During the 78 era, Foldes recorded as accompanist to his countryman the celebrated violinist Joseph Szigeti. Foldes also made records for Vox in the mono LP era; I have him in a couple of Mozart concerti (15 under Bigot and 27 under Goldschmidt) and the "Unser, Dummer" variations (filler for cto. 27). Can't say that I've paid him a lot of attention; it's been so long since I played any of those records that I don't remember a thing about them.
Deepfloyd's collection reminds me of the one I had before the house fire in 1984. Only a few hundred of my LPs were spared, alas. That Richter Rachmaninoff is one of my favorites, BTW.
That's too bad that you lost a large part of your record collection.... Were you able to re-purchase some of your faves? I lived without LPs for 3 decades ( but for other reasons entirely). Anyway, I have been very fortunate to find many of my old LPs again, most of them in perfect or almost perfect shape. If you're curious, I explain how and why in the info section on my profile here... ....this is one of my lucky finds last summer for 1 CAD. Wonderful sounding Direct Metal Master pressing and a really good performance - I have several different recordings of this beautiful symphony, that as always been one of my personal favourites.
A few days off afforded some time for thrift shopping, and though I had to pick through endless amounts of Bert Kampfert and 101 Strings LPs, I did come away with three gems: This is a 2-eye stereo, and it was a surprisingly clean public library withdrawal...a wonderful addition to my Bruno Walter collection, I am really getting into his interpretations. This is a 2-LP set in a single jacket, and contains Sorcerer's Apprentice, Night on Bald Mountain, Der Rosenkavalier Suite, Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah, Awake the Trumpet's Lofty Sound, March from The Love for Three Oranges, and Firebird Suite. Looks like a 1981 pressing, the LPs near mint condition and surfaces are very quiet. Now THIS one is the true prize of the hunt...it's a Time Life issue, 4-LP box set. I always take a moment to check these out because I recently got a bunch of Time Life box sets of individual Jazz artists, and the LPs sound fantastic. Imagine my glee when I open it up and find THIS list of recordings, and LPs that look virtually unplayed: Coriolan Overture, CSO/Reiner; Emperor Piano Concerto, Van Cliburn/CSO/Reiner; "Moonlight" Sonata, Van Cliburn; "Rasumovsky" Quartet, Guarneri Quartet; Kyrie from Missa Solemnis, Cleveland Orchestra/Shaw; Fidelio Overture and Aria "Komm, Hoffnung", Leontyne Price, London Symphony Orchestra/Fausto Cleva; Egmont Overture, Philadelphia/Ormandy; Violin Concerto, Heifetz/Boston Symphony/Munch; selections from "Creatures of Prometheus", BSO/Leinsdorf; Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Jacob Lateiner, piano; Symphony No. 5, CSO/Ozawa
Yeah those Time Life sets are nothing to sneeze at if they can be picked up for cheap. The performances are often the cream of the crop, taken from the RCA catalog. The "Story of Great Music" ones are pretty solid too (performances sourced from EMI), and with beautiful booklets, too. Just be sure to double-check for warp-age; the discs sit a little loose inside their boxes and a lot of times those thrift-store copies have been stored in cold garages or hot attics over the years, resulting in less than flat vinyl.
Of course some were irreplaceable; even worse, the insurance company valued the records at what amounted to less than 10¢ each. I had that Bruno Walter Brahms in the next post too. Many of my records were replaced by CDs as they were released over the next 15 years or so. I had that Muti and several others in the original EMI pressings.
From the Arthur Rubinstein Complete Album Collection: Really nice clear mono sound for such an old recording
Exactly...thorough inspection is critical, been burned by warpage and moldy LPs back when I was first collecting, and was just excited to find something cool instead of taking the time to inspect it closely. I have four of those "Story of Great Music" box sets, and I'm glad I've got them, they contain several recordings by Klemperer that I had not heard of before I brought them home.
Looks good! I love these RCA boxed-sets ... already bought the Morton Gould, Earl Wild, Jean Martinon & Weissenberg ones. The Ozawa set includes Bartók piano ctos 1 & 3 by Serkin which I've been looking for a while now.
Now playing, CD 8: Heinrich Ignaz Biber – Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa (Vivarte / Sony Classical) – Partita No.1 for 2 Violins and Basso Continuo — Jeanne Lamon (violin), David Greenberg (violin), Christina Mahler (cello), Charlotte Nediger (organ) – Partita No.2 for 2 Violins and Basso Continuo — David Greenberg (violin), Christina Mahler (cello), Charlotte Nediger (harpsichord), Linda Melsted (violin) – Partita No.3 for 2 Violins and Basso Continuo — Jeanne Lamon (violin), David Greenberg (violin), Christina Mahler (cello), Charlotte Nediger (organ) – Partita No.4 for Violin Viola and Basso Continuo — Linda Melsted (violin), Stephen Marvin (viola), Christina Mahler (cello), Charlotte Nediger (organ) – Partita No.5 for 2 Violins and Basso Continuo — Jeanne Lamon (violin), Christina Mahler (cello), Linda Melsted (violin), Charlotte Nediger (harpsichord) – Partita No.6 for 2 Violins and Basso Continuo — Charlotte Nediger (organ), Linda Melsted (violin), Jeanne Lamon (violin), Christina Mahler (cello) – Partita No.7 for 2 Violas d'amore and Basso Continuo — Charlotte Nediger (harpsichord), Christina Mahler (cello), Thomas Georgi (viola d'amore), Elly Winer (viola d'amore) Tafelmusik on period instruments – Jeanne Lamon
Years ago, I was driving to work through a residential area one "garbage collection day" morning, and a pile of boxes by the curb up ahead caught my eye. As I got closer, I could see they were full of--records!!!! Well, of course, I whipped over to the side of the road, popped open the back hatch (was driving a miniwagon at the time), and proceeded to rescue all the boxes and a Sony receiver that was concealed behind them. The folks next door were out sitting on their porch, enjoying their morning coffee. You can imagine the look on their faces as this guy wearing a nice suit screeched to a halt, jumped out, and started enthusiastically heaving their neighbor's garbage into his car! OK, time for relevance: much of what those boxes contained proved to be Time-Life sets (from more than one series, some going back quite a while) in perfectly playable condition. I'd never paid that much attention to the things, but that made a believer out of me: they included quite a lot of very nice reissues, and if the pressings weren't the last word in quality, they certainly were at least serviceable. One of those "adventures in collecting" that I like to recall with a certain pleasure and amusement.
Now playing, CD 2: Ludwig van Beethoven – Quartet for Strings No.4 in C minor Op.18/4 – Quartet for Strings No.5 in A major Op.18/5 – Quartet for Strings No.6 in B flat major Op.18/6 Sándor Végh (violin); Sándor Zöldy (violin); Georges Janzer (viola); Paul Szabo (cello) – Végh String Quartet (Scribendum / Les Discophiles Français)
Just got this and am now listening to it: Bruckner: Symphony 7 - Wilhelm Furtwängler/Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Société Wilhelm Furtwängler. Recorded on October 18, 1949. This is a great performance of Bruckner's 7th, one of the best I've heard.
