To round off Sir Henry Wood’s anniversary year (150 years since his birth and 75 since his death) and anticipating the 125th anniversary of the Proms in 2020, I’ve transferred an early vocal record. The baritone Alan Turner sings A Soldier’s Song by Angelo Mascheroni, a song heard at the very first of Sir Henry’s […]
All posts in category Vocal/Choral
An oblique tribute to Sir Henry Wood
Posted by Damians78s on December 31, 2019
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2019/12/31/an-oblique-tribute-to-sir-henry-wood/
Happy Birthday Sir Henry
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Henry J Wood, the first conductor of the Promenade Concerts, and a mainstay of British musical life. The Proms were founded in 1895, and Sir Henry was their guiding hand for several decades, and continued to conduct in the concert series until his death in […]
Posted by Damians78s on March 3, 2019
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2019/03/03/happy-birthday-sir-henry/
Louise Kirkby-Lunn
Rather than the usual Viennese fare to welcome 2018, I’ve opted instead by some early Pathé sides by the great English contralto Louise Kirkby-Lunn. They’re from 28cm diameter, centre-start, etched label double-sided issues. All are piano accompanied. There is a spoken introduction to the first side, presumably Madam Kirkby-Lunn herself. The second record has Kirkby-Lunn […]
Posted by Damians78s on December 31, 2017
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2017/12/31/louise-kirkby-lunn/
Christmas Carols in German and English
For the festive season, I’ve transferred a 1950s Classics Club LP of two children’s choirs singing carols in German and English. Side 1: Children’s choir of the Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg High School, Walter Rust Franz Gruber arr Rust – Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht Handel arr Rust – Tochter Zion (Judas Maccabaeus) Trad arr Rust – In Dulci […]
Posted by Damians78s on December 22, 2015
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2015/12/22/christmas-carols-in-german-and-english/
Coates and Shakespeare
April 23rd is Shakespeare day, and also the birthday of the great Albert Coates. Firstly, two songs by Peter Warlock, the first to a Shakespeare test, sung by Parry Jones. Warlock – Take, o take those lips away (Shakespeare) Warlock – There is a lady sweet and kind (Thomas Ford) Parry Jones, tenor with piano […]
Posted by Damians78s on April 23, 2015
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2015/04/23/coates-and-shakespeare/
Waltzing in the New Year – Krips, Scotney and Bertin
Following the Christmas festivities, I like to ring in the new year with the Strausses. To that end, here are three of his most famous waltzes, one in purely orchestral form, one in both orchestral and vocal versions, and another only in its vocal form. The two singers had their Strauss waltzes backed by the […]
Posted by Damians78s on December 31, 2014
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2014/12/31/waltzing-in-the-new-year-krips-scotney-and-bertin/
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/
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/
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/
Ferdinand Grossmann conducts two masses by Palestrina (1956)
I mentioned to Nick Morgan a litle while ago that I had a Vox LP of 2 Palestrina masses. As he’s uploaded some 1950s Palestrina, it prompted me to get on with completing the restoration of this recording. Ferdinand Grossmann has featured here as a conductor before – with the Viennese Men’s Singing Club in […]
Posted by Damians78s on December 1, 2010
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2010/12/01/ferdinand-grossmann-conducts-two-masses-by-palestrina-1956/
Vocal Gems from the Bohemian Girl
Balfe’s “The Bohemian Girl” was a popular light opera on the English stage from the nineteenth century. Various popular arias from the work were a staple of the record catalogues in the 78rpm era, and its overture remained a favourite. The present recording is a typical “vocal gems” compilation, including three of the most popular […]
Posted by Damians78s on June 13, 2010
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2010/06/13/vocal-gems-from-the-bohemian-girl/
Dan Godfrey – Mozart’s Jupiter (new transfer); Hamilton Harty – Mozart Divertimento No.17; Jean Witold – Eine kleine Nachtmusik; Pauline Aubert – Rondo alla turca; Robert Veyron-Lacroix – Piano Concertos K107 (after JC Bach), with Roland Douatte; Lener Quartet – Eine kleine Nachtmusik; Don Giovanni excerpts in English – Tudor Davies, Peter Dawson, Eleanor Jones-Hudson
The focus this time is on Mozart, with a new transfer of Dan Godfrey’s recording of Symphony No.41 “Jupiter” K551, and a selection of orchestral and keyboard items, including Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, from the 1950s as presented on a French “Mode disques” LP from some time later. For a different take on Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, […]
Posted by Damians78s on April 12, 2010
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2010/04/12/dan-godfrey-mozarts-jupiter-new-transfer-hamilton-harty-mozart-divertimento-no-17-jean-witold-eine-kleine-nachtmusik-pauline-aubert-rondo-alla-turca-robert-veyron-lacroix-pian/
Fabien Sevitzky – Arensky’s Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky; Marie Novello – Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2; Thorpe Bates – Captain’s Song from HMS Pinafore; Joseph Batten – “March of Victory” for the National Savings Movement; Henry Wood – Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music (improved transfer); Michael Zacharewitsch – violin solos
The latest selection of recordings is a typically mixed bag. Firstly, Fabien Sevitzky, who has been heard here before with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, recorded slightly earlier with his own Philadelphia String Simfonietta. One product of his studio sessions was Arensky’s Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, an adaptation of the third movement of Arensky’s […]
Posted by Damians78s on March 14, 2010
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2010/03/14/fabien-sevitzky-arenskys-variations-on-a-theme-of-tchaikovsky-marie-novello-liszts-hungarian-rhapsody-no-2-thorpe-bates-captains-song-from-hms-pinafore-joseph-batte/
Dennis Noble sings for the National Savings scheme; Eugene Goossens – Delius in Cincinnati; Andreieff’s Balalaika Orchestra; Fucik’s Entry of the Gladiators – Coldstream Guards Band; Horenstein – Dvorak’s New World Symphony; Dean Dixon – Schumann and Schubert Symphonies, incidental music to Rosamunde
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 […]
Posted by Damians78s on January 27, 2010
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2010/01/27/dennis-noble-sings-for-the-national-savings-scheme-eugene-goossens-delius-in-cincinnati-andreieffs-balalaika-orchestra-fuciks-entry-of-the-gladiators-coldstream-guards-band-h/
Franz André – Bizet’s Arlèsienne Suites; Ivanov, Gauk, Golovanov – Balakirev; Henry Wood – Purcell, Mendelssohn; Hamilton Harty – Tchaikovsky; Mengelberg – Johann Strauss II; The Virtuoso String Quartet – Debussy’s Quartet, Mendelssohn; Robert Carr – “The trail of the lonesome pine”, “When love creeps in your heart”
To begin the New Year, I’m looking back as well as forwards. Mendelssohn and Purcell had anniversaries in 2009, so you can hear works by them, conducted by Henry Wood. There’s also a movement from one of Mendelssohn’s String Quartets, as a filler for the Virtuoso Quartet’s recording of the Debussy String Quartet. There will […]
Posted by Damians78s on January 3, 2010
https://music.damians78s.co.uk/2010/01/03/franz-andre-bizets-arlesienne-suites-ivanov-gauk-golovanov-balakirev-henry-wood-purcell-mendelssohn-hamilton-harty-tchaikovsky-mengelberg-johann-strauss-ii-the-virtuoso-stri/