The newest delight from Palaeophonics is the 1926 PRINCESS CHARMING . . . From Yves St Laurent we offer his 18th Volume of von KARAJAN

The newest delight from Palaeophonics is

the 1926 PRINCESS CHARMING . . .

From Yves St Laurent we offer his

18^th Volume of von KARAJAN –

the Mahler 6^th from Salzburg. . .

JEAN MARTINON, Vol. 9,

with FERRAS and TORTELIER . . .

the 4th Volume of MELICHAR . . .

and the ‘sale’ titles continue . . .

PRINCESS CHARMING (Arthur Wimperis and Lauri Wylie; music by Albert Szirmai), w.William H. Berry, Winnie Melville, John Clarke, Gerald Nodin, Alice Delysia, etc. (England) Palaeophonics 170, w.Elaborate 'The Play' 23pp. Brochure. Excellently transferred from the legendary early electrical 78rpm English Columbia & HMV rarities. Dominic Combe's enchanting delight, produced via his enhanced equipment! Again, for this production he had access to fabulous archival material and superb original 78s with which to work! (PE0359)

Critic Review

"Performed at The Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London [21 Oct 1926, closing performance [361st] 3 Aug 1927]; lyrics by Arthur Wimperis; music by Albert Szirmai; additional numbers and lyrics by Russell Bennett and Jack Waller; presented by Herbert Clayton and Jack Waller by arrangement with Charles B. Cochran; produced by William Mollison; dances and ensembles arranged by Espinosa and Kelland Espinosa."

- Cadbury Research Library

"William Henry Berry, always billed as W. H. Berry, was an English comic actor. After learning his craft in pierrot and concert entertainments, he was spotted by the actor-manager George Grossmith Jr., and appeared in a series of musical comedies in comic character roles. His greatest success was as Mr. Meebles, the hapless magistrate in THE BOY in 1917. Berry was a pioneer broadcaster, making radio appearances within months of the launch of the BBC. He was still broadcasting in the late 1930s. He also appeared in variety."

-Zillah Dorset Akron

“Winnie Melville was initially a concert singer who made her London Stage debut in the musical show SEE-SAW (Comedy, December 1916). After appearing at the same theatre in BUBBLY (May 1917-April 1918), she went to Paris for ZIG-ZAG at the Folies-Bergres. She returned to London where she appeared at the Hippodrome in JOY BELLS (March 1919) and JIG-SAW! (June 1920). After touring in SYBIL, she returned to London, appearing at His Majesty's in Cairo, and (in August 1922) at the Lyric in WHIRLED INTO HAPPINESS.

The cast at the Lyric included Derek Oldham, whom Miss Melville married in 1923. She left the stage for three years, returning to His Majesty's in 1926 as Kathie in THE STUDENT PRINCE. She next appeared in PRINCESS CHARMING (Palace, October 1926) and THE VAGABOND KING (Winter Garden, April 1927, again opposite Oldham). In September 1928 she was at the Coliseum performing a repertoire of songs, then in December toured in the title role in WINONA.

In August 1929 she joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as principal soprano, appearing as Josephine in H.M.S. PINAFORE, Mabel in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Yum-Yum in THE MIKADO, Rose Maybud in RUDDIGORE, Elsie Maynard in THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD, and Gianetta in THE GONDOLIERS. She may have been out of her element, however, and she left the Company in January 1930, replaced by Sylvia Cecil.

She later toured in BLUE EYES and FOREVER AFTER, but played principally in vaudeville or variety houses. Although she made a number of recordings in her career, none were of Gilbert & Sullivan. Her marriage to Oldham ended in divorce, and she died in 1937 at the age of 42.”

- The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

"Alice Delysia, a singer and comedy actress during the 1920's and 30's was a glamorous, featured performer, Delysia, as she preferred being called, began her career in her native France under the tutelage of C.B. Cochran and Andre Charlot. She performed on the London stage before coming to the United States to appear in Morris Gest's production of AFGAR in 1920. In London, she was later seen with Noel Coward, Beatrice Lillie and Gertrude Lawrence. She was widely acclaimed for her role as the ‘poor little rich girl’ in Mr. Coward's 1935 production of ON WITH THE DANCE. She also won praise in 1939 for her performance in FRENCH FOR LOVE, by Marguerite Steen and Derek Patmore. Married twice, she divorced her first husband in 1938 after 10 years. During her second marriage, to Rene Colb‐Bernard, she gave up her acting career to accompany him on his assignments in the French diplomatic service.”

- THE NEW YORK TIMES, 12 February, 1979

HERBERT von KARAJAN Cond. Berlin Phil.: 'Tragic' Symphony #6 in a (Mahler). (Canada) St Laurent Studio YSL T-1196, Live Performance, 13 May, 1978, Salzburg Festival. Transfers by Yves St Laurent. (C1958)

Critic Review

“This release falls into the category of never too much of a good thing. St. Laurent Studio already did us a service by releasing a superb live Mahler Sixth under Karajan with the Berliners from May 1977, a year before this new version. The venue was the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris, which yielded almost studio-quality sound. This new performance comes from the Grosse Festspielhaus in Salzburg and sounds better, if anything. Once again we get superb playing, and Karajan, although a latecomer to Mahler, provides masterful conducting.

Since DG also released a widely admired studio recording from 1978, the issue of duplication necessarily arises. The first thing to note is that the Salzburg Festival performance is Karajan’s fastest Mahler Sixth - at 76 minutes it is the only one of the three that fits on one CD. The Paris reading takes 85 minutes, which represents a startling difference from a conductor known for his uncanny ability to conduct a piece several times with exactly the same timing. The biggest difference shows up in the first movement, which takes 22 minutes in Paris but only 16 minutes in Salzburg. Only part of the difference is explained by the absence of the exposition repeat in the first movement in Salzburg. The rest reflects an added sense of urgency. Because of his reputation for exceptional self-discipline (which musically worked both for and against him), one never thinks of Karajan grappling with indecision, and in the end he settled for the exposition repeat and a 22-minute first movement on the DG studio recording. At 82 minutes it could have fit on one CD, but then we’d miss Christa Ludwig’s wonderful set of the Ruckert-Lieder under Karajan. Despite a glaring fluff by the first trumpet in an exposed high note in the first movement, I preferred the live Paris account for its extra sense of excitement, and here in Salzburg, the first movement, without the trumpet fluff, is an edge-of-your-seat performance, too.

The only requirement is your tolerance for speed. I am of mixed mind myself. The playing is thrilling at such an urgent pace, but the tragic and inexorable import of the music is foregone. Perhaps in Karajan’s mind he wanted to withhold tragedy until the finale. The Scherzo is placed before the Andante in the two inner movements, both done quite beautifully but basically the same in all three versions. Karajan avoids the extreme, even exhausting, emotionality of Klaus Tennstedt (I’m thinking of his riveting live account with the London Philharmonic on the orchestra’s house label, a one-of-a-kind experience), but this doesn’t detract from the extra drama provided by the concert setting here. The fabled Berlin strings are ravishing in the Andante, although I’d like to hear more sentimentality, which is the desired effect Mahler aims for in this bucolic dreamscape.

Anyone who harbors the misconception that Karajan’s style was glossy and oriented toward orchestral beauty at the expense of depth should hear the finale from Salzburg, where even Bernstein and Tennstedt are rivaled for emotional intensity. This is an instance where Karajan reached the ideal balance of astonishing virtuosity, beautiful sonority, and gripping drama. One oddity is that the two strokes of doom aren’t deep and resonant enough - they sound like sharp whaps instead.

Since there are some marked differences between the two live Sixths from St. Laurent Studio, personal taste will dictate which one you will prefer. However, at least one of them, impeccably remastered by Yves Saint-Laurent, should be experienced by any devoted Mahler collector. They add immensely to our conception of Karajan as a Mahler interpreter."

- Huntley Dent, FANFARE

JEAN MARTINON Cond. ORTF S.O.: Grosse Fugue, Op.133; Symphony #3 in c; w.CHRISTIAN FERRAS: Romance #1 in G; Romance #2 in F; w.CHRISTIAN FERRAS, PAUL TORTELIER & ERIC HEIDSIECK: Triple Concerto in C (all Beethoven). (Canada) 2-St Laurent Studio YSL T-1187, Live Performance, 11 March, 1970, Theatre des Champs Elysees, Paris. Transfers by Yves St Laurent. (C1959)

CRITIC REVIEW

“In the words of one of his biographers, conductor Jean Martinon's performances ‘were distinguished by a concern for translucent orchestral textures, and sustained by a subtle sense of rhythm and phrasing’. Occasionally ‘he stressed a poetic inflection at the expense of literal accuracy’.

Martinon's first instrument was the violin; he studied at the Lyons Conservatory (1924-1925), then transferred to the Paris Conservatory, where he won first prize in violin upon his graduation in 1928. He subsequently studied composition with Albert Roussel, and conducting with Charles Munch and Roger Desormiere. Until the outbreak of World War II Martinon was primarily a composer. His early substantial works include a Symphoniette for piano, percussion, and strings (1935); Symphony #1 (1936); Concerto giocoso for violin and orchestra (1937); and a wind quintet (1938). At the start of the war he was drafted into the French army. Taken prisoner in 1940, he passed the next two years in a Nazi labor camp. There, he wrote 'Stalag IX’ (Musique d'exil), an orchestral piece incorporating elements of jazz; during his internment, he also composed several religious works, including ’Absolve’, ‘Domine’ for male chorus and orchestra, and ‘Psalm 136’ (Chant des captifs), the latter receiving a composition prize from the city of Paris in 1946.

Upon his release from the Nazi camp Martinon became conductor of the Bordeaux Symphony Orchestra (from 1943 to 1945) and assistant conductor of the Paris Conservatory Orchestra (from 1944 to 1946), then associate conductor of the London Philharmonic (from 1947 to 1949). He toured as a guest conductor as well, although his U.S. début did not come until 1957, with the Boston Symphony giving the American premiere of his Symphony #2. Although he devoted as much time as he could to composing in the early postwar years -- producing a string quartet (1946), an ‘Irish’ Symphony (1948), the ballet ‘Ambohimang’a (1946), and the opera HECUBE (1949-1954) -- he was increasingly occupied with conducting, working with the Concerts Lamoureux (from 1951 to 1957), the Israel Philharmonic (from 1957 to 1959), and Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra (from 1960 to 1966). Martinon resumed his career as a composer around 1960, writing his Violin Concerto #2 (1960) for Henryk Szeryng, his Cello Concerto (1964) for Pierre Fournier, and his Symphony #4 (‘Altitudes’), composed in 1965, for the 75th anniversary of the Chicago Symphony. He acknowledged Prokofiev and Bartok as strong influences on his scores, which meld Expressionism with French Neoclassicism. Martinon continued composing into the 1970s, but he seldom recorded any of his own music, with the notable exceptions of the Second Symphony, ‘Hymne a la vie’ (ORTF, for Barclay Inedits) and Fourth Symphony, ‘Altitudes"’ (Chicago SO, for RCA).

In 1963, he succeeded Fritz Reiner as head of the Chicago Symphony. Martinon's tenure there was difficult. In five seasons he conducted 60 works by modern European and American composers, and made a number of outstanding LPs for RCA, mostly of bracing twentieth century repertory in audiophile sound. Chicago's conservative music lovers soon sent him packing.

Martinon jumped at the chance to take over the French National Radio Orchestra in 1968; working with this ensemble he recorded almost the entire standard French repertory for Erato and EMI. His earlier Erato efforts that focused on such secondary but nevertheless interesting figures as Roussel, Pierne, and Dukas, whereas EMI assigned him integral sets of the Saint-Saens symphonies and the orchestral works of Debussy and Ravel, among other projects. In 1974, he was appointed principal conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague, but he died before that relationship could bear much fruit.”

- James Reel, allmusic.com

“Christian Ferras was a French violinist who, at the age of 10, won the first prize of the Nice Conservatory and won the first prize of the Paris Conservatory in 1946, where he studied with Rene Benedetti and Joseph Calvet. He started an international career with leading orchestras and conductors, notably recording the romantic concertos of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and others with Herbert von Karajan. Since the recent retirement of Zino Francescatti, he was considered France's leading concert violinist.

Mr. Ferras, who made his New York debut in 1959 when he was 25, won consistently high praise for his musicianship. Howard Taubman, music critic of THE NEW YORK TIMES, wrote that Mr. Ferras was '’uncommonly gifted’ and that his playing had ‘fire and brilliance’. Over the years, the violinist appeared on the concert stage as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Minneapolis Symphony and other leading orchestras. His grasp of the violin repertory, and in particular the works of Bach, Brahms and Mendelssohn, was enhanced by what Mr. Taubman called ‘a texture and muscularity that reflects the Gallic style’ of playing the instrument.”

- THE NEW YORK TIMES, 16 Sept., 1982

“Small of stature but sumptuous of tone, Christian Ferras represented the best of the Franco-Belgian violin school. Of his two main teachers, René Benedetti inculcated a respect for technique and George Enescu broadened his outlook - he was to command a much wider repertoire than most French violinists of his era. In the 1960s he was the favoured violin soloist of Herbert von Karajan and their recordings together sold by the thousand. Unfortunately the illness that was to lead to his death often kept Ferras away from the concert hall. But today his reputation continues to grow, as his records are discovered by a fresh audience.”

- Medici-TV

“Paul Tortelier, a French cellist known for his elegant, passionate playing and for his political idealism, spent most of his long career in Europe, where he was a professor at the Paris Conservatory, a busy soloist and an author. His master classes for the British Broadcasting Corporation attracted wide attention in 1964. Among his more notable pupils was the cellist Jacqueline du Pre. Mr. Tortelier, on the other hand, was busy in the United States both at the beginning and at the end of his musical life. In 1937, Serge Koussevitzky engaged him as a cellist for the Boston Symphony. From Boston he began an American solo career, including a 1938 Town Hall recital with the pianist Leonard Shure. A year later, Mr. Tortelier returned to France and remained. Early in the 1980's Mr. Tortelier returned to concerts in the United States, and after a 35-year absence he played in New York again.

Paul Tortelier was born in Paris in 1914 and won a first prize at the Paris Conservatory at the age of 16. His debut came a year later at the Concerts Lamoureux. His international career had perhaps its biggest catalyst in 1947, when Sir Thomas Beecham invited him to play DON QUIXOTE for a Richard Strauss festival in London.

Mr. Tortelier acted out his beliefs, retreating temporarily from musical life in 1955 to spend a year on a kibbutz in Israel even though he was not himself Jewish. Mr. Tortelier married one of his pupils, Maud Martin, in 1946. They had three children, all professional musicians.”

- Bernard Holland, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 20 Dec, 1990

ALOIS MELICHAR Cond. Berlin Staatsoper Orch.: Johann Strauss, von Suppe, Smetana, Kalman, Leoncavallo & Verdi (the latter's Triumphal March from AIDA). (Canada) St Laurent Studio YSL 78-1188, recorded 1930-40. Transfers by Yves St Laurent, using Denis Pelletier tube Equipment offering remarkable results from the original 78s. (C1956)

Critic Reviews

“Alois Melichar (18 April 1896, in Vienna – 9 April 1976, in Munich) was an Austrian conductor, music critic, film music composer, and arranger. He was a student of Joseph Marx at the Vienna Academy of Music, then of Franz Schreker at the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin, but later became increasingly culturally conservative. He composed music for several films during the Nazi period. After World War II Melichar became increasingly polemic in his attacks on modern music. His pamphlets include DIE UNTEILBARE MUSIK (‘Indivisible music’ 1952), MUSIK IN DER ZWANGSJACKE (‘Music in the Straitjacket’ 1958), and SCHONBERG UND DIE FOLGEN (‘Schonberg and his Consequences’ 1960).

Melichar’s writings are often bitingly sharp, hard to judge, but nonetheless stimulating by the author's extensive knowledge of the literature and his eloquence. He particularly vigorously polemicized against the ‘primitivism’ of Carl Orff and against the twelve-tone method, which he viewed as the wrong path, since it ultimately remains inaccessible to understanding. After all, Melichar was interested in the contemplative understanding of the art of conducting. His last, unfinished book THE PERFECT CONDUCTOR (1981) was dedicated to this idea. He considered the conductors who were also great composers to be the really great followers. Richard Strauss seemed to him to be the greatest, and he also respected Richard Wagner as a great conductor, to whom he granted a kind of salvation of honor in this role. The second part of the book, which was expressly planned in a polemical manner, never came about.

Due to his provocative writings against Arnold Schonberg and other proponents of 20th century's musical avant-garde, Alois Melichar (1896-1976) has gained a reputation as one of the most controversial film composers of his time, which overshadowed the efforts in his primary calling: movie music.

In 1926/27 he worked as a music critic for the Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung in Berlin, from 1927 to 1933 he was a conductor and artistic production consultant for the Deutsche Grammophonesellschaft. From 1933 he mainly created film compositions. In Vienna, between 1946 and 1949 he was at the studio for modern music on the radio station Rot-WeißRot. Later he lived as a freelance composer mostly in Munich, where he was particularly successful with his film scores. Inspired by Joseph Marx, he took on impressionistic traits in his work; he was also greatly impressed by the works of Franz Schmidt. Finally he found a neoclassicism, whereby he stuck to this despite a very strong expansion of the tonality.”

- Buchkatalog.de

. . . REPEATED . . .

FROM THE RECENT PAST . . .

POVLA FRIJSH: The Complete Recordings (incl. both Published & Unpublished, plus Broadcast Performances, 1926-42; plus speech recordings, 1943-55). Songs by Gluck, Dvorak, Tschaikowsky, Cui, Grieg, Sinding, Grondahl, Jordan, Torelli, Staub, Kricka, Koechlin, Georges, Faure, Hahn, Dupont, Duparc, Chausson, Milhaud, Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, Fevrier, Roussel, Henriques, Saint-Saens, de la Fosse, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Naginski, Clarke, Thompson & Bloch. (England) 2-Pearl 9095, Slipcase Edition, w.Elaborate 103pp. Brochure, extensive biographies, reminiscences, Photos & Moran Discography. Very long out-of-print, Final Sealed Copy! [The most comprehensive and captivating recital by this mistress of song in various languages offered on our website!] (V0115)

HERBERT JANSSEN: Portrait of a Mastersinger, incl. Songs by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Grieg, Strauss & Wolf; Arias & Duets (w.Schone, Perras, Ljungberg, Leider, Flagstad, Witte & Melchior from Johannes-Passion, Siegfried & Gotterdammerung, Die Walkure, Tannhauser, Die Drei Musketiere, Zar und Zimmermann, Der Waffenschmied, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly & Faust. 6-Marston 56005, recorded 1923-48, featuring many Live Performances & Unpublished material. Essays by Michael Aspinall and Iain Miller. (V2670)

Specially priced, 6-CDs for the price of 4.

BOOKS ON SALE

“Books have become our lonely stepchildren! By spending so many hours constantly revising our thousands of CDs we realize we have paid scant attention to our BOOKS ON SALE, thus many have been added (with more appearing), accompanied by greatly reduced prices! Have a glance at our SALE section - for BOOKS!

[many sealed copies of

numerous out-of-print additions:

The Record Collector, Naxos, VRCS, Issues of

Symposium's Harold Wayne series,

Romophone, GOP &

many Met Opera broadcasts &

operas from Moscow's Aquarius, plus

numerous lesser-known operas have been added

throughout our listings, in appropriate categories. .

out-of-print books [many biographies,

Record Catalogue-Discographies . . .

numerous CDs are added each week] . . .

Once again . . .

Welcome to our new bookshop & list of Original Cast LPs, www.norpete.com where you will see a vast array of excellent, used out-of-print books. You're sure to find many books of interest which may have long eluded you, so now is your opportunity to fill in missing gaps. Our online bookshop includes composer and performer autobiographies and biographies. Soon we will include musical criticism, theory and history, plus histories of symphony orchestras, opera houses and festivals. In addition, we shall offer quite an array of vocal scores, many of which are most rare and unusual.

Take a look at our exciting array of Broadway & Off-Broadway Original Cast and London Original Cast LPs, all in superb condition.

We carry splendid CD offerings from Yves St Laurent, VRCS, The Record Collector, Marston, Palaeophonics, Immortal Performances (Canada), Malibran, Aquarius, Truesound Transfers, Walhall, Bongiovanni, Clama and many other labels.

As always, please contact us with any special requests.

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