Robert Shaw's 1946 and 1952 Christmas Albums

When the young choral conductor Robert Shaw issued his first album of Christmas music in 1946, it was immediately hailed as something special. The American Record Guide critic wrote, "As far as I know nothing of its kind has ever been so satisfactorily done for the phonograph before," adding "It is getting to be difficult to find new words to describe the work of this splendid group of singers and of their director, Robert Shaw."

This post presents not just that first set of holiday songs, but adds Volume II, which Shaw recorded in 1952.

Christmas Hymns and Carols, Volume I

Christmas Hymns and Carols contains 25 selections spread across four 78s, with some of the selections quite brief. This enabled the unaccompanied chorus to vary its program without monotony setting in. While most of the numbers will be familiar to us today, several of them were less well known at the time - "I Wonder as I Wander" had been popularized by John Jacob Niles only a few years before, and Shaw added "Patapan," "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella," "The Carol of the Bells" and "Go Tell It on the Mountain" before they became ubiquitous.

"The singing here (all unaccompanied) is characterized throughout by fine spirit, usually accurate if not always quite perfect intonation, and clear diction," wrote the American Record Guide critic - praise that understates the quality of the singing on display, which is positive and rhythmically secure while also seeming completely natural.

The recordings were done in December 1945 and June 1946 in New York's Lotos Club, which was then on W. 57th Street down the block from Carnegie Hall. I worked from needle drops of the 78 set found on Internet Archive, which the resulting sound pleasing and truthful, if not overly spacious.

LINK

At an early recording session

Christmas Hymns and Carols, Volume II

The first collection of hymns and carols was so successful that RCA Victor had Shaw's troupe compile a second volume in 1952. In the meantime, the Chorale had branched out into hymns of Thanksgiving, which recently appeared here, and Easter songs, both recorded in 1950.

Victor used the same cover illustration for the second Christmas set as the first, while giving Shaw more prominent billing.

The conductor had established a permanent chorale in 1948. The back cover of Volume II names its members, including such well known singers as Lois Winter, Florence Kopleff, Clayton Krehbiel, Russell Oberlin, Warren Galjour and Calvin Marsh.

Despite its title, this collection includes very few hymns. In his notes, Shaw explained, "In our first album of Christmas music some years ago we recorded in addition to certain carols the twelve most familiar Christmas hymns; and in this album we had thought to include some five or six additional hymns next in familiarity. Time after time, seeking to find point of proper inclusion within the sequence of carols, the hymns would remain pedestrian, pedantic, faded and inarticulate. One by one they dropped out of the album. Only the greatest of composed Christmas music - a Bach chorale, a motet of Vittoria, or a chanson of Costeley - these only proved suitable companions to the beauty and sensitivity of anonymous folk music."

The reviewer for The New Records noted that the first volume "is probably the most popular item in the whole Christmas repertory," adding that "we have nothing but praise for Mr. Shaw's second volume."

The sessions were in July and August, 1952 in New York's Manhattan Center, near Penn Station on W. 34th Street. The transfers come from my copy of the original LP. The sound is excellent; more resonant than that from the Lotos Club. The singing is again superb.

LINK

Music for Thanksgiving with Robert Shaw

When the young choral conductor Robert Shaw made this brief 10-inch LP of Hymns of Thanksgiving in 1950, he indeed had much to be thankful for.

He had been discovered leading a Pomona College ensemble by the bandleader Fred Waring, who hired him to create a choral group for his orchestra. This Shaw did, and within a few years began his own Collegiate Chorale. He soon became so well known that he attracted the attention of Arturo Toscanini, far and away the most famous conductor in the US. "The Maestro," as he is still known, called on Shaw and the Collegiate Chorale for a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the NBC Symphony. Toscanini then engaged Shaw to prepare choruses for him until the older conductor's retirement.

The Collegiate Chorale took its name from holding its rehearsals at Dr. Norman Vincent Peale's Marble Collegiate Church in New York. But Shaw and Peale had a disagreement over the conductor's inclusive policy for membership in the chorale, so the singers departed the premises. (The story is told in more detail in this post.)

In 1948, Shaw founded a smaller group, the Robert Shaw Chorale. By that time he had already been recording for RCA Victor for three years. As far as I can tell, that association began with a set of chansons by Paul Hindemith, a composer that Shaw championed and from whom he commissioned a setting of Whitman's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd.

His next recording was a popular success - the Christmas Hymns and Carols were done for Victor in 1945 and 1946, coming out as an four-78 set with nearly an hour of music. The performers at first were identified as "Robert Shaw and His RCA Victor Chorale," but by the time the same performances appeared on LP, this was simplified to the Robert Shaw Chorale.

It is that latter group that prepared 1950's Hymns of Thanksgiving, a brief 10-inch LP (and corresponding EP set), with six selections and only about 18 minutes of music. Although short, the album is of high quality. As the New York Times reviewer commented, "the chorus sings in the straightforward manner that choruses would sing in if they sang as well as the Shaw Chorale. Despite the title, it has year-round interest." 

Even considering the praise, I believe the writer is understating the skills of the chorus and its director. You will seldom hear such careful balancing of voices, clear diction, complete control of dynamics and total conviction. It is remarkable.

Hugh Porter

On the LP, the accompanist is Hugh Porter, a distinguished organist who was at the time the president of Union Theological Seminary's School of Sacred Music. The program was recorded in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York. The sound is excellent in ambient stereo.

This Thanksgiving program is in effect an appetizer for the main course, both of the Shaw Chorale's mono albums of Christmas Hymns and Carols, the 1945-46 set mentioned above and its 1952 successor, which will appear here soon. The first volume was later redone in stereo, but neither of these mono sets have been reissued, to my perhaps faulty knowledge.

LINK

Comments and Links

Blogger adamantly refuses to let me post comments on my own blog, despite me following every arcane instruction on the web (e.g., allowing third-party cookies, clearing the cache). So for the time being I won't be able to respond to your comments or even post links in the comment section. You will find the links at the bottom of the post for any new items.

Dick and Kiz Harp

Dick and Kiz Harp were a charming act who built an enthusiastic following in Dallas in the late 1950s. To a degree they were inspired by Jackie and Roy - the lead singer was Kiz; the pianist and secondary vocalist was Dick - but they did not sound all that much like the more famous duo.

But before I go into their music, let me tell you first that their story has a tragic ending. Kiz died of a cerebral hemorrhage in December 1960, at age 29.

Dick and Kiz had recorded two live LPs for the small 90th Floor label in spring 1960. The first LP was a success; the second was issued after Kiz' death. This post presents both.

Dick and Kiz Harp at the 90th Floor

"The 90th Floor" wasn't just a label; it was the Harps' Dallas nightspot, named for the Cole Porter song "Down in Depths (on the 90th Floor)" beloved of cabaret performers. Far from being a penthouse, the club was a converted warehouse.

The liner notes talk of Dick and Kiz developing a celebrity following including the likes of Tony Bennett. This may be true, but it may be embellished. Back then Dallas was not the metropolis it is now; the Dallas-Fort Worth population then was about a fifth when it is today. I will note, however, that the fine singer Sylvia Syms was a fan and wrote notes for this LP: "I make no bones about my admiration and respect for them as great humans and as artists."

The program starts, inevitably, with "Down in the Depths (on the Ninetieth Floor)." The second song is less known, although it has been recorded a number of times - "Inchworm," which Frank Loesser wrote for Danny Kaye and the 1952 film Hans Christian Anderson.

The pair then duet on "Too Good for the Average Man," my least favorite song from one of my favorite scores, Rodgers and Hart's On Your Toes. Its lyrics were clever then but are decidedly dated now. The duo redeem themselves with "Angel Eyes," the Matt Dennis-Tom Adair classic.

The welcome "You Are Not My First Love" is one of Bart Howard's best and best-known compositions, surprisingly not included in the Portia Nelson compilation I posted earlier this year. The song's initial recording was by Mabel Mercer for her first Atlantic LP, in 1952.

"I Like It That Way" is a moody song that Kiz puts across nicely. I know nothing about it, but the performance does display her main influence - not Jackie Cain (or Jeri Southern, as Cash Box suggested in a review of the LP), but Carmen McRae. That's not a bad thing - McRae is a huge favorite of mine.

We're in more familiar territory with the Jerome Moross-John Latouche song "Lazy Afternoon," from The Golden Apple. Many people, including me, consider it one of the finest songs of the 1950s. The Harps take it very slowly, which works admirably.

We are back with Frank Loesser, Danny Kaye and Hans Christian Anderson for the next song, "Ugly Duckling," done effectively as a duet.

The songwriting team of Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf were in their prime for "There Are Days When I Don't Think of You at All," which the Harps may have learned from Wolf's first LP, Wolf at Your Door, released in 1956. It's not one of the songwriters' greatest, but is well served here.

Frank Loesser returns for an encore with perhaps the most frequently recorded song from his most elaborate score - "Joey, Joey, Joey" from The Most Happy Fella, also from 1956. The song was introduced on stage by pop singer Art Lund, who had quite a run of success on Broadway. The verses are handled by Dick, who is only adequate as a singer, with Kiz intoning the "Joey, Joey, Joey" refrain. It's a good arrangement.

Bernie Hanighen and Marvin Wright wrote "Thanks for You" in the 1940s. Dick and Kiz may have picked up the song from June Christy's 1955 recording.

The final song is another relatively unknown but appealing item - "Too Much in Love" by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent. This was introduced in Jane Powell's first film, 1945's Song of the Open Road, but she didn't sing it; Jackie Moran did, which is suppose was preferable to allotting it to one of the leads - W.C. Fields, Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen. Good song, nice performance.

Again! Dick and Kiz Harp at the 90th Floor

The second album, Again!, was taped at the same session or sessions as the first LP, and for the most part is as enjoyable, with its mix of common and lesser-known songs.

The first song was not yet a popular success when they recorded it under Bart Howard's initial title, "In Other Words." It wasn't until a few years later that he renamed it "Fly Me to the Moon." Dick plays an introductory chorus, then Kiz presents the seldom-heard but welcome verse. A smooth performance.

Next, the duo yokes together two songs written in faux-antique English. "Thou Swell," the better known of the two, is by Rodgers and Hart. "Dearest, Darest I" is a relatively unknown Burke and Van Heusen song. Unlike many of their songs, it wasn't introduced by Bing Crosby; rather it comes from a Jack Benny-Fred Allen farce called Love Thy Neighbor. I haven't been able to determine who sang it in the film - it may have been Mary Martin or the Merry Macs - but Ray McKinley with Will Bradley recorded it in 1940, as did others. I like the Harps' arrangement; it's an imaginative way to vary their program.

"Winter Warm" is an early Burt Bacharach-Hal David song and a lovely one, introduced by Gale Storm in 1957 in a sincere version from a singer I don't usuall like. Kiz's reading is cooler, but better sung.

One of the lesser-known Cole Porter songs is next - the rollicking "Great Indoors" from his 1930 show The New Yorkers, where he extols the virtues of not escaping the city's summer heat for the country. Kiz is perfect for this type of material.

Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger wrote the gorgeous "If I Should Lose You" for the unlikeliest vehicle - the 1936 film Rose of the Rancho, where it was sung by Gladys Swarthout and John Boles. Swarthout, who plays the role of Rosita Castro appears en travesti as the leader of a band of vigilantes fighting the outlaws who want to take over her land. (None of this has anything to do with Kiz' sterling reading of the song, of course.)

The next cut is perhaps the only misfire on either LP. "Fugue for Tinhorns" is one of Frank Loesser's finest songs. The composer liked intricate creations - such as "Ugly Duckling" above - and this trio for racetrack gamblers is nothing less than genius, as can be seen and heard in the filmed version with Stubby Kaye and Johnny Silver of the original Broadway cast. The idea of allotting the song to one professional singer and two musicians was not as inspired. The album compounds the error by including a breakdown take, which might have been amusing live, but is tiresome on a record. Fortunately you can drop it from your playlist.

"The More I See You," one of Harry Warren's finest creations, is in good hands with the Harps. The song was introduced by Dick Haymes in the 1945 film Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe.

I don't care for the arrangement of the exhilarating "Trolley Song," another 1945 creation, this one by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane for Judy Garland and Meet Me in St. Louis. The cluttered chart gets in the way of the adrenaline rush that should be conveyed both by the trolley and such lyrics as, "I started to yen, then I counted to ten, then I counted to ten again."

"God Bless the Child" is too much of a nightclub version of an affecting song made famous by Billie Holiday.

"Let Me Love You" is one of Bart Howard's most familiar songs, particularly popular in the 1950s and 60s. Mabel Mercer introduced it on her second Atlantic LP. The arrangement has a spot for a fluid Dick Harp piano solo, accompanied by him moaning a la Thelonious Monk.

Perhaps Kiz's finest performance on this set is the best known Fran Landesman-Tommy Wolf song, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most."

The Harps conclude the program with an unexpected turn to Rodgers and Hammerstein - "A Wonderful Guy" from South Pacific, surely Kiz' tribute to Dick, just as these LPs were his tribute to her.

These transfers come from my own collection (for Again!) and the Internet Archive, as remastered by me. The sound is close but truthful, although the piano tone can be aggressive. Both pressings were mono, enhanced by ambient stereo processing.

LINK

Two Symphonies by Michael Haydn, Plus a Thanksgiving Bonus

Two features for you today. The first is a set of two delightful symphonies by Joseph Haydn's younger brother, Michael. Added to it is one of David Federman's always welcome compilations - this one is a "Holiday Express" marking the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration in the US.

Michael Haydn Symphonies

Michael Haydn is still relatively unknown, but he was a talented composer admired by his more famous sibling Joseph and by Wolfgang Mozart, whom he knew well.

Michael wrote 41 symphonies, a corpus little explored until the efforts of such pioneers as conductor Harold Farberman (1929-2018), who set out in the 1980s to record the cycle. While he did not reach his goal - only 17 to my knowledge were ever released - the quality of what he accomplished is impressive.

Most of Farberman's Haydn has been reissued, except for the two symphonies I've transferred for this post, in response to a request.

Michael Haydn

Haydn's Symphony No. 5 dates from 1763, soon after he had assumed a post as court composer in Salzburg, where he was to remain for the next 43 years.

Symphony No. 14 is thought to date from the late 1760s. In his sleeve note, Charles Sherman suggests, "It seems unlikely that Haydn conceived the music as a symphony. From the point of view of style (and particularly that of the Andante with its elaborate solo writing), the four movements probably served first as parts of a larger divertimento or serenade." 

Both No. 5 and 14 were once thought to be the work of his older brother. Parenthetically, if you have ever wondered why there is no Symphony No. 37 by Mozart, it is because the work once identified as such is now known to be Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 25, which does have an introduction by his more famous colleague, thus the confusion.

Harold Farberman

Harold Farberman was a percussionist in the Boston Symphony before pursuing conducting full-time in 1963. He was successively principal guest conductor of the Denver Symphony, music director of the Colorado Springs Symphony and music director of the Oakland Symphony. He recorded all the Ives symphonies and several of those by Mahler, among other works. The noted conductor Marin Alsop was among his students.

These imaginative symphonies are well played by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta and smoothly recorded. The release dates from 1983.

LINK

Holiday Express, Part One: Thanksgiving

Let me turn the mike over to David for a few words about his latest compilation, with 33 well-chosen songs:

This is a first for me, as far as mixes prepared specially for Big Ten Inch Record go. With so little to be thankful for in the current-events present, I thought a Holiday Express to vintage Thanksgivings, where cheery, thankful songs were far more plentiful, might be helpful as a morale booster. When poverty is widespread, there are always the riches of song. 

 

So hop aboard my Dis-Orient Express and listen to toe-tapper and slow dance music of the Jazz Age and Depression Era (plus a couple of stowaways from more recent nostalgia-worthy eras). This music stopped tears and fears and made the moment at hand a reason for handshakes and hugs as well as a sanctuary for friends and strangers, all heading home and arriving to festive aromas and the artful amnesia of family reunion and celebration. You’ll find me by the phonograph spinning pure golden oldies. Bon appetit! Leave at a respectful hour or volunteer to help with cleanup. 

 

Thanks to Radio Dismuke for a special loan of the last song. Two more Holidays Expresses are scheduled to leave - one for Christmas and the others New Years. But first things first.

LINK 

Les Brown - Six Navy Shows from 1953

Here from the original 16-inch transcription discs are six episodes of The Les Brown Show, which the bandleader produced for US Navy recruiting purposes in 1953.

The 15-minute programs each include four songs, two instrumentals and two vocal features. The singers are Jo Ann Greer, Butch Stone and Stumpy Brown from the band, and guests Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely.

The provenance of the musical selections is largely unknown. It's assumed in some quarters that these are from broadcasts, but I think that is unlikely. For one thing, the applause is obviously dubbed in. These may items may be from transcriptions for radio stations or commercial issues, probably both. Whatever the source, the music is uniformly excellent - Brown had a top-notch working band at the time - and the sound is quite good as well.

So in total we have 90 minutes of programming, including 24 songs. Each program is fully tracked, so you can listen to Hy Averback's announcements and Navy promos once (if that often) and then move on to the musical selections.

Program No. 1

We start off, appropriately, with Program No. 1 in the series, which has Margaret Whiting as guest vocalist. Her numbers are "C.O.D. (My Broken Heart)" and "No Other Love," both popular favorites at the time. Whiting did a commercial recording of "C.O.D." for Capitol, but this is not that performance. She did not record "No Other Love" commercially.

Margaret Whiting

As usual with Whiting, she presents each tune sympathetically, with perfect diction and a fine rhythmic sense. The Capitol version of "C.O.D." can be found here. Back in 2011 I called it an execrable song, but I must be mellowing - now I like it! "No Other Love" is the Richard Rodgers melody originally titled "Beneath the Southern Cross" when used in his music for the Victory at Sea television series. He then repurposed the tune for the musical Me and Juliet, with the addition of Oscar Hammerstein's lyrics.

Ronnie Lang

The program also includes the instrumentals "Midnight Sun," a Sonny Burke-Lionel Hampton theme that is not a favorite of mine, and "That Old Black Magic," the Harold Arlen composition that is a favorite. The former is a showcase for alto saxophonist Ronnie Lang, who was with the band only in 1953. Brown did record "Midnight Sun," both for Coral and World transcriptions. There also is a Coral single of "Black Magic," dating from 1951.

Program No. 2

Jo Ann Greer

Program No. 2 features Les' new singer Jo Ann Greer, who was to stay with him for several decades. And why not - she was a supremely talented vocalist who had the great presence that a band singer needs. Not as welcome is singing saxophonist Butch Stone, who was with Brown for the better part of 30 years and whose novelties were reputedly popular with audiences. I must be hard to please.

Greer's showcase is "Something Wonderful Happens." This is neither the King and I's "Something Wonderful" nor the Sinatra favorite "Something Wonderful Happens in Summer." It is a enjoyable pop song from 1953 that was recorded by Margaret Whiting, among others I imagine. Jo Ann deploys her extraordinary vibrato to good effect here.

Les is awed by Butch Stone's shiny mouth

Butch Stone's feature is called "The Shiniest Mouth in Town," in which he is proud of all the gold fillings in his mouth, which apparently were the sum total of his net worth. This Stan Freberg concoction merited a 1952 commercial recording. (This may be it.)

Les also recorded "Ramona," an L. Wolfe Gilbert-Mabel Wayne composition from 1928, both for Coral and for transcription. Another oldie, "My Baby Just Cares for Me," is from 1930. A Walter Donaldson-Gus Kahn song, it was introduced by Eddie Cantor in the film Whoopie! There isn't a commercial recording of this number. Both are smoothly done.

Program No. 9

We leap ahead to Program No. 9 in the series, with vocal features for both Jo Ann Greer and Les' brother Stumpy, so named because he was short. (People were less sensitive back then, or, more likely, they were inured to such mocking monikers.) The label calls him "Stompy," but that isn't correct. Stumpy played the bass trombone in addition to singing.

Greer's feature is "When I Fall In Love," which she didn't record with the band. Former Brown vocalist Doris Day had a hit with the Victor Young-Eddie Heyman piece in 1952, but her version does not eclipse Jo Ann's passionate reading. There also is a striking trombone solo, possibly by Dick Noel.

Stumpy/Stompy

Stumpy Brown's feature is "Lulu's Back in Town," the Warren-Dubin item that Dick Powell and the Mills Brothers introduced in 1935. Brown wasn't a great singer but he could carry a tune and had a good sense of time, helpful when you are a jazz musician.

The instrumental features are "Brown's Little Jug," a take on you-know-what that the band also recorded for Coral in 1953, and "Rain," a Eugene Ford item from 1927 that appears on Les' 1952 LP Musical Weather Vane.

Don Fagerquist

"Rain" is a feature for trumpeter Don Fagerquist. Frank Comstock was the arranger. Les' other arrangers back then included Skip Martin and Van Alexander. He hired the best.

Program No. 10

Jimmy Wakely

The guest artist for Program No. 10 was Jimmy Wakely, who was ubiquitous at the time, having appeared in dozens of B Western movies, either as the lead or a supporting act. He also was a recording artist, on Decca for several years in the 1940s, then on Capitol, where he was particularly successful in duets with Margaret Whiting - "Slippin' Around," "Silver Bells" and others.

Jimmy's first feature is "Side by Side," which to me works better as a duet. His genial version of the 1927 Harry Woods song was probably occasioned by Kay Starr's hit record of the period.

Wes Hensel

"Crying in the Chapel," written by Artie Glenn, was a hit for his son Darrell in 1953, and was covered by many artists, including a big R&B success for the Orioles. Wakely did not record it for Capitol; that label's entry was by Wesley Tuttle. I actively dislike this piece, probably because of Elvis' insincere 1965 version.

The band's features are the "One O'Clock Jump," Count Basie's famous 1937 blues number, and "The Montoona Clipper," written by Wes Hensel, trumpeter and arranger for Les' group. Brown recorded the latter composition twice for Coral - once for a single, once for his LP Concert at the Palladium, Vol. 1.

Program No. 13

The vocal soloists for Program No. 13 were again the band's own Jo Ann Greer and Butch Stone. Greer's specialty was "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues," written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler and introduced by Lillian Shade in Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1932. Jo Ann is again superb.

Butch Stone and Stumpy Brown - that's entertainment!

Butch Stone weighed in with "Etiquette Blues," written by Gayle Grubb and first recorded by several artists in 1928. "Always put both elbows on the table" is among the dubious pointers in this one, and "Thank you for your very kind attention" is the catchphrase. It suits Butch's persona poifectly.

"Green Eyes" was a big hit for Helen O'Connell with Jimmy Dorsey in 1941, but had been written back in 1931 as "Aquellos Ojos Verdes" by Adolfo Utrera and Nilo Menéndez. Les Brown's version is an instrumental, although I am sure Jo Ann Greer would have had no trouble improving on O'Connell's strained vocalizing. The composition also appeared on Brown's Over the Rainbow LP and his first live Palladium album.

Frank Comstock in emphatic mode

The other instrumental in this session was "Happy Hooligan," written by arranger Frank Comstock and the band's pianist, Geoff Clarkson.

I believe all the music in this program may have come from transcriptions. 

Program No. 14

Jo Ann Greer and Stompy/Stumpy Brown again were the vocal soloists in the final program on today's docket.

Jo Ann's feature is "Don't Take Your Love from Me," a Henry Nemo piece first recorded by Mildred Bailey in 1940. Stumpy added a easygoing version of "When I Take My Sugar to Tea," a Sammy Fain composition recorded in 1931 by everyone from the Boswell Sisters to the Chocolate Dandies.

Meanwhile, the band offered a lively version of "Stompin' at the Savoy," one of the hardiest of jazz standards, written by Edgar Sampson in 1933 and made famous by Benny Goodman in 1936.

The other instrumental feature was "You Are My Sunshine," which Les introduces as a folk song. That it may have been, although some research claims that a Georgia musician named Oliver Hood wrote it. Singer and later politician Jimmie Davis bought the music from Hood in 1939 and copyrighted it soon thereafter. This may have been the best $35 Davis ever spent - it made him famous. Surprisingly, it works nicely in a big band arrangement.

These shows demonstrated several things. The Brown ensemble was highly proficient and swinging, certainly one of the best postwar big bands. Jo Ann Greer was a terrific vocalist. Brown used two musicians from the band - his brother Stumpy and Butch Stone - to provide some variety to his programs and no doubt add some levity to live appearances. I make light of their contributions above, but no doubt they were important to the band's considerable success.

The Legendary Live Berg Concerto, 1936

Alban Berg and Anton Webern

Not long ago I wrote about the first commercial recording of the Violin Concerto by Alban Berg, written shortly before his death in 1935. The soloist was Louis Krasner, who had commissioned the work. Artur Rodziński conducted the Cleveland Orchestra.

The concerto's premiere had taken place in April 1936 in Barcelona, with Krasner and the Pau Casals Orchestra, Hermann Scherchen conducting. Berg's colleague Anton Webern, the other member of the Second Viennese School along with Arnold Schönberg, had been scheduled to lead the orchestra, but he withdrew. Some sources say he was sick, others that he was overcome with emotion at the loss of Berg. But Anthony Pople, author of a book on the concerto, says that the truth was more nuanced:

Webern’s emotional involvement with Berg's last score undermined the rehearsals from the start ... he found it impossible to communicate his precise wishes to the musicians, and became nervous and angry. After the third and final rehearsal he locked himself in his hotel room, saying that the performance could not take place.

Finally he did relinquish the score, and Scherchen took over the premiere, successfully.

Louis Krasner

The concerto's second performance, in London on May 1, 1936 with the BBC Symphony before an invited audience with Webern conducting, was smoother. Pople wrote, "Webern redeemed himself by his musicianship: according to Krasner, 'Webern was the inspirational Master on the conductor’s podium, the orchestra was at one with him and the performance became a Devotion for all.'"

Fortunately, this performance was recorded on acetate discs for Krasner. Those discs are the source of a transfer that was issued many years ago . Unfortunately, that recording is ill-balanced, off pitch and very noisy. My friend David Federman asked if I could ameliorate these problems, which I have tried to do, with some success. Some background noise remains, but the balance is much better and I believe the pitch is correct.

As I wrote in my previous post: "Berg had some difficulty writing [the work], but soon, grieving over the loss of a family friend, young Manon Gropius, the daughter of Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler, he wrote his famous concerto, which he dedicated to 'Dem Andenken eines Engels' ('The Memory of an Angel')." It was to become one of the defining works of the 20th century.

Manon Gropius

Addendum: here is David's eloquent response to this post:

You've extracted the best sonics from this extraordinary performance that I will ever hear. I had just listened to a live performance of the concerto with Klaus Tennstedt conducting the New York Philharmonic with Shlomo Mintz, which is the most analytic and clearly detailed performance I have ever heard. Indeed, he treats it as a tone poem rather than concerto. But Krasner is a far, far superior soloist and makes this the best playing of the work from a soloist standpoint I have ever heard. However, Tennstedt's interpretation is revelatory, especially in the last part where he makes it clear that the work is a collaboration between Bach and Berg. Every note refers to that chorale. But there is far greater drama to Webern's performance. Indeed, the emotional intensity is gripping, even overwhelming at times. To Webern, this is, in essence, a tragic work. Soloist, conductor and orchestra are in total synch. The transition into the chorale is exquisite. Those woodwinds sound like an organ. And Webern never lets us forget Bach's presence, even when Berg has his great outburst of grief. But the darkness of that moment never lifts under Webern's baton. I don't hear Krasner reach for the high notes Berg wrote at the end. I wonder if he just couldn't play them or he and Webern decided to let the orchestra say the Amen. In any case, this performance reminds me I am listening to a work by the writer of "Lulu." Thanks again for supplying it. It needs to be heard and cherished.