#ClassicsaDay #Summerof78s Week 4

Classical music performers have been recording for over a century. The Classics a Day team declares July the Summer of 78. Or rather, the summer of 78s. For July, post recordings that were originally issued on 78 rpm discs.

Many legendary performances have been captured on 78 rpm. And more than a few 20th Century composers playing or conducting their own music. Here are my postings for the fourth and final week of #Summerof78s.

07/25/22 Giacomo Puccini: "Un bel di vedremo" from Madama Butterfly
Rosa Ponselle, soprano

Ponselle made this recording in 1919 for Columbia. It's important to remember that the composer, Giacomo Puccini was still alive at the time.

07/26/22 Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Feodor Chaliapin, bass

Chaliapin championed Russian opera on his tours of Europe and America. He recorded these excerpts in the mid-1930s. The US label Stinson licensed Soviet recordings for reissue and Western distribution.

07/27/22 Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5
Philadelphia Orchestra; Leopold Stokowski, conductor

This ground-breaking 78 was the first for the PO and Stokowski with Columbia. Unlike other conductors, Stokie didn't compromise to accommodate the limits of recording technology. He insisted that all 90+ players perform rather than a smaller core ensemble.

07/28/22 Russian Christmas Music (arr. Stokowski)
Philadelphia Orchestra; Leopold Stokowski, conductor

Stokowski was known for his transcriptions and arrangements as much as he is for his conducting. This is an arrangement of a carol originally ascribed to Ippolitov-Ivanov.

07/29/22 Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Berlin State Opera Orchestra; Max Feidler, conductor

Conductor and pianist Max Fiedler almost exclusively recorded Brahms. He knew the composer and had attended concerts of Brahms conducting his own works. These recordings were made by Polydor in 1930.

Next month: Fun in the Sun

#ClassicsaDay #Summerof78s Week 3

Classical music performers have been recording for over a century. The Classics a Day team declares July the Summer of 78. Or rather, the summer of 78s. For July, post recordings that were originally issued on 78 rpm discs.

Many legendary performances have been captured on 78 rpm. And more than a few 20th Century composers playing or conducting their own music. Here are my postings for the third week of #Summerof78s.

07/18/22 Georg Friedrick Handel - Hallelujah Chorus
BBC Choir with organ and orchestra; Sir Thomas Beechem, conductor

Beecham recorded this for Columbia in 1927. This was long before the concept of historically accurate performance practices came into being.

07/19/22 Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Lener String Quartet

This Hungarian quartet was formed in 1918, and recorded the first complete cycle of Beethoven quartets. The series was started in 1927, the centenary of Beethoven's death.

07/20/22 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Soanta No. 21 "Waldstein"
Artur Schnabel, piano

Schnabel recorded this sonata for HMV in 1934. It was part of a complete traversal of Beethoven sonatas by Schnabel, beginning in 1933 and finishing in 1937.

07/21/22 Franz Schubert - Ständchen
Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano

Rachmaninoff was a performer as well as a composer. He made this recording for HMV in 1942, a year before his death.

07/22/22 Giacomo Puccini: "Un bel di vedremo" from Madama Butterfly
Rosa Ponselle, soprano

Ponselle made this recording in 1919 for Columbia. It's important to remember that the composer, Giacomo Puccini was still alive at the time.

#ClassicsaDay #Summerof78s Week 2

Classical music performers have been recording for over a century. The Classics a Day team declares July the Summer of 78. Or rather, the summer of 78s. For July, post recordings that were originally issued on 78 rpm discs.

Many legendary performances have been captured on 78 rpm. And more than a few 20th Century composers playing or conducting their own music. Here are my postings for the first week of #Summerof78s.

07/11/22 Frederic Chopin - Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2
Ignacy Jan Paderewski, piano

Paderewski was not only a piano virtuoso. He was also one of Poland's pre-eminent composers of the early 20th Century. Both skills inform his performance of his countryman's nocturne in this RCA Victrola recording from the 1930s.

07/12/22 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Divertimento No. 8 in F major, K. 213
Gewandhausbläserquintett Leipzig

The musicians in this 1928 recording were all first chair players in the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra.

07/13/22 Franz Josef Haydn: Quartet in G major, Op. 76, No. 1
Budapest String Quartet

In their day, the Budapest String Quartet was considered one of the best quartets in the world. Their performance here was recorded between 1925-1927.

07/14/22 Mignon: Gavotte
Maud Powell, violin

In the first part of the 20th Century, American violinist Maud Powell was one of the most famous. She recorded and toured internationally. And she gave the American premieres of 14 violin concertos, including those by Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Bruch, Sibelius, and Rimsky-Korsakov.

07/15/22 Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major

This Columbia recording was made shortly after the work's premiere in 1932. Marguerite Long is the soloist, and the Symphony Orchestra is conducted by the composer.

#ClassicsaDay #Summerof78s Week 1

Classical music performers have been recording for over a century. The Classics a Day team declares July the Summer of 78. Or rather, the summer of 78s. For July, post recordings that were originally issued on 78 rpm discs.

Many legendary performances have been captured on 78 rpm. And more than a few 20th Century composers playing or conducting their own music. Here are my postings for the first week of #Summerof78s.

07/06/22 Lili Boulanger - Nocturne
Gregor Piatigorsky, cello

Ukrainian-American cellist Piatigorsky also made the arrangement of this piece and recorded it in 1936.

07/07/22 Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 7 in F major
Capet Quartet

This French ensemble was considered one of the leading string quartets of the 1920s. They made this recording for Columbia in 1928, shortly before their disbanding.

07/08/22 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 4666
Wilhelm Kempff, piano; Dresden Philharmonic; Paul van Kempen, conductor

Kempff recorded this work for Polydor in 1941.