PRISTINE: A unique historic collaboration? Obert-Thorn, Marston, Rose et al...
Andrew Rose
http://www.pristineclassical.com/LargeWorks/Orchestral/PAMX005.php
A Very Pristine Christmas brings together five of the top historic music
restoration engineers for perhaps a unique collaboration, each providing
rare and, we believe, never previously reissued material from their own
collections:
Mark Obert-Thorn (whose idea it was) starts the album with a 1926
recording of the BBC Wireless Orchestra under Percy Pitt, conducting
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Christmas Overture. He's also contributed two
carol arrangements by the Flonzaley Quartet from 1928.
Peter Harrison's work on Milhaud's Quatre Visages, culled from a rare
1957 DGG recording by Michael Mann and Dika Newlin, has no direct
Christmas connection, but its lively depiction in music of four women
the composer knew has a nostalgic tinge to it which allows it to sit
quite comfortably in the mix.
Ward Marston, remastering for Pristine for the first time, brings
another not-exactly Christmas recording, but one which again fits very
nicely - the overture to Humperkinck's Hansel and Gretel, recorded in
1926 by an orchestra conducted by Albert Coates, from whom we expect to
hear much more in 2009.
Meanwhile I opted for three rare English choral recordings - a 1950
recording by the Goldsbrough Choir and Orchestra, featuring Alfred
Deller (amongst others) of G Gabrieli's In Ecclesiis, the choir of St.
George's Chapel, Windsor Castle in 1949 singing Vaughan Williams' Te
Deum in G (a rather neglected work), and a recording by the Westminster
Abbey Special Choir made on location(!) in either 1925 or early 1926,
singing Weelkes' Gloria in excelsis.
Finally, Dr. John Duffy's contributions are the glue which binds the
collection together, if you like - a series of short improvisations on
Christmas themes by Grace Castagnetta, played on the Siena Pianoforte, a
remarkable instrument made in 1800, which has a tonal range that varies
between a fortepiano and a harp, something which seems put to best
effect when used in improvisations such as these.
Personally I think it's the historic album you can (a) enjoy any time of
the year, and (b) give to friends who wouldn't normally go for this kind
of thing. The latter because I think there's a pretty ingrained sense of
nostalgia around ideas of Christmas - Dickens, old movies, childhood
memories etc., which older recordings tap into remarkably well. The fact
that it's not all exclusively Christmassy material helps too!
MP3 sample: http://tinyurl.com/PristineXmas
(Trk. 1: Opening section, Christmas Overture)
Full track listing:
1. Christmas Overture (Coleridge-Taylor) - BBC Wireless Orchestra,
cond. Percy Pitt, UK Columbia 9137, rec. 23/2/1926
2. Joy To The World (Watts) - Siena Pianoforte played by Grace
Castagnetta, Counterpoint CPT 1503, rec. 1957
Quatre Visages (Milhaud) - Michael Mann (viola), Dika Newlin
(piano), DGG EPL 30295, rec. 1957
3. 1. La Californienne
4. 2. The Wisconsonian
5. 3. La Bruxelloise
6. 4. La Parisienne
7. O Little Town of Bethlehem (Brooks) - Siena Pianoforte played by
Grace Castagnetta, Counterpoint CPT 1503
8. In Ecclesiis (G. Gabrieli) - Alexander, Deller, Wynton, Riley,
Dawkes, Chor. & Goldsbrough Orch, HMV HMS.29, rec.1950
9. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing (Mendelssohn) - Siena Pianoforte
played by Grace Castagnetta, Counterpoint CPT 1503
10. Hansel and Gretel - Overture (Humperdinck) - Symphony Orchestra,
cond. A. Coates, HMV D.1261, rec. 26/10/1926
11. I Saw Three Ships (Trad.) - Siena Pianoforte played by Grace
Castagnetta, Counterpoint CPT 1503
12. Te Deum in G (Vaughan Williams) - St George's Chapel Choir,
Windsor Castle, dir. Harris, Columbia LX.1289, rec. 1949
13. What Child Is This (Trad.) - Siena Pianoforte played by Grace
Castagnetta, Counterpoint CPT 1503
14. Adeste Fideles (Wade, arr. Ponchon) - Flonzaley Quartet, Victor
1352, rec. 18/10/1928
15. Deck The Halls (Trad.) - Siena Pianoforte played by Grace
Castagnetta, Counterpoint CPT 1503
16. Gloria in excelsis (Weelkes) -Westminster Abbey Special Choir,
HMV H.1083, rec. 1925 or 1926
17. Oh, Holy Night (Adam) - Siena Pianoforte played by Grace
Castagnetta, Counterpoint CPT 1503
18. The First Nowell (Trad. arr. Ponchon) - Flonzaley Quartet, Victor
1352, rec. 18/10/1928
Transfers & remastering:
1, 14, 18: Mark Obert-Thorn
2, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17: Dr. John Duffy
3-6: Peter Harrison
8, 12, 16: Andrew Rose
10: Ward Marston
All tracks in Ambient Stereo except 1, 10, 14, 18: mono.
Total duration: 67:50
The Contributors to this collection:
Dr. John Duffy M.D. lives in Iowa, USA, and is the major contributor to
PADA Exclusives, our streaming audio and downloads service. His
extensive collection includes many near-mint 78s Dr. Duffy managed to
rescue from a Minneapolis brothel in 1972, the day before it was demolished.
Peter Harrison intended his career to be that of a recording engineer
and his first commercial LP was produced in 1965. However, due to a
bizarre series of events, he instead devoted much of his professional
life to computers. A return to music at the start of the 21st century
now sees Peter restoring and remastering old recordings, as well as
making new recordings with the likes of Peter Katin, as well as a number
of young up-coming classical musicians. Peter lives in the New Forest in
England.
Ward Marston was nominated for the "Best Historical Album" Grammy Award
for his production work on BMG's Fritz Kreisler collection. According to
the Chicago Tribune, Marston's name is "synonymous with tender loving
care to collectors of historical CDs." Opera News calls his work
"revelatory," and Fanfare deems him "miraculous." In 1996, Mr. Marston
received the Gramophone award for "Historical Vocal Record of the Year,"
honoring his production and engineering work on Romophone's complete
recordings of Lucrezia Bori. He also served as as re-recording engineer
for the Franklin Mint's Arturo Toscanini issue and BMG's Sergei
Rachmaninov recordings, both winners of the "Best Historical Album"
Grammy. Ward lives in Pennsylvania, USA.
Mark Obert-Thorn began working on audio restorations on a professional
basis in 1988, initially for the Pearl label. Within three years, two of
his productions had been named as Gramophone Award finalists. He also
transferred many discs for the Biddulph, Romophone and Music & Arts
labels. He has produced over 300 CDs for the highly successful and
critically-acclaimed Naxos Historical series, as well as over 200 for
other labels over the past 20 years. Mark lives in Pennsylvania, USA.
Andrew Rose launched Pristine Audio in 2001 as a company specialising in
the transfer and remastering of old recordings. In 2005 he launched the
Pristine Classical website as a means of distributing historic
recordings on the Pristine Audio label, both in download and CD formats.
He has also produced historic recordings for Music & Arts and for Divine
Art - one of his first for the Divine Art won a Recording of the Year
Award in 2005 in Classic Record Collector magazine, which also issued a
special award in 2006 for the contribution of the Pristine Classical
website. Andrew lives in a small village surrounded by vineyards in
south-west France.
--
Andrew Rose
Pristine Classical: "The destination for people interested in historic
recordings..." (Gramophone)
Rugby
Bravo !
Dr.Duffy is a treasure.Proud he is an Iowan.
And fortunately, his collection was not imperiled this Spring,despite
lying between 2 flooding Iowa rivers.
There must be a story about the brothel collection ?
Regards, Rugby
Paul
Must have been some brothel!!
Paul
Andrew Rose
> Rather a shame not to have included a scan of the Milhaud cover art -
> which, mysteriously, has appeared @ this site...
One anomaly of copyright law here is that although recordings lapse into
the public domain after 50 years, I understand that the artwork does
not. This is especially true where any company logos are on display...