BEECHAM conducts Mozart - The Three-Volume Collection - PABX054

All but one of Beecham's early acoustic Mozart recordings was made for Columbia, and it was to the American company of the same name that he returned in the early 1950s to record a series of seven Mozart symphonies with another of his "own" orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic. The symphonies have been in and out of print since then, and their original, somewhat harsh sound quality to an extent masked their exquisite brilliance. Despite this, they have always been highly regarded, and it can only be hoped that these new transfers and XR remastering will further enhance their reputation.

But that's not to overlook his earliest Mozart recordings (a single side cut for Odeon in 1912 will appear on a later volume here), made with an orchestra that some rated as the finest he ever conducted. Again, XR remastering has helped bring these primitive horn-based sound recordings just a small step closer to the modern listener's appreciation - and very fine they are too.

The rare acoustic recordings were sourced from existing vinyl transfers, including a "private" box set from the 1970s, WHS 102/4. It is from notes enclosed here that the archive review for this release was derived - I could find no reviews when searching in the Gramophone and Fanfare archives of any of Beecham's 1950s Columbia symphony recordings.

Andrew Rose

“These 1950s recordings remind us what a passionate Mozartian Beecham was. Pristine has refreshed the sound expertly” - The Sunday Times, 2014

The symphony recordings here were both made for US Columbia LP releases. In both cases the works had been recorded with Beecham's previous orchestra, the London Philharmonic, for EMI 78rpm release in March 1940, but in both cases these are the only studio recordings he made to tape, and the only recordings made with the Royal Philharmonic of the two symphonies. Both were issued later in Europe on Philips and its subsidiary label, Fonata, from which the present transfers were drawn. Recording quality, post-XR remastering, turns out to have been remarkably and consistently good, albeit in mono for both recordings - the originals prior to this remastering being somewhat harsh in reproduction, particularly the 1950 recording of the 38th Symphony.

By contrast the Divertimento, made by EMI in the most controlled conditions of Abbey Road studios required less XR adjustment to bring out its magic. The recording does, however, raise some questions to which I, at the time of writing, can offer only speculative answers. The recording originally appeared on a mono LP, alongside a 1957 recording of the Jupiter Symphony. Its reissue in 1968 was, likewise, mono, but a recent CD issue on EMI is in full stereo.

A careful examination of the mono and stereo issues reveals a number of differences, but at the same time a number of clear similarities. At times one is convinced they are the same recording - elsewhere the playing is clearly different, if only slightly. I can only conclude that the recording sessions were captured both in mono and stereo separately (this being a time when stereo recording was still in an experimental stage). The mono tapes would have been edited for release, as is normal, but when EMI returned to the stereo tapes for their recent reissue, either by accident or by design they produced a different edit, using some of the same and some alternate takes by comparison to the original mono master approved by Beecham, which appears here. A careful examination will reveal considerable timing differences in some movements between the two versions.

Andrew Rose

As with previous issues in this series, the symphony recordings here were made for American releases on the US Columbia label, which had long since cut its ties with its British namesake. Yet, unlike several of the Mozart symphony recordings Beecham made for US Columbia it was issued in the UK on EMI's Columbia subsidiary, which at the time was still a 78rpm-only operation. It is one of the few of this series that Beecham returned to EMI's Abbey Road studios later that decade to remake, the Columbia recordings having taken place in London's Kingsway Hall. The 1954 recording of the 40th Symphony, by contrast, found its British issue on the Philips label, two years after its recording. Beecham had previously recorded it with the London Philharmonic for EMI in 1937; this is his only other studio recording.

The two other recordings presented here almost serve to bookend the conductor's recorded career. The Bassoon Concerto was originally issued as a mono LP but was also recorded in stereo, and this is the version presented here from December 1958, and a very good hi-fi recording it is too; where the symphonies needed quite a lot of resurrecting, this was generally fine. By contrast, the 1912 recording of the overture to Figaro was his first outing with Mozart and from his second stint in the recording studio, having cut seven sides in 1910. This acoustic recording has been significantly updated in this XR remastering.

Andrew Rose