Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no.3 in E flat major, op.55 "Eroica"I: Allegro con brio ~ II: Marcia Funebre, adagio assai ~ III: Scherzo -Allegro vivace ~ IV: Allegro molto
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Hector Berlioz: "Le Carnaval Romain" - overture
Jean Sibelius: "En Saga", op.9 / "Kuolema", op.44 - Valse Triste
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Richard Wagner: "Die Walkure" - Ride of the Valkyries
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London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Victor de Sabata
Decca 6BB 236/7 Issued 1976 Recorded: 2+3/30/23+24/30 May 1946 - Walthamstow Town Hall
A plethora of retained surface clicks necessitated very light de-click (@1.3) except for the better transferred/livelier Wagner. These are not really to 'EMI standard', nor Decca's 1950's dubbings of Beethoven 5/6 (Schuricht/Kleiber) due to rather heavy filtering; so a slight treble increase didn't improve matters too much... (According to a John Culshaw article in "High Fidelity" metal matrices were unusable so a 'mint set of 78's' from the BBC Gramophone Library was utilised) EMG reviews, 1947/8 >>>
Many thanks !
ReplyDeleteIndeed, one can 'hear' the filtering, I think, but still, what wonderful performances all of these are! Novel without being at all contrived or idiosyncratic. Very interesting conductor.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks; also, for bothering still with the blogs for our edification!
Oh, ha-ha, the reviewers once again have their own opinion...
DeleteAs with most other 'post-war' Decca 78's - my set of the Eroica 'fell to pieces'
DeleteThese would be more impressive without the noticeable filtering - low-level detail is very limited...there's a Huge difference compared to Boult's LPO Elgar Sym.1 from 1949 (EMI, taped) in the 1983 box-set.
The first recording, after Mengelberg's 1930 NY, to include the first movement repeat.
ReplyDeleteMy friend Bob (95 this year) is in the doublebass section on this. For him, de Sabata was the greatest of them all. And he played under just about everyone except Toscanini.
I didn't realize that re: the repeat as never played the EMI pre-war 78 albums (all intact) of Weingartner/Toscanini/Koussevitzky (with the LPO); though transferred the Mengelberg set - not exactly 'to my complete satisfaction' - just over a year back..all obtained nearly 30 years ago..
DeleteI'm only sorry that Decca's transfers don't really do these justice - they made a better job in 1962/3 of the 1947 LPO/Zecchi/Haskil 4th PC - tapes they re-used for an early '80's LP reissue.