Sound Fountain

.

LP LIST / AUDIO & MUSIC BULLETINTHE REMINGTON SITE  / 7" RECORD GALLERY   /   BACK

  Sigmund Spaeth, John W. Freeman, Irving Kolodin
and other critics and musicologists

Liner notes in playful style.

 

Liner notes in new design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remington MP-100-17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Franco Capuana conducting complete recording of AIDA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 other labels like Merit, Etude, Webster, Plymouth and Masterseal. These labels are already 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 Pahkus, but also by the 'Music Plus!- series, edited by famous Dr. Sigmund Spaeth.

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 rleases 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. He also wrote the liner notes for the record "Bartók plays Bartók", R-199-94.
On Masterseal MSLP 5008 are Spaeth's notes for Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Schubert's Symphony No. 8 conducted by Kurt Wöss.
Note: 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 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 to write introductions to various well known compositions for the Remington Music Plus!-series. Dr. Spaeth 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, or as 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).

Remington MP-100-17 from the MUSIC Plus!- series. Céliny Chailley-Richez, pianist, performing Schumann's Concerto in A minor op.54 with the Austrian Symphony Orchestra, Robert Heger, conductor (uninterrupted performance), followed by recorded themes from the score with comments spoken by Dr. Sigmund Spaeth.The liner notes explain the recording and advertisements were published in Schwann Record Catalog. Below the advertisment for the Series mentioning Beethoven's Emperor.

Sigmund Spaeth also wrote notes for 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 fgact 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 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.

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
R-199-104 Puccini: La Bohème Vocal Highlights
R-199-105/2 Verdi: Requiem - Austrian Symphony / Gustav Koslik
R-199-106 Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Op. 46 - Austrian Symphony / George Singer
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 Orchestra / Gerhard Becker
R-199-178/3 Verdi: Aida (the complete recording) - Franco Capuana
R-199-192 Millöcker: The Beggar Student - RIAS Symphony Orchestra / Gerhard Becker
Paris Album 12 Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies, Brahms Hungarian Dances - 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 Symphony (9th) - 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 is also known for his writings for the RCA-label and in particular for the Rubinstein Chopin-recordings.
For the Musirama production of Mascagni's 'Cavaleria Rusticana' conducted by George Sebastian (with soloists, chorus and orchestra of the Teatro la Fenice), it was Irving Kolodin who wrote the liner notes (R-199-175/2).
He also wrote the notes for the release of Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto with Jorge Bolet and Thor Johnson (R-199-182) which was a première recording (apart from the 3rd only the 5th and occasionally the 1st concertos were played).
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.
Biancolli wrote the liner notes for
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 (Music Editor Philadelphia Evening Bulletin) wrote the programnotes 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.

Sheldon Soffer
R-199-174 Wagnerian Favorites - Georges Sebastian

Jerome D. Boehm (Bohm)
R199-165 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 (1921-2003) started as a music critic and 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:
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, 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.

Rudolf A. Bruil - June, 2003


TOP OF PAGE

CONTACT

Copyright 1995-2008 by Rudolf A. Bruil