The issue date given above is for the original ACO record on G15527, where it was credited to the Grosvenor Orchestra. This also was a pseudonym, covering both original recordings and reissues, including American Aeolian Light Orchestra and British Aeolian Orchestra and Regent Symphony Orchestra records.

My copy of this record is fractured, and I have done my best to ameliorate the regular click and thump which lasted through both sides of the record.

The record is in poor condition with noise and distortion.

Thanks to Raoul Konezni for telling me that this disc contains Orchestrola matrices from early 1929 with Orchester der Städtischen Oper Berlin, conducted by Hans Schlesinger.

Download – Rossini – Barber of Seville – Overture – NSO

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

Side 1: bars 1-5, 11-19, 22-90 + 1st beat of bar 91
Side 2: bars 92-250, 255-264

No conductor is named on the label or in the matrix listings, though George W Byng was the most frequent conductor for other sessions with this group.

Records on the Piccadilly record label have appeared on this site before: pseudonymous recordings of tenor and violin solos. The latest record given here is the rather vaguely named “Viennese Symphony Orchestra”. The Liszt side obviously received rather more play than the Drigo, and is consequently more worn. I’m unsure whether the arranger of the Drigo piece is connected to the famous Goossens family.

Mozart – Marriage of Figaro – Overture (slightly abridged)

Viennese Orchestra

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

This may be the same group as the Viennese Symphony Orchestra above. The orchestra appears not to have oboes or bassoons – a prominent bassoon line in the Mozart is played by a bass clarinet. Bars 18 to 34, 236 to 243 and 266 to 283 are cut from the overture.