A Whole Lot of American Music

I'm going to do something a bit different today. I've got a bunch, a BUNCH, of recordings of American classics that I have transferred over the months and been sitting on. In one fell swoop, I'm offering them up here for some industrial size transferring. Here goes!

The first one is the jacket above of music of Ruggles and Cowell, a monaural Columbia recording, ML4986. Pianist John Kirkpatrick shines in Evocations! It's a masterpiece played by a master!

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Monaural ARS-38 - music by Henry Brant and Burrill Phillips.

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The excellent Beveridge Webster playing Copland, Sessions and Carter on Dover HCR5265 - monaural.

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Dean Dixon conducts symphonies of Cowell and Piston on ARS 112 - monaural. One of my favorite conductors.

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Music of Swanson, Diamond and Hanson of ARS6 & ARS 7 - monaural. Dean Dixon again along with the underrated Texan, Walter Hendl.

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Chamber Music of Harris and Diamond with Lawrence Sobol, clarinet. Grenadilla GS1007 Stereo. Mid 70's Super, super musicianship here.

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Longtime New England Conservatory professor Veronica Jochum plays MacDowell and Griffes on stereo Golden Crest CRS4168. Mid 70's. If you do not know Eugen Jochum's daughter, now is your chance to make her acquaintance!

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Have fun! Whew!

The Chinese Flute by Ernst Toch

Bryan over at The Shellackophile recently posted the premiere recording of Toch's Piano Quintet so I thought I'd add by "toch" cents and offer up this Alco recording of Toch's "The Chinese Flute" for soprano and orchestra.

As the years have gone by, Toch's star has definitely lowered in the skies. Once considered one of the preeminent avant garde composers of his generation, his career definitely stalled after being forced to flee Germany as the Nazi's came to power. In the United States, where he finally settled, his music was met with ambivalence, possibly because his creative style was geared toward 1920's Germany and not the cinematic world of 1930's and 40's Hollywood. Whatever the case, Toch was unable to sustain his reputation like compatriot Paul Hindemith as the years progressed.

I'm not sure how to describe this work from 1923, The Chinese Flute. Perhaps a chamber opera or a cantata? A song cycle, a symphony? You got me. What I can say is that Mahler utilized the same collection of texts for Das Lied von der Erde and achieved a masterpiece while Toch produces a bit of a oddball piece with its dense chromatic writing and weak connection between the text and the music. Worth a listen yet hardly memorable. Rather, this is a document of the experimental years of between the wars Germany.

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Schubert's Mass No 5 in Ab conducted by Carl Bamberger

Here was a very, very pleasant surprise for me! The name of Carl Bamberger was known to me as a conductor who appeared on budget labels, often "supermarket" titles during the 1950's and 60's. A German kapellmeister obviously able to work inexpensively and quickly for these record companies that sought to mass market at rock bottom prices. So, when I saw this Urania stereophonic lp for 50 cents, I thought why not give it a shot? I would guess the recording dates from the early 60's.

And am I glad I did! This is one terrific performance, full of intensity, red blooded singing and urgent directing. I think it blows away the famed Sawallisch recording but then again, I've never been a fan of what I consider his stolid conducting style. I'm sure that this orchestra and chorus "The North German Philharmonic" is a pseudonym for probably one of the German Radio ensembles but no bother, it doesn't phase me in the least. When music making is purposeful, it really does not make a difference who it is. The soloists, by the way, do their job well - I think they are all opera house residents.

Schubert's way with the liturgy was much like Brahms, as he constructed his musical argument from the parts of the Latin Mass that had greatest appeal to him. Though not an overtly devout man, Schubert's mass has an intensity and joy which could only come from a person who recognized the link between man and a higher being. It's marvelous music that is surprisingly symphonic in it's scope and structure.


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Leon Fleisher performs Hindemith's 'The Four Temperaments'

A big thank you to Ray in Montana for sending long this lp to me for transfer. Epic LC3356 featuring Szymon Goldberg leading his Netherlands Chamber Orchestra with Leon Fleisher and Paul Godwin taking up the solo duties in wonderful music of Hindemith.

Paul Hindemith is one of my favorite composers and I absolutely never tire of either the Symphony Mathis der Maler of the main work on this record, The Four Temperaments. The music his completely accessible and masterfully orchestrated and in both pieces the ideas are fresh, engaging and in places poignant. This Four Temperaments is fortunate to feature Leon Fleisher in the concertante role. At the time of the recording. Fleisher was at an absolute artistic peak, having set down benchmark records with Szell of concertos by Beethoven and Brahms.  The collaboration here is one of cohesion and though it does not displace my favorite record of Victor Aller with Felix Slatkin, it is nonetheless, highly musical and worthy of Hindemith's intentions. The works on side two are beautifully rendered and a tribute to the excellent orchestra that Goldberg developed.

Goldberg's "take" of Op 44, No 4 got me thinking about another old MGM lp that I transferred unsatisfactorily sometime ago. This lp features the complete "Educational Music" of Op 44 with the Maurice Levine  String Ensemble. I gave it another go and it came out better. Like Orff, Hindemith was interested in musical learning and in the spirit of teaching, he created an interesting work in its complete form.  Unfortunately, both lps add up to about 85 minutes of music so if you download both, it'll be two burned cd's.

A curious note: though the MGM is expectantly mono, I would have expected the 1957 date of the Goldberg record to have a stereophonic edition. Alas, no.

Always a good day with new Hindemith discoveries!

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Tchaikovsky by The "Burgin Quartet"

From Boston Records, this is billed as the first recording of Tchaikovsky's 3rd Quartet, performed by the "Burgin Quartet." In reality, there was no Burgin Quartet, but rather a group of long time Boston Symphony colleagues who got together, from time to time, and cut a record apart from their activities as BSO and Boston Symphony Chamber Players members. Richard Burgin and Leo Panasevich on violin, Joseph de Pasquale on viola and Samuel Mayes on cello. Exquisite musicians who give a rather persuasive account of this rather "on the fringe" piece.

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More from Robert Gerle

More music (this time authentic Hungarian) played by Robert Gerle. This is a Westminster stereo issue from 1968. Accompanied by pianist Regis Benoit, Mr Gerle plays a variety of shorter pieces by Bartok, Kodaly, and Dohnanyi. The front covers features a photo of Kodaly congratulating Gerle at a Budapest recital given by the latter.

I like this lp better than the previous post of Brahms' Hungarian Dances. Perhaps it is me, but I sense that Gerle delves into the guts of the music with more intensity, perhaps due to the fact that this is music that he grew up with and is native to his soul. I would suppose that returning to his native country after being in "exile" in the US was an emotional experience and performing works by men that played a role in his development brought out the best in this artist. I really sense a strong attachment to the Kodaly works, especially so.

This is a nice recital.
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