Written by Claude Lemaire
For Part-1: http://soundevaluations.blogspot.com/2022/09/treasures-from-vinyl-vault-part-1.html
11- Buck Clayton featuring Woody Herman – How Hi the Fi. Columbia – CL 567 (mono) (1954), Pure Pleasure Records PPAN CL 567 (UK) (2007), (2x33 1/3 rpm). Genre: Kansas City jazz, swing, big band, bluesy ballads.
I already had two Buck Clayton jam session LPs on Columbia in my collection which were good but this Pure Pleasure Records remastering of How High the Fi–now spread over two LPs instead of one–is my favorite for music and sound. Each side sports only one roughly 14 minute track ranging from hot swinging Kansas City jazz jams such as the title-track and "Moten Swing" to slower sultry bluesy ballad standards such as "Blue Moon" and "Sentimental Journey". Count Basie hired the trumpet player in 1937 until being drafted in 1943, and Basie's influence is quite evident. Recorded in December 1953 and March 1954 in NYC. Excellent crisp dynamic well balanced mono sound pressed by Pallas in Germany.
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12- Richard Strauss, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Also sprach Zarathustra. RCA Victor Red Seal – ESC-1 (1954, Sept.) Reel-To-Reel, 7.5 ips, 1/4" 2-Track, 7" Cine Reel, LSC-1806 Living Stereo series (1960), 33 1/3 rpm, Classic Records – LSC-1806 (1994), 33 1/3 rpm, 180g, LSC-1806 (200?), (4x45 rpm single side), 200g. Genre: classical, post romantic, modern.
Thanks in great part to Kubrick's 1968 landmark epic film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Strauss' Zarathustra was one of the first classical pieces I discovered in tandem with Johann Strauss II's "The Blue Danube" which also is featured prominently in some space sequences–actually Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was probably the first classical piece I heard but will get to that further along. By sheer coincidence a few days later I entered a small hifi store, and without making any request, the vendor chose to play that same demo-worthy Zarathustra extract on a reel-to-reel tape deck, switching speakers in real time–via a switchbox control. I know, a "no-no" now but popular in those years. In the film, Kubrick only uses the famous majestic intro but I soon got hold of the complete score from a 1969 Zubin Metha interpretation on London ffrr for a couple of dollars, which opened my ears to the entire tone poem. This March 1954 Reiner version on RCA Victor engineered by Leslie Chase is one of the earliest stereo recordings ever done, and part of the first "batch" of Classic Records' reissues out in 1994 when I bought that and a few other similar titles early on for about 45 dollars each from I believe a hifi shop in Montreal. Later on I ordered directly from Classic the four single-side 45 rpm edition. Both versions sound excellent, quite dynamic and transparent. Only drawback from the latter version are the inevitable fade-out and fade-in interruptions in the score that breaks the ambiance.
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Recorded in stereo only three months after the preceding selection, Fiedler's interpretation of the Gaîté Parisienne ballet is one of the most dynamic orchestral compositions found on record. Based on German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach's music from the 19th century, this is a suite of fun peppy classical pieces presented in several short movements arranged and orchestrated by French conductor and composer Manuel Rosenthal and Offenbach's nephew in 1938. Bernie Grundman's remastering-cutting for Classic Records is a true sound stunner both on the regular 33 1/3 rpm and the four single side 45 rpm edition!
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Recorded in stereo in January 1955–seven months after the Offenbach title–it was first available only in mono, and took five years to release the stereo LP. Best known for his Boléro, the French composer premiered this ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev in 1912. Like many, I consider it Maurice's mystical masterpiece. The orchestration is so rich in timbres, textures and dynamic shadings, it is pure delight for the ears and senses. Engineer Lewis Layton did an incredible job balancing everything including the celestial chorus. Bernie pulls it off on this Classic Records reissue once more.
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Another early stereo recorded just two days later and like the first two RCA selections, was released only on pre-recorded tape in the beginning before the advent of stereo LPs three years later. Tchaikosky's famous final completed symphony the Pathétique–or originally titled Passionate depending on historical accounts–is one of my earliest encounters with classical music along with both previously-mentioned Strauss works. The reason? Back in the 1970s there was a weekly current affair TV show that used an extract of the third movement for its theme music. Then a few years later one of my aunts–who loved classical music–gave me an LP box set from RCA Living Stereo which not only featured the entire 6th symphony but the exact same Monteux version that Classic Records reissued in 1995. To prove how our earliest musical memories stay with us all through life, to this day I usually listen to only the Third movement and forgo the rest. Engineered by Leslie Chase. Bernie Grundman did an amazing job on this one–impressive dynamics and soundstage dimensions which surpass my original box set LP. Interestingly, Tchaikosky conducted the first performance of the work just nine days from his death.
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16- Bartók, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Concerto for Orchestra. RCA Victor – ESC-9 (1956, Apr.) Reel-To-Reel, 7.5 ips, 1/4" 2-Track, 7" Cine Reel, RCA Victor Red Seal LSC-1934 Living Stereo series (1958), 33 1/3 rpm, Classic Records – LSC-1934 (1994), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: classical, modern.
While Liszt was Hungary's most famous classical composer of the 19th century, Bartók certainly took up the torch in the 20th. Opposing and fearing the Naziz close ties with his country, he fled for the United States in October 1940. Composed as a five-movement orchestral work in 1943, the Concerto for Orchestra–closer to a symphony than a typical concerto–is one of his last and probably best known compositions. With hints of eastern European, Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovak folk music mixed in, Bartók alternates between atonality and tonality, dissonance and consonance, throughout the entire piece, inching towards contemporary music. With its mysterious moods from massed strings interspersed with blaring brass, and tempos ramping up and down, we can almost picture adventurous forest chases in our minds, not unlike movie scores and television shows of the past or so called 'program music'. Excellent job by Bernie and Classic Records. Like the previous Strauss and Ravel selections, I haven't heard Ryan K. Smith's remasterings for Analogue Productions which could even surpass those from my collection.
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Reference List (Singles, albums, and labels):
Buck Clayton featuring Woody Herman – How Hi the Fi. Columbia – CL 567 (mono) (1954), Pure Pleasure Records PPAN CL 567 (UK) (2007), (2×33 1/3 rpm). Genre: Kansas City jazz, swing, big band, bluesy ballads.
Richard Strauss, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Also sprach Zarathustra. RCA Victor Red Seal – ESC-1 (1954, Sept.) Reel-To-Reel, 7.5 ips, 1/4″ 2-Track, 7″ Cine Reel, LSC-1806 Living Stereo series (1960), 33 1/3 rpm, Classic Records – LSC-1806 (1994), 33 1/3 rpm, 180g, LSC-1806 (200?), (4×45 rpm single side), 200g. Genre: classical, post romantic, modern.
Offenbach, Boston Pops, Arthur Fiedler – Gaîté Parisienne. RCA Victor Red Seal – ESC-15 (1956) Reel-To-Reel, 7.5 ips, 1/4″ 2-Track, 7″ Cine Reel, RCA Victor Red Seal – LSC-1817 (1958), Classic Records – LSC-1817, Living Stereo series, QUIEX SV-P 45 (2002?), (4 single-sided x 45 rpm), 200g. Genre: classical, orchestral.
Ravel, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch – New England Conservatory Chorus – Daphnis et Chloé. RCA Victor Red Seal – LM-1893 (mono) (1955), LSC-1893 (1960), Classic Records – LSC-1893, Living Stereo series, (1995), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: classical, impressionism.
Tchaikovsky, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux – Symphonie No.6 Pathétique. RCA Victor – GSC-15 (1956, Apr.) Reel-To-Reel, 7.5 ips, 1/4″ 2-Track, 7″ Cine Reel, RCA Victor Red Seal – LSC-1901 (1958), Classic Records – LSC-1901, Living Stereo series, (1995), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: classical, classicism, romantic.
Bartók, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Concerto for Orchestra. RCA Victor – ESC-9 (1956, Apr.) Reel-To-Reel, 7.5 ips, 1/4″ 2-Track, 7″ Cine Reel, RCA Victor Red Seal LSC-1934 Living Stereo series (1958), 33 1/3 rpm, Classic Records – LSC-1934 (1994), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: classical, modern.
Thank you Claude, I'm really enjoying your posts!
ReplyDeleteCheck entry number 14 because photos and description don't match.
Keep up with the awesome work!
Alessandro
Thank you Alessandro for your kind and helpful comment. I usually double-check my text transfers but this one had slip by me it seems. In fact entry 14 was fine, it was entry 16 that was mismatched. Now all corrected.
DeleteClaude