 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Joe
Date: 2002-10-16 02:53
Hi,
I am currently looking for any information, and availability, on recordings of the brahms sonatas pre 1950. I have so far only located the Leopold Walch recording but I am hoping to find more.
I am using the information for a university project
Thanks,
joe
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-10-16 15:52
Joe -
The Wlach recordings may have been made in the early 1950s. I have the Japanese Westminster reissue and will look tonight for the recording date.
Benny Goodman recorded Sonata 2 with Nadia Reisenberg on a 78 rpm set that may have been made before 1950. It's been reissued on Clarinet Classics, so the recording date should be available.
I'll also check Rich Gilbert's wonderful Clarinet Discography tonight. If you're doing discographic work, it's an essential source. I think he used to be a sponsor, but his website no longer exists. Gary Van Cott has at times had copies.
There were quite a few recordings of the Brahms Quintet before 1950, and a several of the Trio.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2002-10-16 17:24
In this thread it's worth mentioning the first recordings of the Quintett made by Charles Draper in 1916, Mov.1 & 2(Clarinet Classics) and in 1927, the whole piece (Pearl). Rhichard Mühlfeldt himself complimented Draper for his performance and said that he had found depths in the piece that he hadn't discovered himself.
Technically this recording of cause due to it's age is very far from perfect, but it's the most important source we have as an example of interpretation of the piece.
Alphie
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-10-16 22:38
The early Draper recording of the Brahms Quintet was made acoustically and is marginally audible. It's also severely cut, to fit on, I think, two 78 rpm disks. Michael Bryant sells, or used to sell, a two cassette collection of early clarinet recordings with this on it.
The second Draper recording with the Lener Quartet was an early electrical set and is very good. It's a bit "straighter" than Kell's slightly later set with the Busch Quartet. Both of them are available on CD reissues and are essential for collectors. By the way, at about the same time, Draper recorded an excellent Mozart Quintet and a Schubert Octet with the Leners.
At the very end of the acoustic era, Thurston made a Brahms Quintet recording with the Spencer Dyke Quartet, which I've read great things about and have been looking for for years. It had a short life, because it was almost immediately eclipsed by the Draper electrical recording.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Mary Vinquist
Date: 2002-10-17 01:27
OK, here are the 78 rpm Brahms Sonata recordings from the Clarinet Discography:
Luigi Amodio, Sonata # 1, Polydor 68172/4; Cetera OR 5106/8
Reginald Kell/Horszowski , # 1 and # 2, Columbia CLC 6013 (78); Mercury MG 10016 (LP)
Reginald Kell and Joel Rosen, Decca 9638 (LP only -- certainly from the 1950s, but maybe not from before 1950)
Frederick Thurston, #2 Decca G-25722-4, Decca X 171/3, Polydor 516 735-2
David Weber, # 1, Musicraft 1097/9
Benny Goodman and Nadia Reisenberg, # 2, Columbia 629; 71813
The David Oppenheim recordings (CBS 78265) were made in the 1950s, and perhaps before 1950, but the Discography gives no 78 rpm listing.
I couldn't find my CD reissue of the Walch recordings, so I'm not sure whether they were made before 1950. The Discography gives no 78 rpm listings.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-10-17 02:38
For those of you with some time to spare: the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan may have some early wax rolls of clarinetists; they have an extensive (and not fully cataloged) collection of rolls. I spoke some time ago with one of the curators and she would have been happy to help me out had I any extra time.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-10-17 14:14
Mark -
As an addition to his Clarinet Discography, Rich Gilbert reprinted about a dozen catalog pages for cylinder recordings of clarinet music. I looked through them, but they were all short, encore/display pieces, as you would expect from a 2-3 minute cylinder.
I'm sure you know about the wonderful CD of clarinet cylinder recordings put out by Stan Stanford of Portland State University, but for those who may not have heard of it, it's available at http://www.northpacificmusic.com/AcousticEra.html. The sound is absolutely primitive, but after a while you learn to listen through the noise.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Mark Charette, Webmaster
Date: 2002-10-17 19:24
Ken,
A large number of the cylinders at the Ford Museum were never cataloged and/or commercially available - they were Edison's test and demo cylinders taken when Ford transported Edison's lab and material to Dearborn.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-10-18 14:20
Mark -
There's a discography of Edison's issued recordings available at http://www.tinfoil.com/bk-ECR.htm, which gives you an idea of what Edison was interested in. Cataloging the unissued material would be a fascinating project.
Years ago, I heard a radio documentary about the Edison wax cylinders and an LP set of unissued test pressings. They played a few of them, which had remarkable sound quality -- as good as the best acoustic disks. They said that the problem was that these "hot" recordings wore out and started blasting after a few playings, so Edison had to tone down the recording process on his commercial issues.
They also said Edison was mainly interested in singers, and he recorded many great ones who never made commercial disks, e.g., the great tenor Jan de Retzke, who was generally agreed to be superior to Caruso.
Edison was not a musician and had peculiar ideas about performers, particularly what made a great voice. According to the documentary, much of the unissued material is better than the issued material, musically as well as acoustically.
If only he had met Muhlfeld....
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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