Because I’ve been hard at work on transfers, here’s yet another update. This time there are three Scheherezades – two are highly abridged, one only slightly. Landon Ronald’s acoustic account (now available to download from Historic Recordings ) takes one side for each movement. The early electrical version by Eugene Goossens adopts the same principle, and contains only a little more music, evidently being intended as a replacement for the acoustic version. The “complete” version recorded by French Columbia is conducted by Philippe Gaubert on 11 sides, including a cut between the end of side 10 and the start of 11. I don’t know why it wasn’t simply recorded complete on 12 sides.

Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherezade Op.35
His Master’s Voice C 1287-8
Matrices CR 561-IIA, 562-II, 563-IV, 564-I (4-0868/71)
Recorded 13th (parts 1, 2, 4) and 15th (part 3) July 1926
Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden, Eugene Goossens

Mediafire link for Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherezade – Goossens

(These are zip files – left click the link, download the files, then unzip when downloaded)

This abridged recording by Eugene Goossens uses almost the same cuts as Landon Ronald’s acoustic account, simply adding one or two extra passages that Ronald decided wouldn’t fit on. These include the opening twelve bars of the first movement, a section between A and B in the third movement, and in the fourth movement, the section between A and B, and from W to a little before X.

The parts of the score included in the recording are given below. Page references are to Hawkes Pocket Score – section letters appear common to all scores.

First Record: start (p3) to end (p4); E (p19) to 6 after F (p26); 5 after H (p30) to M (p38); 11 after M (p39) to end (p41)

Second Record: start to bar 4 (p42-3); A (p44) to B (p45); C (p47) to D (p50); H (p62) to 16 after I (p68); 6 before L (p73) to L (p74); N (p79) to P (p87); R (p92) to end (p96)

Third Record: start (p97) to B (p101); C (p105) to H (p116); I (p119) to K (p120); P (p133) to end (p134)

Fourth Record: 24 before A (p140) to bar before E (p147); K (p158) to N (p168); P (p173) to bar before Q (p176); W (p197) to 10 after X (p213); 15 after X (p216) to 10 after Y (p221); Z (p222) to 6 after Z (p224)

Scheherezade – Suite Symphonique Op.35
Columbia Masterworks Album 156 (DBX 1-6)
Matrices WLX 418, 419, 420, 476-2, 477-2, 478-1, 375, 376, 377, 416, 417 (9722, 9723, 9724, 10559, 10560, 10561, 9529, 9528, 9527, 9728, 9706
Recorded 6th July 1928, April 1929

I. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship (3 sides)
II. The Story of the Kalandar Prince (3 sides)
III. The Young Prince and the Young Princess (2 and a half sides)
IV. Festival of Bagdad: The Sea – The Ship is Wrecked (2 and a half sides)

L’Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Paris, Philippe Gaubert

Bizet – L’Arlesienne Suite – Adagietto No.1 for Strings
Matrix WAX 5048 (12368)
Recorded 11th to 15th June 1929
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, Willem Mengelberg

Mediafire link for Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherezade – Philippe Gaubert

(These are zip files – left click the link, download the files, then unzip when downloaded)

Gaubert’s account of Scheherezade is substantially complete, and demonstrates the excellent sound obtained by French Columbia (though the noise level is high on some sides). Curiously, side 10 ends 28 bars after V and side 11 starts at W, an omission of 44 bars. Given that the work was going to be issued on 6 double sided records, it’s unclear why 12 sides were not used, rendering the cut unnecessary, along with the unusual filler side. The French Columbia issue of this set was coupled with Gaubert’s account of the Menuet from Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin.