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Home , Burns (musician), Herbert Menges, Marjorie Thomas, Paul Tortelier, Walter Goehr, World Record Club

Early stereo recordings • 1

R. Strauss Till Eulenspiegel Symphony Orchestra Norman Del Mar

Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 1 Paul Tortelier cello Herbert Menges

Brahms Violin Concerto Endre Wolf violin London Symphony Orchestra Walter Goehr

First release of the 1954 & 1955 stereo recordings 1 Recording alert buzzer and orchestra tuning [0:33] (1833-1897) Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 (1878) [40:35] (1864-1949) 6 I. Allegro non troppo [22:01] 2 Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28, TrV 171 [14:30] 7 II. Adagio [10:24] (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks) (1894-1895) 8 III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace — [8:05] Poco più presto London Symphony Orchestra • Norman Del Mar Endre Wolf violin Recorded at No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, 23 July 1954 London Symphony Orchestra • Walter Goehr First release in any format Producer: unknown Recorded at No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, 25 and 28 August 1954 Stereo Balance Engineer: unknown First issued on Music-Appreciation Records MAR 15 * (mono LP) Remastered by David Murphy (FHR) Tracks 7-8 first release in stereo; track 6 mono transferred from * Producer: unknown Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) Mono Engineer: Neville Boyling No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 (1872) [18:33] Stereo Balance Engineer: unknown 3 I. Allegro non troppo — [5:19] Remastered by Jonathan Mayer and David Murphy (FHR) 4 II. Allegretto con moto — [5:53] 5 III. Allegro non troppo [7:20] Total Timing: [74:19]

Paul Tortelier cello Transfers by Ted Kendall, apart from track 6 Philharmonia Orchestra • Herbert Menges All source materials used in this issue are from the Archive Recorded at No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, 16 September 1955 of Recorded Sound (ARS). For more information, please First issued on HMV ALP 1336 (mono LP) visit: www.archiveofrecordedsound.com/ First release in stereo Producer: David Bicknell ℗ 1954, 2018 & © 2018 Recordings licensed from the Stereo Balance Engineer: Christopher Parker Archive of Recorded Sound (ARS). The copyright in the Remastered by Jonathan Mayer and David Murphy (FHR) remastering is owned by First Hand Records Ltd ̶ 2 ̶ R. STRAUSS • SAINT-SAËNS • BRAHMS Early stereo recordings • 1 Great musical and discographical interest attaches to this At the time of his M.A.R. sessions with the LSO, Del Mar was fascinating CD, which features a ‘first release’ by an eminent coming to the end of five years as conductor of Benjamin scholar-conductor and ‘first releases in stereo’ from two of Britten’s English Opera Group and was set fair for one of the the more interesting string players of the 1950s. The Brahms most distinguished careers in British music – which included Violin Concerto was recorded for Music-Appreciation Records, holding his teacher Lambert’s old position at the Royal College a fondly remembered American label which was marketed in of Music (1972-1990). It is particularly valuable to have this the United States by Book-of-the-Month Club and, to quote splendid performance of Till Eulenspiegel because Del Mar the LSO discographer Philip Stuart, ‘coupled performances wrote the definitive work on Strauss in English, a classic with illustrated musical analyses of the works’. achievement in three volumes. A big man whose affectionate nickname among orchestral players was ‘the Mass of Life’, Del Born in Hampstead, London, Norman René Del Mar (1919- Mar also wrote a number of books on conducting. For some 1994) studied horn with Frank Probyn, composition with Ralph reason this recording was never released on LP, although the Vaughan Williams and conducting with Constant Lambert at the Beethoven Fifth from the same No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road and began his musical career as a horn sessions was issued with an analysis by Thomas Scherman and player: during the war he played alongside Dennis Brain in the ‘the M.A.R. Orchestra’. celebrated RAF Central Band and in 1944 founded the Chelsea Symphony Orchestra. When hostilities ended he continued EMI was a little slow to pick up on the stereophonic revolution conducting semi-professional orchestras and when Sir Thomas and Walter Legge of Columbia, in particular, continued to Beecham founded the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1946, Del balance all his recordings in mono while the stereo engineer Mar was again one of the players in Brain’s section. However he was left to his own devices in a separate booth. HMV took was almost immediately made Beecham’s conducting assistant the new technology a little more seriously and for their star and Beecham both arranged and attended his professional cellist Paul Tortelier’s first stereo concerto sessions with the conducting début in 1947. He took part in Beecham’s Strauss Philharmonia, in June 1955, David Bicknell had Lawrance Festival, conductingMacbeth and the Symphonic Fantasia from Collingwood to assist, while Neville Boyling looked after the Die Frau ohne Schatten, and the ageing Strauss attended both mono balance and Christopher Parker was in charge of the the rehearsals and the performances. stereo. The resulting Dvorák Concerto was released the same ̶ 3 ̶ year, spread across two HMV tapes (SAT 1000-01), with a stereo version on LP (HMV Concert Classics SXLP 30018) not emerging until 1963. On 15-17 September Tortelier and the Philharmonia were back at Abbey Road and this time Bicknell had assistance from Alan Melville and Brian Culverhouse, while Douglas Larter did the mono engineering and Parker again presided over the stereo. Of the three works recorded, all were issued a year later on the same mono LP, but the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations did not appear in stereo until 1993. Fauré’s Élégie was released only in mono and Saint-Saëns’s A minor Concerto is here receiving its first stereo outing.

Tortelier (1914-1990) was the most charismatic of an exceptional generation of French cellists. Born in Montmartre, he was encouraged by his mother to take up the instrument and studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Louis Feuillard and Gérard Hekking, later returning to study harmony with (he became an excellent composer). After spells in Monte Carlo and with Koussevitzky’s Boston Symphony, he returned to Paris and after the war began a meteoric career, founded on his peerless interpretations of the Elgar Concerto, Strauss’s and the French repertoire. His conductor Herbert Menges (1902-1972) was born in Hove into a musical family – elder sister Isolde was a noted violinist and quartet leader. Menges started on the violin but became a sterling pianist and composer, although his conducting took over his career, especially in the theatre and opera house. He founded the Richard Strauss, 1894 orchestra in Brighton and worked with many British ensembles, but EMI used him mainly as a concerto accompanist. Tortelier ̶ 4 ̶ gives an athletic account of the Saint-Saëns and Menges supports him admirably. What is extraordinary is the difference between the well-known mono recording, where the cello is quite spotlit and well to the front in the balance, and this stereo version, where the soloist is much more sympathetically placed within the orchestral texture.

The Hungarian-born violinist and teacher Endre Wolf (1913- 2011) was trained at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Oszkar Studer, Jenő Hubay and Leó Weiner, but found the anti-Semitism prevalent under Admiral Horthy’s regime unbearable. In 1936 he beat a fellow Hungarian to the concertmaster’s job at the Gothenburg Symphony Orchesatra and from then on was based in Sweden, although he spent important periods teaching in Copenhagen and Manchester. Wolf’s discography is uneven: Atterberg’s Suite for violin, viola and orchestra and concertos by Bach, Mozart, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Brahms (two versions) but no Beethoven – although a creditable Beethoven Concerto has been issued on CD from the Swedish Radio – as well as a few sonatas and other pieces with piano.

This first recording of the Brahms is similar in outline to the one he made in 1958 for World Record Club with the under Anthony Collins. His conductor on 25 and 28 August 1954 in No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, was - born Walter Goehr (1903-1960), who studied at the Stern Saint-Saëns, 1865 Conservatory and the Prussian Academy of Arts and was also a pupil of . He came to Britain in 1933 to ̶ 5 ̶ Endre Wolf, c.1940

̶ 6 ̶ escape Hitler’s regime and became a pivotal participant in British music as recording conductor, composer, arranger, teacher and the first performer of important works by Britten and Tippett among others. He was the father of the composer .

Goehr conducts a good solid tutti and Wolf displays fine style and lovely tone, free of the wide ‘Hubay vibrato’ affected by many of his compatriots. The Allegro non troppo comes across as quite leisurely, with tempo changes that seem organic, yet Wolf still manages to arrive at the start of the Kreisler cadenza in 17:14, not outrageously longer than those Brahmsian paragons Busch and Huberman. The many double-stops are effortlessly executed. TheAdagio begins with a beautiful oboe solo, presumably by Roger Lord, and when Wolf enters he uses more portamento than in the first movement – perfectly in style for Brahms and very beautifully done. He is not too slow in the Finale: because Joseph Joachim found this movement too difficult at Brahms’s original tempo, Brahms changed it to the more relaxed Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace, but violinists ‘in the know’ still aimed for the original speed. All in all, this performance is a fine of the Hungarian Brahms tradition. Although a stereo tape has been found for the last two movements, the first movement has had to be transcribed Endre Wolf, c.1940 from a commercial mono pressing, with every effort made to match the two sources.

© 2018 Tully Potter

̶ 7 ̶ Issue note The 18 May recording of Stamitz’s Viola Concerto with Herbert EMI binaural/stereo recordings 1954–1955 Downes on viola and Karl Haas (spelt Carl on the experimental EMI’s experimental binaural/stereo programme was set in binaural tape recordings sheet – see page 9) conducting The motion on 18 May 1954 at No. 1 Studio Abbey Road, following London Baroque Players, made for the Parlophone imprint, has a thorough review of multi-channel recording techniques a strange but illuminating background. Although Parlophone undertaken in October 1953 by Philip B. Vanderlyn from made a sizeable number of recordings, many of the acoustics group at EMI’s Central Research Laboratories which were jointly paid for by MGM who wanted to build up (CRL) in Hayes. Together with Henry A.M. Clark who, in a classical catalogue in the early 1950s, it never released any 1953, was appointed Technical Manager, Record Division, in stereo and the classical production of the label was ‘killed EMI Ltd (later becoming Technical Director, Records and off’ in mid-1954 due to poor US sales. EMI itself had its sights International Divisions), and Dr Gilbert F. Dutton, head of set on buying the American Capitol label. The Herbert Downes EMI Engineering Research, Vanderlyn played a pivotal role recording was not even issued on mono LP, the alleged reason in the implementation of EMI’s ‘stereosonic’ recording and being that Downes held certain rights to the Philharmonia reproducing system as it became known in 1955. Having name, which Walter Legge, who controlled the Philharmonia concluded that the EMI/Blumlein system was the way forward Orchestra, resented with a passion. for twin-channel recording, Vanderlyn issued a memo dated January 18, 1954, stating that the time had come ‘to take Throughout 1954 EMI recorded some 80-90 sessions in the first steps towards building up a library of binaural tapes’ binaural/stereo (as time went on and techniques were refined using a variety of microphone set ups and positions; repertoire stereo became the preferred term). On the tape boxes (see would include solo instruments, light music, dance bands, example on page 11) that house these recently discovered as well as chamber, vocal, choral and symphonic music. experimental recordings (unedited 7.5ips dubs, possibly safety The engineering was done by Clark, Vanderlyn and the CRL or back-up copies, made in November 1954 from the masters), team, which included Vanderlyn’s assistant, Reginald Willard, they are referred to as ‘ESRs’ – presumably Experimental Stereo who was a specialist in microphone construction, before a Recordings. Although many of the staggered head session young Christopher Parker took over in December that year as tapes were originally deemed unsatisfactory and none, as EMI’s principal stereo balance engineer (Mozart: Symphony subsequently noted by Vanderlyn, ‘could be classed as a finished No. 36, ‘Linz’, K425 – London Mozart Players / Harry Blech • binaural recording’, with the aid of moderntechnology the left First Hand Records FHR15). and right tracks have been brought into perfect alignment to give astonishing results. Some of the ‘ESR’ recordings (almost

̶ 8 ̶ ̶ 9 ̶ always excerpts of complete works) made in 1954 are detailed with J.S. Bach’s Cantata, BWV6, performed by the below (1), although this is not an exhaustive list by any means Marjorie Thomas, the David Galliver and The Bach Choir and most of them may not exist anymore. Documentation and Orchestra under Reginald Jacques, first released on a for these experimental sessions, two examples of which are Columbia stereosonic tape (BTC 501). The following month included on page 11 is limited to a type-written list headed EMI made, among others, stereo recordings of Beethoven’s Experimental Binaural Recordings which details the tape Piano Concerto No. 1 (Geza Anda / Philharmonia Orchestra number, work, session dates, artist(s), studio and technical / Alceo Galliera) (the master for which appears to have been remarks but not, alas, the specific producers or engineers. Two mislaid) and works by Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky (Philharmonia of the tape boxes are initialled DLG, which we believe to refer Orchestra / Nicolai Malko). These, the ‘lost’ September 1955 to Derek Grainger, who was responsible during the 1950s for stereo version of Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 heard on this vetting and approving or rejecting all EMI’s stereo masters. release and all the remaining 1955 sessions, were engineered by Christopher Parker. The recording of the Brahms’ Violin Concerto heard on this album (not to be confused with Endre Wolf’s later 1958 stereo Although many EMI recordings between 1955 and 1957 were recording for World Record Club issued on LP ST30 and in the taped in both mono and stereo, a separate stereo producer Stereo 21 ‘stereosonic’ reel series) and that of Beethoven’s was a rarity. In any event, it was the mono producer who Symphony No. 5 with Norman Del Mar and the London controlled the sessions, as the stereo equipment was operated Symphony Orchestra, were made for the American Music- by a separate balance engineer, often in a room some distance Appreciation Records label and issued in the USA on mono LPs from the studio. If the stereo equipment broke down, the only. Recorded on 23 July 1954, the unreleased recording (one recording continued in mono regardless (time was money of two continuous takes experimenting with crossed and spaced after all and mono recordings could be immediately issued Neumann microphones) of Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel and sold to produce revenue, whereas stereo ones could heard on this album is the earliest known surviving EMI stereo not). Domestic equipment for playing stereo LPs was not yet recording of a complete work. It appears to have been made widely available. However, eager to appear at the forefront of in order to test the stereo equipment and not necessarily for technological advancement, EMI launched its first commercial commercial release; indeed there is no surviving mono version stereo recordings in a series of 7.5 ips twin-track ‘stereosonic’ of the recording. tapes during 1955. Although the format was technically superb and advanced for its time, the high cost of producing the tapes EMI‘s first stereo recording in 1955 took place on 26 January, and of the tape deck required to play them (not far off the ̶ 10 ̶ ̶ 11 ̶ price of a small car in 1955) made it ill suited for a mass market. / Gerald Moore [No. 1A Studio] (for release on It was superseded by the arrival of EMI stereophonic LPs in First Hand Records) 1958 and discontinued in the early 1960s. In 1956 a Capitol 27 May: Brahms: Handel Variations – Witold Małcużyński engineer, Robert Arnold, came to Abbey Road to understudy [No. 3 Studio] Parker and he was there for 6 months. After that date Robert 31 May: Norrie Paramor & Orchestra [No. 2 Studio] Gooch became the second stereo engineer. By late 1957 other 2 June: Tchaikovsky: Hamlet Fantasy Overture • engineers, notably Francis Dillnutt, Harold Davidson, Edward Dohnányi: Suite in F major – Philharmonia Orchestra / Huntley, Anthony Coombs and Peter Bown started to become Robert Irving [No. 1 Studio] involved with stereo recording. Later Douglas Larter moved 2 June: Haydn: Salve Regina – London Mozart Players / from mono to stereo as he was Walter Legge’s favoured Harry Blech [No. 1 Studio] (for release on First Hand Records) engineer. Parallel mono and stereo recordings continued until 3 June: Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé • Debussy: Prélude à l’Après- the end of 1961 when mono recording ceased. midi d’un faune – Philharmonia Orchestra / Igor Markevitch [No. 1 Studio] Recommended further reading on the history of stereophonic 28 June: Chopin: Ballades – [No. 3 Studio] sound and reproduction: 9 July: Spanish Songs – Nan Merriman / Gerald Moore Russell Burns, The life and times of A D Blumlein (The [No. 3 Studio] Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, UK, 2002), chapter 4. 20 July: Billy Mayerl Ensemble [No. 2 Studio] Michael Gray, The Making of EMI Stereo (Part one in The 5 & 23 July: Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 – London Symphony Absolute Sound, issue No. 74, November-December 1991, pp. Orchestra / Norman Del Mar [No. 1 Studio] 38-72; Part two in The Absolute Sound, issue No. 88, June- 10 August: Band of H.M. Coldstream Guards / July 1993, pp. 90-99. Grateful acknowledgement is due to the Major Douglas A. Pope [No. 3 Studio] author for some of the content of this issue note. 15-19 September: Puccini: arias – Maria Callas / Philharmonia Ted Kendall, ‘A history of EMI’s stereosonic tapes’ Orchestra / Tullio Serafin [Watford Town Hall] (Classic Record Collector, Summer 2009), pp. 54-57. 20 September: Beethoven: Fidelio (arias) – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf / Philharmonia Orchestra / (1) A selection of EMI 1954 binaural/stereo recordings [Watford Town Hall] 19 May: Mozart: Piano Quintet, K452 – Colin Horsley / 8 October: Beethoven: Cello Sonatas, Op. 5, Nos. 1 & 2 – Philharmonia Wind Quartet [No. 1 Studio] Gregor Piatigorsky / [No. 3 Studio] 25 May: Schubert: Two Lieder from – Hans Hotter 14 October: Johnny Dankworth Septet [No. 2 Studio] ̶ 12 ̶ 26 October: Philip Green Group [sic] [No. 2 Studio] Orchestra / Richard Austin 1 November: Schubert: Symphony No. 3 – 14-15 November: Mussorgsky: Pictures from an Exhibition • London Mozart Players / Harry Blech [No. 1 Studio] Prokofiev:Piano Sonata No. 4 – Eugene Malinin (for release on First Hand Records) 14, 16 & 20 November: Brahms: Violin Sonata, Op. 78* • 4 November: Grieg: Piano Concerto – / Bach, J.S.: Solo Sonata No. 3, BWV 1005 – Leonid Kogan / Philharmonia Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan [No. 1 Studio] Andrei Mytnik* (*matrix SC 40) 5 November: Bach: Cantata, BWV 6 – Marjorie Thomas / 23 November: Ravel: Tzigane – Leonid Kogan / Philharmonia David Galliver / The Bach Choir / Reginald Jacques Orchestra / Orchestra / Otto Ackermann Reginald Jacques [No. 1 Studio] (for release on First Hand 23 & 29 November: Tchaikovsky: Sérénade mélancolique – Records) [see page 10 for details of a second experimental Leonid Kogan / Andrei Mytnik stereo recording of this work in January 1955] 23 & 30 November: Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K216 – 29 & 30 November: Haydn: Symphony No. 104 ‘London’ – Leonid Kogan / Philharmonia Orchestra / Otto Ackermann London Mozart Players / Harry Blech [No. 1 Studio] 25 November: Bach, J.S.: Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 – Leonid Kogan / Elizaveta Gilels / Philharmonia (2) A selection of unreleased EMI 1955 stereo recordings String Orchestra / Otto Ackermann 28 February: Mozart: Symphony No. 33, K319 – London Mozart Players / Harry Blech Peter Bromley 23 March: Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 – Philharmonia Orchestra / With thanks to Malcolm Walker and Stephen Crane Sir [an excerpt was played at the 4 April 1955 inaugural demonstration of stereosonic tapes at Abbey Road Photo of Richard Strauss: hosted by Sargent] The Tully Potter Collection 6-8 April: Borodin: Symphony No. 1 – Philharmonia Orchestra / Alceo Galliera 13 April: Mozart: Piano Quintet, K452 – Walter Giesking / Philharmonia Wind Quartet 4 May: Mandalay scena – Peter Dawson / London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Charles Mackerras 22-23 September: Bloch: Schelomo • Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme – André Navarra / London Symphony ̶ 13 ̶