If you are going to have one cup of coffee, then why not two!

The same goes for Bach's wonderful Coffee Cantata. It's such a tuneful, lighthearted, magical piece, that one cannot but listen to it twice in one sitting. So....in order to accommodate that desire for good coffee, here are two rather interesting, and possibly pathbreaking performances.

The first rendition comes from an Allegro release c. 1952 or so and it is unique for it is quite minimalistic for its day. The Allegro Chamber Ensemble is a 1/2 dozen of New York's finest and the soloists are Met house singers. I've never heard the coffee cantata performed with such a sense of intimacy, almost like parlor music. The down, admittedly, is that the recording sounds like it was recorded in my kitchen and there are some pitch problems, I believe on the engineering side. I've been playing with Audacity in order to improve postings but this vinyl had many challenges as you will hear from time to time. My friend Buster of the Big 10 Inch blog commented once on Remington vinyl (hoo boy!) but these Allegro pressings that I've seen may be more of an "oi veh!"

The second recording comes from Vox and is conducted by Rolf Reinhardt. Maestro Reinhardt was kind of a house conductor for Vox during the 50's and 60's and he recorded a lot of music from Baroque to Bartok. He is quite convincing in Bach and his Sturttgart orchestra is more of what we are accustomed to hearing as accompaniment in the Coffee Cantata. The singers are unknown to me. Vox would replace this performance with one from Wurttemberg sometime in the late 60's I believe.

I've included notes in the files. Brew up a fresh pot of Joe and enjoy the light side of old J S!

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If you have never checked out John Berky's abruckner.com site, you are really cheating yourself of great music and fine scholarship, all on behalf of one of the greatest symphonists ever to grace our troubled planet. I recommend a visit highly!

On his site, Mr Berky posts, on a monthly basis, LP transfers that somehow have never made it to cd format. For his last three postings, Mr Berky has highlighted the conducting of the fine German conductor Heinz Wallberg. Maestro Wallberg is featured leading the Tonkuenstler Orchestra of Vienna in the symphonies 4, 5, and 8, along with the Te Deum. These recordings originally appeared on the Concert Hall label some 45+ years ago.

Let me say that Wallberg's conducting is a revelation, his attention to detail and keen sense of phrasing make these performances exhilarating and a must have. Rarely is Bruckner presented with such insight coupled with edge of chair playing. All I can say is that each performance left me wanting to play the whole thing over again post haste, they are THAT good. How these gems got lost, it totally baffles me. If you love Bruckner, you will want to hear these performances!

Dvorak's Complete Slavonic Dances played by Grete and Josef Dichler, piano four hands

Dvorak's two sets of Slavonic Dances are, quite simply, wonderful musical miniatures. Admiring Brahms' Hungarian Dances, Dvorak set out to do the same, albeit with a decidedly Slavic twist. So successful was Dvorak with the first set, op. 46, that publishers, and music lovers, were able to coax op. 72 from him without loss of inspiration or gift for melody. Absolutely delightful stuff!

Most of us know these dances in their usual presentation for full orchestra. Curiously, few recordings have been made in their original piano four hand renditions. So, imagine how excited I was when I happened upon this rather forgotten Vanguard LP featuring the four hand duo of Grete and Josef Dichler.

The Dichlers were, in their day, the foremost four hand piano duo in the German speaking lands. Well regarded teachers in Vienna, they recorded rather extensively and I'm told that one of their most prized recordings was the first piano four hand account of Bach's The Art of Fugue. I'd like to emphasize that this husband and wife team played four hand piano music exclusively on one piano. Today, most often piano four hand is presented on two pianos rather then one, a pity since that intimacy and timbre of one instrument alone is lost amid a reworking of the composer's intentions.

Turn the lights down, grab your favorite beveridge, close your eyes, and allow Dvorak, through the Dichler's 20 magical fingers,  paint a splendid musical picture of the beautiful Czech countryside through these vivid and fresh sounding musical gems.

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Newell Jenkins and the Orchestra Academia dell'Orso in Boccherini and Cambini

Here's another fine Dover offering: Newell Jenkins conducting the Orchestra Academia dell' Orso in the Symphony in C major and Cello Concerto in D major, Op 34 of Boccherini and the Sinfonia Concertante No 1 in C major for Oboe, Bassoon and Orchestra of Giuseppe Cambini. I must say that Cambini is new to me and I'd characterize his music as Salieri light, enjoyable but hardly memorable.

Newell Jenkins was for many years the director and inspiration for New York's Clarion Concerts. Dr Jenkins introduced many late baroque and classical works to the US and also performed valuable scholarship on the music of the 18th century. I don't believe that the orchestra here is Italian based as the soloists do not have Italian surnames. My guess is that this orchestra is a New York pickup group of some sort, maybe even the Clarion Concerts orchestra using another name for contractural purposes. Perhaps someone can enlighten me further on this? Anyhow, enjoy!

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The Haydn and Hummel Trumpet Concertos: a doubletake!

You know, I've been playing the trumpet for a good thirty five years, though I do not consider myself a professional musician. I've played all sorts of stuff, shows, orchestral concerts, quintets, parades, you name it! Today, I focus my autumn season on Oktoberfests - where else can you actually go to play and drink great beer and, get paid for it!?

Ok..enough of me. When I was growing up, there were two trumpeters who I greatly admired because, well they just had unbelievable technique and personality; the two are none other then Maurice Andre and Timofey Dokschitser. In his day, Andre was the most celebrated "classical" trumpeter in the west as was Dokschitser behind the Iron Curtain. Both men possessed breathtaking technical abilities and very, VERY, personal, instantly recognizable styles. Interestingly, their type of playing and musicianship has gone out of fashion to be replaced by the rather generic sounding, yet brilliant technical abilities of today's young trumpeters. Oh well.

Here we have both Maurice and Timofey playing those two well worn masterpieces, the Haydn and Hummel concertos. I think you will enjoy the comparisons here. I believe that Andre plays both concertos on a C trumpet while Dokschitser opts for the big, robust sound of the Bb trumpet. Andre's brilliance contrasts well with Dokschitser's big sound and ever present, Russian style vibrato. Both play a tour de force!

As for the recordings, I find Andre's RCA-Erato pressings rather tinny, the Hummel is harsh in places possibly due to worn vinyl??, while the Dokschitser fares better, although there is a "hiccup" in the slow movement of the Haydn. Not sure of the recording dates but probably late 60's, early 70's. Anyway, have a listen and recall a time when trumpeters were allowed to possess the all too important quality of individualism. What a concept!

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Rene Leibowitz conducts Rossini overtures with the Pasdeloup Orchestra

Here's an early Urania stereo release of Rossini Overtures performed by the Pasdeloup Orchestra under the estimable Rene Leibowitz. The usual suspects are here, La Gazza Ladra, William Tell, Semiramide and The Italian Girl in Algiers. All are splendidly rendered by this most French of orchestras under its cosmopolitan maestro.

Rene Leibowitz was one of the last century's best kept secrets. Polish born, he spent most of his adult life in France concentrating on composing, teaching, advocating 20th century music and keeping alive the great French opera/operetta tradition of the 19th century. This man had an enormous repetoire from early Baroque to cutting edge modern masters in fact, one may be able to say that only Hermann Scherchen conducted more styles, traditions and periods the Leibowitz.

Perhaps though, Leibowitz's greatest recorded legacy were series of Reader's Digest recordings that he collaborated on with the great producer Charles Gerhardt while in London during the 1960's. Having at his disposal such great orchestras as the LPO and RPO, Leibowitz set down magnificent accounts of the great musical masters, the highlight being a superlative Beethoven cycle that many critics have placed at the very top in their rankings....some say it is THE set for all time. That set is available on Chesky and I would encourage everyone to seek it out; the playing, the fidelity to the score and the conductorial vision is what sets it apart from all others. It is a treasure.

I hope you like these Rossini overtures. I will shortly be posting Leibowitz's take on the Respighi-Rossini  Le Boutique Fantastique.


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Brahms' 4th symphony conducted by Victor de Sabata on the eve of WWII

Victor de Sabata is nearly forgotten. A conductor-composer like Furtwangler, in his day de Sabata was recognized as a fiery genius, an individual who demanded technical perfection from players but was nonetheless able to coax warmth and beautiful sounds from the orchestras that he conducted. One player was to have remrked that de Sabata was like a cross between Jesus Christ and Satan! I wonder what that means!

Here is a fine performance of the Brahms 4th symphony played by a glorious Berlin Philharmonic. Sense of line in impeccable, technical precision is without question and that Brahms "lushness" radiates. Nothing is flabby and the music just falls into place as it should. It's interesting to compare this to Bruno Walter's London recording from around the same period. Walter is leaner and the British musicians lack that burnished tone that is characteristic of the finest Central European ensembles.

I almost wish that de Sabata had recorded the complete cycle of Brahms. He made few records, as he detested the process and his guest appearances were often limited to those ensembles who could accommodate his rehearsal demands. In addition, de Sabata was somewhat tainted by his willingness to work in fascist Italy and Germany when others, Toscanini first and foremost, had thumbed their noses at those brutal regimes.

This historical document is sourced from a Heliodor LP.

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William Steinberg, Wagner and the Pittsburgh Symphony

   

That's get it over with...that first record jacket looks like something out of a 70's all girl porn flick. I wonder if this reissue experienced record (pardon the pun)sales??!!! Westminster Gold, the brainchild reissue label of ABC, certainly was known more for their quirky record jackets then for the poor quality, cheap vinyl in which they pressed, often classic performances, onto. Here is an example:  two rather fine Wagner compilations, originally recorded by Enoch Light's Command Classics during the early to mid 1960's.

Hans Wilhelm Steinberg was like millions of European immigrants who came to the United States during the first half of the last century; essentially he was born anew and he became in many ways more American then someone native born. Not only did he change his name to William, but he referred to himself as "Buffalo Bill" during his years as music director in that city. Steinberg took great interest in American music, sports and culture and was widely admired for his devotion to the audiences during his tenures in Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Boston. A man of courtly mannerisms, but authoritative nonetheless, Steinberg's interpretations were noted for their clarity, freedom from excess, and above all honesty - no gimmicks.

These two Wagner compilations are yet another example of a Jewish musician who, though driven from his homeland and noting the way that the Nazi's exploited Wagner, chose to recognize the music's genius above the creator's apparent faults. This is above all musical Wagner and Steinberg's beloved Pittsburgh orchestra matches his vision every step of the way. The fault in these recordings lies in the pressings; Wetsminster Gold was a budget shop and their pressings had all the very worst characteristics of a budget label. I do hope that you, the listener, can overlook the less the stellar transfers and just enjoy the music presented in an honest, straightforward, unsentimental manner, as only William Steinberg could do.

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The Lenox Quartet play Beethoven

From a Dover LP, HCR 5240, we have the Lenox Quartet performing Beethoven's quartets op 18, no 1 and op 59, no 3.  Admittedly I know little of this ensemble other then it was at least the second time a quartet was formed under the Lenox name. The musicians in this particular incarnation came from the Pittsburgh Symphony and they played for around 10 years together, as the Lenox Quartet, from the the early 60's to early 70's. They are:

Peter Marsh, Theodora Manta, violins
Paul Hersh, viola
Donald McCall, cello

These performances are freshly free of mannerisms and the musicians let the music speak for itself. Though the ensemble does not have a particularly strong interpretive profile, I do find their approach appropriate and musically satisfying. I believe these performances are a good antidote to more well known ensembles that tend to take a more willful approach towards interpretive practices.

This recording was released in 1964.

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