Paul Tortelier - Early Stereo Recordings - R. Strauss, Saint-Saëns & Brahms

First release of the 1954-55 stereo recordings

Paul Tortelier (cello), Endre Wolf (violin)

London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Norman Del Mar, Herbert Menges, Walter Goehr

There seems to be no obvious reason why a July 1954 recording of Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel with the LSO under Norma Del Mar never made it to the record shops…the performance is exciting and... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2018, (Performance) / (Recording) More…

Release Date: 5th Oct 2018
Catalogue No: FHR058
Label: First Hand
Length: 74 minutes

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Recording alert buzzer and orchestra tuning

0:34

London Symphony Orchestra

Strauss, R: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28

14:33

London Symphony Orchestra
Norman Del Mar

Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33

18:32

Philharmonia Orchestra
Herbert Menges
Paul Tortelier (cello)
Recorded: 16 September 1955
Recording Venue: No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, UK

I. Allegro non troppo

5:20

II. Allegretto con moto

5:53

III. Allegro non troppo

7:19

Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77

40:35

London Symphony Orchestra
Walter Goehr
Endre Wolf (violin)
Recorded: 25, 28 August 1954
Recording Venue: No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, UK

I. Allegro non troppo

22:05

II. Adagio

10:26

III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace

8:04

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This is the first release of at least three volumes of EMI early stereo recordings, in a joint venture with the Archive of Recorded Sound (ARS). EMI started to record in stereo in 1954 and all the recordings in this new series are from this historic period of recorded music. All the releases will appear for the first time in some form and feature many of the greatest classical artists of the time.

Included in this first issue is Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel, a recording which, for some reason, was never released on LP or any other format before this FHR release. This recording, with the LSO conducted by Norman Del Mar, is in fact, the earliest known surviving EMI stereo recording of a complete work.

Paul Tortelier’s was a star cellist for HMV and was the most charismatic of an exceptional generation of French cellists. Tortelier gives an athletic account of this 'lost' stereo recording of Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1 and Menges supports him admirably. There is an extraordinary difference between the well-known mono recording, and this stereo version, where the soloist is much more sympathetically placed within the orchestral texture.

In the Brahms Violin Concerto, Hungarian Endre Wolf displays an effortless, fine style and lovely tone free of the wide ‘Hubay vibrato’ affected by many of his compatriots. Wolf's playing here is a good example of the Hungarian Brahms tradition.

Reviews

November 2018

There seems to be no obvious reason why a July 1954 recording of Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel with the LSO under Norma Del Mar never made it to the record shops…the performance is exciting and strongly characterised, Del Mar negotiating the twists and turns in Till’s risky adventures with great aplomb…Even more compelling is Paul Tortelier’s 1955 recording of the Saint-Saens First Cello Concerto…Little need be said for Tortelier’s masterful interpretation, which must rank amongst the most satisfying of this much-recorded work.

Paul Tortelier - Early Stereo Recordings - R. Strauss, Saint-Saëns & Brahms

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