ARSC Journal
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A Discography of the Choral Symphony by J. F. Weber In previous issues of this Journal (XV:2-3; XVI:l-2), an effort was made to compile parts of a composer discography in depth rather than breadth. This one started in a similar vein with the realization that SO CDs of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony had been released (the total is now over 701). This should have been no surprise, for writers have stated that the playing time of the CD was designed to accommodate this work. After eighteen months' effort, a reasonably complete discography of the work has emerged. The wonder is that it took so long to collect a body of information (especially the full names of the vocalists) that had already been published in various places at various times. The Japanese discographers had made a good start, and some of their data would have been difficult to find otherwise, but quite a few corrections and additions have been made and some recording dates have been obtained that seem to have remained 1.Dlpublished so far. The first point to notice is that six versions of the Ninth didn't appear on the expected single CD. Bl:lhm (118) and Solti (96) exceeded the 75 minutes generally assumed (until recently) to be the maximum CD playing time, but Walter (37), Kegel (126), Mehta (127), and Thomas (130) were not so burdened and have been reissued on single CDs since the first CD release. On the other hand, the rather short Leibowitz (76), Toscanini (11), and Busch (25) versions have recently been issued with fillers. LP side layout and coupling have varied so much for some recordings that it would have been misleading to include only the data derived from actual examination. The first LPs put the music on three sides with a skimpy fourth side drawn from the company's catalogue. Ormandy (19) came with the Leonore Overture No. 3 (under Kletzki), Koussevitzky (20) with nothing more than the Egmont Overture, and Walter (24) with Brahms' Schicksalslied. Some versions were spread over four sides, as Kleiber (32), which was later reissued on three sides and then on two; Furtwingler (30), Solti (96), Ozawa (102), Conta (109), Haitink (117), and Bl!hm (118) are some other four-sided issues. Three-sided issues coupled with another symphony became the norm for a while, but in December 1956 Horenstein (48) was issued simultaneously on three sides and on two; Disenhaus (47) came out two months later on a single LP for $1,98, The first stereo issue on two sides was Ansermet (64). The first single disc without the third movement broken was not the English Victrola reissue of Ml.Dlch (61), with the first three movements running 39 minutes, but the much earlier Wand (38), with side two running over 41 minutes. It may be noted that, while three-sided issues usually preserved the integrity of each movement, B8hm (79) has the second movement split in a three-side layout. Recent stretching of LP playing time has brought Malko (44) on one LP coupled with the Leonore Overture No. 3 in 1983 and the reissued Klemperer (56) coupled with the Fidelio Overture in 1985. Presumably neither record has any divided movements, 64 Timing of each movement has been provided to facilitate comparisons, especially of those pseudonymous issues which may be identifiable with other versions. Most of the questionable items have been elusive, but those who have copies will be able to compare them with the other timings given. Timings are not always precise (different releases of the same version sometimes offer conflicting times), but the pattern provided by the times of four separate movements can be more revealing than the simple total time. On more than one occasion, though, a recording has been reissued with one or more repeats cut, so caution is needed. Unlike the two previous exercises, this discography has attempted to include all formats (no cylinder version is known). They are acoustic 78 (ac78), 78 r.p.m. (78), the long-playing record (LP), open-reel tape (OR, at 7ls i.p.s. unless otherwise noted), eight-track cartridge (BT), the MusiCassette (MC, as it is sometimes known), and compact disc (CD), distinguished here by boldface. There are also a few oddities, a discrete-quad LP of the Ozawa version (102), some videodiscs including the otherwise unavailable Sawallisch (122), a double-density mono Furtwllngler CD (41) and the first digital audio tape (DAT) to be announced (146). RCA never issued any of its recordings in its cartridge format (ca.1960), perhaps because a single cartridge would not hold the entire work. Except for the early years, recording mode is specified as mono (M), stereo (S), quad (Q), or digital (D), with releases in electronic stereo identified as such wherever known. Recording dates are given where known, and records released long after the recording was made (or reissued long afterwards in some cases) have the release date in brackets after the issue number. It may be noted that, while a bewildering variety of issue numbers is given, albums of the complete Beethoven symphonies and multi-disc albums of many works are omitted in the interest of simplifying the layout, unless they are the only issues in a certain format. Note that only three electrical 78 r.p.m. recordings (along with the three acoustic versions) have never been reissued on LP; it should be no surprise if most of the recordings on the list eventually appear on CD. The great number of early broadcasts later issued on records should be noted; the landmark Toscanini studio recording was the sixteenth commercial release of this work, but with an equal number of early broadcasts available it is now numbered 33, In fact, it's worth noting that over forty recordings have been identified as live performances. (A live Robert Heger performance has been announced on CD, but too little information is known to put it in its proper place.) Unlike the Berlioz discography earlier, this discography relegates most pseudonymous issues to the preface. It has been fairly easy to check conductors and vocalists in major reference works, notably John L. Holmes's Conductors on Record and the indexes in Robert H. Reid's third edition of The Graaophone Shop Encyclopedia and Kurtz Myers's Index to Record Reviews, and names not found at all raise suspicions. The notorious Royale and Allegro catalogues listed pseudonymous "Rubahn" and "Schreiber'' versions, but they are presumed to be distinct from all other versions, probably derived from unidentified European broadcast tapes, although I have not determined whether the Rubahn is identical to the Schreiber. All the names on "Warren" (80) appear to be pseudonymous, but the recording seems to be an entry 65 distinct from the others. The items listed just below may or may not be distinct, but I believe that all 146 items in the discog raphy itself are separate. The existence of two Abendroth versions (28 and 29) seems to have been widely overlooked, and it is not known which was made earlier (Supraphon has no date for theirs), Krauss (66) is very suspicious, but the list of names (with only two full first names) comes straight off the sleeve, and the Bregenz Festival has really functioned for many years. I wonder about the long list of recordings, both genuine and suspicious, credited to Hamburg ensembles· (including the NDR Orchestra) in the late sos and early 60s. Maybe someone on the scene could look further. Following is a list of releases that give pseudonymous conductors and unidentified or unknown vocalists. Walter JURGENS, North German PSO, Lessa Foster, Hilde Abel, Ralph Sommerfeld, Hans Hagenau. LP: Rondolette 126-7 [11-59]. Hugo GRAUTZ, Amsterdam or Zurich Municipal Orchestra, soloists unknown. [15:25, 11:54, 17:14, 23:13] LP: Fidelio ATL 4004 [1963]. Karl RITTER, Vienna Oreb. [15:40, 9:52, 17:24, 23:29] LP: Musidisc RC 837 [1965]; Score SCO 8506. The sleeve lists no chorus or vocalists, and falsely describes the sound as stereo. ( ..... ) STOLZ, Cologne Pro Arte Orch, chorus, G. Dufrene, A. Durchmarch, H. Tilpfer, G. Untermann. LP: Summit LSU 1020. Unknown conductor, North German Radio Orchestra. [16:20, 10:33, 17:26, 25:26] LP: Classics Club X3003. Eric Hughes reports that two different performances may have been issued under this number. ( ••••• ) BRONSKY. Brno PSO, chorus, soloists unknown (Q), LP: Yedette (Italy) in set CCS/7 [ 1970]. Henry ADOLPH, Munich Oreb, Gregor, Weiss, Silhavy, Bradmann. LP: Marfer (Spain) 55040 S [1984]. Charles MUNCH, Japan PSO, Tokyo Phil. & Nikikai choruses, Naboka Gamoa, Ono Kuniyo, Mori Toshitaka, Okamura Takao -- live rec. Dec'62. CD: Iapelle 32GD 174947 [1987]. This is a different problem: The CD was announced in February 1987 but apparently was not issued. Other rumored CDs that have not turned up are a Toscanini performance from 1953 on Hunt CDLSMH 344 (is that an error for 1952?) and the Purtwingler/ Bayreuth performance of 9 August 1954 on a Japanese label. A considerable amount of material has been included from Japanese discographies, the most recent one having been published in Stereo Geijutsu in December 1982. Some sleeves of rare issues are printed in color in the December 1985 issue of the magazine. If readers will submit additions and corrections, I would like to publish an addendum in a future issue of this Journal. I wish to acknowledge the valuable contributions of Michael Gray (especially, but not only, for the Japanese issues), Hajime Suga (for some Japanese names), Eric Hughes (for several obscure European issues), and Claude Arnold (for the acoustics).