There are two parts to this latest addition to my site. First, a performer who has appeared already as a composer: Easthope Martin, whose popular “Come to the fair” has been heard here performed both by Julie Andrews, and her stepfather Ted Andrews. However, in the period before the First World War, Martin recorded a number of sides for Zonophone, though he was disguised behind a pseudonym.

Godard – Second Mazurka Op.54
Grieg – Norwegian Bridal March Op.19 No.2
Easthope Martin, piano
(credited on label as Paul Astor)

Godard – Second Mazurka – Easthope Martin

Grieg – Norwegian Bridal March – Easthope Martin

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

Zonophone Record The Twin Serial A 144
Matrices z7135f, z7136f (side numbers Z-045509, Z-045508)
Recorded 24th February 1913

To commemorate Shakespeare’s anniversary, and the birthday of the Anglo-Russian  conductor Albert Coates, I present here one of Coates’s later Decca recordings – Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Dance of the Tumblers as the filler side.

Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture
Rimsky-Korsakov – The Snow Maiden – Dance of the Tumblers
National Symphony Orchestra, Albert Coates

Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet – Coates

Rimsky-Korsakov – Snow Maiden – Dance of the Tumblers – Coates

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

Decca (Dutch) X 10068/9, X 10170
Matrices AR 9109-2, 9110-1, 9111-2, 9112-2, 9113-1, 9152-2
Recorded 8th February 1945 (sides 1 and 4), 23rd February 1945 (sides 2, 3, 5 and Rimsky-Korsakov), Kingsway Hall, London

Curiously, sides 1 to 4 are coupled in automatic sequence on X 10068/9, and side 5 and the Rimsky-Korsakov are on X 10170