tangotreats
10-11-2014, 08:15 PM
SIR ARTHUR BLISS
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
and
Theme and Cadenza for Violin and Orchestra
Campoli (violin)
with
The London Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by The Composer
November 1955 Recording - MONO - Transfer from 1956 vinyl - DECCA LXT5166. Restored cover scans included.
Here's a thoroughly English violin concerto from a composer who never quite found the career he deserved; thankfully today his music is being rediscovered. Stylistically, it is obviously in the tradition of Elgarian Englishness, with flashes of restrained modernism. This vintage recording, conducted by the composer himself, represents the first recording of a work completed only a handful of months previously.
https://mega.co.nz/#!spBAVRCK!fWsSRsxPtThLPpTv2_JtDrnDQO02HK_ZqbdJQQm--hw
Technical notes and a historical perspective:
During the early years of World War II, Englishman Arthur Haddy developed an extraordinarily sensitive microphone in order to enable the discreet detection and cataloguing of German submarines - and in doing so, unwittingly ushered in the age of Hi-fi recording. This technology, which enabled the accurate recording and reproduction of sounds from 80 to 15000Hz - almost the complete range of human hearing - became Decca's famous "Full Frequency Range Recording" and within five years, the recording industry had been transformed. Those pioneering early monophonic recordings stand up to this day, and those very first long-playing vinyl records - some almost seventy years old - are still highly sought.
This recording, of Sir Arthur Bliss conducting his own music, was made during the last days of mono - Decca started making stereo recordings in May 1954, anticipating the 1958 development of stereophonic records, but it wouldn't become a standard until the early 1960s. Mono-only recordings were still made and sadly, this was one of them - but frankly the mono sound is so beautifully engineered, so vital, so dynamic, that it is barely worth consideration. Of course, there are more modern recordings available of the works herein (including a new benchmark recording of the concerto on Chandos) but nothing quite makes up for the heady excitement etched within these sixty year-old grooves - of the composer conducting his own music, the score of which barely had time for the ink to dry.
I had the pleasure of transferring this from a near-mint original pressing - to see this 1956 record revolving on my turntable and to hear this wonderful music pouring out, sounding as though it were recorded yesterday... is a genuinely magical experience.
Barely any work was necessary. The record got cleaned, transferred, subjected to very light and un-obtrusive noise reduction, and that's about it. Nothing clever, no delicate restoration, no hours of work, no uphill struggle to coax something good from worn-out grooves. It's all right there on that piece of plastic that was pressed in 1956 at Decca's New Malden plant just a ten minute drive from where I am sitting right now as I write this. There are some brief passages (mostly in the third movement of the concerto) where hiss is noticeably higher - efforts to remove it had a detrimental effect on the audio so I have left it alone. It is not obtrusive nor is it frequent.
This recording has been released commercially on CD - twice - by Beulah. I consider this transfer superior to those releases. To my ears, the Beulah transfer is good but a little lifeless and bass-heavy. It's not bad any any means and is still available on iTunes and on CD if anybody is interested.
Enjoy! :)
TT
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
and
Theme and Cadenza for Violin and Orchestra
Campoli (violin)
with
The London Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by The Composer
November 1955 Recording - MONO - Transfer from 1956 vinyl - DECCA LXT5166. Restored cover scans included.
Here's a thoroughly English violin concerto from a composer who never quite found the career he deserved; thankfully today his music is being rediscovered. Stylistically, it is obviously in the tradition of Elgarian Englishness, with flashes of restrained modernism. This vintage recording, conducted by the composer himself, represents the first recording of a work completed only a handful of months previously.
https://mega.co.nz/#!spBAVRCK!fWsSRsxPtThLPpTv2_JtDrnDQO02HK_ZqbdJQQm--hw
Technical notes and a historical perspective:
During the early years of World War II, Englishman Arthur Haddy developed an extraordinarily sensitive microphone in order to enable the discreet detection and cataloguing of German submarines - and in doing so, unwittingly ushered in the age of Hi-fi recording. This technology, which enabled the accurate recording and reproduction of sounds from 80 to 15000Hz - almost the complete range of human hearing - became Decca's famous "Full Frequency Range Recording" and within five years, the recording industry had been transformed. Those pioneering early monophonic recordings stand up to this day, and those very first long-playing vinyl records - some almost seventy years old - are still highly sought.
This recording, of Sir Arthur Bliss conducting his own music, was made during the last days of mono - Decca started making stereo recordings in May 1954, anticipating the 1958 development of stereophonic records, but it wouldn't become a standard until the early 1960s. Mono-only recordings were still made and sadly, this was one of them - but frankly the mono sound is so beautifully engineered, so vital, so dynamic, that it is barely worth consideration. Of course, there are more modern recordings available of the works herein (including a new benchmark recording of the concerto on Chandos) but nothing quite makes up for the heady excitement etched within these sixty year-old grooves - of the composer conducting his own music, the score of which barely had time for the ink to dry.
I had the pleasure of transferring this from a near-mint original pressing - to see this 1956 record revolving on my turntable and to hear this wonderful music pouring out, sounding as though it were recorded yesterday... is a genuinely magical experience.
Barely any work was necessary. The record got cleaned, transferred, subjected to very light and un-obtrusive noise reduction, and that's about it. Nothing clever, no delicate restoration, no hours of work, no uphill struggle to coax something good from worn-out grooves. It's all right there on that piece of plastic that was pressed in 1956 at Decca's New Malden plant just a ten minute drive from where I am sitting right now as I write this. There are some brief passages (mostly in the third movement of the concerto) where hiss is noticeably higher - efforts to remove it had a detrimental effect on the audio so I have left it alone. It is not obtrusive nor is it frequent.
This recording has been released commercially on CD - twice - by Beulah. I consider this transfer superior to those releases. To my ears, the Beulah transfer is good but a little lifeless and bass-heavy. It's not bad any any means and is still available on iTunes and on CD if anybody is interested.
Enjoy! :)
TT