I’m still not managing to post here as often as I would have liked. I probably never will.

Among CDs I’ve listened to recently, I finally got round to Mark Elder’s recording of Gerontius, which was highly enjoyable, though I’ll still go back to Sargent with Heddle Nash! Somm’s reissue of Boult conducting Walton’s First Symphony and Belshazzar’s Feast was a fantastic listen – I’d forgotten quite how quickly Boult takes some parts of the great choral work. Also on British vocal music, Divine Art’s reissue of 2CDs worth of 78s of works by Peter Warlock was enthralling, with Peter Dawson, Roy Henderson and Dennis Noble particularly involving.

In the LP and 78 area, my collection of recordings by Franz André continues to grow, and more of these will reach my website in the coming months. These include his recordings of works by Coates, Elgar and Gershwin, and his 1812 overture. I also got hold of a French LP of Mozart recordings on “disques vogues”. It contains Jean Witold conducting Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Pauline Aubert playing the Rondo alla Turca on harpsichord, and two of the K107 Piano concertos (arrangements of JC Bach sonatas) played by Robert Veyron-Lacroix and the Collegium Musicum de Paris under Roland Douatte. The sound balance in the concerti may need some work, but the recordings are all quite interesting. The sleeve notes include an excitingly multi-coloured spectrum illustrating the full range of human hearing, as reproduced on the record, and the brief descriptions of the recordings are translated from French to rather bad English. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik contrives on sleeve and label to have its second movement split in two as “Romance” and “Andante”.

The latest update to my website will be live in the next couple of hours, and contains the following:
Fabien Sevitzky conducts the Philadelphia Chamber String Sinfonietta in Arensky’s Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky (1942)
Marie Novello plays Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 (abridged, 1921)
Thorpe Bates sings the Captain’s Song from HMS Pinafore, with chorus of Ernest Pike, Stanley Kirkby, Peter Dawson (1906)
Joseph Batten conducts “March of Victory” for the National Savings Movement, with baritones Thorpe Bates and Walter Saull (1945)
Henry Wood conducts Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music (improved transfer 1938)
Michael Zacharewitsch plays violin solos (c1920)

http://www.damians78s.co.uk

In other musical news, I purchased the Historic Masters repressing of Francesco Tamagno’s 10” recordings. These were an absolute joy to listen to, his voice ringing out clearly more than a century after the recordings were made.

I’ve also had the pleasure of the final instalment of Marston’s Conchita Supervia edition. There’s very much a Spanish focus on the recordings included, apart from some Lehar in French. Even greater joy than listening to Tamagno. In addition, the package included the latest Lagniappe disc, a bonus to subscribers. This time it was a selection of recordings by Paul Payan. This wonderful French bass displayed great flexibility and variety of colour. There were times when his timbre reminded me of Ezio Pinza.

I’ve been working through the EMI Classics 10CD Stokowski box. Of course, it includes some less familiar works, which make a great impression, but it’s when you get to the more familiar stuff that Stokowski’s choices can be frustrating. There are tweaks to the orchestration of Holst’s Planets, and his Carmina Burana cuts out middle verses of many parts of the score, and plays around with tempos and pauses outrageously. There are some tender and affecting parts, but as a whole it was disappointing.

I’ve also enjoyed Reginald Goodall’s EMI recording of Parsifal, though I think I prefer my Parsifals a little brisker than his.

There are still piles of 78s, LPs and CDs which I haven’t listened to. Among those that reached my turntable today were another National Savings promotional record, recorded just a few days before VE Day (when the outcome of the war in Europe was pretty much known) and paying tribute to all of the British armed forces and volunteers who contributed to the war effort. It’s a fascinating snapshot, with solos from baritones Thorpe Bates and Walter Saull. Joseph Batten conducts the London Symphony Orchestra. I hope to get this transferred soon. I’ve also just listened to Marie Novello’s recording of Liszt’s 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody, somewhat abridged on two sides of a 10” Winner disc. It’s an unusual performance – it isn’t the hackneyed barnstorming approach, and is perhaps the most rhapsodic version of the rhapsody I’ve heard. I’ve also listened to the violinist Daniel Melsa (on Broadcast Twelve), Stanley Chapple conducting Brahms and Elgar (again Broadcast Twelve), Virgilio Ranzato in two violin solos (Pathé), and assorted other things that may make it to my site soon. But my half-term holiday has just finished, so it’s back to work next week, with less time for transferring recordings.

The National Savings record is probably the next item on my list for restoration, though, for its unusualness.

Damian