Historical Recordings

[bigshot]

Disk 3

http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-01handel_concertogrosso09.mp3
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-02handel_concertogrosso10.mp3
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-03handel_concertogrosso11.mp3
http://www.vintageip.com/xfers/3-04handel_concertogrosso12.mp3

[George]

Got this today:

Marston Move Accomplished!

We are open for business at our new location
The last month has been an extremely hectic one for everyone here at Marston. Ward's record collection of 30,000 discs took eight moving trucks and four days to move--then there was the large stock of Marston CDs. Once we were situated here in our new location, it took almost two weeks to get our phones installed. But no more complaining, no more excuses! We are hard at work again on our upcoming projects, and will be apprising you of our progress. In the meantime, please don't forget to update your records with our new postal address:

Marston
206 Cheshire Circle
West Chester, PA 19380

We would love to hear from you, so please feel free to contact us. Our phone and fax numbers, as well as our email, remain the same:

Phone: 610-690-1703
Fax: 610-328-6355
Email: info@marstonrecords.com

To show our appreciation for your continuing support, we have decided to offer a discount on most of our titles through the 31st of July. A discount of 20% will be offered on all of our titles except those which are on the endangered list. When you order, please mention the coupon code MRS20.   


Wishing you all the best for an enjoyable summer!

Sincerely yours,
Ward and Scott

[cilgwyn]

Got this today:

Marvellous! I've just bought up all the remaining Pathe opera sets I didn't have,(including the 1907/08 Chatterton/Pagliacci & the VAI Gounod 'Romeo & Juliet) from various Amazon uk sellers (the Verdi 'Le Trouvere,is still in the post).
  Wonderful restorations,just how I like them. Not too much 'intervention',so the sound is nice & clear & with hiss and crackles,providing some nice atmospheric ambience. In fact,after spending the last fortnight,or so,listening to these recordings,Elgars pre-electrical recordings (the Pearl set) & Preisers rather nice cd of the wonderful 1907 Winkler 'Die Fledermaus' (please can someone release the contemporary recordings of Die Lustige Witwe & Zigeunerbaron....) re-acclimatising my eardrums to electrical recordings is going to be a bit of a shock!! Mind you,Ward Marston is quite right about the Leoncavallo recordings. They are quite a contrast to the Pathe's,in terms of recording quality. Quite mind blowing actually,in their own way. I mean,1907/08! Wow!!!
The performances,of these opera's are so full of joie de vivre,it's hard to believe,despite the obvious primitiveness of the sound quality,that the cylinders were being replaced every few minutes. There is a feeling of spontaneity,that is truly astonishing & sadly missing from allot of recent recordings (and earlier one's too!) The dialogue,in particular (Bizet,Massenet,Masse) is very well acted. So often,dialogue in opera,or operetta recordings,sounds like someone just reading from a piece of paper & maybe they ARE doing that,of course,but do they have to sound like they are reading out of a telephone book?!!! For a more recent comparison,some of the late 50's/60's operetta recordings on the Accord label,are another good example!
  In addition to the more well known scores,the recordings of Chatterton and Masse opera's are a particular joy. In fact,the Masse opera's are so tuneful & entertaining,I am starting to think they are in the category of,'unjustly neglected';but I wonder whether a contemporary recording would be anywhere near as good.
  Incidentally,I see that Pathe recorded Rigoletto;but there doesn't seem to be a cd set of it,current,or deleted? Is the recording still extant,or not considered to be very good. Or maybe,it's still in the 'planning stage' for a future release. Also,there is a 1908 Gounod,which sounds as if it might,possibly,be interesting?
  Oh,and I must add (SHOULD add),the accompanying booklets are a model of their kind!
Superb!

[cilgwyn]

Marvellous! I've just bought up all the remaining Pathe opera sets I didn't have,(including the 1907/08 Chatterton/Pagliacci & the VAI Gounod 'Romeo & Juliet) from various Amazon uk sellers (the Verdi 'Le Trouvere,is still in the post).
  Wonderful restorations,just how I like them. Not too much 'intervention',so the sound is nice & clear & with hiss and crackles,providing some nice atmospheric ambience. In fact,after spending the last fortnight,or so,listening to these recordings,Elgars pre-electrical recordings (the Pearl set) & Preisers rather nice cd of the wonderful 1907 Winkler 'Die Fledermaus' (please can someone release the contemporary recordings of Die Lustige Witwe & Zigeunerbaron....) re-acclimatising my eardrums to electrical recordings is going to be a bit of a shock!! Mind you,Ward Marston is quite right about the Leoncavallo recordings. They are quite a contrast to the Pathe's,in terms of recording quality. Quite mind blowing actually,in their own way. I mean,1907/08! Wow!!!
The performances,of these opera's are so full of joie de vivre,it's hard to believe,despite the obvious primitiveness of the sound quality,that the cylinders were being replaced every few minutes. There is a feeling of spontaneity,that is truly astonishing & sadly missing from allot of recent recordings (and earlier one's too!) The dialogue,in particular (Bizet,Massenet,Masse) is very well acted. So often,dialogue in opera,or operetta recordings,sounds like someone just reading from a piece of paper & maybe they ARE doing that,of course,but do they have to sound like they are reading out of a telephone book?!!! For a more recent comparison,some of the late 50's/60's operetta recordings on the Accord label,are another good example!
  In addition to the more well known scores,the recordings of Chatterton and Masse opera's are a particular joy. In fact,the Masse opera's are so tuneful & entertaining,I am starting to think they are in the category of,'unjustly neglected';but I wonder whether a contemporary recording would be anywhere near as good.
  Incidentally,I see that Pathe recorded Rigoletto;but there doesn't seem to be a cd set of it,current,or deleted? Is the recording still extant,or not considered to be very good. Or maybe,it's still in the 'planning stage' for a future release. Also,there is a 1908 Gounod,which sounds as if it might,possibly,be interesting? Mind you,I'm just being greedy. I've got enough to get on with,haven't I?
  Oh,and I must add (SHOULD add),the accompanying booklets are a model of their kind!
Superb!

Stop Press: La Trouvere arrived (I'm listening to it,now) & I have now ordered the set of Nogue's Les freres Danilo & Verdi's La Traviata. Well,I couldn't resist it & I'll have them all now! The Nogues sounds intriguing. It was composed specifically for the Pathe sessions. The singers are all top notch,but what are the musical merits of Les freres danilo,itself? Jean Nogue's most successful opera was Quo Vadis;but according to Wikipedia,some critics felt it's success "was due to the strength of the cast" (as opposed to the music). On the other hand,excerpts from the opera,were recorded by Mattia Battistini.........anyway,I'll soon find out!

[George]

I recently picked up this set and had a chance this weekend to compare the transfers (done by Ward Marston) to the ones previously done by Ward Marston on Biddulph and Seth Winner on Pearl. Surprisingly, of the few dozen performances that I compared, very few of the new transfers were actually better than the old one(s.) The Piano Concerto recording was the biggest surprise. For this work I compared the Pearl (by Seth Winner), the prior Marston and the new Marston transfer. The old Marston sounded more natural to me, with a warmer, clearer sound. It wasn't even close.

So, while the new APR set may boast some unique recordings, such as alternate takes, I'll be holding on to my old Biddulph and Pearl CDs. People keep telling me that advances have been made that improve the sound of historical transfers, but I have yet to actually hear it. The above Biddulph transfer of the Piano Concerto that betters the new one is 13 years older!

Has anyone else compared this set to the old transfers?

[Bogey]

I recently picked up this set and had a chance this weekend to compare the transfers (done by Ward Marston) to the ones previously done by Ward Marston on Biddulph and Seth Winner on Pearl. Surprisingly, of the few dozen performances that I compared, very few of the new transfers were actually better than the old one(s.) The Piano Concerto recording was the biggest surprise. For this work I compared the Pearl (by Seth Winner), the prior Marston and the new Marston transfer. The old Marston sounded more natural to me, with a warmer, clearer sound. It wasn't even close.

So, while the new APR set may boast some unique recordings, such as alternate takes, I'll be holding on to my old Biddulph and Pearl CDs. People keep telling me that advances have been made that improve the sound of historical transfers, but I have yet to actually hear it. The above Biddulph transfer of the Piano Concerto that betters the new one is 13 years older!

Has anyone else compared this set to the old transfers?

Don't mess with George's Pearls.

[George]

(...and Biddulphs)

[liuzerus87]

The old Biddulphs are now all either very expensive or completely unavailable nowadays. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and scoop some of them up...

Case in point:
[asin]B000001ZEW[/asin]

[George]

The old Biddulphs are now all either very expensive or completely unavailable nowadays. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and scoop some of them up..

You and me both. Luckily, they turn up in used shops from time to time. And with the new Rosenthal box (and the Grainger, etc) coming out, you gotta expect that people will be dumping their old Biddulphs in favor of the shiny new box sets.

[Mandryka]

The old Biddulphs are now all either very expensive or completely unavailable nowadays. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and scoop some of them up...

Case in point:
[asin]B000001ZEW[/asin]

The Haydn is here and he's transferred some Smetana too

http://shellackophile.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/smetana-by-primrose-quartet.html

t's always worth ringing Biddulph -- they've unearthed OOP stuff for me in the past

[liuzerus87]

The Haydn is here and he's transferred some Smetana too

http://shellackophile.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/smetana-by-primrose-quartet.html

t's always worth ringing Biddulph -- they've unearthed OOP stuff for me in the past

I've never actually contacted Biddulph directly. I was under the impression that they were bankrupt awhile ago and the new Biddulph is virtually a separate company. Now that I look for a source for that information, though, I can't find it; maybe I was hallucinating again.

What's really on my Christmas wish list, though: the Denon Sofronitsky discs. There's just a couple still available from Japan, but otherwise... *looks around hopefully*

[Mandryka]

I've never actually contacted Biddulph directly. I was under the impression that they were bankrupt awhile ago and the new Biddulph is virtually a separate company. Now that I look for a source for that information, though, I can't find it; maybe I was hallucinating again.

What's really on my Christmas wish list, though: the Denon Sofronitsky discs. There's just a couple still available from Japan, but otherwise... *looks around hopefully*

If you join symphonyshare you'll see that Don Rice has uploaded his own transfers of all those Denon CDs, taken directly from the Melodiya LPs. His transfers  are considerably  more truthful   than Denon's in most cases. If not,  some of the Sofronitsky Denon recordings used to be available at intoclassics.net

Bidduph may well be no longer in business. When I contacted them I remember getting the impression that I was speaking to a business which wasn't running normally. I remember  someone saying that, for some CD, she  thought there were one or two left in the attic and she'd  go have a rummage around. She duly rummaged and lo and behold, it was  there.

[J.A.W.]

  I forgot to mention my friends at Immortal Performances. Richard Caniell and his group were responsible for most of the Naxos Historical series, but the company violated their agreement to not mess with the audio restorations, so they went to Guild CD's...they just recently began issuing things on their own label. I've worked with this Canadian group and can highly recommend their recordings. They have an enormous amount of Met transcription material, a Toscanini series, and many other outstanding performances from sources around the world...a bit of it mine, of course. Their issues are well-worth checking.  SS

Just found this old thread. Could you please elaborate on what Naxos did to Richard Caniell's restorations? I am asking because I'm still on the fence about Caniell's Toscanini 1939 Beethoven set on CD-Rs, which is pricey for me (I'm in the Netherlands, shipping would be expensive, I would have to pay 21% import charges and I have my doubts about those CD-Rs) and I was thinking that maybe the old Naxos CDs would be a good alternative.

[Bogey]

Just found this old thread. Could you please elaborate on what Naxos did to Richard Caniell's restorations? I am asking because I'm still on the fence about Caniell's Toscanini 1939 Beethoven set on CD-Rs, which is pricey for me (I'm in the Netherlands, shipping would be expensive, I would have to pay 21% import charges and I have my doubts about those CD-Rs) and I was thinking that maybe the old Naxos CDs would be a good alternative.

I know when I was digging around for early recordings Geeorge, Que, nd myself (andsome others here) did enjoy Pearl pressings for historical recordings,but then George bought a set of Naxos Schnabel recordings and nicely sent me his Pearl discs so I would have a complete set.  So, if George bought Naxos, then they must of been very decent.

George?

[J.A.W.]

I know when I was digging around for early recordings Geeorge, Que, nd myself (andsome others here) did enjoy Pearl pressings for historical recordings,but then George bought a set of Naxos Schnabel recordings and nicely sent me his Pearl discs so I would have a complete set.  So, if George bought Naxos, then they must of been very decent.

George?

Thanks. I've searched a bit more and read on the Immortal Performances website that many of the Naxos Toscanini releases IP's Richard Caniell had restored and remastered proved highly unsatisfactory. Apparently they had been messed with, like Slezak suggested earlier. The main problem I have with IP's own Toscanini set is that it was released on CD-R instead of CD, as was confirmed to me by someone at IP.

The Naxos Schnabel CDs are OK. I have the series with the Beethoven Piano Sonatas.

[George]

This just arrived today. No image available online yet, so I had to make my own. The booklet is upside down because I store it that way to eliminate the dents and dings incurred by the case from keeping it the other way. This is the 9th and final volume in Marston's complete traversal of all the available recordings. It includes some improvements on previous transfers, like the four 1895-1896 performances previously issued in the 3CD set, The Dawn of Recording The Julius Block Cylinders and Hofmann's performances for the Cadillac Hour from 1936 (his performance of the Moonlight Sonata is what initially made me a fan of the pianist.) The rest of CD 1 an all of CD 2 are devoted to interviews with other people about the pianist. Interviewees include Glenn Gould, Charles Rosen, Witold Lutoslawski and Jorge Bolet. The interviews were compiled and edited by Gregor Benko, who reportedly spent hundreds of hours on the task. Transfers were by Ward Marston, of course, who made even the 1895-1896 recordings listenable. I imagine this will be up for sale soon on the Marston site. I was able to get it early because I am a subsciber (to the piano releases) at Marston Records.   

[George]

This fine two CD set arrives tomorrow. I have already heard much of it on Spotify. Transfers by Mark Obert-Thorn.

APR has released another 2CD Backhaus set, this one all pre-war Beethoven. 

[George]

This fine two CD set arrives tomorrow. I have already heard much of it on Spotify. Transfers by Mark Obert-Thorn.

APR has released another 2CD Backhaus set, this one all pre-war Beethoven.

Listened to CD 01 today. It contains the Chopin Etudes, Op. 10 and Op. 25. The transfers are excellent, open enough to get a nice piano tone.

[George]

Info from Marston Records:

Take 20% Off!

Marston Records feels that our last three releases should be part of the collection of anyone with a love of the music of our recorded past. These are large CD packages and we want to make it easier for you to own these sets. So, choose at least two of the three sets listed above (John McCormack: A Patrician Artist ($185); Sidney Foster: Rediscovering an American Master ($72); Feodor Chaliapin: The Complete Recordings($175)), and take 20% off your total. Order today and enter the code 20%OFF at checkout.  www.marstonrecords.com

This offer is good through 4 July 2019 and is only applicable for any combination of the three releases mentioned above.

[George]

Another great APR release, this one comes out November 20.