I received an email recently asking if I knew where George W Byng’s recording of the Ballet Music from Gounod’s Faust might be found. Some six years ago, before I had this website I did a transfer of the recording, so the time seemed apt to revisit it for a new transfer. Listening again, I […]
George W Byng conducts the Ballet Music from Gounod’s Faust
Posted by Damians78s on October 6, 2013
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2013/10/06/george-w-byng-conducts-the-ballet-music-from-gounods-faust/
Adrian Boult and Stanley Chapple conduct Wagner on Vocalion
More Wagner for the bicentenary year, this time with rarely head Vocalions from Adrian Boult in the overture to the Flying Dutchman and the Procession of Masters from Die Meistersinger (both 1927), and from Stanley Chapple in the Act 3 Prelude from Lohengrin (1927) and the Siegfried Idyll (a late acoustic recording from around 1925) […]
Posted by Damians78s on July 7, 2013
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2013/07/07/adrian-boult-and-stanley-chapple-conduct-wagner-on-vocalion/
Albert Coates conducts choral music
April 23rd is St George’s Day, Shakespeare’s birthday, and more importantly for this site, the anniversary of Albert Coates’s birth. For this year’s Coates tribute, we have two early electrical choral recordings: excerpts from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and unaccompanied spurious Bach! Georg Gottfried Wagner – Blessing, Glory and Wisdom (attr. J.S. Bach, BWV Anh 162) Sung […]
Posted by Damians78s on April 23, 2013
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2013/04/23/albert-coates-conducts-choral-music/
Heinrich Grünfeld plays cello solos
One early recording by the cellist Heinrich Grünfeld (brother of pianist Alfred Grünfeld) has appeared previously on this site. This has now been revisited, and a later recording by added as well. A full discography for Heinrich Grünfeld can be found on my discographies site. Handel’s Largo (from Serse) Heinrich Grünfeld, cello with piano (mp3 […]
Posted by Damians78s on February 22, 2013
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2013/02/22/heinrich-grunfeld-plays-cello-solos/
Percy Pitt conducts Wagner
It’s quite some time since any of Percy Pitt’s recordings appeared here. I’ve therefore opted to share one of his acoustic HMV recordings. It’s an orchestral recording, unusual in his HMV output, which was mainly devoted to accompanying singers either as pianist or conductor. Wagner – Götterdämmerung – Siegfried’s Journey to the Rhine Symphony Orchestra, […]
Posted by Damians78s on February 22, 2013
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2013/02/22/percy-pitt-conducts-wagner/
Boult’s early Humperdinck and lighter fare for 2013
As the festive season passes, it’s time for some of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, in early acoustical recordings by Adrian Boult. To follow this, in the spirit of the New Year Concert, if not the letter, some very light fare indeed: two entertaining bassoon solos from E W Hincliff and two numbers performed by the […]
Posted by Damians78s on January 1, 2013
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2013/01/01/boults-early-humperdinck-and-lighter-fare-for-2013/
Franz André conducts Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and Serenade for Strings
It’s been some time since my last update, but we were due something for Christmas. This is another Franz André LP on Telefunken, with works by Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Suite Op.71 I. Miniature Overture II. March III. Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy IV. Russian Dance (Trepak) V. Arabian Dance VI. Chinese Dance VII. Dance […]
Posted by Damians78s on December 25, 2012
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2012/12/25/franz-andre-conducts-tchaikovskys-nutcracker-suite-and-serenade-for-strings/
Malcolm Sargent conducts Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance No.1 at the opening of the Royal Festival Hall
To celebrate this Diamond Jubilee weekend for Queen Elizabeth II, I present here two records from the year before her accession to the throne. The opening of the Royal Festival Hall in 1951 included Handel’s Coronation Anthem “Zadok the Priest,” which was also heard during the Queen’s Coronation in June 1953. The 1951 concert also […]
Posted by Damians78s on June 6, 2012
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2012/06/06/malcolm-sargent-conducts-handels-zadok-the-priest-and-elgars-pomp-and-circumstance-no-1-at-the-opening-of-the-royal-festival-hall/
Bridge Peters sings Honour and Arms
The baritone, Bridge Peters, was active in the first quarter of the 20th century. He was born in late 1878 in Haslingden, near Altrincham in Lancashire, England. In 1907 he married Daisy, and by 1911, they had a son James, and were living in Manchester, and were financially secure enough to have a domestic servant. […]
Posted by Damians78s on May 20, 2012
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2012/05/20/bridge-peters-sings-honour-and-arms/
Easthope Martin – Godard and Grieg; Albert Coates – Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Dance of the Tumblers
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 […]
Posted by Damians78s on April 23, 2012
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2012/04/23/easthope-martin-godard-and-grieg-albert-coates-tchaikovskys-romeo-and-juliet-rimsky-korsakovs-dance-of-the-tumblers/
Carl Schuricht – Die Fledermaus overture; Franz André – Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers, Suppé’s Poet and Peasant overtures
To welcome in the New Year, I’ve transferred Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus overture in an early recording by Carl Schuricht, and as an extra, a pair of overtures by Suppé and Offenbach, conducted by Franz André. J. Strauss II – Die Fledermaus – Overture Berlin State Opera Orchestra, Carl Schuricht (credited on label as “New […]
Posted by Damians78s on January 1, 2012
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2012/01/01/carl-schuricht-die-fledermaus-overture-franz-andre-offenbachs-orphee-aux-enfers-suppes-poet-and-peasant-overtures/
Marguerite d’Alvarez – Silent Night, Habanera, Ai nostri monti (with Giulio Crimi); George Baker – Toreador Song, Il balen
Aeolian Vocalion records are the source for a quintet of vocal recordings in time for Christmas. They also serve as a little coda to the pile of Carmen recordings that I posted here in October. The English-born contralto, Marguerite d’Alvarez, sings Silent Night, and then the Habanera from Carmen, and, with tenor Giulio Crimi, “Ai […]
Posted by Damians78s on December 23, 2011
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2011/12/23/marguerite-dalvarez-silent-night-habanera-ai-nostri-monti-with-giulio-crimi-george-baker-toreador-song-il-balen/
Mark Hambourg, Marjorie Hayward, Frank Bridge and Warwick Evans play Scherzo from Saint-Saëns’s Piano Quartet
Another brief chamber music update, this time one of the four chamber sides recorded in 1917 by Mark Hambourg. This features Marjorie Hayward on violin, Frank Bridge on viola and Warwick Evans on cello, in a heavily abridged version of the Scherzo from Saint-Saëns’s Piano Quartet in B flat major. Saint-Saëns – Piano Quartet in […]
Posted by Damians78s on December 18, 2011
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2011/12/18/mark-hambourg-marjorie-hayward-frank-bridge-and-warwick-evans-play-scherzo-from-saint-saenss-piano-quartet/
The London Wind Quintette (Murchie, Goossens, Draper, James and A.E. Brain) play works by Pierné and Scarlatti
The single record in this update is contains two treats from the wind ensemble repertoire. The London Wind Quintette are heard on an early 1920s Edison Bell Velvet Face 12” record. The quintette features flautist Robert Murchie, Leon Goossens on oboe, Haydn Draper on clarinet, bassoonist Wilfred James and horn player Alfred Edwin Brain Jr. […]
Posted by Damians78s on December 3, 2011
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2011/12/03/the-london-wind-quintette-murchie-goossens-draper-james-and-a-e-brain-play-works-by-pierne-and-scarlatti/
Ernest Macmillan – first 4 movements of Holst’s Planets; Adrian Boult – Elgar’s Imperial March; Gustav Holst – Saturn – two acoustic versions (1923 & 1925)
This latest update contains a selection of Planets, prompted by an email I received recently. Sir Ernest Macmillan recorded just four parts of Holst’s Planets Suite with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for Victor in 1942 – Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter. As Mercury required only one side, Adrian Boult’s BBC Symphony Orchestra recording of Elgar’s […]
Posted by Damians78s on June 25, 2011
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2011/06/25/ernest-macmillan-first-4-movements-of-holsts-planets-adrian-boult-elgars-imperial-march-gustav-holst-saturn-two-acoustic-versions-1923-1925/
Toscanini conducts the last two movements of Mozart’s Symphony No.39 (Recorded 1920)
Things have been going slowly here, but I’m still working on assorted transfers. There should be a big update in the next month or so, but in the meanwhile, I’ll try to post occasional smaller updates, such as this one. One of Toscanini’s acoustic sides has already featured here, but here are another two, the […]
Posted by Damians78s on June 4, 2011
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2011/06/04/toscanini-conducts-the-last-two-movements-of-mozarts-symphony-no-39-recorded-1920/