I was VERY excited to pick up this rarity from Fabien Sevitzky...and it was FREE! I'll cut to chase and tell you that no one, NO ONE, makes a stronger case for this music of Khachaturian then Sevitzky. Although Neal posted a very fine lp of extended music from Gayne with Chalabala conducting the brilliant Czech PO, Sevitzky and his midwestern band play their collective hearts out in thess Sevitzky arranged suites. It's just a terrific ride with sultry woodwinds, braying trombones and silky strings doing their thing. The 1953ish recording is full and natural. Just a great testament to what Sevitzky accomplished in Indianapolis. I love this and I would encourage listeners to go to the Big 10 Inch and check out what Buster did for the Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony. Sevitzky might have been Serge Koussevitzky's nephew but he was very much his own, talented man!
As a filler, the Musical Arts SO under Leonard Sorkin in a mostly Russian program. Some fine playing here in Russian Sailor's Dance and Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla. Who was this Musical Arts SO? I'd sure like to know. This recording dates from teh mid 60's and my copy was monaural.
I'd like to respond to some comments about transfers here. The recordings in this post are downloadable in FLAC. I am switching to FLAC for all new transfers. I do have a number of transfers left, in the can, that are in mp3 but, from July on, I will only convert WAV to FLAC. Also, some folks have commented on clicks and pops. I use Audacity now and I try to run transfers through a couple times to remove as much noise as possible. Unfortunately, not everything disappears and I do not like Noise Removal because I feel that it alters the original recording's sound in an unflattering way. Overall, I am fairly comfortable with what I do; it is not perfect, I am not an engineer, and what I do here does not earn me one penny. So, please try to enjoy my efforts as I work within certain constraints etc.. Thanks much!
DOWNLOAD SEVITZKY
DOWNLOAD SORKIN
