All posts in category Orchestral

Albert Coates conducts Wagner, Kletzki’s Beethoven and André Gertler in the Berg Violin Concerto

I couldn’t let Albert Coates’s birthday pass without a transfer of at least one of his recordings, and rather than go for his more common early electrical recordings, I’ve chosen his acoustic recording of the Meistersinger Overture. The other items for this update feature the conductor Paul Kletzki: his recording of Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No.3, […]

Henry Wood conducts Turina

To maintain my quota of acoustic orchestral recordings, and to mark the 60th anniversary of the death of Joaquin Turina, this weekend I’m making available the earliest recording of any of his orchestral works. The Danzas Fantasticas were completed in 1919, with the score published in Madrid in 1921. Sir Henry Wood recorded them for […]

Benno Moiseiwitsch and John Drinkwater

Regular visitors to this site will not be surprised to find a recording conducted by Landon Ronald. In this case, for the anniversary year, it’s Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No.1 with Benno Moiseiwitsch. The other item is a spoken word recording – the poet and playwright John Drinkwater reading some of his own works. The two […]

Acoustic recordings by Eugene Goossens

I’ve been busy tidying up the site, so haven’t done much transfer work recently. But, finally to welcome March, yet more acoustic recordings by Eugene Goossens, all with the London Symphony Orchestra. Wolf-Ferrari – Il Segreto di Susanna – Overture Sibelius – Scènes Historiques No.3 – Festivo Columbia 908 Matrices 75139-1, 75148-1 (4048, 4057) Recorded […]

Mendelssohn with Harty, Mendelssohn’s Walpurgisnacht, Golschmann’s Shostakovich, Raybould, Goossens, Heger, Frank Mullings and Salvatore Salvati

This latest update sees a site redesign, and a number of new transfers on site. In the orchestral arena, we have Harty’s sparkling account of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony (afflicted by swish), Golschmann’s early 1950s LP recording of Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony, overtures conducted by Clarence Raybould (on Regal), and Eugene Goossens (on Edison Bell), and a […]

Mario Rossi conducts Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony, Robert Easton sings Mendelssohn and Gounod

As Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday arrives, it seems apt to provide a few more items by this wonderful composer. Thus we have a symphony, and a wonderful bass aria which was much loved by English speaking singers, yet seems sadly neglected now. Mendelssohn – Son and Stranger – I am a roamer Gounod – Philemon and […]

German’s Welsh Rhapsody from Landon Ronald and Henry Gibson, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in La Traviata

There are just a few items today, with more to follow later in the week. Edward German’s “Welsh Rhapsody” was, surprisingly, not one of the many works that German himself conducted for the Gramophone Company. Pioneering acoustic versions were left to Dan Godfrey (on one side), Henry Gibson and the Mayfair Orchestra (2 sides) and […]

Rodzinski’s Mussorgsky-Ravel Pictures and Henry Wood’s Handel

Today brings another two brief updates, because I’ve been busy. There’s an early LP of Rodzinski conducting Pictures at an Exhibition. The record I’ve taken this from is in terrible condition, so there is a considerable amount of noise that could not be removed. The other item is Henry Wood conducting an arrangement of a […]

Scheherezades from Philippe Gaubert and Eugene Goossens

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, […]

Mark Hambourg’s Tchaikovsky 1st Concerto, Rodzinski conducts Mozart concertos, Howard Barlow conducts Haydn’s Surprise, creators of Der Rosenkavalier, Vladimir Golschmann conducts Sibelius and Mozart

There’s quite a mixture of items for mid-January. Firstly, I’ve had another attempt at Mark Hambourg’s recording of the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto – the HMV surfaces are rough, and the recording isn’t the easiest to deal with, but I’ve certainly improved on my previous attempt. It also brings the name of Landon Ronald to […]

Malcolm Sargent conducts Mendelssohn’s Ruy Blas and Horenstein conducts Haydn’s Surprise

2009 brings the bicentenary of Mendelssohn’s birth, for which we have Malcolm Sargent conducting Ruy Blas, and the bicentenary of Haydn’s death, with Jascha Horenstein conducting the Surprise Symphony. Both recordings are 80 years old in 2009. Download – Mendelssohn – Ruy Blas Overture – Malcolm Sargent (mp3 files – right click the link, then […]

Henry Wood’s Vaughan Williams

To round off this Vaughan Williams anniversary year, here are the remainder of Henry Wood’s recordings of Vaughan Williams’s music: The Serenade to Music, The Wasps Overture and the Fantasia on Greensleeves. Download – Vaughan Williams – The Wasps – Wood Download – Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on Greensleeves – Wood (mp3 files – right […]

Vaughan Williams’s “A London Symphony” – Wood and Goossens

As we approach the end of the year, it’s time to remember a composer who died fifty years ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams. There have been many reissues in connection with this, including, from Symposium, Dan Godfrey’s premiere recording of A London Symphony – both his earlier recording of the first (abridged) and third movements, and […]

Konstantin Ivanov conducts Glazunov’s Fifth Symphony

Konstantin Ivanov’s 1963 EMI/Melodiya recording of Glazunov’s Symphony No.5 is well-regarded, but his earlier account for Supraphon with the Czech PO is little known. This issue appears in the WERM 1951-2 supplement as a reissue, so the LP would appear to be from around 1950, and the timing of one or two conspicuous edits suggest […]

Leo Blech conducts Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony

A few recordings by Leo Blech have appeared previously on this site, and it seemed time for another – his 1927 account of Schubert’s Great C major Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra. Mediafire link for Blech’s 1927 Schubert C major (These are zip files – left click the link, download the files, then unzip […]

Charles Munch conducts Haydn’s Symphonie Concertante

Haydn’s wonderful Symphonie Concertante in C was recorded by L’Oiseau-Lyre, and provides another chance to hear the French bassoon sound of Fernand Oubradous, and an early example of Charles Munch conducting. Mediafire link for Haydn – Symphonie Concertante – Munch (These are zip files – left click the link, download the files, then unzip when […]