The second update of 2010 brings my typical mixed bag of recordings.

The first is an unusual recording by the wonderful British baritone Dennis Noble. It is not listed in the discography of Noble which appeared in The Record Collector in 2004. The record label is a private EMI pressing made to promote the National Savings scheme. The songs on one side are a “Silver Lining Medley”, and on the other “Look for the Silver Lining.” These were presumably chosen to tie in with the film “Look for the Silver Lining”, a 1949 biopic of Marilyn Miller. In the medley, Noble sings two songs, and C Wright (a very English tenor crooner) sings another. A fourth is assigned to the chorus. The second side has Noble singing with the chorus. Both sides are introduced by actor Norman Shelley.

Next, from around the same time, a British conductor in the US – Eugene Goossens with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Delius’s The Walk to the Paradise Garden.

Some decades before, a Russian conductor made recordings in the US – Vassily Andreyev took his Balalaika Orchestra on tour there in 1911. One of the sides he made has appeared here before, when it was a coupling for Landon Ronald’s abridged recording of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.

An altogether different sound comes from an early single-side Zonophone of Fucik’s “Entry of the Gladiators”, recorded a little before it acquired its circus connotations. The Zonophone Military Band credited on the label are actually the Band of H.M. Colstream Guards.

Maintaining the Czech theme, Dvorak’s New World Symphony receives a compelling performance from Jascha Horenstein on a Vox LP. The tempi are perhaps slow in places, but the conductor’s attention to detail makes for a highly satisfying account.

Finally, making a long overdue appearance here, the American conductor, Dean Dixon. I have more recordings by Dixon than can be given here – many are still in copyright, as he continued recording into the 1970s. The three LPs here include two symphonies by Schumann, two by Schubert, and Schubert’s Rosamunde music.

Silver Lining Medley:

Trad. – Roll away, clouds
Milton Egan – Song of the Dawn
Jack Ager – Over on the Sunny Side
Irving Berlin – Blue Skies

Jerome Kern – Look for the silver lining

Download – Silver Lining Medley – Dennis Noble, etc.

Download – Look for the silver lining – Dennis Noble, etc.

(mp3 file – right click the link, then select “Save as” or click the play button)

EMI JG.367
Matrices CTPX 14690-1, 14691-1
Recorded 1948?

Commentary by Norman Shelley
Dennis Noble, baritone
C Wright, singer
Chorus
National Savings Symphony Orchestra, Cecil Woods

Record label for Dennis Noble’s National Savings record

Delius – The walk to the Paradise Garden (Intermezzo from A Village Romeo and Juliet)

Mediafire link for Delius – Paradise Garden – Goossens

(This is an mp3 file – left click the link, download the file)

RCA Victor 11-9493
Matrices D6-RC-5139, 5140
Recorded 14th February 1946, Cincinnati
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Eugene Goossens

Traditional – Serenade Falet
Rubinstein – Bal Costumé – Toreador et Andalouse

Mediafire link for Andreieff’s Balalaika Orchestra

(This is a zip file – left click the link, download the file, then unzip when downloaded)

Victrola 18058
Matrices B9996-1, 9978-1
Recorded 20th, 21st February 1911
Andreieff’s Balalaika Orchestra, Vassily Vassilievich Andreyev

The top half of the label has a replacement stuck over it:

SPECIAL RECORD
Manufactured for
THE GRAMOPHONE CO., LTD.
HAYES,
MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND
Made in U.S.A.

Fucik – Entry of the Gladiators

Download – Fucik – Gladiators – Coldstream Guards

(mp3 file – right click the link, then select “Save as” or click the play button)

Zonophone X-40168
Matrix 2293e (X40168V)
Recorded 19th July 1905
Band of H.M. Coldstream Guards, John Mackenzie-Rogan
(credited on label as Zonophone Military Band)

This recording plays just sharp of A major at 78rpm and, in A flat major at 73rpm. Transposition up to B flat major seems unnaturally fast, and A is an unlikely key for a military band. The piano score of the piece is in C major.

Dvorak – Symphony No.9 in E minor Op.95

Mediafire link for Dvorak – New World Symphony – Horenstein

(This is a zip file – left click the link, download the file, then unzip when downloaded)

I. Adagio – Allegro molto
II. Largo
III. Scherzo
IV. Allegro con fuoco

Vox PL 7590
Matrices XTV 17222-1D, 17223-1B
Recorded c1952, Vienna
Issued 1953
Vienna State Philharmonia, Jascha Horenstein

Reviewed in Gramophone, November 1953, where it was found to be better than recordings by Jorda and Kubelik.

Schumann – Symphony No.3 in E flat major Op.97 “Rhenish”

I. Lebhaft
II. Scherzo
III. Nicht schnell
IV. Feierlich
V. Lebhaft

Schumann – Symphony No.4 in D minor Op.120

I. Ziemlich langsam – Lebhaft
II. Romanze
III. Scherzo
IV. Langsam

Mediafire link for Schumann – Symphonies – Dean Dixon

(This is a zip file – left click the link, download the file, then unzip when downloaded)

Westminster WL 5285
Matrices XTV  20239-1B, 20240-1A
Issued 1954
Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Dean Dixon

Schubert – Symphony No.4 in C minor (“Tragic”)

I. Adagio molto – Allegro vivace
II. Andante
III. Menuetto: Allegro vivace
IV. Allegro

Schubert – Symphony No.5 in Bb major

I. Allegro
II. Andante con moto
III. Menuetto: Allegro molto
IV. Allegro vivace

Mediafire link for Schubert – Symphonies – Dean Dixon

(This is a zip file – left click the link, download the file, then unzip when downloaded)

Nixa NLP 913
Issued 1954
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Dean Dixon
(credited on label as Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of London)

Schubert – Rosamunde – incidental music

Mediafire link for Schubert – Rosamunde – Dean Dixon

(This is a zip file – left click the link, download the file, then unzip when downloaded)

Whitehall, WH 20069
Matrices M-18483-A-XTV-19105-IU, M-18483-B-XTV-19106-IU
Issued 1954

1. Overture (Alphonso and Estrella) (Andante – Allegro)
2. Entr’acte (Allegro molto moderato)
3. Ballet (Allegro moderato – Andante un poco assai)
4. Entr’acte (Andante)
5. Romance (Andante con moto) (a)
6. Chorus of Spirits (b)
7. Entr’acte (Andante)
8. Shepherd’s Melody (Andante)
9. Shepherd’s Chorus (Allegro) (b)
10. Hunting Chorus (Allegro moderato) (b)
11. Ballet (Andantino)

Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Dean Dixon
(a) Hilde Rössl-Majdan, mezzo-soprano
(b) Vienna Akademie Kammerchor