Sibelius Symphony No. 2 Barbirolli and the Halle Orchestra RCA Bluebird 1084

It has been some time since I have done much in the way of transferring LP's to a digital format, mostly, but not entirely because my desktop computer with a decent sound card was not longer working. My hearing has become increasingly compromised since I last offered a restoration. I new Dell XPS desktop, EVGA Nu Audio sound card, Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro headphones (250 ohm), and Elac Uni Fi UB5 speakers, along with some re-programmned hearing aids, have inspired me to try again. I apologize if I've missed the mark in terms of sound.The hearing loss is a challenge I'd rather have avoided, but it runs in the family, so I'm not surprised.  Since I am trying to produce transfers I can share, any feedback would be welcome.  Here is a long time favorite of mine, Barbirolli's early LP issue on RCA Bluebird of the Sibelius second symphony.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/evjni7f3lfh2nxp/Sibelius_Second_Symphone_Barbirolli_Halle_Orchester_RCA_Bluebird_2084.rar/file

The Varèse Record

                                                                     

If this recording has made it to CD, I can't find it. I find a lot of LP, like the one I have, of the reissue on Finnadar Records (SR9018) of the original 1950 record, with the added 1954 Interpolations for Désert, but I have not located a CD.

The pieces are available, but this recording under the supervision of Varèse has unique historical value, since the 1950 record was for long the only recorded music of this composer available.

The Interpolations for Désert were substantially revised in 1961, but these versions from 1954 are what Hermann Scherchen premiered in Paris on December 2nd of that year. What a night that must have been!

The music is wonderful, and the record itself contains "a reminiscence and appreciation" of Varèse by Frank Zappa, entitled: Edgard Varèse: Idol of my youth.  Links to the photos of the cover are included, in case you wish to read it.

MP3 Files:    https://www.mediafire.com/?q41vcu3gq51f52w

Flac 96Khz : https://www.mediafire.com/?zay5965jibk4n5a
The original 24 bit .wav files had a bit rate of 4608 kbps, but the Flac files, converted in Audacity, have a bit rate of 1085 kbps.  It will have to do until I can figure out what is going on.  It may well be I'm simply clueless, but I'll try to find out.  It may well be that I simply do not understand the mechanics of lossless compression.  Well, I mean I don't. Meanwhile,  these flac files sound pretty good to me.

Pictures:    http://www.mediafire.com/view/exugody6110v381/Back.jpg
                  http://www.mediafire.com/view/ufipdnjpod8gsoe/Front%20for%20post.jpg

Schneider Quartet Haydn Now Available

The CD set of Schneider Quartet recordings of the Haydn String Quartets has been issued by Music and Arts and is now available for purchase through Music and Arts itself, or through Amazon.  I was made aware of this by Jonathan Angel, who I heartily thank for his email informing me of it.  His review of the set on Amazon.com just about says it all.

Although my restorations of the files were not used at the end of the day, I take some satisfaction in the fact that the project was started when the late Fred Maroth contacted me after seeing the postings of them on Vinyl Fatigue, and asked me to take on the project.  I was in over my head, but I'm very happy the the project was brought to completion by others.The digital restorations by Lani Spahr published in the CD set are an improvement over what I was able to do, and I would urge anyone who loves these recordings to get the CD's.  The original recordings were not state of the art for their time, nor were the recorded results consistent across the series. Those limitations are carried into the present, of course, but the performances themselves shine through any sonic limitations, and Lani Spahr has done a good job with what was available to work with. A job well done, and some of the most important and wonderful recordings ever made once again seeing the light of day.

Those of us who love these performances love them without reservation.  This is Haydn the way I want to hear it, with all the humor, tenderness, aristocratic refinement and  country bawdiness the music contains. There are slow movements here played with a the delicacy and awareness of suffering that can make you weep. And Haydn is one of the few composers who moves me to delighted laughter.

Enjoy this wonderful set!

Bach Geistliche Lieder. Cuenod. Roessel-Majdan Vol 3

Here is the next installment, volume 3 in the ongoing Bach Geistliche Leider with Hugues Cuenod and Hilde Roessel-Majdan.

I changed preamps between this post and the last, volume 2. There is some improvement, I think, although I hope it is not so drastic as to spoil the four renovations as a "set". I will compare the discs I have burned, and if I think it is a problem, I will redo the first two, though I do not promise that any time soon. They all sound pretty good, though, even if they end up not being an exact match.

Link to all files

Text and Music compliments of Neal's Historical Recordings

Haydn/Schneider Quartet links removed

CD's now available: http://vinylfatigue.blogspot.com/2014/12/schneider-quartet-haydn-now-available.html

To all the visitors to Vinyl Fatigue who found your way here through a web search for the Schneider Quartet Haydn recordings: Thank you. Thank you, too, to all who have supported my Haydn project and have left such encouraging comments. I owe you all an explanation of why I have removed the links to my restorations.

Very recently, after a couple of months of preliminaries, I have begun a project that will see the Haydn Society/Schneider Quartet recordings issued complete, by the current owner of the original tapes, in a commercial CD edition. The result should be superior to what I have been able to achieve here, and it has long been my desire to see such an edition brought forth. I never in my life imagined I would be involved in such a venture, and I feel privileged to be so.

I was not asked to remove the links to my previous work. I felt, however, that leaving them up would be a serious conflict of interest, not to mention a breach of simple etiquette. My primary goal in starting the series on Vinyl Fatigue was to make these fine performances digitally available. It was my hope from the start that a show of interest would encourage making a CD edition. I am deeply gratified that hope will shortly be realized. For me it is a dream come true.

I thank you for your understanding and for your many kindnesses.

Bach Geistliche Leider. Cuenod, Roessel-Majdan vol 2

The Second Volume of the Geistliche Lieder has been posted and may be found at the link below. Link to all files

Text and Music compliments of Neal's Historical Recordings

Roessel-Majdan, Hugues Cuenod, Bach Geistliche Leider Volume 1

When Hugues Cuenod died a few months ago at the age of 108, I was unable to get a post up to recognize his long and productive career. The current offering is a good example of his art; he sings these sacred songs with honest simplicity and the beautifully straightforward vocalism for which he was known. The wonderful Hilde Roessel-Majdan we have come across before on this blog, in Bach cantata recordings conducted by Hermann Scherchen. A fine singer in many genres, it is hard to best her in Bach. Cuenod's contribution to the current project was issued previously on 2 CDs, but they are no longer available. In any case, I find the alternation of the tenor and alto in the present recording --the first of the four LP set -- affecting and effective. The two voices compliment each other beautifully and provide, I believe, needed variety to songs very similar in style and intent. I will be adding the other three volumes over the next days. They are all from the same later pressings in Westminster's "Collectors Series" -- the ones so many of us treasure, with those eye-assaulting orange covers. The music and text, kindly provided by Neal at Neal's Historical Recordings, is available from the link below.

Link to all files

Text and Music compliments of Neal's Historical Recordings

Nancarrow: Studies For Player Piano

The present studies, by Conlon Nancarrow, were composed for specially altered player-pianos in the composer's possession, and the present recording was supervised by him at his studio in Mexico City. The contents of the studio are now in Basle, Switzerland at the Paul Sacher Foundation.

Largely unknown until late in his life, Nancarrow wrote wonderfully appealing music, written for mechanical instruments able to realize his fiendishly difficult rhythmic experiments. The Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conlon_Nancarrow) provides some valuable information.

The complete Studies for Player Piano were released on Wergo, though I do not know the circumstances of the recording. In any event, recordings of this music are not commonplace, to say the least, so the present post is more than justified. Ligeti thought Nancarrow was the most important musical discovery since Webern and Ives, and if you listen carefully, I think you will appreciate that enthusiastic recommendation.

Link to all files

Beecham conducts Favorite Overtures (LPO)

First off, my thanks to jsserraglio for fixing the picture above. The original post included an image with serious barrel distortion that he fixed and sent back to me. I appreciate it a lot.

I have had these two overtures ready for some time, but got stuck on the third of the fourth in the 78rpm set, Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, which is in fairly poor shape. Having been absent from posting for so long, I have decided to put up the two that are done and to add the other two, including The Merry Wives of Windsor, at a later date, if and when I can bring them into decent sonic shape.

These pieces are all readily available in recordings with Beecham made with the Royal Philharmonic. I love his RPO recordings, but his London Philharmonic records have always had a very special place in my affections, and he is a conductor about whom I am a completest; I want every recording he ever made. He was my first "favorite", and although I no longer describe my response to artists in those limiting terms, my regard for his music-making has only grown through the years. The musical world is richer for his recordings of Sibelius, Mozart, Haydn, and for the few opera recordings that have come down to us. Would there were more. His recording of the Mendelssohn Reformation Symphony is still my favorite after all these years, his LPO recordings of Mozart are peerless, his Delius (a composer I like a lot) set the standard. His sometimes mordant wit, known in countless retellings, has sometimes made him more famous for what he said than for the sterling performances passed down to us in recordings.

He introduced Richard Strauss to England, and the live performance of his Elektra with Paul Schoeffler, Elisabeth Höngen, Ljuba Welitsch, and Erna Schlüter in the title role, is a chilling account of murder, and the psychological cost of vengeance. But despite his important achievements in music of great seriousness and profundity, he is best known to many for his "Lollipops" --- overtures and light fare, which, in fact, nobody did better. Listen to his recorded RPO performance of the "La Gazza Ladra" overture; it is pure genius.

So, while I will continue to work on the other two overtures of this set as time allows, I just did not want to wait any further to post the Mozart Don Giovanni and Berlioz's Roman Carnival. Enjoy!


Links to all files

Margaret Whiting Remembered

I was saddened when I returned home from a trip, and had time on the internet, to learn of the death of Margaret Whiting. Buster, at Big 10-Inch Record (http://big10inchrecord.blogspot.com/2011/01/margaret-whitings-first-album.html), posted one of her early albums, perhaps the first. All I can do here is post a photograph I was privileged to take of this fine singer in Albuquerque several years ago.

In my first years in Albuquerque a friend of a friend brought Whiting to New Mexico for several private concerts. During that time I was fortunate enough to meet her, go to dinner with her and her accompanist, Tex Arnold, and to sit in on rehearsals and performances in order to take photographs.

The above was taken during rehearsal; I believe she was singing "Misty" at my request. Forever after, for me at least, it has been a song that she owned.

She was a gracious lady, unfazed by the silly fawning we made around her, seemingly confident in her talent, but by no means impressed with herself. I have long liked the picture of her I am sharing. Others I took are technically better, but this one has always spoken to me, and fits the fond memories I have of those hours.