Remember those old Somerset records? You could buy 'em for $1.98 at the local Safeway, Radio Shack or Walgreens. Though meant for mass distribution, many of the performances on them were very fine indeed and here are two examples of rousing overtures. The London Philharmonic is led by Horst Stein and Edward Downes respectively and I'd place these lp's square about 1963 or 4.
Both the conductors featured here did not have especially large discographies and I'm at a loss why that is so. Everything that I have heard by Horst Stein is beautifully prepared and executed (I think his Bruckner 6 is the best out there, he really gets superlative playing from the VPO) while Edward Downes was a noted opera conductor and being so means that he knows where to extract the emotion from these overtures and preludes. His take on Ruslan and Ludmilla is riproaringly wonderful.
You'll enjoy these lps. I grabbed them out of the 3 for a buck pile. What a steal!
DOWNLOAD STEIN
DOWNLOAD DOWNES PART 1
DOWNLOAD DOWNES PART 2
Mediafire is having a problem with this download. ...sigh....and sorry!
