I’ve now uploaded to my site an improved restoration of Walter Süsskind’s 1958 Pye recording of Handel’s Messiah. My earlier transfer (posted in April) was hampered by a rather damaged set of discs. The new transfer is made from a much better set, and though the sound does crumble and roughen slightly in places, it gives a much better impression of the recording.

As well as this, I’ve included restorations of 8 sides recorded in 1916 and 1917 by the Australian violinist Daisy Kennedy (who has her own dedicated page at my site), featuring a number of rare photographs, and a radio recording of an interview she gave with the BBC. 6 of the sides I’ve newly made available are from the collection of Cheniston Roland. He has kindly allowed me to make them available at my site.

There are other things in the pipeline – many, in fact. The trouble is that it’s a very long and slow moving pipeline. I’ve just digitised Franz André’s mid 1950s account of Bizet’s L’Arlèsienne Suites, which are delightful, and show off the French system woodwinds (and saxophone) of the Belgian National Radio Orchestra. I have a feeling that this may be the next item to appear on my site. There’s so much more, including several more André LPs. There are of course post 1959 LPs which I’ll transfer for my own enjoyment, and will not be available online for copyright reasons (such as “Introducing Patricia Routledge” from 1973 – songs by Rodgers, Porter, Coward, Novello and so on; a far cry from Routledge’s famous TV characters of Hyacinth Bucket, Kitty and Hetty Wainthrop)