Hugo Alfven conducts... Alfven. Dalarapsodi / Symphony 3 - 1940 / EMI 1950

Hugo Alfven:  Dalarapsodi. op.48  (Swedish Rhapsody no.3)           
Knut Broberg, soprano-saxophone  ~ Stockholm Radio Orchestra  conducted by  The Composer  
Hugo Alfven:  Symphony no.3 in E major, op.23     I:  Allegro con brio   ~  II:  Andante ~ / ~ III:  Presto  ~  IV:  Allegro con brio 
Stockholm Concert Society Orchestra  conducted by  The Composer  
2 files zip FLAC  Mega Download
EMI Sweden  4E 053-34620    1972 EMI Germany LP/matrices     Recorded: 7 November 1940 / 21-22 June 1950 - Stockholm Concert House  
"Dalarapsodi" slightly de-clicked (@1.7) + slight treble increase (<+1.4dB). The metalwork/shellac had huge clicks (described below as 'thousands of clicks and crackles').  The Symphony is a very good tape-recording  (both in: Phono Suecia PSCD 109: 1997 -3CD's)    
Swedish sleeve-note (+ machine translation of the technical details) >>>

"The legendary 78 rpm recording of Hugo Alfvén's Third Symphony with the composer himself conducting has long been on the wish list of reissues. Ahead of the 100th anniversary of Alfvén's birth May 1, 1872 matured tank to the decision.

Alfvén's Symphony was part of a large disc series with Swedish music STIM recorded in collaboration with HMV (EMI) in 1950. This was before LPs: still they made 78s with music divided into four minutes stumps. But a persistent rumor claimed that at this session would have used tape for the first time in Sweden, that the radio had obviously tape far earlier but this was the first time that you used the ribbon sensor intermediary in board production.

For a short time ago, a large lot old tapes in return from EMI in England. STIM's record producer Hakan Elmquist was looking at random, and by chance he found the four red ribbons cartons of Alfveninspelningarna. There were all alternate takes with förprickningar which capture sensor would be used for disc edition. Scherzosatsens recording was apparently knivigast - there was a whole series of failed attempts before Alfven got the musicians to play tonrent in the extremely fast pace.

The Radio House Studio 4 suffer a nervous mood on Mar. 10, 1972 when one would copy over the dark brown, buckled belt to a new band - with Dolby system engaged to avoid additional noise into the recording. The big band roll waited on the temporary furled old Telefunken tape recorder. How old band must namely played with the now abandoned recording speed of 76 cm/sec. The question was whether would dare tempt the brittle band with such a dizzying playing. They decide to take a chance, band tension again increased so that the belt will be tight against the head, the tape recorder is started.

A faint noise is heard. The silence is tense. So sounds a clear voice in English: matrix code and shot. Suddenly fades Philharmonic from the speakers, stunningly fresh and with a keen sense of space. Kjell Stensson, who is present and who was an engineer at that time, that he was using only a microphone. It's hard to believe that the orchestra is in such a small local processor Music Academy auditorium.

The band keeps the load. Klang balance is perfect, nothing needs to be added or taken away.

The two first sets was recorded June 21, 1950, the remaining two the next day. Section can now be added to the section, they fade inaudibly into each other, and recording now seems quite modern.

"Dalarapsodi" was included in the so-called Radio Service Series; recording, made on 5 78 rpm sides was one of the first major orchestral recordings in Sweden. The wartime bad compression standard deferred publication until after the war, but the recording (also with a microphone) was musically and technically very successful.

Although eager inquiries were missing one of the parent matrices (parent matrix year as we know the exact replica of the finished product but made of metal and therefore almost noiseless). Playing the four remaining parent dies, however, proved to be an art of its own. The technician was hastily inventing a method to finger keep the hyper light pickup in place while the aft roller ochdalbana on the bumpy and dented metallic plates, it also turned out that instead of noise got thousands of small stick and crackle in the speaker but eftersorn sound was clearly chose matrix version before the pressed discs with their high noise level. The missing matrix was of course replaced by a pressed disc".

E.& O.E !!!