Reiner and Schneider..it rhymes! Busy last couple nights. Oktoberfest season is in full swing and between the beer, brats and brewhaha....the band had a great time last night (my lips are shot!), thousands at the Harpoon Brewery in Boston and oh, how I love taking those pictures with the younger crowd! Anyway...
Here are two short lps that I'm offering as a grab bag of sorts. We have Alexander Schneider leading Mozart and Vivaldi with the the Dumbarton Oaks Chamber Orchestra and then Carol Brice singing Mahler's Wayfarer Songs with Reiner and the Pittsburgh SO and selected Bach arias with Daniel Saidenberg leading the Columbia Broadcasting Orchestra.
Though Dumbarton Oaks is outside of Washington DC, the music was recorded in 1949 in NYC if memory serves me right. This leads me wondering if Dumbarton Oaks is just a name for a NYC based pickup orchestra. Whatever the case, Schneider proves the experienced and vital leader and the Vivaldi and Mozart pieces come off marvelously. You know, my fear is that we are fast forgetting the immense contribution of Alexander Schneider to the American musical scene. Soloist, conductor, teacher, editor, impresario, the man did everything and did it so well. In my book, perhaps his single greatest achievement was to force the great Casals from retirement. No one else had the stature, or "balls" to do this and we all benefited beyond belief from Schneider's chutzpah.
I know not much of Carol Brice though her voice has at times a Ferrier quality to it. Primarily a musical theatre performer, Brice did record several times with Reiner, noting down a rather well regarded El Amor Brujo. A performer of African American background, Brice was one of those brave and focused individuals who laid the groundwork of integration and made possible the later successes of Leontyne Price, Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, to name a few. Her Mahler and Bach are thoughtfully performed and I especially hold her diction in regard. I do love it when I can hear the pronounciation of words! This must have been one of Reiner's first Mahler recordings and he shapes everything quite nicely. The same goes for Saidenberg and his studio orchestra - Brice performs the selected Bach arias flawlessly. Recorded dates are from the late 40's, give or take.
So, here's my "mono FLAC" grab bag for the day....Prost!
