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#1
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: A trip to the record store...
Last post by semloh - Today at 03:42In the 60s, I got many of my LPs from the Squires Gate Long-Playing Record Library (Blackpool, UK), founded by Penguin Record Guide faithful Ivan March in the 1950s. Later called the Squires Gate Music Centre, with branches across the UK, it was also the source of a host of catalogies and hard-to-find discographies. Yes, LP's arriving by post was fun!
#2
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Grzegorz Fitelberg: Sympho...
Last post by semloh - Today at 03:27Yes, I agree, Alan. Like an empty chocolate box..... 
#3
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: Vilma von Webenau Piano Qu...
Last post by semloh - Today at 03:23As an early student of Arnold Schönberg, do we know if the music falls into UC's remit, Alan? I've never heard her music, nor even of her, so I have no idea myself.
#4
Composers & Music / Re: Jakab Gyula Major Concert ...
Last post by semloh - Today at 03:20Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Monday 08 April 2024, 22:27.... I think Major is a truly undeservedly unsung composer.
What evidence do we have to support that view, Gareth?
#5
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: A trip to the record store...
Last post by Alan Howe - Sunday 14 April 2024, 17:31The one big plus today in comparison to the 'old days' is the near-certainty that CDs will play properly. In the days of vinyl, there was always the fear that purchases made away from home would turn out to feature poor pressings or - horror of horrors - SCRATCHES! DG releases were usually OK, but EMI were often terrible. I never did find a pristine set of Karajan's Tristan und Isolde.
#6
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: A trip to the record store...
Last post by Febct - Sunday 14 April 2024, 16:05I always have lived within shouting distance of New York City - and, for eight years in the late-90s/early 2000s, in Manhattan itself. My workplaces (this was long before Zoom!) all were in the City - from 1966 to 1997.
NYC had dozens of retailers - vinyl and cassettes, and then CDs. There were at least three huge Tower Record stores, two HMVs, two Virgins, the well-known Record Hunter, Academy Music and others scattered amongst the neighborhoods. I always would have in my pocket a want-list, compiled from reading the reviews in Gramophone, Fanfare, American Record Guide, et al. And usually I'd walk out of these stores with shopping bags full.
When business would take me to other places - all across the USA and often Toronto (monthly), London and Munich (quarterly) - I would usually loiter for an extra day so to visit the local music outlets.
Today's "shopping" via the Internet is concise, fairly easy, and allows international access - but it's bloodless. No more repartee with the store clerks, or with fellow customers. No more idle browsing to unearth gems from the back burner - new repertoire or new composers. As with most aspects of our modern lives, I now purchase my CDs technologically - via a few keyboard strokes instead of plucking them, pristine-covered in cellophane, while delighting in the "find."
NYC had dozens of retailers - vinyl and cassettes, and then CDs. There were at least three huge Tower Record stores, two HMVs, two Virgins, the well-known Record Hunter, Academy Music and others scattered amongst the neighborhoods. I always would have in my pocket a want-list, compiled from reading the reviews in Gramophone, Fanfare, American Record Guide, et al. And usually I'd walk out of these stores with shopping bags full.
When business would take me to other places - all across the USA and often Toronto (monthly), London and Munich (quarterly) - I would usually loiter for an extra day so to visit the local music outlets.
Today's "shopping" via the Internet is concise, fairly easy, and allows international access - but it's bloodless. No more repartee with the store clerks, or with fellow customers. No more idle browsing to unearth gems from the back burner - new repertoire or new composers. As with most aspects of our modern lives, I now purchase my CDs technologically - via a few keyboard strokes instead of plucking them, pristine-covered in cellophane, while delighting in the "find."
#7
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: A trip to the record store...
Last post by Mark Thomas - Sunday 14 April 2024, 12:20I didn't bother with catalogues. Living only about an hour from central London in the early 70s, it was very easy to make the trip on a Saturday to a couple of stores in the Soho area which specialised in obscure LP labels and even more obscure music: IIRC one was called Harold Stave, long gone now of course. Oh, the thrill of finding an LP of music by an unknown (to me) composer with the "right dates" (1800-1920 or so) or, even better, a new recording of music by someone who I'd already discovered and loved - Raff was the first such, but other early favourites were Glazunov (almost exclusively on those thick and heavy Melodiya discs) Rubinstein and Goetz. The Genesis, Louisville and Turnabout racks in particular were the first to be scoured for new releases. There was also a rather shifty Melodiya dealer who worked out of an unheated upstairs room opposite Foyles book shop on Charing Cross Road. Going to see him was always a rather grubby experience, but the joy of finding he had a previously unheard Glazunov symphony in stock made it worth while. Sometimes a major label would turn up trumps - Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge's thrilling Esclarmonde and Les Huguenots sets were my first exposure to opera (and remain favourites even now).
But nostalgia isn't what it used to be. It's easy to forget that many of those performances were cut, were of poor technical quality (Melodiya) or featured orchestras in particular which had clearly been selected for their cost rather than their quality (all those Turnabout recordings). Compared to many offerings now, the pickings then weren't only slim in number but also in quality. We have truly been living in a golden age for recordings of the unsung and, as Ilja points out, the digital age - with so many recordings both commercial and off-air freely available to listen to on YouTube - makes things almost too easy.
But nostalgia isn't what it used to be. It's easy to forget that many of those performances were cut, were of poor technical quality (Melodiya) or featured orchestras in particular which had clearly been selected for their cost rather than their quality (all those Turnabout recordings). Compared to many offerings now, the pickings then weren't only slim in number but also in quality. We have truly been living in a golden age for recordings of the unsung and, as Ilja points out, the digital age - with so many recordings both commercial and off-air freely available to listen to on YouTube - makes things almost too easy.
#8
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: A trip to the record store...
Last post by Ilja - Sunday 14 April 2024, 07:25In a general sense, this thread strikes home for me professionally as well. I was trained as a historian in the early nineties. At that time, sources were a rare thing, something to treasure. Many historians, myself included, developed what might be called a "hamster mentality", just collecting everything you could because you didn't know whether you'd ever get the chance again – basically turning us into professional hoarders.
Since then, a paradigmatic shift has come about because of the digital revolution. Instead of collectors we've become curators, selecting what we need from a vast forest of possibilities. Ironically, that comes with the same fear of overlooking that crucial bit of information that you really need. As a music collector, it still pains me to throw things away as much as it does as a historian.
Since then, a paradigmatic shift has come about because of the digital revolution. Instead of collectors we've become curators, selecting what we need from a vast forest of possibilities. Ironically, that comes with the same fear of overlooking that crucial bit of information that you really need. As a music collector, it still pains me to throw things away as much as it does as a historian.
#9
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: A trip to the record store...
Last post by Maury - Sunday 14 April 2024, 05:24Before 1990 or so the classical recordings were heavily weighted towards orchestral and solo piano music - chamber music not so much as it sold rather poorly. So that is why Schumann, Mendelssohn, even Schubert chamber music was spottily represented in the catalogs. They were really scarce in the US. Europe had a bit more but I didn't discover those until the 80s and 90s. The reverse has happened now as chamber works are cheaper to record and not many are eager to buy the usual orchestral suspects from latter day conductors when there is a plentiful supply from 1955 - 90.
While I appreciate the plethora of releases on CD I do feel sadly that the newer performances are often a bit generic or antiseptic. This particularly affects the unsungs and lesser sungs as there are not many older recordings as alternatives. I discovered Adriano about 30 years ago and think he has the older musicality but of course he had to deal with different orchestras of variable technical ability and motivation. I also have been impressed by the skill shown in some historical recording restorations.
It is gratifying that worthy "lost" music has at least some catalog now for those who want to listen to it.
While I appreciate the plethora of releases on CD I do feel sadly that the newer performances are often a bit generic or antiseptic. This particularly affects the unsungs and lesser sungs as there are not many older recordings as alternatives. I discovered Adriano about 30 years ago and think he has the older musicality but of course he had to deal with different orchestras of variable technical ability and motivation. I also have been impressed by the skill shown in some historical recording restorations.
It is gratifying that worthy "lost" music has at least some catalog now for those who want to listen to it.
#10
Recordings & Broadcasts / Re: A trip to the record store...
Last post by jasthill - Sunday 14 April 2024, 04:38Ah! Nothing like a trip down memory lane to kindle the joys of record collecting. I recall that in the record shop I frequented they would have the previous months Schwann catalog on the free table thus alleviating the need to spend the exuberant amount of I believe $ US 1.25 for the current month's catalog. My oldest Gramophone is from August 1982 - Vaughan Williams The Sons of Light by Lyrita on the cover. Don't forget by Penguin The Symphony by Ralph Hill. Of course I still have my Supraphon and Melodyia LP's - so hard to get back then - but the repertory - so intriguing - and the sleeve covers so artful - and the liner notes in 8 pt pica print. The one thing I wish existed is a photocopy(s) of the collection of the Records International Catalogs - my earliest October 1983.