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------ Jorge Mester--a series deserving support from everywhere.
Vanishing Louisvilles
Gabrielle Mattingly's April article on "The Vanishing Louisvilles" was much needed; as an early subscriber to the Louisville Orchestra series, as well as a recipient of a commission, I found it especially interesting.
Working with Jim Hicks on the business side and the multitalented Jorge Mester on the creative end, I can attest to the fact that any composer involved with the Louisville Orchestra is fortunate indeed. In addition, over the years the records I have received from the series have nearly always amazed and pleased me. As a good example, the first time I ever heard of Peggy Glanville-Hicks was when I received a Louisville disc devoted to her work. To my knowledge the LO commissions and recordings are the only ones of their kind in America. As such they deserve the support of not only the people of Louisville, but lovers of good mu sic everywhere.
-Rod McKuen, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Delighted to see Gabrielle Mattingly's article. My brother and I have been avid collectors of the marvelous Louisville recordings for many years, and we both have substantial collections, including-believe it or not-duplicates of some of those rare deleted items mentioned in the article.
Thank heavens for such blessings as the Louisville releases, the long-defunct American Recording Society (re-released on the Desto label), the Musical Heritage Society, Music in America-and all the organizations that have the courage to make these neglected treasures available to serious lovers of music!
-H. Jack Adams Westboro, Mass.
I am a music teacher living in the Louisville metropolitan area and have been a subscriber to the Louisville Orchestra's series for years. I was glad to see that someone has finally told the Louisville story in its true context. Ms. Mattingly grasped the situation as the natives of Louisville know it, but somewhere along the way she failed to give us Louisvillians credit for our continuing support of our orchestra-even if and when we don't approve of some of the mu sic we're forced to listen to.
Also, it's nice to see someone get the facts straight. (The chapter on Louisville records in Philip Hart's Orpheus in the New World is full of inaccuracies and assumptions that aren't quite right.) I would like to point out, however, that Howard Scott is no longer the producer of First Edition Records; it's likely your article was written before this change in personnel took place.
[Andrew Kazdin, formerly of Columbia Records, is now the producer. -Ed.]
Another point I would like to make is that, although it's true the Louisville critics have been negative about the recording series over the years, they and their paper the Courier Journal-have always sup ported the orchestra.
-Mary M. Sullivan, Jeffersonville, Ind.
More Russian Operas
Conrad L. Osborne's two-part article on Russian opera was quite fascinating. It would be helpful to the readers, however, if the criteria used for exclusion of recorded works were explained. Not only are works by listed composers (e.g., Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa) not mentioned, but works and their composers (e.g.. Shaporin's The Decembrists) are missing.
- Stanley E. Babb Jr., Norman, Okla.
Regarding Mr. Osborne's Division of Records and Statistics: The range of four octaves and a semitone that he effuses over is matched in any recording of Ariadne auf Naxos (Scaramuccio's low E flat to Zerbinetta's high E). It is surpassed in any complete recording of Abduction from the Seraglio (Osmin's low D to Blondchen's high E). Indeed the Richmond recording con ducted by Krips has Osmin interpolate a low C (in the middle of the duet with Blondchen), making an impressive total range of four octaves and a major third.
-Carl Saloga, East Lansing. Mich.
Mr. Osborne replies: First, I must express my appreciation to everyone who has writ ten. I wish I had time to reply individually, but the response has been very heavy, and it's not possible.
Personal note: I do hope the record dealer (I believe in Indiana) who so kindly sent me a copy of the West minster The Marriage will drop a line, as I have misplaced his address and would like to personally thank him.
Now to the specific questions raised. Mr. Saloga and several other correspondents have entered Entfuhrung in the vocal long distance event, and in my capacity as official statistician and sole arbiter in such matters I accept the candidate-noting, though, that the criterion is "sustained singing tone." I haven't the energy at the moment to refresh my memory as to which Osmins and Blondchens actually do either sustain or sing their low D’s and high E’s.
No one, Mr. Salop, accuses me of "effusing over" anything, especially if they have their facts wrong. Scaramuccio is a tenor role and of course does not include a low E flat or anything near it. Truffaldin does have a low F, but it is on a sixteenth note in an ensemble, and in any case it falls short of the four-octave mark and thus flunks the qualifying heat.
Mr. Babb raises a legitimate point, for which I have the following shameless answer: We included all those recordings whose existence we were able to deter mine, which had at some point circulated outside Eastern Europe, and on copies of which we were able to lay our mitts, up through the final copy deadline. I am grateful to the many writers who have pointed to the existence of other sets, several of which are obviously important. I especially regret the omission of Mazeppa, which I knew had circulated in England but whose domestic incarnation somehow escaped me, and a mono Khovanshchina that used an edition different from Rimsky's.
The discography grew far beyond our original planned limits, and as it is the publisher has been indulgent in not billing me for paper and ink.
Brandenburg Travesty Recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos that I made for the old Unicorn label in 1956 have recently appeared as a reissue on the Olympic label. I would like all record collectors to know that the performances of Nos. 1, 2, and 3, which appear on Sides 1 and 2, are complete travesties of my original recordings. For some reason, which I am trying to ascertain, the speeds of all the movements have been altered--some, believe it or not, by as much as three minutes--but strange to say the pitch has been correctly retained. The result sounds rather like P.D.Q. Bach. I would not have thought this possible, but the experts tell me that such a thing can now be done on the very latest apparatus. I have tried to get an explanation from Olympic but have as yet heard nothing from them.
In order to defend my reputation as an artist, I have no recourse but to write to you so that your readers can be aware of the facts. Anyone playing the Olympic version of these three concertos would think that I had completely lost my senses. Some of the tempos are much faster and some much slower, but all have been altered. It seems to me a strange thing that such travesties can be issued to the record-buying public while the artist can do nothing in self-defense.
The strangest thing of all is that the second record (Sides 3 and 4) has not been tampered with in the least.
-Boyd Neel Toronto, Ont.
Film Music Collection I read with a great deal of interest and a great deal of disappointment Royal S. Brown's April review of the first release from the Elmer Bernstein Film Music Collection, Max Steiner's Helen of Troy and A Summer Place. I am a member of the Film Music Collection, and, while I agree that neither of the scores represents Steiner at his finest or even near-finest, they were apparently consensus choices.
It may interest readers who are not members to know that the first notification we received from Mr. Bernstein was that the first album was to be Steiner's King Kong and Bernstein's To Kill a Mockingbird. I protested this vigorously. I thought it altogether fitting that the first record(s) represent the work of Steiner (after all, he is the "father of film music") and Bernstein (it was through his efforts that we film-music buffs were to receive this opportunity), but I failed to understand those particular choices. Apparently a lot of other members protested too. The Miracle, however, was one of my first choices and, as it has never before been available, I am thrilled that we will soon have it.
I agree with Mr. Brown's complaints about the annotations and the absence of selection listings (a serious shortcoming of many commercial soundtrack releases too).
But the Film Music Collection is a new undertaking, and one hopes it will improve as it matures. It seems to me unfair to chop it to shreds on the basis of the first release.
-Stephen L. Richey Durham, N.C.
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(High Fidelity, Jul. 1975)
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