a tolerably pleasing all-over sound, there was no body left; as soon as I began to turn things up, the effect was increasingly as if the music had been recorded in a biscuit tin...

...before delivering a verdict which turns to the performance itself (suffice to say his concerns about sonics are not evident on this new Pristine XR issue):

This is the pianist's recording—he takes it by his powers (which are high) and is allowed it by those who balanced orchestra and solo instrument. Memory is a trickster, but I fancy Rachmaninov himself played the Concerto with greater warmth, more lovingly, less athletically. In other ways Julius Katchen is a worthy follower of that great performer. I feel that the performance as a whole design laid out before one suffers a little from the fact (as it seems to me) that the pauses are each slightly too long for gramophone reception. The piano tone is consistently far better than the orchestral tone, despite an occasional point of blasting. The pianist shows himself at his best in the third movement ; but, indeed, he is exceptionally good all the way through.

Andrew Rose

 

 


 

Available as 320kbps MP3, 16-bit mono & Ambient Stereo FLAC, 24-bit mono FLAC, CD
or listen on demand with Pristine Audio Direct Access (PADA)




Looking back - MusicWeb International Recording of the Month:



SCHUBERT String Quartets 8 and 15
Pristine Audio PACM 066

The Busch String Quartet:
Adolf Busch, violin
Gösta Andreasson, violin
Karl Doktor, viola
Hermann Busch, cello 
Recorded November, 1938

All transfers and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, October 2009 Cover artwork based on a photograph of The Busch Quartet

Total duration: 65:53 
©2009 Pristine Audio

For more download and CD options, see our website


The FLAC downloads:

Ambient Stereo FLAC

 16-bit Mono FLAC
 24-bit FLAC


The Busch Quartet performing at their very best

Two superb Schubert Quartets from 1938

 
  • Schubert - String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D887
    Recorded 22nd and 30th November, 1938
    Issued as five HMV 78s: DB 3744 - 3748
    Matrix numbers 2EA.7128-7137
    Takes 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

  • Schubert - String Quartet No. 8 in B flat major, D112
    Recorded 25th November, 1938
    Issued as three HMV 78s: DB 3737 - 3739
    Matrix numbers 2EA.7103-7116 and 7210-7211
    Takes 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1

 

SCHUBERT: String Quartets 8 & 15

"Without doubt the best re-mastering that I have heard of any pre-war recording... I can’t remember having heard this quartet [No. 8] more than once or twice and I had not tended to think of it as one of Schubert’s best works in this form, but the Busch Quartet left me wondering why... "
   - Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International, Recording of the Month

“Especially compelling ... the best extended-play transfer of the recording I have encountered .. the playing takes on a life that was not so apparent previously ... conveys a clarity, intensity and gentle 
grace often missed in other performances” 
   - Mortimer Frank, International Record Review, April 2010


Download listening sample: Sample MP3 (Quartet 15 - 1. Allegro molto moderato)


"Without doubt the best re-mastering that I have heard of any pre-war recording.... You wouldn’t mistake it for something recorded recently, but you might well be forgiven for thinking it a transfer of a mid-1950s master tape. I am not normally a great fan of historical recordings - they have to be special, like the Beecham La Bohème - but this is certainly a recording that I shall be keeping in my collection...

...The Busch Quartet’s Schubert has always been well regarded, but this was the first time that I have been able to judge that reputation for myself and I am as impressed by the performances as by the brushing up of the recording. I had half-expected to hear some pre-war quirks of playing; in the event, I was not aware of anything of the sort...

...I cannot imagine the Pristine Audio transfer being bettered or even rivalled. I can’t remember having heard this quartet more than once or twice and I had not tended to think of it as one of Schubert’s best works in this form, but the Busch Quartet left me wondering why. The central movements offer a typically Schubertian contrast between the profundity of the Andante sostenuto and the sheer delight of the Menuetto, a contrast which is very effectively brought out in this performance..."

Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International, Recording of the Month, March 2010 - read full review here

 

"Especially compelling is the transfer of the Busch Ensemble¹s 1938 accounts of Schubert¹s Quartets No. 8, D112 and No. 15, D887. For one thing, this is the best extended-play transfer of the recording I have encountered. Having ample presence, with minimal surface noise, comparatively wide dynamic range and seamless side joins, the playing takes on a life that was not so apparent previously. Especially impressive is the earlier work, which here gains a clarity, intensity and (in its first movement) a gentle grace often missed in other performances. In the late D887, the music¹s mix of eerie tremolos, melodic richness and fierce assertion is conveyed in aptly chosen tempos that are neither too broad nor hurried."

Mortimer Frank, International Record Review, April 2010

 


 

Available as 320kbps MP3, 16-bit mono & Ambient Stereo FLAC, 24-bit mono FLAC, CD
or listen on demand with Pristine Audio Direct Access (PADA)

Special offer - International Record Review

The April issue of International Record Review includes a major feature article looking at a number of Pristine releases, written by Mortimer Frank - his thoughts on the Busch Quartet's 1938 Schubert recordings are quoted in full above.

Although the magazine is widely available through record stores you can now order a single copy via the Subscribe page on their website http://www.recordreview.co.uk

You can also get a free random sample copy there for just the cost of the postage!

The new issue of International Record Review is due out on 6th April 2010 - don't miss it!
Feedback


Last week's editorial concerned correspondence between myself and the editor of a major music magazine with regard to his refusal to review any recordings which were not available to buy in US record stores - especially those which, like ours, require a computer and Internet access to order. I asked you for your thoughts, and here is a sample of your replies - again with names deleted (it seems a number of you guessed correctly). For the record, I've heard no more on the subject from the editor in question...


"Yes, Mr XXXX is a terror - I enjoy his magazine but try to avoid his more cantankerous outbursts." J.F.


"I was very, very interested in your 'Editorial'.

Hey, you could've added that, coz you get exposure through e.g. (occasional) 'Gramophone Magazine' advertising (yours) and reviews (say, in Rob Cowan's 'Replay' column and in 'Classic Record Collector') people can write you, even by snail-mail, quote you a cr. cd. and 'PASC' number and you'd be more than glad to air-post the 'PASC' CD to them.  You see, this is the way I buy most of my non-Pristine, non-download, physical CDs/DVDs, even LPs .... rarely, if ever, going to a store (then, only to "pre-loved" ones), almost 100% by mail-order (saves lots of money too, even with p&p added on).  And I find out about the mail-order stores in mag's., like 'G/phone' & 'Classic Rcd. Collector', and sometimes by internet browsing.  Strange, trade & commerce, isn't it?  The US wouldn't be any different; just more intensive .... and competitive (how about this deal .... the new 70-CD 'Horowitz Jacket Collection' post-paid world-wide at just under US$203!?)." B.C.


"Wonderful response, Andrew. I've been of a similar Luddite viewpoint regarding downloads and have suggested a couple of my reviewers not do as many strictly downloads from Pristine as they have been doing, but l see the logic of your argument.  I just wish it were simpler to download and convert the FLAC files to burn on a DVD-R. I'm struggling now to convert some 88.2K/24 audio files from M•A recordings to burn on a DVD-R to listen to." J.S. (Another editor!)


"A propos of your exchange with the magazine about reviews, and their view that older customers do not use computers, I an 61 years old and gave up buying CDs about 5 years ago in favour of downloads. Another example of this kind of thinking is the BBC programme CD Review. In its building a library segment reviewers regularly lament that such and such a recording is not currently available when it is right there in iTunes or other websites. "  S.C.


"There are some people who are just not with the program. Can't see the market staring them in the face. Yes, many older people want to own an artifact, (I'm one) but not all, and younger customers definately prefer downloading. Reduced cost of distribution is certainly a factor in your business model.....one which may well contribute to the demise of such a magazine at some future date.

Meanwhile, if other mags review your work perhaps this hold out will eventually change their mind. Or if they should hire a different manager." A different J.S.


"I will be 70 this year and I have been buying recordings for well over 50 years. I don't know what magazine wants to know who your distributor is, but I do know that I don't subscribe to it; why would I do that? The only classical record department I know of is an FYE store in Philadelphia, and nobody knows how long that will last. I would not know about Pristine Audio
but for MusicWeb. 

Your point about not being able to access the magazine in question except online is excellent! They will probably respond that you should subscribe, but that, too, is out of date. My wife is the new editor-in-chief of Organic Gardening, founded by Rodale in 1942, and I can assure you that that company is not sitting around ignoring the digital revolution.

As soon as we recover from having moved 1,000 miles recently, I'll be buying some more of your stuff. Meanwhile, more power to your elbow!" D. C.


"I was intrigued by your correspondence with (I presume) Mr. XXXX of XXXX.
 
I have subscribed to XXXX for many years and I know that Mr. XXXX is a feisty, highly opinionated, and often rather narrow commentator. On the other hand, he is a compulsively readable columnist and he puts out a lively magazine.
 
The point of this email, however, is not to discuss Mr. XXXX. I was hugely struck by the issues you raise, since I am just grappling with them myself.
 
I am a devoted collector of recorded music and have recently (over the last year) switched most of my attention to the web--web reviews, sites like yours which supply downloads or CDs, and so on.  This month my subscription to XXXX is up for renewal and I am actually hesitating as to whether I should bother to continue with it. I have found recently ( somewhat to my surprise) that I prefer to get my music information from the web, and that I am buying more web recommendations than I do recordings recommended by XXXX or other printed sources!  Out of loyalty I may well fork out the money for another year of XXXX (for one thing they once recommended a book of mine!)  But I'm afraid that I agree with you--the handwriting is on the wall for the printed and store sources. This is happening in the music industry ( reviewers and suppliers) even more quickly than it is with general book publishing--although the latter is being affected too, of course----especially on the production side, where Print on Demand and other systems are gaining ground all the time, and a lot of important material is being "published" on the web.
 
Most of us still like to hold a book in our hands, but downloading music is mind-boggling and revolutionary. I have a desire to hear something--and--presto! There it is! (I have it on my computer, and I can make a CD, which I can edit with various programs). Absolutely wonderful! What freedom!
 
I was just listening last night to one of your productions, the MP3 Slatkin version of Dohnanyi's Nursery Theme variations, and thinking: This is amazing sound, a great listening experience, and I didn't even know about this performance before you offered it! This has happened many times over the past 18 months or so. In addition, I find that I can now zero in on music I like and can't find in stores, or try out performances that I've never heard--and it's almost instant.
 
Now for some stats. I am 75 years old and have been collecting music all my life. I got my first computer in 1985, somewhat ahead of the crowd, but, as I say, only now am I relying on it as my main source of music information and recordings (of music CDs). (I order all my DVDs, music and films, on the web too, and expect to be downloading most of those too, quite soon). I don't know what I'd do without web reviews and suppliers--most of the large music stores I used to visit have closed. I am not vastly wealthy but I have enough spending money to keep collecting the music I like and I can afford to update my computer equipment regularly without much financial pain. Among my circle, I can only think of two friends, approximately my age, who could afford it but who have not taken the leap into computers-emails-web orders etc. The future is definitely in the direction you indicate.
 
Sorry about the length of this, but your exchange with Mr. XXXX (and if it isn't XXXX, sorry!) really struck home.
 
And not so incidentally, thanks for the seemingly endless stream of fascinating recordings coming from Pristine. If I were as well-heeled as the bloke in Toronto that you refer to I'd probably buy the whole set too!"   T.H. - who guessed correctly


"I'm stunned by the short-sightedness of ****, and I don't mean Elgar's 13th variation. When I consider the number of old farts like me with computers out in cyberspace, then I'd say that **** is catering to a nonexistent demographic! " - A.S.


 




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--
Andrew Rose
Pristine Classical
www.pristineclassical.com

 

 

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