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Alex Steinweiss and other Artists and Designers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Columbia's trademark

Columbia's first LP logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Steinweiss cover for the 10 inch Columbia release in 1950 of music by Sibelius and Rachmaninoff performed by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra
ML 2158.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Steinweiss, Curt John Witt, Otto Rado, H.Kaebitz, Wattley, Slonevsky, Albitz, Rudolf de Harak, Einhorn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the beginning for many LP records a basic design was used which only needed filling in names of artist(s), composer(s), compositions and reference number on the tombstone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remington First Label

Remington's first label in the style of the Continental label.

 

 

Remington's Second Label

The second label

 

 

 

 

1952 Remington Record Catalog

Remington's catalog, published in the fall of 1952, showing the new design.

 

 

 

The label designed by Alex Steinweiss

The third label

 

 

 

 

 

Steinweiss's beautiful MUSIRAMA label

The fourth label designed for the MUSIRAMA recordings.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the stickers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Steinweiss logo on most Columbia covers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Steinweiss 'signature' written in the so called Steinweiss scrawl as it appeared on Remington releases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1939, 23 year old Alexander Steinweiss proposed to Columbia to make a change in the presentation and packaging of the 78 RPM record albums. His idea was to use original artwork (drawings and paintings) on the front of the abums. This new approach was quite a change if compared to the gold or silver imprint of just the nomenclature in a serif or gothic font on the black, brown or beige heavy books. The new look skyrocketed the sales of an already very popular Rodgers & Hart album.
From that day on of every new release sales were boosted above average and the artistic packaging became an important part of the record. Soon this idea was adopted by every record company.

The design of the albums was derived from the photo album design with a plain and simple layout and lettering as this European release of HMV (Victor in the USA) shows.
Isolde Menges performs Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, accompanied by pianist Arthur de Greef.
His Master's Voice D 1066/69 electrical recording, date November 10, 1925.
This album is testimony of the revolution in album design. It shows Alex Steinweiss's style to the full.
Pianist Oscar Levant plays George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy on Columbia MX251 (on Lp ML4026).
NOTE: This is not the world's first album cover ever, because that was for a 1939 collection of songs by Rodgers and Hart. It is also not the factual best selling cover of the Rhapsody played by Alec Templeton with André Kostelanetz which I only have in its plain edition and was released only much later on Lp in January 1952, ML4455. The Templeton album which was illustrated by Steinweiss shows a small, white piano under a street lamp which is in fact a trumpet, the suggestion of the New York skyline in black, plus the lettering which is as always with Steinweiss an integral part of the design.

Imagine, being 23 years of age and your idea is accepted. It is provocative, it is revolutionary and links a commercial concept to a high artistic quality. That is thrilling, absolutely thrilling. At first sight there is a slight reminiscence of cubism and art deco, but follows its own development. It breaks with old fashioned thinking. Now the album has liner notes styled in a modern way, as shows the later release of 2 x 12" shellac records of Peer Gynt, Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra (Columbia Masterworks Set MX-291).

In 1948 Columbia presented the LP format to the public. The advantage over the 78 rpm album was first of all the increased capacity. A symphony on 4 x 78 rpm records could now be engraved on a single long playing disc. The new medium did not need the fat, heavy albums any longer but needed an appropriate sleeve. The standard sleeves for 78 RPM records in albums were made of relatively light Kraft paper, folded together and glued either at the spine and top, or at the top or bottom, reportedly with a strip folded inside the sleeve. If this method was applied to sleeves of the new LP record, it could damage the vinylite. In my collection of 78s all albums and sleeves, post- and prewar, have so called flip back seems, this means that the seams or strips were glued on the outside instead of the inside! A new sleeve had to be designed. Now Columbia asked Steinweiss to design a cover specifically for a single Long Playing Record. That is what he did. He also designed the box set, both for 33 rpm records and for shellac as is shown in the picture of Set MX 291.


Alex Steinweiss with some of his designs for Columbia records, photographed by William P. Gottlieb in 1947.
Courtesy of William P. Gottlieb.
(Copyright W.P.Gottlieb.)

Steinweiss, who was born on March 24, 1917, in Brooklyn, had studied at Parsons School of Design (New York) and graduated in 1937, was for two years assistant to Joseph Binder. In 1939 he was retained as Art Director at Columbia Records, and was appointed Advertising Manager for Columbia Records in 1943. From 1943 until the end of the war he was Exhibits Engineer in the US Navy TADC (Tactical Air Direction Center). In 1945 he had settled as a free lance designer and consultant, painter and ceramist, working for a variety of companies and industries, including Columbia Records. Alexander Steinweiss was now asked to design a standard record sleeve for the new long playing record. His first design was a sleeve made of rather thin Kraft paper with the opening at the top (1948).

Later Steinweiss's design of the folded album cover (the fold at the spine) made of cardboard became the standard of the industry in the USA. His basic design was soon varied upon but is in essence the same, up to this day.

Generally a larger sheet with the printed art was folded and glued over the edges. The square sheet with the liner notes was glued on the back, as the drawing shows. The reverse way was also done: the sheet with the liner notes, larger than the actual cardboard, was folded over the edges and the square sheet with the artwork was glued on the front. In some designs the top and bottom seams were reinforced with a small strip of some strong fabric which was glued into the seam.

In Europe various solutions were devised. EMI, Decca and Philips in England and early Dutch Philips were put in so called flipback covers. Deutsche Grammophon had the gatefold with the stitched compartment, a design with appeal but many times it was the cause of a damaged or scratched record as the Lp had to be grabbed at the periphery and pulled out of the stiff compartment. The best thing is to place the cover on a flat surface, open the gatefold and seprate the plastic seems and gently take out the record. Form follows function. In hindsight this adagio did not entirely apply to the Deutsche Grammophon covers. The designers may have thought differently at the time, the same as so many designs of today forget about the functionality. Go to the super market and get irritated by products with a weird packaging, or browse the world wide web and stumble upon several didactically ill designed pages which take up too much time for the visitor to find out how they function.

Electrola had a gatefold similar to that of Deutsche Grammophon, also lined with a plastic sheet (polyurethane), however not stitched but glued at the edges and the seems glued with a light linen tape. Popular Polydor 7", 10" and 12" records had simple covers, also stitched at the sides, the opening at the top. In Germany Telefunken and RCA had a similar folded cover. The fold was at the bottom and the sides were glued together. The opening was at the top. s said, in the USA however many Columbia LP records (and in the beginning those of most manufacturers) were put into flimsy, all purpose sleeves with a basic graphic design. It sufficed to print the names of the artists, the title and the reference number on the front and some liner notes or a list of other available records on the back.

Many early Remington releases in 1950 and 1951 were also slipped into thin, floppy all purpose sleeves. Some of the early recordings had their own art created specifically in relation to the music.

The earliest release of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 conducted by H. Arthur Brown (R-199-13) in a paper sleeve, yet already with specific artwork.
Another pre-Steinweiss cover:
R-199-50 with Debussy played by
Edward Kilenyi.
The initials of the designer
are EDL, the year is 1951.

Many of the designs for the early Remington red-label productions were made by a man named Freeman. Other names that came up were of Sherman Alpert and Raboni, and for Plymouth it was Roy E. La Gione. When profits had been made, the product's appeal could be improved upon to further boost the turnover. Now new sleeves were designed by someone whose initials were E.D.L., by Einhorn and already by Curt John Witt who also made many covers for the Plymouth releases which often contained the recorded material originally issued on Remington. Instead of pictures of the artists and listings of other recordings available, now the covers had liner notes. As no initials or a name of the author was mentioned, it is unclear who wrote the liner notes. It is possible that also some were written by George Curtiss, Don Gabor's cousin and managing director of the Webster pressing plant in Massachusetts.

As the competition was growing, producer Don Gabor was convinced that he needed the full attention of the buyer and that he should have covers that
The label designed by Alex Steinweiss
The first Remington label designed by Alex Steinweiss.
were well designed and that the style should have distinctive features in order to be recognized so the discs would be able to compete with the products of the big companies. So why not ask the man who designed the covers for Columbia Masterworks, Alex Steinweiss, to develop a corporate image and a basic design for the covers and the label of Remington records.

Alex Steinweiss designed a new basic lay-out for the label, the covers of Remington LPs, and for the company's businees presentation. In fact Steinweiss designed a complete corporate image for Don Gabor's company. He designed the third Remington label, the black-gold label with the letters REMINGTON placed in boxes arranged in a circle at the periphery of the label, including a box with a crown. Above the nomenclature (in the upper half of the label) the text "A Don Gabor Production" was placed in Steinweiss's hand-drawn lettering, later copyrighted as "Steinweiss Scrawl".

The same elements adorned the covers. On the left the letters REMINGTON were placed in boxes in a vertical row, topped by a box with the same "A Don Gabor Production" and at the bottom a box with the crown. Furthermore the logo with laurels was replaced by a new oval emblem with the text Complete Audible Range Reproduction, a logo that was to suggest the same quality as Full Frequency Range Recording (English Decca and London), New Orthophonic High Fidelity(RCA), Living Presence(Mercury), Full Dimensional Sound (Capitol), etc.

'A Don Gabor Production', the crown, the vertical row of boxes which spelled REMINGTON, plus the heading on the stationary (and other documents) with the slogan 'music for millions', the capital R on the catalog with the Remington logo, and the black/gold sticker with the important text 'factory sealed', they were, from July 1952 on, the elements defining the corporate image of Remington Records Inc. The Musirama recordings were announced in the 1953 catalog. and the new label was introduced in the following year.

When better recordings were made under the supervision of both Laszlo Halasz and Don Gabor, and improved microphone placement was used by Gabor's technician Robert Blake (Blake later recorded for the Everest label as a few covers indicate) and this technique was named MUSIRAMA, a triangular logo was put on the cover and MUSIRAMA was also added to the label. The "A Don Gabor Production" logo with laurels was replaced by the atomic symbol and the wording "3 dimensional sound".
The graphics of the labels are extremely beautiful because of the combination of a serif typeface for the label name - REMINGTON - and a sans serif, gothic type for reference numbers and the description of the contents of the recording. Steinweiss designed also a basic layout for the back of the cover to complement the new style of the MUSIRAMA editions: frames, typefaces for titles, liner notes and reference numbers, positioning of logo, etc.

The lay-out for the liner notes on the back of the Musirama albums.

Alex Steinweiss is noted for his Columbia covers and one easily gets the impression that this was the only label he worked for. But it is significant that he designed the covers for other labels as well. And he worked with other designers and artists like Curt John Witt (later covers indicate "Curt John Witt Design House"; he also designed for Allegro Royale and Opera Society), Albitz, Kaebitz, Leonard Slonevski, Wattly and Otto Rado.
As far as I could find out Rudolph de Harak (1924–2002) designed two covers for Don Gabor, one for a Remington release and another for a Pontiac release, around 1952. He later became famous for designs for the Metropolitan Museum, the United States Pavilion at the Osaka World Fair, for Man Planet Space in Montreal 1967. He also designed the 'Quadra' typeface and more than 400 book jackets for McGraw-Hill's book division,
Also an artist named Riser provided jacket art.

Steinweiss himself designed covers, and he coordinated the work of the other artists as well. In the beginning existing covers were adapted to the new lay out. But as soon as new recordings were to be released, new artwork was made and even particular covers that were already restyled, were replaced by covers with new art work. The most significant example is Edward Kilenyi's recording of the Chopin Waltzes of which the cover could be obtained in (at least) two different editions.

Cover by Alex Steinweiss for Remington R-199-126 with the Steinweiss Scrawl in abundance: Violinist Michèle Auclair plays Kreisler Encores accompanied by pianist Otto Schulhof.

The designs made by Steinweiss for Remington are not always as elaborate as most of the covers he did for Columbia Records. But there are exceptions of course. An example is the beautiful cover for R-199-128 with violinist Michèle Auclair and cellist Gaspar Cassado playing gems.
However, the similarities in style are obvious. The Remington covers have an originality of their own which is also brought about by the vertical logo (designed by Steinweiss) on the left of the cover which had to be "integrated" in the artwork. Integration also applied to the triangle of with the MUSIRAMA logo which was added lateron.
The designs of the Remington covers are at times a bit simple and reflect a somewhat childish optimism, one could say. To a large extend this style was imposed by the technique of plate production and the printing process available in those days, a technique which had its restrictions. Yet the covers witness the personalities of the various designing artists who (often guided by Steinweiss), in many instances, achieved to reflect the nature of the artists, the composers and the music.

A "golden" laminated cover by Steinweiss at the occasion of the 5th Anniversary of Columbia's Long Playing record, September 1953, with popular music of Tchaikovsky conducted by Eugene Ormandy. The style for the LPs of Columbia is often more sophisticated and more serious by the use of darker tones.

Steinweiss's covers distinguish themselves by the hand writing (the Steinweiss scrawl): names of artists, location of recording, the works recorded. So even if his name is not mentioned the original artist is generally recognized. Steinweiss is the one who at times uses more pastel colors and fine lines as for the covers of Scheherazade with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra and the cover of Piano Encores (not displayed).

Publisher Taschen from Los Angeles is preparing a new publication about Alex Steinweiss and his work. The Creator of The Modern Album Cover is planned to be available September 2009.

Curt John Witt has his own signature of style. His designs initially have calmness and simplicity like the cover for Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony (displayed at the end of this page). He also designed one of the covers of the Waltzes of Chopin on R-199-82 (not displayed).

Curt John Witt's cover design for The Opera Society recording of Orpheus and Eurydice (Gluck) - M142 OP25.

Lateron his designs have bright and intense colors and straight lines: Chopin's 4 Scherzi played by Jorge Bolet and the recording with music of American composers Ward and Stein (see at the end of this page). And look how he just uses a few colors evoking the modernism of Gershwin's Concerto in F. He could have been the artist who designed the Prokofiev cover on which no name is mentioned. Some covers just state Curt John Witt, while other covers mention: Design House - Curt John Witt.
Curt John Witt worked for other labels as well. He designed the cover for The Opera Society's edition of the 2 10" LP set in a gatefold of Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" performed by The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus under Nicolas Goldschmidt and Dutch singers Léon Combé, Corry Bijster and Anette de la Bije.(The Opera Society was a label of the Concert Hall Society/Musical Masterpieces Society.) And he can be found on many covers of Eli Oberstein's Allegro/Royale releases.
The cover Otto Rado did for Westminster's release of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade conducted by Argeo Quadri. And the cover for Urania 7112 released in 1954: Violin Concertos by Rakov and Malipiero.
Gianfrancesco Malipiero, Nikolai Petrovich Rakov, Violin Concertos, Saschko Gavrilov, Arthur Rother.

Another artist was H. Kaebitz. From his hand is the cover of Symphony Fantastique. It displays a sinister purple, and a cross adorned with faces.
Slonevski and Wattly use styles which have a more common and plain quality if compared to the other, brighter designs. And Rudolph de Harak designed in a sober style.
Albitz is the artist of Kilenyi's Liszt album where on a purple background the shapes of a grand piano and candles with flickering flames indicate the romanticism which was seen a couple of years earlier in the 1945 biopic of Liszt's contemporary Chopin, "A song to Remember", where Merle Oberon (as George Sand) walked into the non-lit room and places the candelabras on the grand piano, thus revealing that Frederick Chopin (Cornel Wilde) was playing instead of Franz Liszt, what everybody expected. (The piano part was played by José Irturbi).

On the cover of the recording of Dvorak's 4th (8th) Symphony designer Otto Rado beautifully expressed a pastoral mood. In that way he accentuates the sense of beauty. His love for the use of gold can also be seen in the cover for Westminster's 1953 Scheherazade release (WL 5234, Argeo Quadri conducting). He also worked for the Urania label. Extraordinary is his design for the 3 LP Remington box of Verdi's Aida. That is a collectible item for reasons of both performance and cover art.

The very personal style of Alex Steinweiss is also seen in the early album covers of Bob Whyte's Everest records and the design of the early labels of the Everest releases. Again he arranged the label's name in a circle and choose specific colors. To add to the significance of the Everest releases the label mentioned "A CERTIFIED STEREO-MASTER RECORDING" (somewhat like the MUSIRAMA logo on the Remington labels). The early Everest issues had this very distinctive basic design, the choice of fonts included.

The silver/green/black label was the original label designed by Steinweiss and matched the basic layout for the covers with two blue stripes. The same typeface was used on label and cover. Both the box of Mahler's 5th with Rudolf Schwarz, and the cover of "Around the World in 80 Days" state: Cover design by Alex Steinweiss. When only stereo issues were released the dominant indication STEREO was omitted as the the cover of the Petrouchka recording by Sir Eugene Goossens shows.

The application of artwork and the use of very distinctive graphics for the Everest covers is the more remarkable while by that time the trend was gradually changing towards the use of photographs only.

In early years of advertising, objects and people were depicted in drawings in black and white and later in color.
When new, more cost effective printing techniques became available, art directors and copywriters started to work together with photographers who were commissioned to shoot photos along the lines of the art director's concept. Gradually the graphic artist was replaced by the photographer completely. The art director designed the basic lay-out and choose the various typefaces.

In the beginning of the application of photography the visualization was a combination of graphics and photography. Finally the hybrid designs of the covers were replaced by pure photography. This trend was followed by many a record company.
Very early examples of the use of photographs exclusively can be found on several RCA covers. From 1954 is the release of "With Love From A Chorus" (LM-1815), sung by the Robert Shaw Chorale. Also famous is the cover of Ravel's "Daphnis and Chloe" by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Robert Shaw Chorale under conductor Charles Munch on LM-1893 from 1955. It has a distinct new style, as has the RCA cover of the 1956 release of "My True Love Sings" on LM-1998, again by the Robert Shaw Chorale.

These designs may have inspired many a photographer and designer, like famous Dutch photographer Paul Huf when he made the covers for the Philips S-L Series with model Ann Pickford from England.
At right Huf's cover for the Piano Concertos of Franz Liszt performed by pianist Cor de Groot and the Recidency Orchestra conducted by Willem van Otterloo, and his cover for Ballet Music by Delibes and Gounod with conductor Jean Fournet.
Columbia naturally had covers designed in the same trend as shows the late release on Lp of Oscar Levant's Gershwin recordings made in the 78 rpm era. The photographer was Hal Reif.

Remarkable was that the great Alex Steinweiss was the creator of the basic design for Don Gabor's Remington records in 1952 and this added even more to the importance of the label and made Remington records easily recognizable. His basic concept had also to be filled in by the other artists and designers. He gave them enough freedom to express their own artistry.

The two different covers of Buck Clayton's most famous Jam Session on Philips B 07022 L: Buck Clayton and Joe Newman (trumpets), Urbie Green and Henderson Chambers (trombones), Lem Davis (alto sax), Julian Dash (tenor sax), Charlie Fowlkes (barotone sax), Sir Charles Thompson (piano), Freddie Green (piano), Walter Page (bass), and Jo Jones (Drums). The titles: The Huckle-Buck, and Robin's Nest.

An example of the new trend to use photography in combination with graphics, and the use of plain photography is the release by Philips of the Columbia recording CL 548 which was first issued in the spring of 1954. The early hybrid design (graphics and pictures) of Philips B 07022 L, was eventually replaced by a powerful picture of Buck Clayton playing the trumpet. The second edition was pressed from new plates and released around 1957.

By that time many an old Remington recording had a new disguise with a photograph on the cover and were now available on one or several of Gabor's other labels like Masterseal, Paris, Webster, and Palace. The Remington label was gradually discontinued.
Below is the cover of Palace M-601 with Tchaikovsky (Romeo and Juliet Overture) and Grieg (Peer Gynt Suite No. 1), played with the Viennese Symphonic Orchestra under fake conductor Kurt Baumann, a substitute for Kurt Wöss (Tchaikovsky) as well as H. Arthur Brown (Grieg).

After the craze of using photography had more or less passed, new generations of artists were designing labels and covers and corporate house-styles Now al styles and techniques were used side by side, many times inspired by the pioneers of the early days.
Many record collectors and artists regret that the small size of the jewel case of the CD gives less opportunity to make an artistic cover. But within the restrictions there are quite a few remarkable CD covers and booklets. Yet, the CD with art work and the small lettering is sometimes qualified as neat or cute, while an LP cover can be utterly impressive.

Rudolf A. Bruil - Page first published, September 2001 - and updated since.
All covers from my private record collection.


----- THE REMINGTON COVERS -----

R-199-116
At right one of the two Steinweiss covers for the complete set of Paganini Caprices played by violinist Ossy Renardy.
In most cases Steinweiss's designs for Remington are not as elaborate as those he made for Columbia as is evident in the simplicity of the cover for the recording of Goyescas (Granados).Yet the covers for Dvorak's Slavonic Dances and Contemporary Piano Compositions are very effective. The exquisite beauty of the cover for the release of Schubert's Tragic Symphony conducted by Kurt Wöss is striking.
R-199-133
R-199-106
At left the cover by Steinweiss for Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.  
Carlos Montoya plays the guitar and Lydia Ibarrondo sings on R-199-134. Also this cover is by Steinweiss as is the cover for Alexander Jenner's recording of Studies (Etudes) Op. 25 of Frederic Chopin.
R-199-7
R-199-201
R-199-95
R-199-164
A rather simple cover for Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony on the old style Remington label (RLP-199-7) by Curt John Witt. Sibelius 5th Symphony (R-199-201), Beethoven's Violin Sonatas Nos. 2 and 8 (R-199-95), and the Sibelius / Glazounov (R-199-191) are more elaborate. Kilenyi's Brahms (R-199-164), Bach played by Jörg Demus (R-199-92), Stravinsky / Prokofiev with Eugen Szenkar, and Mozart's Requiem with Joseph Messner are also by Witt.
R-199-191
R-199-92
At left a rare cover designed by Rise, an unknown artist, for Kilenyi's Schumann/Chopin recording.
At right the cover for Conrad Hansen's Tchaikovsky Op. 23 with the RIAS Symphony.
Curt John Witt's cover for Gershwin's Concerto in F illustrates the modernity of the work, the energy, and where it was composed.
Next to it the recording of compositions by Leon Stein and Robert Ward with a daring combination of red and orange shades of colors.
R-199-184
R-199-166
The cover designed by Albitz for the excellent recording of Franz Liszt's Concerto No. 1 and Totentanz (archaic Todtentanz), Variations on Dies Irae, played by Edward Kilenyi, probably inspired by the biopic of Liszt's contemporary Frederic Chopin, "A song to Remember" (1945).
R-199-176
Kaebitz created a strong cover for Symphony Fantastique (R-199-176).
The covers for the two Wagner programs played by the RIAS Symphony Orchestra conducted by George Sebastian are also from his hand: R-199-174 and 177.

Many a cover did not bear the name of the designer / artist. Who made the cover for the Four Scherzi of Chopin played by Jorge Bolet, is not known.

Rudolph de Harak designed a sober cover for Zoltan Fekete's Bruckner Symphony No. 3 on R-199-138. And another one for "Songs of the Trail", a Pontiac release (P-533).

R-199-161

Above Einhorn's cover for the 10" Remington R-1032: Cafe Society Swing.

At right Einhorn's cover for the 10" Remington (R-1028) with The Blue Danube, Estudianta, Acceleration Waltz, and a selection from The Fledermaus, all played by the Vienna Radio Orchestra.

In general the covers for the Remington records were more elaborate than those for the Merit and Plymouth-Merit labels. Exceptions are several covers made by Einhorn. For instance for a Plymouth-Merit release of selections of Bizet's Carmen performed by "French opera company". And the Plymouth-Merit release of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Op. 15 played and conducted by Fritz Egger on PL12-25.
At right the Merit cover made by Wattley for H. Arthur Brown's Schubert Unfinished Symphony. At far right the Steinweiss cover for baritone Mack Harrell's recital on R-199-140.

Gold, green and red are the elements Otto Rado used to depict his idea of Dvorak's 4th (8th) Symphony performed by the Cincinnati Symphony under Thor Johnson (R-199-168)

R-199-168
Otto Rado's use of vivid colors in a dynamic drawing for the boxed set of the Aida recording are inspirational. His cover art was most certainly an incentive for buying the 3 Lp box of Verdi's masterpiece. Click on the cover to enlarge the front of the boxed set R-199-178/3. He may also have been responsible for the artwork on the Kreisler recording of Michèle Auclair and Gaspar Cassado.
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Rado's designs for the Carlos Montoya recordings depict the exuberant and extrovert nature of the flamenco. Yellow was one of his favorite colors. Yet it is not sure if he did the artwork for the recording of Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto with pianist Jorge Bolet and conductor Thor Johnson (R-199-182).

R-199-182

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