Once
Donald Gabor had established his major LP-label Remington, in 1950,
he was the man who exploited its growing catalog to the full. Not
only by changing and improving the covers in order to give the records
a new appeal and thus stimulating the sales, but also by releasing
the same recordings on his other labels like Merit, Etude, Webster,
Plymouth and Masterseal. A few Masterseal releleases were already
listed in 1951. The other labels are listed in the September 1953
Schwann Lp Catalogue. 'The Long Player, the other important record
guide, only listed the Remington recordings.
Another
way to stimulate sales of his classical recordings was by producing
series aiming at specific target groups: children, students, educators
and collectors. This idea materialized in a special series like 
Young
Violinist's Edition supervised by Theodore and Alice Pashkus,
but also in the Music Plus! Series, edited by famous musicologist
Dr. Sigmund Spaeth, who later supervised the Music Appreciation Library
Series for Gabor's Palace label.
Right from the
start,
Don
Gabor wanted that Remington was a label to be reckoned with.
He not only saw the necessity of quality artwork for the covers, but
found that the liner notes were important as well. In the first year
there were lists of available recordings printed on the back of the
covers. But soon informative liner notes, mostly written by noted
critics and journalists (and supposedly in some cases by Don Gabor's
cousin George Curtiss), explained the music. A reviewer for early
releases was Herman Neuman.
When the looks
of the covers improved Gabor hired famous critics and musicologists
like Dr. Sigmund Spaeth, John W. Freeman and Irving Kolodin,
along with other writers and music critics who were either newcomers
or already had established their names in the world of newspapers,
magazines and the recording industry: Louis Biancolli, Betty Reinman,
Max de Schauensee, Irving Sablosky, Jerome Boehm (most of the
time spelled Bohm), Bertram Stanleigh, Herbert Weinstock, Jack
Urbont, Sheldon Soffer and Jay S. Harrison. Some wrote
the liner notes for one specific release, others took responsibility
for several albums.
Despite the valuable and professional work of these writers, sometimes
their names would not appear on a cover and often the liner notes
were replaced by listings of other Remington records accompanied by
quotes from critics and reviewers. This was especially the case when
Remington records had become a commodity of department stores and
petrol stations and the label had lost its credibility with the serious
collector and reviewer.
Dr. Sigmund Spaeth, musicologist
(April 10, 1885, Philadelphia - November 12, 1965, New York), started
of as a folklorist collecting American songs. He published his findings
in 'Read 'Em and Weep' and 'Weep Some More, My Lady'. He is also the
author of 'History of Popular Music in America', 'The Common Sense
of Music', 'The Importance of Music', and 'Stories Behind the World's
Greatest Music'. He was one of the composers who wrote the music for
the movies 'Show Boat' and 'The Trespasser', and he wrote the score
for 'The Magic Flame', all films made when the talkie was launched.
He appeared in the movie 'Frankie and Johnnie'.
Dr. Spaeth is quoted on the back of several Remington-covers: 'Across
the country, Remington's low priced long play classical high fidelity
records are staging a full scale cultural invasion.'
At 65 Dr. Spaeth
wrote the liner notes for several Remington recordings. An example
is R-199-87 with Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and 1812 Festival
Overture performed by the Austrian Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Kurt Wöss.
On Masterseal MSLP 5008 are Spaeth's notes for Beethoven's
Symphony No. 5 and Schubert's Symphony No. 8 conducted by Kurt Wöss
which was later re-released in a Masterseal cover as Remington R-199-246
around 1958.
No Remington disc with this coupling conducted by Wöss could
be found. Beethoven's Fifth was released on a 10" disc (R-149-9)
with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra conducted by Hans Wolf and Schubert
Eighth was originally a recording with conductor H. Arthur Brown (R-149-15).
The name Wöss seems a convenient substitute, especially when
Brown had fallen from grace.
He also wrote
the liner notes for the Masterseal release of Scheherazade with conductor
Kurt Wöss (?), and his notes from Remington releases were reprinted
on various other Masterseal albums.
Before the exploitation of the full Masterseal catalogue, Don Gabor
had asked Sigmund Spaeth's collaboration to set up the Remington
Music Plus!-Series. Existing recordings from the Remington catalog
were selected and Dr. Spaeth wrote the liner notes. He also read his
own commentaries and introductions which were recorded and put at
the end of each record side explaining the history and form of the
compositions. The cover states:
This is a special recording in the series Music Plus,
selected by Sigmund Spaeth whose voice is heard in recorded
comments on each number. These comments appear on additional
bands towards the center on each side. For home use it is
suggested that the music always be played first, after which
Dr. Spaeth's remarks can peruse a second hearing and be reviewed
from time to time as desired. For schools, colleges, clubs
and broadcasts the introductory material should naturally
preface the playing of each selection, adding the printed
backgrounds if needed. In order to simplify such public performances,
an accurate timetable is appended, covering the Spaeth comments
as well as the music itself.
|
There are twenty
recordings in Volume I. Whether there was also a Volume
II is not sure.
Volume
1 (The labels bear the reference numbers MP-100-1 to MP-100-20):
Brahms:
Symph. No. 1 - MP-100-1 - H. Arthur Brown
Beethoven: Symph. 6 - MP-100-2 - Kurt Wöss
Dvorak: Symphony No. 5 (9) - MP-100-3 - George Singer, conductor
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream - MP-100-4 - H. Arthur
Brown
Tchaikovsky: Festival Overture + Nutcracker - MP-100-5 - Kurt
Wöss
Johann Strauss: Overtures and Waltzes - MP-100-6 - conductor
Kurt Wöss
Franck: Symphony in D - MP-100-7 - Hans Wolf conducting
Haydn: Military + 88th Symphony - MP-100-8 - conductors Fritz
Weidlich and Paul Walter
Wagner: Arias + Piano Sonata - MP-100-9 - Astrid Varnay and
pianist Felicitas Karrer
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capricio Espagnol + Coq d'Or - MP-100-10 -
with conductors Ernst Nehlich and George Singer
Debussy: Prélude a l'apres midi d'un faune + Preludes - MP-100-11
- Jean Morel conducting; Edward Kilenyi, pianist
Schubert: Moments Musicaux + Symph 8 - MP-100-12 - Jörg
Demus piano; H. Arthur Brown. conductor
Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik + Symphony No. 35 - MP-100-13
-Fritz Weidlich and Hans Wolf conducting
Liszt: Hungarian Fantasia + Les Preludes - MP-100-14 - Edward
Kilenyi/Felix Prohaska and George Singer
Chopin: Waltzes - MP-100-15 - Edward Kilenyi, piano
Verdi: Rigoletto - MP-100-16 - Erasmo Ghiglia
Schumann: Piano Concerto - MP-100-17 - Céliny Chaillez-Richez
piano, Robert Heger conducting
Handel: Messiah - MP-100-18 - Joseph Messner, conductor
Bach: Prelude No. 15 & 16 + Partita 6 - MP-100-19 - Jörg
Demus, pianist
Richard Strauss: Don Juan + Rosenkavalier Waltzes - MP-100-20
- H. Arthur Brown, conductor
Most records in this series were released in 1953 (Nos. 1, 13, 16
and 18 were released in July 1953).
Sigmund Spaeth
wrote liner notes for these regular releases:
R-199-94 - Bartok plays Bartok - Bela Bartok at the piano
Palace M-601 -Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Overture, Grieg:
Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, said to be conducted by Kurt Baumann, but these
are in fact the recordings conducted by Kurt Wöss and H. Arthur
Brown, respectively.
John
W. Freeman
Born in New York City in 1928, John W. Freeman graduated at the Phillips
Academy (Andover) and received a BA in English at Yale College. He followed
private studies in music theory, counterpoint, harmony and piano. He
is a composer of chamber music and vocal chamber music. Known is also
his Suite for Wind Orchestra which was recorded under Johannes Somary.
He co-authored 'The Golden Horseshoe', 'Toscanini', wrote 'Metropolitan
Opera Stories of the Great Operas' (Vol.1 & 2) and translated Guiseppe
Tarozzi's 'Puccini'. He was a music critic and a reviewer for Opera
News and, from 1960 until 2000, served as an Associate Editor of that
magazine. In 1993 he was awarded the Belmont Medal by the Metropolitan
Opera Guild.
He was in his mid twenties when he wrote the liner notes for many a
Remington release.
John
W. Freeman wrote the liner notes for:
R-199-3 Grieg: Piano Concerto - Felicitas Karrer, pianist /
Kurt Wöss
R-199-7 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 - Austrian Symphony / Kurt
Wöss
R-199-20 Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto - Michèle Auclair
/ Kurt Wöss
R-199-96/3 John W. Freeman is probably the author of the liner
notes for the 2 Lp release of Mozart's Requiem conducted by Jpseph
Messner
R-199-103 Verdi: Rigoletto Vocal Highlights - Ivan Petroff
with the Orchestra of the Maggio Musiale Fiorentino, the chorus of
Teatro Communale / Erasmo Giglia.
R-199-104 Puccini: La Bohème Vocal Highlights
R-199-105/2 Verdi: Requiem - Austrian Symphony / Gustav Koslik
(re-released around 1958 in a Masterseal cover as Remington R-199-238)
R-199-106 Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Op. 46 - Austrian Symphony
/ George Singer
R-199-109 Etelka Freund plays music of Johannes Brahms: Sonata
in f minor Op. 5. and Intermezzi Op. 117 No. 2 and Op. 116 No
2.
R-199-111/2 Rossini: Stabat Mater - Salzburg Mozarteum / Josef
Messner
R-199-143 Recital and Encores - Pierre Luboshutz and Genia
Nemenoff
R-199-160 Saint-Saëns: Carnival of Animals, Tchaikovsky: Swan
Lake - RIAS Symphony / Jonel Perlea
R-199-166 Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 and Todtentanz - Edward
Kilenyi, RIAS Symphony / Jonel Perlea
R-199-170 Léhar: The Merry Widow, Strauss: One Night in Venice
- RIAS Symphony Orchestra / Gerhard Becker
R-199-178/3 Verdi: Aida (the complete recording) - Teatro la
Fenice / Franco Capuana
R-199-192 Millöcker: The Beggar Student - RIAS Symphony Orchestra
/ Gerhard Becker
Paris Album 12 Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies, Brahms Hungarian
Dances - RIAS Symphony / Karl Rucht
Masterseal MSLP 5010 Mendelssohn: Midsummernightsdream, Debussy:
Afternoon of a faun - Kurt Wöss, but these works are probably
conducted by H. Arthur Brown and Jean Morel respectively.
Masterseal
MSLP 5014 Dvorak: New World Symphony - Austrian Symphony / George
Singer. It is not clear if the same liner notes had already been printed
on the back of later editions of R-199-4 (Dvorak's 5th Symphony
(9th) with George Singer) and replaced the notes written earlier by
Herman Neuman.)
Herman Neuman (Conductor,
Director of Music of WNYG,
Municipal Broadcasting System of New York City) wrote the notes for
the early release
of R-199-4 of Dvorak's 5th (9th) Symphony with George Singer
Irving
Kolodin:
Irving Kolodin (January 21, 1908 - April 29, 1988) was the prolific
author who is known for 'The Opera Omnibus', 'The New Guide to Recorded
Music', 'The Guide to Long Playing Records' and many other reference
books on music and records. He was a reviewer for Saterday Review.
He is also known for his writings for the RCA-label and in particular
for the Rubinstein Chopin-recordings.
Kolodin was already a famous critic and musicologist when he was asked
to write for - at least two - Remington Musirama releases with the
technically and interpretively better recordings. From his hand are
the notes for Mascagni's 'Cavaleria Rusticana' with Teresa
Apolei, Pina Geri, Antonio Spruzzola Zola, Piero Campolonghi, Letizia
Del Col and the 'Teatro la Fenice' conducted by
George Sebastian
on R-199-175/2. Kolodin wrote the notes for the release of
Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto with
Jorge Bolet and Thor Johnson on
R-199-182 which was a première recording; apart from the 3rd
only the 1st and occasionally the 5th concertos were played. And from
his hand is the text on the inside of the box of the Turandot
recording with Gertrude Grob-Prandl, Antonio Sprùzzola-Zola,
Norman Scott, Renata Ferrari-Ongaro, Angelo Mercuriali, Mariano Caruso,
and Marcello Rossi, Franco Capuana conducting the 'Teatro la Fenice'
(Venice Opera Company) on the R-199-169/3
|
|
|
Irving
Kolodin at the end of the nineteen forties.
(Photograph courtesy William
P. Gottlieb)
|
On
many a Remington cover a quote from an article by Irving Kolodin in
the Saturday Review is printed:
"Listen to the Remington-sponsored discs in a rapidly growing catalogue
selling at less than half of what is considered 'normal' LP rates.
Remington is worth every penny asked."
Louis
Biancolli is known for his collaboration with Kirsten Flagstad
which resulted in 'The Flagstad Manuscript'. Other books of his hand
are:
'The Mozart Handbook' (1975), 'Masters of the Orchestra from Bach
to Prokofiev' (1969) and 'The Analytical Concert Guide' (Doubleday),
and he was the co-author, with Robert Bagar, of 'The Concert Companion'.
He was a music critic for The New York World-Telegram and Sun. He
also wrote liner notes for RCA.
Biancolli wrote the liner notes for these Remington editions:
R-199-124 Keyboard Masters of Old Vienna (Schubert, Mozart,
Lanner, Strauss) - Hilde Somer, pianist
R-199-126 Kreisler Encores played by violinist Michèle Auclair
and pianist Otto Schulhof - coupled with Ballet Music by Delibes (excerpts
from Naila, Coppelia and Sylvia performed by the Austrian Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Max Schönherr
R-199-129 Bizet L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1, Nicolai: Overture
to The Merry Wives of Windsor, Mendelssohn: Overture to Ruy Blas
R-199-130 Borodin: Overture and Polovetsian Dances from Prince
Igor, Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain, Rimsky-Korsakoff: Capricio
Espagnol - Austrian Symphony / Gustav Koslik
R-199-135 Mozart: Sonata in A Major, Haydn: Sonatas Nos. 1
and 7 - Leonid Hambro, piano
R-199-159 Debussy: La boite a joujoux (The Box of Toys) - RIAS
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonel Perlea
Edward
Tatnall Canby (musician and musicologist, author of numerous
articles for Harper's Bazar and Audio Magazine) wrote liner notes
for:
R-199-79 featuring cellist Gaspar Cassado in Haydn's Concerto
No. 1, Op. 101 coupled with Mozart's Symphony No. 35, K 385, both
conducted by Hans Wolf.
R-199-84 Albert Spalding (Violinist) and Ernst von Dohnanyi
(Pianist) perform Johannes Brahms: Sonata No. 1 and Hungarian Dances
Nos. 8, 9 and 17
Betty
Reinman
R-199-213 Schumann: Symphony No. 2 - RIAS Orchestra / Otto
Matzerath
R-199-203 Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini, Theme and Variations
- RIAS Symphony Orchestra / Anatole Fistoulari
R-199-209 Hindemith: Matthis der Mahler, Schumann: Manfred
Overture, Von Weber: Euryanthe Overture - Hamburg Philharmonic
Orchestra / Leopold Ludwig
Max
de Schauensee (Rome, December 5, 1899 - July 24, 1982 in
Philadelphia, PA) was Music Editor of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin
and wrote The Collector's Verdi and Puccini. (1978). Despite the fact
that opera was apparently his main subject, he did write the program
notes for:
R-199-138 Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 - Zoltan Fekete
R-199-176 Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique - RIAS Symphony Orchestra
/ George Sebastian
Irving
Sablosky, music critic of Chicago Daily News is the author
of 'American Music' and 'What They Heard: Music in America, 1852-1881'.
He wrote the notes for
Sari
Biro's recording of Contemporary Piano Composers (Bartok,
Kodaly, Kabalevsky) on R-199-133.
A quote from a review by Sablosky in the Chicago Daily News of Simon
Barere's Carnegie Hall recording of the Liszt Sonata (R-199-85) was
printed in the 1953 Remington Records Catalog: "... fantastic,
diabolical virtuosity seldom met and never before, to my knowledge,
captured thus on records."
Sheldon
Soffer
Sheldon Soffer studied composition and later took an interest in conducting
and took up the post of assistant conductor of the Provincetown Symphony
Orchestra. From his experiences he had the idea to represent musicians
and artists and founded Sheldon Soffer Management in 1965. He wrote
the liner notes for R-199-174 with Wagnerian Favorites performed
by the RIAS Symphony conducted by Georges Sebastian
Jerome
D. Bohm (Boehm)
Jerome Bohm wrote for the New York Herald Tribune.
R-199-165 Schumann: Carnaval, Chopin: Short Pieces - Edward
Kilenyi
R-199-180 Schumann: Symphony No. 1 ("Spring") - Otto Matzerath
R-199-187 Tchaikovsky: Symphonty No. 2 - Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra / Thor Johnson
R-199-197 Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1 - Conrad Hansen / Wolfgang
Sawallisch (On Masterseal MSLP a long paragraph of the original liner
notes was left out.)
R-199-201 Sibelius: 5th Symphony - RIAS Symphony Orchestra
/ Jussy Jalas
R-199-207 Enesco: Rumanian Rhapsodies Nos. 1 and 2, Villa-Lobos:
Choros No. 6 - Georges Enesco and Heitor Villa-Lobos
R-199-208 Delibes: Sylvia and Coppelia - Georges Sebastian
Bertram
Stanleigh (November 3, 1921- January 25th, 2003) started
as a music critic and was a reviewer for a magazine like Audio. He
wrote a critical essay on Frank Zappa. In the 1960s he worked for
the American Standards Association. Famous is his parody "Safety
Code and Requirements for Dry Martinis". He ultimately moved
on to work at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) before retiring in 1986. He passed away on January 25th 2003.
He wrote the liner notes for one of the Musirama recordings made with
the RIAS Symphony in Berlin::
R-199-164 Brahms: Concerto No. 2 - Edward Kilenyi /
Jonel Perlea
Herbert
Weinstock (1905-1971), author of 'Music as an Art' and
of 'Tchaikovsky, Handel and Chopin: the Man and His Music' wrote the
notes for:
R-199-139 Songs of Spain - Lydia Ibarondo and pianist Miguel
Sandoval
R-199-140 Baritone Mack Harrell: Recital and Encores, with
Brooks Smith at the piano
R-199-171 Carlos Montoya
Jay
S. Harrison, another critic of the New York Herald Tribune.
His writings can be found on:
R-199-136 Scarlatti, Bach and Couperin by harpsichordist Sylvia
Marlowe
R-199-202 Couperin by Sylvia Marlowe, harpsichord
Jack
Urbont:
R-199-177 Wagnerian Overtures - RIAS Symphony / Georges Sebastian
R-199-183 Offenbach/Rosenthal: Offenbachiana - RIAS Symphony
Orchestra / Manuel Rosenthal
R-199-188 Brant, Glanville-Hicks, Rudhyar - Jonel Perlea
Norman Gorin:
R-199-181 Light French Opera Overtures by Suppé, Auber, Adam
and Maillart. RIAS Symphony conducted by Gerhard Becker
Arthur
Darack, music critic of the Cincinnati Enquirer, wrote
the program notes for Dvorak's 4th (8th) Symphony on R-199-168
- Thor Johnson.
Alec
Templeton wrote the notes for his own recording of Improvisations
on R-199-158. Note: There is no auther mentioned on
the cover of Gershwin's Concerto in F.
Albert
Spalding wrote the notes for his own recording of the
Brahms Violin Concerto with Wilhelm Loibner, as is indicated on the
re release of R-199-145 .on Varèse-Sarabande VC 81059.
This is an invitation to assume that Albert Spalding also wrote the
liner notes for the issue of his recording of the Beethoven Violin
Concerto with the same conductor on R-199-144.
(c) Rudolf A. Bruil - Page first published June, 2003
