I: The Montagues and Capulets ~ II: Juliet: The Little Girl ~ III: Dance ~ IV: Romeo at Juliet's Grave
30 October 1945 - Symphony Hall, Boston
Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony no.5 in B flat major, op.100
I: Andante ~ II: Allegro marcato ~ III: Adagio ~ IV: Allegro giocoso
6/7 February 1946 - Symphony Hall, Boston
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony no.9 in E flat major, op.70 **
I: Allegro ~ II: Moderato ~ III: Largo ~ IV: Allegretto
4 November 1946 / 2 April 1947 - Symphony Hall, Boston
3 files zip FLAC Mega Download
Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky
RCA Victrola VL 12021 1977 RCA Italy pressing/matrices: GKBP 31316 -1S / GKBY 31317 -2S
RCA Victrola LVM2 7510 (2LP 1974) RCA UK pressing/matrix: LVM2 7510 D-1E (also: Brahms. Symphony 3 / "Romeo & Juliet" / "Don Juan" / Hanson. Serenade in ABOVE POST).
The Shostakovich has been treble boosted . Superb performances. Lots of editing-away of retained 'blips', etc. 1990 ARSC Koussevitzky discography Prokofiev sleeve-note / 1977 HiFi News review >>>
Thank you - never heard these these pieces before - best Prokofiev i've ever heard. Do you have any plans of transferring or uploading the other mentioned items on the 2LP?
ReplyDeleteNot sure I can remember the setting used for the Shostakovich - so possibly not...and was thinking of uploading the 2LP LPO/Sabata album (Beethoven Sym.3/ Sibelius/Berlioz/Wagner) on Decca / 1976.
DeleteThe above are all 24/96 derived -so also retain those files.
You can find more Koussevitzky 78 material on >> Internet Archive << in remarkably silent 'F.Reeder' transfers (which I couldn't match from my various 78/HMV albums - and no idea how he achieves such results ..though the files are low data-rate)
Oh...sounds rather excellent!
DeleteAnd i never realized that Archive has also music recordings, many thanks for pointing this out.
Just been sampling the Shostakovich: I had underrated Koussevitzky in both Shostakovich and Sibelius before, time to correct that! First-generation recordings are fascinating. It's easy to forget he was 'creating' tradition here; there wasn't an established way of doing this 'modern' stuff, no recordings to sit and listen to... So, he often appears wilful or unconventional, but that can be simply becaue he does not fit the 'received tradition' of dozens of LP recordings converging on a common approach. (I remember the shock of hearing some of Harold Bauer's old piano-rolls of well-known Beethoven sonatas - with no recorded tradition, his take on them sometimes just makes you sit up and take notice in a way that doesn't really happen very often any more. These SK recordings sometimes make you do the same.)
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, a great transfer. Thank you.
I've tried some of the 'F. Reeder' transfers on IA. They're among the better transfers there but though the noise suppression is remarkable, it's too often at the expense of the 'space' in the recording. A great way to access these old records, but not to listen again & again. Sadly!
Never 'properly' listened to Reeder's transfers except a few on the (unforgiving) computer setup - impressively quiet - but, as with anything other than absolutely minimal Software intervention, you begin to notice a 'sameness' of dynamics/detail retention - particularly when a transfer attempts near-silent background.
DeleteBut his files are pretty free of 'artifacts' - so, presumably, RCA's shellac eases matters.
These sound quite impressive (even Thrilling: especially as 24/96) - but am unlikely to do the others in the 2LP set.